Women and power in mid-20thC Fiction
women and power in mid-20C Fiction
Live online Course, autumn 2024
Women writers in the 1950s and 1960s
Live online course with Miles Leeson, University of Chichester.
The history of women's writing has always been one of contestation and the desire for agency. In this course Miles Leeson, an expert in mid-Twentieth Century women's writing, will introduce and discuss four key novels from the period:
• Patricia Highsmith, The Talented Mr Ripley (1955)
• Barbara Comyns, The Vet's Daughter (1959)
• Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961)
• Brigid Brophy, The Snow Ball (1964).
Drawing on cultural and historical documentation, interviews and personal journals, this course will provide a deeper insight into the burgeoning development of women's writing between the Second World War and the sexual revolution of the 1960s.
Live online course: four lectures and seminars, Sundays, fortnightly, 8 September to 20 October 2024, 6.00 to 8.00 pm British Summer Time
Lectures
Lecture 1. Sun. 8 September 2024. Highsmith, The Talented Mr Ripley (1955)
Lecture 2. Sun. 22 September 2024. Comyn, The Vet's Daughter (1959)
Lecture 3. Sun. 6 October 2024. Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961)
Lecture 4. Sun. 20 October 2024. Brophy, The Snow Ball (1964).
Course fees
£210 full price
£190 students and CAMcard holders
Prices include 20% VAT.
Each session lasts from 6.00 pm to 8.00 pm British Time (GMT), live online via Zoom. Please check the time in your time zone.
Recordings
This is a 4-session course, with a live online lecture and seminar each fortnight. The lectures are recorded so that participants can listen again during the course if they wish. The seminars are not recorded.
Zoom link
We will send you a Zoom link by email no later than 24 hours before the course begins. If the link does not arrive, please let us know by email in good time, at least an hour before the session begins, so we can re-send.
Set books
Brigid Brophy, The Snow Ball (1964)
Barbara Comyns, The Vet's Daughter (1959)
Patricia Highsmith, The Talented Mr Ripley (1955)
Muriel Spark, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1961)
Optional further reading
Richard Canning and Gerri Kimber, eds., Brigid Brophy: Avant-Garde Writer, Critic, Activist (Edinburgh University Press, 2020)
Avril Horner, Barbara Comyns: A Savage Innocence (Manchester University Press, 2024)
Please support independent booksellers or Hive (which supports small booksellers) when buying books for our courses. Thank you.
Links
Muriel Spark obituary, Guardian 2006
Muriel Spark Society blog page
Brigid Brophy website
Guardian review of The Snow Ball republication in 2020
If you cannot attend a course you have booked
Please note that, because places are limited, we cannot usually give refunds if you cannot attend a course. But if you contact us in advance, we might be able to transfer your booking to a different course.