Readings, Lectures, Talks, Debates - the best of February

Readings, Lectures, Talks, Debates - the best of February

24 January, 2012
by: Spoonfed Arts Team

Our selection of the five best talks, readings, lectures, debates and other wordy-based events taking place across London next month.

Tuesday 7th February
Dickens' London @ bookHaus
Free, 7pm
Well timed to coincide, to the exact day, with the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Dickens, author Peter Clark launches his new book, Dickens' London, at the bookHaus on February 7th. The book weaves together depictions of the capital today with elements of Dickens' own life and writings in order to create a vivid picture of an ever-changing city. Should be a fascinating evening and a highlight among all the other Dickens-centric stuff going on across town.


Thursday 9th February
John Lahr in conversation with Don Campbell @ Islington Museum
£8, 7pm
This sounds like an interesting one. The New Yorker's senior drama critic, John Lahr, is at the Islington Museum talking with psychoanalyst Don Campbell. As part of the Connecting Conversations series, the discussion will focus on Lahr's new biography of Joe Orton and has been programmed to coincide with the museum's current exhibition devoted to Orton and Kenneth Halliwell.


Wednesday 22nd February
Lucian Freud My Father @ Freud Museum
£10, 7pm
Something of a family affair this, as Jane McAdam Freud discusses her current exhibition at the Freud Museum. The museum was, of course, home to Sigmund Freud, Jane's grandfather, and her current exhibition there consists of large-scale sculptural portraits of her father, Lucian Freud, produced in the months prior to his death in July 2011. Bound to be an emotional evening and probably a fascinating one too.


Tuesday 28th February
What Are Universities For? @ LSE
Free, 6.30pm
The world has more universities than ever before. Yet with the increasing focus on the economic and the bureaucratic these days, nobody is quite sure what their purpose is any more. Professor Stefan Collini comes to the LSE this month to discuss his new book, which suggests new ways forward. Like the brilliant Bill Readings before him, Collini emphasises diversity and the continued importance of the humanities.


Wednesday 29th February
Wired for Culture @ The Royal Institution
£10, 7pm
Professor Mark Pagel makes the case that, far from an incidental add-on to humanity's conceptions of identity and purpose, culture, and cultural difference, are in fact central factors in our success as a species. The need to establish personal and communal identity is what, for Pagel, separates us from our nearest ancestors. Pseudo-evolutionary babble or a revolutionary step forwards in our understanding of human nature? There's only one way to find out!

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Spoonfed Arts Team