Shall I compare thee to thy 2004 self?
Oh… and new courses ahoy!!
Aaahh… 2004 Robert & Joanna (aka Benedick and Beatrice)… Had they only known what would lie in store (in addition to the cruel ravages of time)….
Much Ado About Nothing, Lords of Misrule, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York, 2004
As long-standing Denizens may recall, Robert and I have a rather Shakespeare-inflected backstory (indeed it could be said that our whole narrative is somewhat Shakespearian, but we’ll gloss over that…).
For our present purposes, the main point is that we’ve enjoyed the Bard’s bardiness for a long time, but have somehow never had the opportunity to explore him in his own right, other than from a performance perspective or as audience members. …Until now!!
Because yes - we are thrilled to announce that we have a shiny new course on Shakespeare - specifically on his sonnets (which I personally have wanted to understand properly since I first read them many many years ago). What’s even more thrilling is that this is a course which will be led by an expert (aka: not, for this subject, either of us!).
That’s right… I present unto you our very first course to be delivered by a guest lecturer. How exciting!
As some of you know, we’ve long flirted with exploring the possibility of expanding the Wright History portfolio, but were waiting until we were completely confident that it would be right for all concerned (i.e. potential guest lecturer, us, and – most importantly – you, O Denizens!). And now – here we are, with an offering which we are confident will tick all of those boxes!
We’re delighted to introduce you to the lovely Judith Hedley!
Judith has many years’ experience of sharing her passion for literature – initially at secondary school level, and, for the last 15 years, as a WEA tutor.
We had already heard tell of how fabulous her WEA classes are, via a long-standing Denizen, who’s done – and, crucially, enjoyed - many courses with both us and Judith, and commended us to each other (for which all three of us thank you again, O Anonymous Denizen!).
Robert and I realized that we had in fact seen - and very much enjoyed - Judith in action via a recent online WEA lecture. The stars had clearly aligned, and so here, in due course and after much discussion as to how it would best work, we are!
As you’ll see from the course page, there will be more space explicitly built in for discussion on this course. In a way, this builds upon our new literature-based course strand (as those of you who joined us for our latest “Wright Notes” excursion into Anglo-Norman England will attest!). As with those courses, no “homework” or prep is required before the first session - and it’ll be up to those of you who are on the course as to whether you’d like to read along for the finale.
We’re really looking forward to working with Judith, and hope that you’re as excited about it as we are!
And voila, a note from Judith: “I can’t wait to be Wright History’s first guest lecturer, and hope that sharing Shakespeare’s sonnets will help me follow in Robert and Joanna’s proud tradition of erudition and entertainment!”
And as if that weren’t enough excitement for one post… there’s more!
We’re delighted to announce our offerings for our not-online Denizens in the coming term, namely…
As those of you who prefer in-venue courses to online ones know, financial practicalities mean that we can only go ahead with in-venue courses if we know that enough people are interested to allow us to run them without making a loss. If you know that this is your preferred method of getting your “fix” of Wright History, we would very much appreciate early registration, as this will allow us to (a) avoid inconveniencing the venue by having to cancel, and (b) offer an alternative course online or at another venue. One day, hopefully, we’ll be able to be less risk-averse, but alas, that day is not yet today! Thank you for your understanding on this front.
Phew! That’s probably enough excitement for us for one day! We hope that you approve of our latest offerings.
To see all courses now available in calendar order, click here. Alternatively, click on the relevant course title[s] in this post to go directly to the relevant page[s].