For information on upcoming meetings, see the home page.
Below is an archive of meetings from 2009-2020.
Autumn 2020: Food
Meetings to be conducted over ‘Zoom’, on the following Wednesdays between 5.30 and 6.30 pm. See the home page for details.
- 21 October: Rainer Maria Rilke, Sonnets to Orpheus
- 4 November: John Keats, ‘The Fall of Hyperion. A Dream’
- 2 December: Dubravka Ugrešić, Baba Yaga Laid an Egg
- 16 December: Homer, The Odyssey
Quick links to the archive:
2019-20 | 2018-19 | 2017-18 | 2016-17 | 2015-16 | 2014-15 | 2013-14 | 2012-13 | 2011-12 | 2010-11 | 2009-10
Programme Archive
2019-20
Autumn 2019: Myth and Childhood
Wednesdays from 13:15 to 14:45 in Room NTC. 3.06
- 16 October: Dr Leon Burnett, The Childhood of the Hero in the Acritic Tradition
- 6 November: Dr Leon Burnett, The Kathakali Man: Childhood in The God of Small Things
- 13 November: Roundtable discussion: Changelings
- 11 December: Dr Jeremy Solnick, Narnia: Reshaping Myth for Children and Adults
Spring 2020
Wednesdays from 13:15 to 14:45 in Room NTC. 2.07
- 29 January: Carla Scarano, Intertextual references and myths in The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
- 5 February: Students from Ipswich Academy, Myths in the voices of children
- 12 February: Roundtable discussion on Philip Pullman
2018-19
Autumn Term 2018: Animals and Mythical Creatures.
Wednesdays from 5.00 to 6.30pm in Room NTC.2.05
- 17 October: Dr Leon Burnett, An Assyrian Lamassu in London
- 31 October: Léna Remy-Kovach (Freiburg), Windigos, Wingigog and Windikouk
- 14 November: Dr Eirini Apanomeritaki and Dr Stefanie Savva: G. del Toro’s The Shape of Water (2017)
- 28 November: Dr Adrian May (LiFTS): ‘Avianthropy’ and the sung ballad in The Earl of Mar’s Daughter
- 5 December (PPS Open Seminar, 5.00 to 6.30 pm in Room 4N.6.1): Prof. Robert Segal, Myth and Science
- 12 December: Helena Senior (York): Who’s afraid of the big black dog? The origins of the spectral hound and its appropriation in literature
Spring Term 2019: Animals and Mythical Creatures
Wednesdays (5-6.30 pm in Room NTC.2.05) or Thursdays (12-1.30pm in Room 5B.124)
- Wednesday 23 January (5-6.30pm): Carla Scarano D’Antonio (Reading), Re-mythologizing Myths and Fairy tales: Surfacing (1972) by Margaret Atwood
- Thursday 7 February (12-1.30pm): Prof. Roderick Main, Pegasus in Pindar, Kavanagh, and Jung
- Wednesday 20 February (5-6.30pm): Dr Hanna Boast (Birmingham), The People of the Sea: Selkies in Scottish and Irish Folk Tales
- Thursday 7 March (12-1.30pm): Jeremy Solnick
- Thursday 21 March (12-1.30pm): Dr Anita Klujber
2017-18
Autumn 2017: The VoidThursdays, 12:00-1:30pm., Room 3.411 |
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| Friday 27 October |
Translating Eurydice Conference (UEL, Stratford Campus) & Beyond Orpheus Beyond Eurydice by Ghost Jam (Hackney) A one-day conference on myth in the twenty-first century organised by the Centre for Myth Studies, (Essex) and Psychosocial Studies (UEL) The conference will be followed by an evening performance by Ghost Jam |
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| 2 November | Dr Leon Burnett | Taking Nothing for Granted: The Formless in its many Forms |
| 9 November | Eirini Apanomeritaki | Pan’s Labyrinth (dir. Guillermo del Toro) |
| 16 November | Round Table Discussion chaired by Dr Leon Burnett | Aquatic Chaos (Part I) |
| 23 November | Round Table Discussion chaired by Robert W. Allen | Aquatic Chaos (Part II) |
| 30 November | Rich Fliss | Inner Void: Gyges’ Ring of Invisibility |
| 7 December | Jeremy Solnick | Representations of Chaos in Xhosa Myth & Storytelling |
| 14 DecemberAfternoon session: 3.15-5.00pm in Room 4.204
Followed by drinks! |
