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Mrs Charles Dickens - Fact And Fiction - Free Public Talk
| Author: annahowelll | Published: 4th July 2012 12:24 |
Lillian Nayder
A free public talk exploring the life and times of Mrs Charles Dickens is taking place at the University of Portsmouth on Friday 6 July.
The event is organised by the University's Centre for Studies in Literature (CSL) as part of a conference exploring lesser-known aspects of Dickens' life and work.
Biographer and academic, Lillian Nayder, is the author of a book about Catherine Hogarth, who was Charles Dickens' wife and mother of his ten children. She will be giving a talk about Hogarth's relationship to the famous literary genius, from whom she later separated following an affair.
Nayder, the author of The Other Dickens: A Life of Catherine Hogarth, is joined by Orange and Booker Prize nominee, writer Gaynor Arnold, to debate the cultural afterlife of Mrs Charles Dickens. Arnold is author of Girl in a Blue Dress, a novel which covers Dickens's life from the viewpoint of his estranged wife.
Mrs Dickens is a shadowy figure in much of the writing about her husband. References to Dickens' mistress, Ellen Ternan, and his relationships with his sisters-in-law, Mary and Georgina Hogarth, also rarely feature.
The CSL's Patricia Pulham said that, at times, Dickens' life is often as compelling as his novels.
"In the year of the 200th anniversary of his birth, much has been written about Dickens but far less about the woman he shared so much of his life with. Public opinion about Catherine has been influenced strongly by Dickens' own representation of her as a depressive and an inadequate mother. But from recent biographies we learn that, in spite of Dickens' efforts to re-write the past, much of their married life was relatively happy and Catherine Dickens was a woman of intelligence and resourcefulness."
"And of course the various women Dickens came into contact with throughout his life inspired some of the characters in his most famous works, from Little Nell to Nancy in Oliver Twist."
The authors will be available to sign copies of their books during a drinks reception prior to the event.
Event: Afterlives: Mrs Dickens in Fact and Fiction
Date: Friday 6 July 2012
Time: 7.00 pm drinks reception (Venue: Portland Building, Portland Street, Portsmouth
PO1 3AH)
Talk: 7.30-9.30 pm
Venue: The Hub, Dennis Sciama Building, University of Portsmouth, Burnaby Rd PO1 3FX
*** The two venues are 2 minutes walk from each other ***
Book a place on the free lecture here: www.port.ac.uk/special/dickens2012/specialevents/
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