Elizabeth Bowen, To the North (1932)
Trudi Tate on Elizabeth Bowen, To the North
This understated yet powerful book explores the relationship between two women, Cecilia and Emmeline, and their relations with men. Set about a decade after the First World War, it describes a world in which people can move about, often at high speed, by car, train or aeroplane. And yet they also seem to be stuck, going nowhere.
Bowen is a brilliant analyst of human relations. Her work is funny, bleak, and insightful, with an intensely beautiful prose style.
To the North offers a devastating understanding of how people experience themselves and others; how they connect (or not); and how love can lead to both kindness and destruction.
Caroline Lodge writes of To the North in Book Word:
‘Elizabeth Bowen’s skill is in the minute description of the psychological shifts of each character as they interact with the others. We are presented with a number of different relationships: several marriages, a few romances, employer–employee, child–adult, and friendships between men and women and between women. One couple will self-destruct, the other will find comfort in each other.’
With Trudi Tate, Director of Literature Cambridge and Emeritus Fellow of Clare hall, University of Cambridge
Saturday 24 May 2025
18.00-20.00 British Summer Time
19.00-21.00 Central European Summer Time
Morning / lunchtime in the Americas
Fees
£32.00 Full price
£27.00 Students on a low income
£27.00 CAMcard holders
Live online via Zoom.
The lectures are recorded and made available to participants to listen again for 48 hours after the live lecture. The seminars are not recorded.
Trudi Tate on Elizabeth Bowen, To the North
This understated yet powerful book explores the relationship between two women, Cecilia and Emmeline, and their relations with men. Set about a decade after the First World War, it describes a world in which people can move about, often at high speed, by car, train or aeroplane. And yet they also seem to be stuck, going nowhere.
Bowen is a brilliant analyst of human relations. Her work is funny, bleak, and insightful, with an intensely beautiful prose style.
To the North offers a devastating understanding of how people experience themselves and others; how they connect (or not); and how love can lead to both kindness and destruction.
Caroline Lodge writes of To the North in Book Word:
‘Elizabeth Bowen’s skill is in the minute description of the psychological shifts of each character as they interact with the others. We are presented with a number of different relationships: several marriages, a few romances, employer–employee, child–adult, and friendships between men and women and between women. One couple will self-destruct, the other will find comfort in each other.’
With Trudi Tate, Director of Literature Cambridge and Emeritus Fellow of Clare hall, University of Cambridge
Saturday 24 May 2025
18.00-20.00 British Summer Time
19.00-21.00 Central European Summer Time
Morning / lunchtime in the Americas
Fees
£32.00 Full price
£27.00 Students on a low income
£27.00 CAMcard holders
Live online via Zoom.
The lectures are recorded and made available to participants to listen again for 48 hours after the live lecture. The seminars are not recorded.
Trudi Tate on Elizabeth Bowen, To the North
This understated yet powerful book explores the relationship between two women, Cecilia and Emmeline, and their relations with men. Set about a decade after the First World War, it describes a world in which people can move about, often at high speed, by car, train or aeroplane. And yet they also seem to be stuck, going nowhere.
Bowen is a brilliant analyst of human relations. Her work is funny, bleak, and insightful, with an intensely beautiful prose style.
To the North offers a devastating understanding of how people experience themselves and others; how they connect (or not); and how love can lead to both kindness and destruction.
Caroline Lodge writes of To the North in Book Word:
‘Elizabeth Bowen’s skill is in the minute description of the psychological shifts of each character as they interact with the others. We are presented with a number of different relationships: several marriages, a few romances, employer–employee, child–adult, and friendships between men and women and between women. One couple will self-destruct, the other will find comfort in each other.’
With Trudi Tate, Director of Literature Cambridge and Emeritus Fellow of Clare hall, University of Cambridge
Saturday 24 May 2025
18.00-20.00 British Summer Time
19.00-21.00 Central European Summer Time
Morning / lunchtime in the Americas
Fees
£32.00 Full price
£27.00 Students on a low income
£27.00 CAMcard holders
Live online via Zoom.
The lectures are recorded and made available to participants to listen again for 48 hours after the live lecture. The seminars are not recorded.