This series brings together lectures given by members of Oxford’s Faculty of English as Open Day taster lectures or as introductory lectures for undergraduates. The series covers a diverse range of topics, drawing on the Faculty’s wide-ranging research into English Language and Literature.
Latest episodes
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54 min
Theatre, 1660-1760 - The Arrival of the Actress
David Taylor on the arrival of female actors on the stage. In this undergraduate lecture, David Taylor describes one of the key theatrical developments of Restoration drama, the ar…
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48 min
Theatre, 1660-1760 - Restoration and Change
David Taylor lectures on the reopening of the theatres in the 1660s. In this undergraduate lecture, David Taylor considers the new forms, practices, and spaces of drama that emerge…
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25 min
Race and Empire, 1660-1760
Ruth Scobie lectures on race and empire, 1660-1760. In this introductory lecture, Ruth Scobie outlines some of the historical contexts of literature written between 1660 and 1660,…
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26 min
Drama and the Theatre, 1660-1760
Abigail Williams lectures on the staging of Restoration drama. In this introductory lecture, Abigail Williams investigates the staging of Restoration drama, exploring the effects o…
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19 min
Literature and Gender, 1660-1760
Kathleen Keown considers representations of gender in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In this introductory lecture, Kathleen Keown considers representations of gender in…
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24 min
Manuscript and Print, 1660–1760
Carly Watson outlines the material forms in which literary texts circulated between 1660 and 1760. In this introductory lecture, Carly Watson outlines the material forms in which l…
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20 min
What is a Literary Period?
Clare Bucknell considers how we define a literary period. In this introductory lecture, Clare Bucknell considers how we define a literary period and highlights some of the problems…
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23 min
Nineteenth-Century Stuff - Dickens, Paperwork and Paper Sorrows
Sophie Ratcliffe investigates the material culture of the Victorians, using examples from Charles Dickens. In this Open Day taster lecture, Sophie Ratcliffe investigates the materi…
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21 min
What is a War Poem?
Kate McLoughlin explores how we might define a war poem. In this Open Day taster lecture, Kate McLoughlin explores how we might define a war poem, looking in particular at some of…
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24 min
Diaries as Literature - The Case of Virginia Woolf
Michael Whitworth considers whether diaries are literature, looking particularly at the diaries of Virginia Woolf. In this Open Day taster lecture, Michael Whitworth considers whet…
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28 min
Character in Modern Drama
Kirsten Shepherd-Barr investigates 'character' in Modern Drama In this Open Day taster lecture, Kirsten Shepherd-Barr investigates how the notion of ‘character’ in theatre has chan…
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31 min
Brilliant Paradoxes and Corrosive Epigrams; or Why Oscar Wilde Went to Trial
Sos Eltis looks at Oscar Wilde’s 1895 trial. In this Open Day taster lecture, Sos Eltis explores the complex causes which motivated Oscar Wilde’s 1895 court cases.