250 Years of English Literature

Professor Stefan Collini re-examines the history of the activity of literary criticism and discipline of English Literature. In the 250 years since the founding of the Chair of Rhetoric and Belles-Lettres at Edinburgh University, the activity of literary criticism and discipline of English Literature have had a tangled, complex and at times uneasy, even antagonistic, relationship. This lecture will re-examine this history, focussing particularly on the question of the various publics addresed by criticism, in its literary-journalistic as well as academic forms. Coming up to the present (and even the future), Stefan Collini will explore the plurality of contemporary audiences for criticism and will challenge pessimistic accounts of 'the disappearance of the reading public'. Stefan Collini is Professor of Intellectual History and English Literature at Cambridge University, and a Fellow of the British Academy. He is also a frequent contributor to The Guardian, The London Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, The Nation, and other publications, as well as an occasional broadcaster. In 2012, the University's English Literature department celebrates its 250th anniversary. We're marking the occasion with exhibitions, events, talks, readings and seminars throughout the year. Recorded on Thursday 24 May 2012 at the University of Edinburgh's George Square Lecture Theatre.

Dr Olga Taxidou (The University of Edinburgh), Peter Arnott (Resident Playwright, Genomics Forum) and David Maclennan (Director, Oran Mor) discuss Drama, the university and performance in Scotland. Recorded 20 March 2012. Audio version.

Professor William Christie (University of Sydney) and Dr Alan Gillis (The University of Edinburgh) discuss ‘The Edinburgh Review: Then and Now’. Recorded 16 March 2012. Audio version.

Please join us for the Scottish Writing in the Nineteenth Century (SWINC) Annual Lecture: Stevenson Among the Psychologists Professor Roger Luckhurst (Birkbeck College, University of London) explores Stevenson's dialogue with Victorian psychology, from the phrenological Edinburgh of the 1820s and 30s, to the first halting development of psycho-dynamic theories at the time when Stevenson began to write. Recorded 15 March 2012. Audio version.

Professor Deidre Lynch (Chancellor Jackman Professor of English, University of Toronto) talks about Daniel Wilson, Scotland and Canada: the export of English. Recorded 6 March 2012. Audio version.