Start Date
23 January, 2025
There will be 5 fortnightly meetings on Thursday, 11am - 1pm, starting from 23 January.
Overview
'Possession' and 'The Children’s Book' are arguably Antonia Byatt’s most celebrated works. Both novels take their inspiration from writers of the past:
In 'Possession', twentieth-century academics uncover a romance between Victorian poets.
In 'The Children’s Book', Byatt imagines the complex web of artistic and familial relationships around a writer from the 'Golden Age' of children’s fiction.
Both novels are lush, dense, and detailed recreations of specific historical and literary periods exploring a vast range of ideas including self-definition, history, gender, sexuality, and class.
Students will develop their knowledge of literary/historical fiction and the mid and late Victorian-Edwardian literary scene in particular.
Syllabus
Sessions are fortnightly:
Session 1: Brief introduction. Discussion of Possession. Please read up to the end of chapter 9.
Session 2: Discussion of Possession. Please read up to the end of chapter 18.
Session 3: Discussion of Possession. Please read to the end of the novel.
Session 4: Discussion of The Children's Book. Please read up to the end of chapter 26.
Session 5: Discussion of The Children's Book. Please read to the end of the novel.
N.B. These are long novels so it is wise to read them in advance of the course.
Please note that the ‘last date available to book’ date is only a guide. We reserve the right to close bookings earlier if courses are over- or under-subscribed. In order to avoid disappointment, please be sure enrol as soon as possible. Registrations will not be processed until the following day if received after 3pm.
Course Lecturer: Dr Shirley Jones
At Continuing Education, I currently run courses on contemporary women's writing, nineteenth-century writing, and the thematic strand, The Monthly Novel. Previously I have also taught courses on classic authors, such as Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, and Dorothy Wordsworth. My Ph.D was a study of the Victorian writer, Margaret Oliphant.
Outside of Continuing Education, I am a member of a writers' group and I run community writing workshops at the VG&M and the Lowlands centre in West Derby.
Courses fees: Full fee £80/Concession £40.
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