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WHAT WOULD DICKENS WRITE TODAY? |
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Dickens 2012 Literature Seminar |
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We are asking eight contemporary writers to consider ‘What Would Dickens Write Today?’ in a seminar in Berlin in January 2012.
"In the early years of the twenty-first century, we still sometimes see the world as a ‘Dickensian’ place. On the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens’s birth, we look at how his example and his creations live on.
Dickens was one of the greatest of Victorians, but this seminar is about the Dickens who continues to be our contemporary.
- What do today’s writers still learn from him?
- What do readers of fiction expect because of him?
- What would he write – and what would he write about – if he were alive today?
Dickens was a writer who broke the rules of tasteful composition. He revelled in caricature and hyperbole; he rifled the language for absurd idioms and resonant clichés; he loved the grotesque.
Are his stylistic freedoms still available to writers today? He was also a satirist who was confident he knew the difference between good and evil. He was always ready to step into his novel to exhort or lecture his readers.
Can contemporary novelists draw on the same moral fervour? He wrote novels that seemed to be about what was called ‘the condition of England’; he sometimes seemed to anatomise a whole nation.
Do we still hope that novelists will take on such a task? Is it even possible to do so? "
(Professor John Mullan)
UCL professor and Guardian writer John Mullan will chair this event which will showcase UK contemporary writers Claire Tomalin, David Nicholls, Toby Litt, Philip Hensher, Louise Doughty, John Burnside and Denise Mina.
In addition, A.S. Byatt will open the seminar on the evening of 26 January. She will be reading and in conversation with journalist Denis Scheck.
The seminar will question how and why contemporary literature is affiliated with Dickens’ narrative style, his social conscience, his sense of plot, character building and will consider how themes associated with Dickens (e.g. the city and alienation, social justice, inequality and poverty) are relevant today.
The seminar is aimed at European academics, publishers, translators, journalists and other literature professionals and will offer them a lively literary experience with a concentrated mix of readings, talks, a panel discussion and workshops.
An informal atmosphere will provide participants with the opportunity to talk directly with the writers about their work. Alongside the seminar there will be two evening events for a wider audience.
The seminar is organised by the British Council in cooperation with Bertelsmann AG and will take place at Bertelsmann Unter den Linden 1, in Berlin’s historical centre.
The seminar will begin with a public reading and drinks reception on the evening of Thursday 26 January and finish on the evening of Saturday 28 January with a farewell dinner.
Registration is now closed
Fee:
There is a seminar fee of €100 (€70 for students).
Travel and Accommodation
Participants will be responsible for the costs of their own travel and accommodation in Berlin.
For further information please contact Marijke Brouwer or Matt Beavers by email: dickens2012@britishcouncil.de. |
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