English Literature Undergraduate Masterclass

This two-hour masterclass will transport you into the bizarre and outlandish world of Victorian newspapers and fiction writing. You will investigate the writing of The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), a novel based on unusual events that Thomas Hardy read about in a local newspaper, The Dorset County Chronicle, from one man’s selling of his wife to another’s pledge to abstain from drinking. You will present your findings from scrutinizing original literary notebooks and Victorian newspapers in order to consider how fact can be creatively transformed into fiction.

Links will be made to AS-Level and A-Level English material on Hardy, including Edexcel and AQA (Love Through the Ages), as well as more general literary skills such as close reading and critical analysis. There will also be time to ask questions about studying and applying to English at university.

This session will be taking place on Wednesday 29th June 2022 between 1 and 3 pm.