Great Courses: London in the Time of Dickens

The Pound Ridge Library is pleased to announce the continuation of a series of lectures which mark the eleventh year of courses which are part of the library’s continuing presentation of a new educational concept in life-long learning: a series of DVD seminars from The Teaching Company/The Great Courses encompassing a wide variety of subjects, given by outstanding scholars from major colleges and universities throughout the United States. This program, the first of its kind in the country, is designed to provide collegial, small group-setting for courses “you didn’t get to take at college, but wanted to.” The seminars, developed by the late Lawrence Brotmann of Pound Ridge, NY are held at the library on Thursdays at 12:30 pm and consist of four 30-minute (closed-captioned) lectures per session, most from 3 to 6 weeks per course.

Registration is not necessary but parking is limited. The library encourage carpooling or being dropped off.

Course Overview

By the start of the Victorian era, London was home to nearly 2 million people, a number that expanded to more than 6 million by 1901, the year of Queen Victoria’s death. This immense growth made the city an astonishing study in the varieties of human experience—the perfect place for a novelist to find his voice. Charles Dickens did just that in the 1830s.

Born in 1812, Dickens spent most of his life in a rapidly expanding London. As perhaps the most lauded of Victorian writers and a perennial classroom favorite, Dickens gives us a window into the past. His fiction and journalism capture the complexities of Victorian life, while continuing to resonate with meaning today.

In London in the Time of Dickens, you’ll get the unique opportunity to experience the British capital through the eyes of a literary master whose work is inextricably tied to the city and its rich history. Throughout 12 lectures taught by Professor Lillian Nayder of Bates College, you’ll tour the city of London in a time of rapid transformation through the life and work of Charles Dickens, uncovering the history of the metropolis, while also witnessing the everyday experiences of Londoners from all walks of life as Dickens represents them.