Katerina Volioti (University of Roehampton) | The Visual Language of (Hesiod’s) Creation in Children’s BooksDr Volioti’s research is linked to the international project Our Mythical Childhood |
Spring 2018: Trees & ForestsThursdays, 12:00-1:30pm., Room 3.411 |
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| 25 January | Dr Leon Burnett | The Dance of the Trees: the backward flight of time in The Lost Steps |
| 1 February | Dr Anita Klujber | Rings & Ripples: A Mythic Structure of Growth in Denise Levertov’s ‘A Tree Telling of Orpheus’ |
| 8 February | Eirini Apanomeritaki | Tree Imagery & Symbolism in Herman Hesse’s Pictor Metamorphoses |
| 15 February | Jeremy Solnick | Sacred Groves |
| 22 February | Dr Linda Jo Bartholomew | Neil Gaiman’s ‘Snow, Glass, Apples’: Rewriting ‘Little Snow White’ |
| Delighted to announce that in addition to the myth reading group session by Dr Bartholomew, the theme of Trees & Forests will be explored on #FolkloreThursday (@FolkloreThurs)! | ||
| Robert William Allen | ||
| 8 March | John Driver | Forbidden Fruit |
| 15 March | Robert William Allen | Re-imaginings of myth in the landscapes of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles (Part I) |
| 22 March | Sarah Armstrong | The forests of Moscow: the political fairy tales of Russia |
Summer 2018: Trees and ForestsThursdays, 12:00-1:30pm., Room 4.204 & Room 3.413 (21 & 28 June) |
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| 3 May | Dr Leon Burnett | A Tour in the Forest |
| Friday 11 May |
A One-day Symposium to mark the tenth anniversary of the foundation of the Centre for Myth Studies 11.00-17.30 in Room 4.722 (University of Essex) The event includes: Introduction by the centre’s Director, Prof. Roderick Main (PPS), reading of “The Man of the Wood” by Dr Saul Andreetti (Bologna) & in conversation session with Dr Leon Burnett, keynote lecture by Prof. José Manuel Losada (Complutense University, Madrid), & seminar by Dr Pietra Palazzolo (Centre for Myth Studies & Open University) Celebratory dinner at The Brasserie at Wivenhoe House (19.00) Book your place on the Eventbrite page! #CMS10 |
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| 17 May | Cristina Salcedo González
(Universidad Autónoma de Madrid) |
‘No roses, white or red, glow here’: the motif of the garden in the poetry of A. Swinburne & D. Greenwell |
| 24 MayRoom EBS.1.1 |
Dr Dimitra Fimi (Cardiff Metropolitan University) |
‘The Battle of the Trees’: from medieval Welsh legend to modern fantasy(Video Conference) |
| 31 May | Abigail Walker (Department of Classics, King’s College, London) | Civilised garden or fantastical wilderness?: the ‘Garden Room’ in the Villa of Livia in Rome |
| 7 June | Amelia Starling (Content editor for #FolkloreThursday) | The Significance of Trees in Japanese Culture, Religion, & Folklore |
| 14 June | Gillian Lock-Bowen | Yggdrasil: from Norse Mythology to Anselm Kiefer’s art works |
| 21 June | Dr Emma Bridges (Institute of Classical Studies, London) | Odysseus, Penelope, and the olive-tree bed of the Odyssey 23 |
| 28 June | Robert William Allen (Open University) | Re-imaginings of myth in the landscapes of Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles (Part II) |
2016-17
Autumn 2016: MythscapesThursdays, 12:00-1:30pm., Room NTC.2.06 |
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| 3 November | Dr Leon Burnett | Naxos Revisited |
| 10 November | Dr Ben Pestell | Après le déluge: Post-apocalyptic archaism |
| 16 November | Book Launch Symposium for Translating Myth hosted by The British Centre for Literary Translation (BCLT) at The University of East AngliaSpeakers include: Dr Ben Pestell, Dr Pietra Palazzolo, and Dr Leon Burnett (Centre for Myth Studies); Professor Duncan Large (Director of BCLT), and Giuseppe Sofo (“Sapienza” University, Rome) | |
