2 May 2012

Why literature matters - public lecture on 9th May

The importance of literature as a means of understanding the world around us will be laid out at a public lecture taking place at the University of Dundee next week.

Marina Warner, a writer of fiction and non-fiction and Professor of Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Essex, will deliver her lecture, entitled 'The Reason of Myth: Why Literature Matters', on Wednesday, 9th May.

The event is the latest instalment in the Arts & Humanities Research Institute (AHRI) Lecture Series 2011/12.

Professor Warner said, "The purpose of universities has become the subject of fierce debate, and the Humanities have been under particular attack as a luxury the nation can no longer afford.

"In my lecture, I will look at what we are told is one of the most useless subjects of all - myth, with its overtones of falsehood and illusion and fantasy. Drawing on the recent writings and revisions on Troy by poets, novelists and essayists, I will make the opposite case, that myth has its reasons, and that this is nowhere seen better than in the understanding of violence and war."

Marina Warner's most recent book is Stranger Magic: Charmed States and the Arabian Nights, and she is the author of more than 30 other pieces of fiction and non-fiction. In 2005, she became a Fellow of the British Academy, and was awarded a CBE for services to Literature in 2008. She is currently writing a novel set in Cairo during the 1950s.

The AHRI is based within the School of Humanities at Dundee, and serves as a forum for research across the School's principal disciplines of English literature and creative writing, history, philosophy and aesthetics.

The lecture series showcases the range of groundbreaking humanities research taking place across the country, and sees eminent academics from Dundee deliver the lecture programme alongside colleagues from other UK universities and institutions.

'The Reason of Myth: Why Literature Matters' takes place at the D'Arcy Thompson Lecture Theatre from 6pm on Wednesday, 9th May. Entry is free and open to all, and the lecture will be preceded by a wine reception from 5pm.

More information is available by visiting www.dundee.ac.uk/humanities/artsandhumanitiesresearchinstitute.

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