On Monday 25th February, York St John Information Learning Services will be launching their LGBT History Month display. I vividly remember, at the age of about 15, finding a book called What Comes Naturally in the Women’s section of the Salisbury Bookshop. By Norwegian writer Gerd Brantenberg, it was a hilarious description of a university student in the 1960s “finding herself” and coming out as a lesbian. As I tried to figure out my own identity at that period a number of films, books and plays helped me to see who I was. The characters were often far from me in time, place and other identities – nineteenth century Americans Patience and Sarah, the confused Cypress in Sassafrass, Cypress and Indigo (a novel about an African American family in mid-twentieth century South Carolina and New York) and of course, The Colour Purple, in which Celie falls in love with Shug. Films spoke to me too, such as Hanif Kureishi and Stephen Frear’s My Beautiful Laundrette in which the characters Johnny and Omar struggled with racism, class and Thatcherism, but had no qualms about embracing each other and their sexuality.  I also got to play the delightfully ambiguous Count Orsino in an all female production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. 

So come on down to the library next Monday and have a look at Katherine Hughes’ display. Contact Katherine or Thomas Peach with your recommendations, and if you want to review your favourite LGBT texts for our Words Matter blog, contact Adam Smith or myself, Saffron Vickers Walkling. 

PS I’ll be introducing my latest favourite LGBT text God’s Own Country at 5.30 that same day in a free screening for staff and students . Book tickets here. (PLEASE NOTE, this is a past event)

Spinning out of the ongoing ‘Satire: Births, Deaths and Legacies’ project, a new monthly podcast sees Drs Adam J Smith and Jo Waugh talk about the form, function, future and history of British satire.

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Satire: Deaths, Births, Legacies

Satire is both an urgent topic and one with a long history. Journalists, and satirists themselves, regularly make the claim that “satire is dead” in a world of “fake news”, or news that seems too incredible or too unpalatable to be true. Yet satire continues to emerge, in forms both professional and amateur, elitist and popular.

Satire: Deaths, Births, Legacies looks to draw together researchers and practitioners working on projects which variously historicize, problematize, theorize, teach, and perform satire and satirical material. This project seeks to contribute meaningfully to what is becoming a national conversation about the form, function, and future of satire.

Smith & Waugh Talk About Satire

In their new podcast, Jo and Adam will be joined by a range of guests, including scholars and practitioners of satire. 

The first episode, ‘What even is satire?’, comes out today, and you can listen on the project website or via Soundcloud. Adam and Jo start by talking about the biggest question of all. What is satire? What did it used to be, and what is it now in the age of Twitter, Trump and Brexit?

Forthcoming Episodes

Keep an ear out for the monthly episodes coming out between now and July:

Episode 2. Satire and Celebrity

Jo and Adam are joined by Gráinne O’Hare (Newcastle University) and Katie Snow (University of Exeter) to talk about the relationship between satire and celebrity and consider the position of the woman as satirist and the subject of satire.

Release date: 14/3/2019

 

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Episode 3. Satire and the Novel 

What is the difference between a satirical novel and a novel with satire in it? Adam and Jo are joined by Dr Helen Williams (Northumbria University) to talk about one of the best known satirical novels of all time: Laurence Sterne’s The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gent. 

Release date: 11/4/2019

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Episode 4. Satire and the Image

Do you need words to do satire? If a picture can say a thousand words, how much satire can it do? Adam and Jo are joined by Wendy McGlashan (University of Aberdeen) to talk about eighteenth-century print-maker, miniaturist and satire merchant, John Kay.

Release date: 9/5/2019

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Episode 5. Satire and Laughter

Should satire make us laugh? Is satire always funny? Why do we laugh at things anyway? Adam and Jo are joined by Dr Kate Davison (University of Sheffield) to talk about the social history of laughter, and the various satires of the eighteenth-century tavern keeper Ned Ward.

Release date: 6/6/2019

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Episode 6. Finale: Satire and the Future 

It’s a big satirepalloza as Adam and Jo talk to both returning guests and (some very special surprise guests!) about what the future holds for satire.

Let Adam and Jo know what you think either on Twitter (@SatireNoMore) or by email (SatireNoMore@gmail.com). 

Release date: 4/7/2019

Did you see yourself or your family reflected in the books you read as a child? Librarian Clare McCluskey-Dean contacted us recently about an exciting initiative for LGBT History Month. She has made a display of inclusive children’s and young adult books purchased by the library at York St John University in the past year or so. It will be in place throughout February, and she hopes it will evolve as people borrow the books. You can visit the display in the School Library area, on the first floor of Fountains. Please pass this on to anyone you think would be interested. Also, if you have any recommendations for other books we could buy, or ideas for future displays, she would be happy to hear those. I, for one, will be visiting to borrow some books in which I see my family reflected. Please contact her via Information Learning Services in Fountains Learning Centre: ile@yorksj.ac.uk