WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2024 | 4-6:30 PM
Lecture: Kean Room, Drew University Library, NJ
Speaker: Professor Tom Mole, Durham University
As we enter the Autumn of the bicentenary year of Lord Byron’s death, we are pleased to announce the Fourteenth Leslie A. Marchand Memorial Lecture at Drew University. In partnership with Drew University’s Special Collections, home of the Byron Society Collection, this year’s event promises to offer keen insights on one of literature’s most captivating figures and his enduring impact on how we too remember the past.
“Byron and the Impossible Monument”
We are honored to be joined by distinguished speaker Professor Tom Mole, Principal of Van Mildert College at Durham University and Professor of English Literature and Book History. This timely talk will explore Byron’s fascinating relationship with commemoration. Dr. Mole’s lecture will delve into Byron’s lifelong engagement with monuments, examining how tombs, graves, and memorials played a crucial role in the poet’s travels and emotional connections to places.
Byron’s interest in these spaces, of course, went beyond the conventional. Dr. Mole will discuss the poet’s intrigue with failed, inadequate, or altogether absent monuments as well. From unmarked graves to lost remains and puzzling inscriptions, Byron challenges the norms and expectations of commemoration. Even in the validation felt standing where great figures left their dust, one begins to question the faithfulness—and permanence—of whatever still remains (and how long our own feelings of validation might last). Dr. Mole’s lecture offers unique contemplations about conventional commemorative pieties, truly meaningful markers, and legacy.
Join us in the Kean Room at Drew University for an evening of intellectual stimulation and discovery!
This event is not only for Byron enthusiasts or scholars of Romantic literature. Its focus on broader themes that extend far beyond bicentenary timelines will be sure to captivate all! In addition, the lecture will be followed by a Reception and tour of the BSA archives.
RSVP: speccol@drew.edu
For directions to Drew University and accommodation information, please visit:
- Directions: https://drew.edu/maps-directions/
- Accommodation: https://www.themadisonhotel.com/ (Ask for the Drew rate)
We look forward to seeing you there!
