The Rock Island Public Library and Augustana College are partnering to offer a four-week lecture series on the bicentennial of the birth of Charles Dickens.
The annual fall Frieze Lecture Series brings Augustana College professors into the Rock Island Main Library for thought-provoking college lectures with no grades or tests. This year's theme is "What the Dickens?" with each lecture featuring a topic related to one of the best-known writers in the English language..
The lecture series is offered in the Rock Island Main Library Community Room, 401 19th Street, at 2 p.m. on Tuesdays, October 23, 30, November 6 and 13. Coffee and conversation follow the lectures. Dates, presenters and topics include :
Tuesday, October 23: Dr. Karin Youngberg, Augustana College English department, will provide an overview of the life and work of Charles Dickens. Dr. Youngberg, who holds Augustana's Conrad Bergendoff Chair in the Humanities, will set the table for the Series' consideration of Dickens' place in literature and history.
Tuesday, October 30: Dr. David Ellis, Augustana College history department, will speak on the world Dickens inhabited, considering the key themes and issues in British, European and global history at the time Dickens was active.
Tuesday, November 6: Dr. Catherine Goebel, Augustana College art history department, will offer a slide lecture on artists important to Dickens. Dr. Goebel, who holds Augustana's Paul A. Anderson Chair in the Arts, will discuss both those artists who were favorites of Dickens and those who found inspiration in his literary works.
Tuesday, November 13: Dr. Umme al-Wazedi, Augustana College English department, will provide a post-colonial view of the staunchly pro-colonial Dickens, and consider how his place in literature has changed in a world vastly different from the one in which he lived.
Presentations are free and open to the public. For more details about events at the Rock Island Library, call 309.732-7303 or check the online calendar at www.rockislandlibrary.org
