Feature Option: Home Carousel

The Child of Nature – Feral Children and understanding the human being

From Romulus and Remus to Tarzan of the Apes, stories have spread of children cut off from human society and growing up instead in the wilderness, nurtured perhaps by wild animals. Michael Newton will be talking about the deeper meanings of these stories, and how for writers, filmmakers, psychologists and philosophers, they have been seen as a good way to comprehend what is unique (or not) about human beings, our relationship to the natural world, and how far we need language to be fully human.

Bio

Michael Newton is the author of Savage Girls and Wild Boys: A History of Feral Children and Age of Assassins: A History of Conspiracy and Political Violence, 1865-1981, both for Faber & Faber. On the subject of cinema, he has written on Kind Hearts and Coronets, Rosemary’s Baby, and It’s a Wonderful Life for the BFI Film Classics series and Show People: A History of the Film Star (Reaktion Books). He has edited Edmund Gosse’s Father and Son and a book of Victorian Fairy Tales, and an anthology of 19th and early 20th century science fiction for Oxford World’s Classics, and Joseph Conrad’s The Secret Agent and The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories for Penguin Classics. He has taught at University College London (where he received his PhD), Central Saint Martins College of Art, and Princeton University; since 2006, he has taught literature and film at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. .

Curated and Hosted by

Marguerite Johnson is a cultural historian of the ancient Mediterranean, specialising in sexuality and gender, particularly in the poetry of Sappho, Catullus, and Ovid, as well as magical traditions in Greece, Rome, and the Near East. She also researches Classical Reception Studies, with a regular focus on Australia. In addition to ancient world studies, Marguerite is interested in sexual histories in modernity as well as magic in the west more broadly, especially the practices and art of Australian witch, Rosaleen Norton. She is Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History at The University of Queensland, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day

Medieval Torture Devices

Step into the dark corridors of history with our captivating lecture on Medieval Torture Devices and Methods! Uncover the chilling ingenuity behind the instruments of pain that were used to extract confessions, punish the guilty, and instill fear in the hearts of the populace. From the infamous Iron Maiden to the sinister Rack, each device tells a haunting story of power, cruelty, and justice in a time when the line between right and wrong was often blurred. Join us as we explore the psychological and societal impacts of these methods, revealing how they shaped the legal systems of their time and echo in our understanding of justice today. With vivid imagery and gripping narratives, this lecture promises to be both educational and utterly enthralling—perfect for history buffs and the curious alike. Don’t miss the chance to delve into this fascinating yet macabre chapter of our past!

Bio:

Lena Schattenherz Heide-Brennand is a Norwegian lecturer with a master degree in language, culture and literature from the University of Oslo and Linnaeus University. She has been lecturing and teaching various subjects since 1998. Her field of interest and main focus has always been topics that others have considered strange, eccentric and eerie, and she has specialised in a variety of dark subjects linked to folklore, mythology and Victorian traditions and medicine. Her students often point out her thorough knowledge about the subjects she is teaching, in addition to her charismatic appearance. She refers to herself as a performance lecturer and always gives her audience an outstanding experience

don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day

There is Death in the Pot

Join us for an exhilarating lecture exploring Frederick Accum’s groundbreaking work, “There is Death in the Pot,” a pivotal text from the 1800s that unearths the shocking truths about food safety and the dangers lurking in our diets. Delve into Accum’s daring investigation into food adulteration, revealing how common substances were manipulated to deceive consumers and endanger public health. This lecture will take you on a journey through the historical context of food science, the rise of consumer awareness, and the implications of Accum’s findings on modern food legislation. With engaging discussions and thought-provoking insights, discover how Accum’s legacy continues to resonate in today’s culinary world. Don’t miss this chance to gain a deeper understanding of a topic that is as relevant now as it was over two centuries ago!

Bio:

Lena Schattenherz Heide-Brennand is a Norwegian lecturer with a master degree in language, culture and literature from the University of Oslo and Linnaeus University. She has been lecturing and teaching various subjects since 1998. Her field of interest and main focus has always been topics that others have considered strange, eccentric and eerie, and she has specialised in a variety of dark subjects linked to folklore, mythology and Victorian traditions and medicine. Her students often point out her thorough knowledge about the subjects she is teaching, in addition to her charismatic appearance. She refers to herself as a performance lecturer and always gives her audience an outstanding experience

don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day

How Alex Comfort Discovered the “Joy of Sex”

In 1972, Dr. Alex Comfort authored the international bestseller that revolutionized the ancient genre of the sex manual—the culmination of a quarter-century writing and advocating for greater sexual freedom. But his career encompassed much more, as a pioneering gerontologist and geriatrician, a poet, novelist, and critic, anarchist and pacifist, and one of Britain’s leading public intellectuals and controversialists of the postwar decades.How did it all fit together?Eric Laursen, author of the new biography Polymath, will explore the roots of Alex Comfort’s achievement, from social medicine and scientific positivism to the mystical poetry of William Blake and the speculations of the Renaissance alchemists to Vedic philosophy, quantum physics, and the “technology of the emotions.” All of these fields informed Comfort’s lifelong quest to fully understand the human. Along the way, we will trace the intersection of his anarchist politics and his radical new perspective on sexual identity and practice.

Bio:

Eric Laursen is a longtime activist, historian, and journalist, living in western Massachusetts. His previous books are The People’s Pension: The Struggle to Defend Asocial Security Since Reagan (2012), The Duty to Stand Aside: Nineteen Eighty-Four and the Wartime Quarrel of George Orwell and Alex Comfort (2018), and The Operating System: An Anarchist Theory of the Modern State (2021).

Curated & Hosted by

Marguerite Johnson is a cultural historian of the ancient Mediterranean, specialising in sexuality and gender, particularly in the poetry of Sappho, Catullus, and Ovid, as well as magical traditions in Greece, Rome, and the Near East. She also researches Classical Reception Studies, with a regular focus on Australia. In addition to ancient world studies, Marguerite is interested in sexual histories in modernity as well as magic in the west more broadly, especially the practices and art of Australian witch, Rosaleen Norton. She is Honorary Professor of Classics and Ancient History at The University of Queensland, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.

don’t worry if you miss it – we will send you a recording valid for two weeks the next day