Progressive Geographies

I’m giving various talks on my Shakespearean Territories project over the next few months. In November, I’ll be speaking in my own department at a workshop on Politicised Literary Geographies, and then to the 1887 Society at Mansfield College, University of Oxford. I will then speak to the Sociology department at the University of York in January, and further ahead this is likely to be the topic of lectures in London and Aberyswyth in February and in Newfoundland in March.

My aim with these talks, even though many will be under the same title, is to try out different aspects of the project as a whole. I’ve already spoken about King Lear in New York; Coriolanus in Edinburgh; Richard II in Nottingham; The Tempest in Paris and Hamlet in Warwick.

My plan for the Durham event is to talk about the project as a whole, with summaries of each of the planned chapters – it’s a much shorter talk as part of a workshop – and then at Oxford to talk about Henry V and possibly Edward III. For York, I plan to speak about colonial senses of territory – a brief return to The Tempest but also readings of Pericles and Anthony and Cleopatra.

Over time I hope to present all, or nearly all, the elements of the planned book on this. This forces me to write material constantly, but also gives me a chance to try each bit out to an audience – for content, pitch and form.