On the Humble Writing Desk

  • Fran Saggini (Invited speaker)

Activity: Academic talk or presentation typesInvited talk

Description

Deconstructionism, post-structuralism, psychoanalysis, and similarly sophisticated hermeneutic tools of contemporary analysis have explored, interpreted, and often over-interpreted texts. Today, my talk wishes to move the focus of discussion back to the author, whose death was predicted perhaps too hastily in the 1960s and 1970s, in particular back to the materiality surrounding authorship. I shall direct my analysis to the author’s writing desk and to the neglected heuristic and hermeneutic potential of this humble piece of furniture. My presentation will provide a broad canvas of investigation, to then zero in on the writing desks of Samuel Richardson, William Cowper, Jane Austen and Frances Burney. I shall provide a ppt with essential images to encourage discussion.
among the participants.
Period4 Feb 2023
Event titleOn the Humble Writing Desk as part of the Women's Studies Group 2022/2023 Seminars
Event typeSeminar
LocationLondon, United KingdomShow on map
Degree of RecognitionInternational

Keywords

  • history of writing
  • History of reading
  • biography
  • gender
  • Semiotics
  • William Cowper
  • Christine de Pisan
  • Jane Austen
  • New Woman
  • Frances Burney
  • Samuel Richardson
  • material culture
  • Virginia Woolf
  • Anthony Trollope
  • Charlotte Bronte