By Valerie Fehlbaum
Wednesday 12.30pm to 1.45pm, on 18 September, 2, 16 and 30 October, 13 and 27 November, 11 December 2024 and on 8 and 22 January, 5 and 19 February, 5 and 19 March, 2 and 16 April 2025
After obtaining her B.A. at St Hilda’s College, Oxford, Valerie Fehlbaum moved to Switzerland where she taught English as a Foreign Language for a few years before joining the English Department at the University of Geneva. She then went on to obtain an M.A. in Gender Studies and a Ph.D. on the New Woman at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. Her subsequent monograph on Ella Hepworth Dixon was initially published by Ashgate in 2005, and republished in paperback by Taylor & Francis in 2019. She has also lectured at the University of Neuchâtel, and tutored with the Open University.
Over four hundred years after his death, Shakespeare remains omnipresent. His works are constantly being read, analysed, and, more importantly, performed, not only in his native ‘scepter’d isle’, but practically everywhere on the globe. Moreover, his plays have continually been adapted for various stages, the big screen, the small screen and now computer screens. Many English speakers, often unknowingly, regularly employ expressions coined by him, and yet many, perhaps the very same people, express great reticence at the idea of meeting the Bard face to face or, more precisely, via the written page.
In this cercle de lecture, by means of a close study of Hamlet, we shall examine the whys and wherefores of most people’s anxieties, and attempt, ultimately, to dispel such fears and pre-conceived ideas.
No previous knowledge or experience is required, but a hard copy (any edition) of Hamlet would be an advantage.