| 24 November | Sally Pomme Clayton (storyteller) | The Russian Forest—the landscape of Russian fairytales with ‘Babayaga’s Daughter’ (Performance event) |
| 1 December | Eirini Apanomeritaki | Latin American mythscapes:Gabriel García Márquez’s Macondo |
| 8 December | Professor Roderick Main | Mythscapes of a mind-doctor |
| 15 December | Robert W. Allen | John Ruskin: Aspects of Mythscape |
Spring 2017: JourneysThursdays, 12:00-1:30pm., Room NTC.2.06 |
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| 2 February | Dr Leon Burnett | The Longest Journey: Inanna’s Descent |
| 9 February | Jeremy Solnick | The Journey of the Hero in Contemporary Epic Poetry |
| 16 February | Eirini Apanomeritaki | The politics of journey in Aristophanes’ Frogs |
| 23 February | Roundtable discussion chaired by Dr Pietra Palazzolo | Sea Journeys |
| 2 March | Dr Pietra Palazzolo | Creation myths in Ex Machina & Her |
| 9 March | Max Maher | Nomadic Modernism: Aristeas as re-imagined by J.H.Prynne |
| 16 March | Fliss Rich | Journeying from one life to the next: Reincarnation in Tibetan Buddhist writing, art & practice |
| 23 March | Professor Roderick Main | ‘Route 110’: Heaney’s quotidian katabasis |
Summer 2017: Myth & MagicThursdays, 12:00-1:30pm., Room 5A.118 |
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| 4 May | Professor Roderick Main | ‘Route 110’: Heaney’s quotidian katabasis (Follow-up session) |
| 11 May | Round Table Discussion | Myth & Magic |
| 18 May | Dr Leon Burnett | Out of Nature: Myth and Magic in the Early Modern Period |
| 25 May | Jeremy Solnick | Myth and Magical Realism in the work of Ben Okri and Zakes Mda |
| 1 June | Reading week | See Amelia Starling’s guest post: Sleeping Beauty and the Fates of Mythology |
| 8 June | Shehzad Raj | Dionysus, the Eastern Conjuror |
| 15 June | Professor Roderick Main | Merlin & Faust: contrasting representations of magicians in Western literature |
| 22 June | Eirini Apanomeritaki | Pan’s Labyrinth (dir. Guillermo del Toro) |
2015-16
Autumn 2015: Open SessionsThursdays, 12:00-1:30pm., Room 3.318 |
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| 15 October | Dr Leon Burnett | The Uses of Myth: ‘The Witch à la Mode’ |
| 22 October | Dr Linda Jo Bartholomew | A. S. Byatt’s “Sea Story”: Mythic Tale or Moral Fable? |
| 29 October | Brittany Kuhn | King Minos from Antiquity to the Present |
| 5 November | Eirini Apanomeritaki | Judging Beauty: Reading Apuleius and Marie Darrieussecq |
| 12 November | Jeremy Solnick | The Monsters in Beowulf |
| 19 November | Prof. Roderick Main | Jungian Interpretations of Merlin |
| 26 November(5pm) | Dr Justine McConnell (Oxford University) | “Junot Díaz and a Graeco-Caribbean Mythology”Centre for Myth Studies Seminar |
| 3 December | Dr Leon Burnett | Stranded on Naxos: The Ambivalence of Ariadne |
| 10 December | Dr Ben Pestell | Philomachy: Euripides’ The Trojan Women |
Spring 2016: AfterlivesThursdays, 12:00-1:30pm., Room 3.318 |
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| 21 January | Dr Leon Burnett | Osiris: Egyptian God of the Afterlife |
| 28 January | Jeremy Solnick | Dreams of Eland: San Myth and Rock Art |
| 4 February | Mikael Bang | Heaven on Earth, or Earth Made Heavenly? |
| 11 February | Joyce Tye | Demeter & Persephone: A Jungian Interpretation |
| 18 February | Prof. Roderick Main | C. G. Jung’s Myth of Life after Death |
| 25 February | Eirini Apanomeritaki | The Sibyl’s Afterlives |
| 3 March | Dr Anita Klujber | Afterlife of Myth in Béla Bartók’s Cantata Profana |
| 10 March | Brittany Kuhn | Narrating Persephone’s ‘Afterlife’ |
| 17 March(at 5pm in Room 5N.3.9 ) | Dr Leon Burnett:Centre for Myth Studies Open Seminar:
Reading the Strands of Ariadne’s Story |
