Events

Ann Radcliffe and Women’s Gothic Writing: a free public lecture by Dr. Deborah Russell (University of York)

16th May 2025, 6pm-8pm, Mappin Hall, Sir Frederick Mappin Building, Mappin St, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 3JD

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About the lecture

Ann Radcliffe (1764-1823) was “the great enchantress” of her generation, in the words of Thomas de Quincey. She changed the face of fiction in the Romantic period and shaped the development of Gothic romance. The extraordinary impact of her work also helped to cement an association between this genre and women writers and readers. But, of course, Radcliffe was far from the only woman writing Gothic fiction in the formative early days of the genre. This lecture will explore Radcliffe’s career in the context of the other women who inspired her, imitated her, and contested her vision of the Gothic.

About the speaker

Dr. Deborah Russell is a Senior Lecturer in Eighteenth-Century Literature at the University of York. Deborah’s research interests focus on Gothic fiction, with a particular emphasis on women’s writing and discourses of national identity. She also works on Romantic-era theatre, thinking about silence on stage, spectacle, and the politics of adaptation.

Ann Radcliffe and Romantic Culture: a free public lecture by Professor Michael Gamer (University of Pennsylvania)

13th December 2024, 6pm-8pm, Mappin Hall, Sir Frederick Mappin Building, Mappin St, Sheffield City Centre, Sheffield S1 3JD

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About the lecture

In the final decade of the eighteenth century, Ann Radcliffe (1764-1823) revolutionized the British novel, creating a new psychological fiction of suspense that would come to be called “the Radcliffe school.” Blending travel and terror, poetry and adventure, her writing was more than merely popular; it made her a sensation across media. Radcliffe novels were adapted by dramatists for the stage; her poems were set to music by composers; and her most famous scenes reimagined visually by artists. Jane Austen and John Keats loved her works; Walter Scott and Charles Dickens found early inspiration in her scenes of terror and dread. Join Professor Michael Gamer to learn more about Radcliffe’s life, writing, and the astounding influence she had on Romantic writing and culture.

Generously funded by the AHRC as part of the ongoing Ann Radcliffe, Then and Now project based at the University of Sheffield. Followed by a drinks reception.

About the speaker

Professor Michael Gamer, of the University of Pennsylvania, is an internationally acclaimed scholar and editor of Romantic and Gothic writing, having produced editions of William Wordsworth, Charlotte Smith and Horace Walpole. He is one of two general editors of the forthcoming Cambridge edition of the complete works of Ann Radcliffe, and has now completed his volume of Ann Radcliffe’s The Italian.