Advertisement
Today we are used to science fiction novels and apocalyptic Hollywood movies, but where did the genre begin? With Jules Verne or H.G. Wells? Or perhaps with Richard Jefferies, the Wiltshire-born writer of the English countryside, who died at Goring-by-Sea in West Sussex at the early age of 38? Jefferies 1883 novel, ‘After London’ imagined an England of the future that had been devastated by an environmental disaster, leading to the depopulation of London and the abandonment of all England’s town and cities. Jefferies’ description of how nature reclaims all that industrialisation had created, is both vivid and extraordinary, showing the vulnerability of all that had seen permanent. The talk will also include extracts from Jefferies essays on the countryside, country people, and his withering account of urban life in the rapidly growing town of Brighton and Hove in the the mid-1880s, where Jefferies lived before moving to Goring. Jefferies was also something of a philosopher as is apparent in his soulful autobiography, ‘The Story of My Heart’, which addresses many issues and concerns very relevant to our own times.
https://www.thevictoriainstitute.com/event/arundel-literary-festival-thursday-6th-march-2025/
Advertisement
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Victoria Institute, 10 Tarrant St,Arundel, West Sussex, United Kingdom
