The Monthly Novel: Life and Death in Venice

3 monthly sessions on campus, Friday 16 October, Friday 13 November and Friday 11 December, 11am - 2pm

Overview

In fiction, Venice is a haunted and a haunting city. It is a place where people follow in others’ footsteps, fall feverishly in love, look back and look forward, get lost. In this course we shall analyse Henry James’s novella, The Aspern Papers about a man in search of literary remains, and Thomas Mann’s Death in Venice, an unsettling story of a writer’s desire. We shall investigate Daphne du Maurier’s short shocker, Don’t Look Now, and Donna Leon’s introduction to her detective, Commissario Brunetti, in Death at La Fenice. And finally, we shall read Colm Toibin’s The Master, partly set in Venice, an exploration of the art and life Henry James. Across our texts we shall consider how writers represent the wonders of Venice, as well as considering themes of love, loss, memory, morality, fame and creativity.

This course aims to sample literary representations of Venice from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century in short and longer fiction. We shall consider the attractions of Venice as a fictional setting and the extent to which Venice functions as ‘background’ or character in these stories.

This course would suit anyone interested in reading fiction with thematic links written in different historical periods.

Syllabus

Please note that this is indicative but not definitive. It is possible that there may be some small changes to the format.

Session 1 Henry James, The Aspern Papers, 1888

Thomas Mann, Death in Venice, 1912

Session 2 Daphne du Maurier, Don’t Look Now, 1971

Donna Leon, Death at La Fenice, 1992

Session 3 Colm Tóibin, The Master, 2004

Course lecturer

At Continuing Education, Dr Shirley Jones currently runs courses on contemporary women's writing, and the thematic strand, The Monthly Novel. They have also taught courses on nineteenth-century authors, such as Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, and Dorothy Wordsworth. Her Ph.D was a study of the Victorian writer, Margaret Oliphant.

Outside of Continuing Education, they are a member of a writers' group and run the Redbrick Writers, a community writing group at the V G & M.

Course fee

Standard fee: £75
Concession fee: £38