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Summer 2016: AfterlivesThursdays, 12:00-1:30pm., Room 3.318 |
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| 5 May | Fliss Rich | Tibetan Buddhist Views of the Afterlife |
| 12 May | Dr Ben Pestell | The Age of the Rainmakers by Wilson Harris |
| 19 May | Jeremy Solnick | The Engaged Afterlife of Lilith |
| 26 May | no session due to industrial action | |
| 2 June | Eirini Apanomeritaki | Myths of the Afterlife in E. Fakinou’s The Seventh Garment |
| 9 June | Professor Roderick Main | Seamus Heaney’s Aeneid Book VI |
| 16 June | Dr Anita Klujber | ‘The Myth of Er’ in Plato’s The Republic |
| 23 June | Dr Jo Harwood (Director of ESCALA) | Joint CMS/ESCALA event |
2014-15
Autumn 2014: Myth and Metamorphosis
Thursdays, 1-2 p.m., Room 5B.332
| 30 October | Jeremy Solnick | Jo Shapcott’s Of Mutability |
| 6 November | Dr Pietra Palazzolo | The Metamorphosis of Arachne |
| 13 November | Prof. Roderick Main | Philemon and Baucis |
| 20 November | Dr Leon Burnett | Arcady: the haunt of Pan |
| 27 November | Imen Cozzo | Ibrahim Alkoni: the haunt of Man-Waddan |
| 4 December | Fliss Rich | Metamorphosis in Olive Schreiner’s The Story of an African Farm |
| 11 December | Brittany Kuhn | Rome’s Proserpinic Transformation |
Spring 2015: Myth and Metamorphosis
Thursdays, 1-2 p.m., Room 5B.332
| 22 January | Jeremy Solnick | Alice Oswald’s Tithonus |
| 29 January | Dr Leon Burnett | Eternal Bounty: Idun and her Apples |
| 5 February | Dr Pietra Palazzolo | Graham Swift’s Waterland |
| 12 February | Brittany Kuhn | Transforming Hawaii |
| 19 February | Prof. Roderick Main | The Spirit Mercurius |
| 26 February | No MRG session, but see this reading event at Norwich Castle:
http://www.wherevent.com/detail/Alice-Paul-Viking-Poems-at-Norwich-Castle |
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| 5 March | Eirini Apanomeritaki | The Minotaur in Twentieth- Century Art and Literature |
| 12 March | Petra McQueen | Re-interpreting Narcissus: John Cheever’s “The Swimmer” |
| 19 March | Fliss Rich | The Sun-Bushmen of the Kalahari |
Summer 2015: Myth and Emotion
Thursdays, 1-2 p.m., Room 5B.111
| 7 May | Jeremy Solnick | Kate Tempest’s Brand New Ancients |
| 14 May | Dr Leon Burnett | Marguerite Yourcenar’s “Our Lady of the Swallows” |
| 21 May | Dr Ben Pestell | Myth and Terror |
| 28 May | Brittany Kuhn | The Singing River of Pascagoula |
| 4 June | Prof. Roderick Main | Myth, ecstasy, and objective cognition: the mystical visions of C. G. Jung |
| 11 June | Petra McQueen | “The Father Costume”: A Dystopian Odyssey? |
| 18 June | Eirini Apanomeritaki | Werewolves and the Uncanny in Angela Carter’s Short Stories |
| Tuesday 23 June (5pm) | Professor Sarah Annes Brown (Anglia Ruskin University) | “Shakespeare and Myth-making” (Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies & Centre for Myth Studies Joint Seminar) |
2013-14Thursdays, 1-2 p.m. |
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Autumn 2013 (Room 5N.7.23) |
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10 October |
Leon Burnett |
Europa: Myth and Continent (5-6 pm; Room 5A.118) |
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7 November |
Leon Burnett |
Reading Faust |
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21 November |
Open session |
Myth and the Natural Environment |
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28 November |
Roderick Main |
Seamus Heaney’s Uses of Myth |
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5 December |
Ben Pestell |
Is Pan Dead? |
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12 December |
Ole Wiedenmann |
Heinrich Heine’s Germany. A Winter’s Tale |
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Spring 2014 (Room 5N.7.23): Poets’ Myths |
