100 Years of The Well of Loneliness, with Jana Funke and Hannah Roche

Join Jana Funke and Hannah Roche, editors of the new Oxford World’s Classics edition of Radclyffe Hall’s The Well of Loneliness, for a no-holds-barred discussion of the most famous banned book in LGBTQ+ history.

Published and banned as obscene in the UK in 1928, The Well of Loneliness has offered support and affirmation to generations of readers across the world. However, the so-called ‘Lesbian Bible’ has also alienated, offended, and divided readerships, and it continues to inspire debates about gender and sexuality, freedom of speech, and the identity-shaping power of literary fiction.

In this illustrated talk, Funke and Roche will share the delights and challenges of working with The Well of Loneliness. Looking ahead to the centenary of the novel’s publication and trials, the talk will situate the novel in queer cultural history and consider its ongoing significance to a diverse range of readers today. Drawing on archival finds, historical articles and artefacts, and personal testimony, Funke and Roche will reflect on a century of The Well of Loneliness.

Though it will help if you have read The Well of Loneliness it is not compulsory. Jana and Hannah’s edition is now in stock, but other editions are and have been available.

Jana Funke is Professor of Modern Literature and Sexuality Studies at the University of Exeter. Hannah Roche is Senior Lecturer in Twentieth-Century Literature and Culture at the University of York.

Refreshments provided

You may also like the following events from Five Leaves Bookshop:

• This Wednesday, 6th August, 07:00 pm, Boater: a life on England’s Waterways, with Jo Bell in Nottingham
• This Thursday, 7th August, 07:00 pm, Non-Fiction Book Group reads ‘Monsters: What Do We Do with Great Art by Bad People?’ by Claire Deder in Nottingham
• Next Monday, 11th August, 07:00 pm, An illustrated talk on British freshwater and marine fish, with Jack Perks in Nottingham

Also check out other Arts events in Nottingham, Literary Art events in Nottingham, Fine Arts events in Nottingham.