A voice from Europe: the legacy of John Berger - novelist, critic, art historian

City Lit

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In London

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Description

  • Type

    Course

  • Location

    London

  • Start date

    Different dates available

When John Berger died in January 2017, the publications celebrating his ninetieth birthday were still in full flow, including an intimate Tilda Swinton-inspired film portrait which did exquisite justice to his personal charisma and commitment to human justice. After sixty years of continuous writing in every conceivable genre from fiction to poetry to art criticism to political essay to television documentary, Berger at ninety showed no sign of slowing down – his last collection, of the philosophically-charged short pieces he called “Confabulations”, had just appeared. Throughout his career, he worked with photographers, other writers, activists of all kinds, and his commentaries on visual art and on the masterpieces of the Western tradition were collaborative too: Berger, the artist and the audience or reader coming together to decipher, beyond the artwork itself, the truth of the world.

Facilities

Location

Start date

London
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Keeley Street, Covent Garden, WC2B 4BA

Start date

Different dates availableEnrolment now open

About this course

• Place each of the studied texts within the wider achievement of Berger’s writings as a whole
• Evaluate his importance as a commentator on contemporary life and as a creative writer for whom craftsmanship and the beauty of the made object were essential models for his own practice.

It would be helpful if you could read some or any of the named texts before coming to class, but this is not necessary. The tutor will provide samples from each of them, as well as examples of other works that feature in discussion, or background articles where these seem appropriate.

BIOGRAHICAL DETAILS:.
Stephen Winfield lectured in English at Richmond upon Thames College in Twickenham, where he was also Coordinator of the International Baccalaureate from 2004 to 2016. He has also lectured in English Literature in Poland and taught Business English in Paris

There will be a variety of teaching methods, including direct tutor input, powerpoint, video and audioclips. Small group or pair work will be encouraged and there will also be plenary feedback and discussion. No work outside class apart from any reading of one or more of the featured texts you are able to do beforehand.

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Subjects

  • Writing
  • Art
  • Voice

Course programme

Our point of departure will be his quintessentially European novel written in the 1990’s, “To the Wedding”, which reflects in its endless movement across the newly liberated continent and struggle to overcome suffering, themes which were always among Berger’s central preoccupations: refugees, displacement, the impact of global forces on communities and on the individual.

Other texts we will discuss in detail include his ground breaking photojournalistic essay on Turkish migrants to Germany, “The Seventh Man”, which Berger himself claimed to be his most significant contribution; selected writings on art history, resistance to power, our threatened relationship to the land and nature, and the moral gaze (from such volumes as “Photocopies”, “Keeping a Rendezvous” and “The Shape of a Pocket”); further novels dealing with exclusion, imprisonment and love as the ultimate form of survival (“Lilac and Flag”; “From A to X”); and the recently republished, jewel-like meditation on personal inspiration, “The Red Tenda of Bologna”.

“Writing carries with it the heavy burden of responsibility … The priorities according to which we perceive and react to the world – can they be changed”? (John Berger).

Additional information

Look up Literature courses in the prospectus under Humanities or on the website under History, Culture and Writing at General information and advice on courses at City Lit is available from the Student Centre and Library on Monday to Friday from 12:00 – 19:00. See the course guide for term dates and further details

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A voice from Europe: the legacy of John Berger - novelist, critic, art historian

£ 49 VAT inc.

The best Literature courses

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