Visions of Venice in literature

Visions of Venice
Live online course with Miles Leeson
Sundays, fortnightly, 20 September to 15 November 2026

Where does our idealised image of Venice come from? The city has been immortalised by visiting writers across the centuries as a place of fantasy; at the same time, it is perceived as place of danger, decay and debauchery.

In this new course Miles Leeson will take us on a journey from the late-18thC grand tour to the post-World War II gothic to uncover the origins of the obsession with Venice as both a romantic escape and a labyrinthine trap. 

Lecture list

Lecture 1. Byron, Child Harold IV (lines 1-250); Dickens, ‘An Italian Dream’; Wordsworth, ‘On the Extinction of the Venetian Republic’. Reference will also be made to elements of John Ruskin's Stones of Venice (1851)

Lecture 2. Henry James, The Aspern Papers (1888)

Lecture 3. Thomas Mann, Death in Venice (1912)

Lecture 4. Patricia Highsmith, Those Who Walk Away (1967)

Lecture 5. Daphne du Maurier, Don't Look Now (1971)

Course Fees

£260.00 full price
£230.00 students or pensioners on a low income
£230.00 CAMcard holders

Fees include 20% VAT

Zoom link

We will send you a Zoom link by email at least 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.

Recordings

This is a 5-week course, with a live online lecture and seminar each week. The lectures are recorded so that participants can listen again during the course if they wish. The seminars are not recorded.

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.

Scroll down for booking page.