Start Date
26 January, 2024
Friday 26 January, Friday 23 February & Friday 22 March.
Overview
How to write a life? We shall consider this question through our reading of 3 novels: Alba de Céspdes’s Forbidden Notebook (first published in 1952) takes the form of the secret diary of Valeria Cossati, 43 year old working wife and mother in post-war Rome; William Boyd’s Any Human Heart, (2002), presents the ‘intimate journals’ of Logan Mountstuart, spy and art dealer, whose life spans the 20th century; and Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life, (2013) invents the many lives and deaths of Ursula Todd. All 3 fictions explore what it means to write a life story. All 3 novels, in their different ways, contextualise the personal within 20th century histories of war and social change.
Course aims:
This course aims to explore how 3 different writers construct life stories. Two of the books are fictional journals which invite questions of selection of content, narrator reliability and self definition. The other book, is a 'what if' novel, which follows the divergent possibilities of one woman's life. Across the texts students will find comparable themes and consider the kind of decisions writers make in shaping narratives.
26/1/24 William Boyd, Any Human Heart, 2002
23/2/24 Kate Atkinson, Life After Life, 2013
22/3/24 Alba de Cespedes, Forbidden Notebook, 1952; new translation by Ann Goldstein, 2023
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
I have been working at Continuing Education for a number of years. I’ve run courses on Victorian literature, women’s writing, and walking and writing. The seminars are largely based around discussion. But I also provide particular contexts within which to read texts. We work as a group and in smaller discussion groups. I see the seminars as a shared endeavour of exploration and analysis. I hope that seminars are as enjoyable as they are intellectually stimulating. No former knowledge is required. Everyone is welcome.
Courses fees: Full fee £68/Concession £34
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