English writing in 1473

Tue 21 November 2023

McGrath Centre

This talk will turn to the year 1473, when St Catharine’s College was founded, to consider the state of English literature at that time—a topic befitting a College with a distinguished tradition in English studies. The early 1470s are not a well-known phase in English literary history, so this talk will first introduce the sorts of writing being done in English then; it will give a flavour of their format, form and content—from love letters to the first English printing. It will then explore different ways of considering literary life, by turning to book production and the history of reading, and by looking at everyday practical writing. Studying these aspects of literary history can, the talk will suggest, yield a different story of writing in English which will lead us to reflect in general terms whether and how we can tell a coherent story about people’s experiences in a past culture.

Professor Daniel Wakelin FBA is a former Junior Research Fellow at St Catharine's College and returns as Jeremy Griffiths Professor of Medieval English Palaeography at the University of Oxford and Fellow in English at St Hilda’s College, Oxford.

This event is part of a series of activities in celebration of the 550th anniversary of the founding of St Catharine's College.

Cost: Free