Peter Boxall, Professor of English at the University of Sussex, will be giving a presentation on ‘The Novel Body’ for the Staff-Postgraduate Seminar in the English Department. This paper addresses the material status of the novel body, from Swift and Melville to Lawrence and Bowen, in the context of a discussion about the ethical and political value of literary fiction. Although the talk focuses mainly on the history of the novel, there will be some discussion of the relationship between the biological human body and what Boxall describes as the ‘prosthetic body’ imagined in novels.
The presentation will be held from 4:30 – 6:00 p.m. in the Hallgarth House seminar room, followed by drinks at the Vic.