From the Canterbury Tales to Ulysses, the Rosenbach’s collection is full of books that have been banned, challenged, or censored. During Banned Books Week (Sept 24-30) take your rights and the books back into your own hands, discuss the controversies surrounding them, and celebrate your freedom to read.
“Picturing Cervantes” explores the ways Don Quixote has been imagined and illustrated through the centuries, featuring remarkable drawings and prints by notable artists such as Gustave Doré and Honoré Daumier. Explore depictions of the questing Don, his companion Sancho Panza, and his noble steed Rocinanante from artworks created shortly after the heroic entry of the “Ingenious Gentleman” onto the field of literature, and through the centuries beyond.
Join us for this rare peek into some of the most personal and emotional writing in our collections. From the aching yearnings of poet John Keats to the dying wishes of a Civil War solider, the Rosenbach is home to a variety of love letters. Spend an hour getting up-close and personal with a variety of treasures, including correspondence from Marlene Dietrich to Mercedes De Acosta and handwritten pages from James Joyce’s Ulysses.
The Rosenbach is well known for the works of James Joyce and Bram Stoker, but the “English Literature” collections include many other notable Irish authors as well. In addition to Ulysses and Dracula, we’ll read and handle works by some of these others, and look at their connections and influences extending from Thomas Jefferson and Moby-Dick to the present day.
Registration Tuition for this reading group is $200 Registration will open to Delancey Society members on August 22, to members on August 29, and to the public on September 5. Rosenbach members at the Contributor level and above will receive a 10% discount on tuition. Not a member? We invite you to join upon registration. Click (more…)
About 200 years ago, a runaway teenager awoke from a nightmare. Encouraged by her lover – a man married to another woman – she wrote down her dream, and in the process created a story that continues to haunt us today. In these 4 class sessions we will explore the secret history of Frankenstein, learning about the sexual politics and scientific controversies that animated Mary Shelley’s masterpiece. We will also explore Frankenstein’s longevity, identifying where and how this Gothic tale has shaped our culture.
Tuition includes admission to a performance of A Christmas Carol by the Philadelphia Artists’ Collective, which will take place at the Rosenbach on Thursday, December 14.
Celebrate the Bard of Ayrshire, Robert Burns, with an evening of raucous readings, traditional Scottish treats, and music.
This class will study the shifting images and themes of the rise of the vampire as a literary obsession, beginning with the first literary vampire: Sir Frances Varney, star of the notorious penny dreadful, Varney the Vampire, or, The Feast of Blood. The class will then study Bram Stoker’s classic, Dracula, and with a focus on the ways Stoker borrowed, shifted, and altered the tropes started by Rymer. For the second half of the semester, the class will study the vampire in contemporary literature, exploring how modern authors reimagine classic vampire images and themes and how modern vampires reflect the shifting political landscape.
Raise a glass to toast the 200th anniversary of the publication of Frankenstein with the Modern Prometheus: a twist on the classic gin martini with hints of citrus and elderflower liquer. During the cocktail party we’ll get a sneak preview of Mary Shelley, a solo performance by Jennifer Summerfield premiering next week. Bibliococktails The Bibliococktails series (more…)