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16 January |
Jeremy Solnick |
The Death of Actaeon |
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30 January |
Imen Cozzo |
Giuseppe Ungaretti |
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20 February |
Brittany Kuhn |
Edgar Allan Poe |
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27 February |
Ole Wiedenmann |
Georg Trakl |
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6 March |
Leon Burnett |
Zounds!! |
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13 March |
Pietra Palazzolo |
Demeter and Persephone |
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20 March |
Ben Pestell |
Fernando Pessoa |
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Summer 2014 (Room 5B.330): Myth in Fiction |
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| 8 May | Leon Burnett | Myth in Doris Lessing’s Briefinf for a Descent into Hell |
| 22 May | Jeremy Solnick | Credo Mutwa’s uses of myth in Indaba My Children |
| 29 May | Pietra Palazzolo | John Banville’s uses of myth |
| 5 June | Ben Pestell | Myth in Donna Tartt’s The Secret History |
| 12 June | Leon Burnett | Myth and ekphrasis in Victor Segalen’s paintings (1916) |
| 19 June | Abdul Atteh | The myth of the ghoul and the desert in Arabic culture |
| 26 June | Brittany Kuhn | Mythorealism in Paul Coelho’s The Alchemist |
Posters for the Myth Reading Group, 2011-2014
2012-13Thursdays, 5 – 6 p.m., Room 5A.118 |
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Autumn 2012 |
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| 18 October | Ben Pestell | Menelaus and Proteus |
| 25 October | Dr Leon Burnett | Journey as Quest: Quest as Question |
| 1 November | Dr Cate Gunn | Pilgrimage |
| 8 November | Ole Wiedenmann | Samothracian Mysteries |
| 15 November | Jeremy Solnick | Pilgrimage and perambulation |
| PLUS, after the meeting, FILM: The Tree Of Life. 7 p.m. in LTB 10, in conjunction with the Centre for Film Studies | ||
| 22 November | Dr John Cant | Response to The Tree of Life |
| 6 December | Professor Roderick Main | The Birth of Athena: Symbol, Myth, and Synchronicity |
| 13 December | You Xiao | Chinese Creation Myths |
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Spring 2013: Creation Myths |
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| 17 January | Dr Leon Burnett | Norse Creation Myth |
| 24 January | Ben Pestell | Ancient Greek Creation Myth |
| 31 January | Jeremy Solnick | Zulu Creation Myth |
| 14 February | Stefanie Savva | Aphrodite and Arodaphnousa in Cyprus |
| 21 February | Professor Roderick Main | Khepri the Ancient Egyptian Scarab Deity |
| 28 February | Matthew Boyle | Scriabin – Music as Myth
In Music Room B |
| 14 March | Dr John Cant | Myths of the Political Origins of the USA |
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Summer 2013 |
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| 2 May | Dr Leon Burnett | Orpheus returns |
| 16 May | Open session | Prometheus |
| 6 June | Lydia Crow | The Unique and the Usual: Orcadian Folklore |
2011-12Tuesdays, 5 – 6 p.m. |
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Autumn 2011 (Room 5A.330): Sacrifice in myth and religion |
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| 25 October | Dr Leon Burnett | Making Sacred |
| 1 November | Dr Cate Gunn | Eucharist |
| 8 November | Suzanne Nolan | Maya Self-sacrifice |
| 15 November | Ben Pestell | Isaac versus Iphigeneia |
| 22 November | Abdul Atteh | Sacrifice in Islam |
| 29 November | Dr Leon Burnett | Child Sacrifice and Flaubert’s Salammbô |
| 6 December | Kopal Gautam | Sacrifice in the Hindu Tradition |
| 13 December | Marie-Louise Mederer | Inanna’s descent to the underworld |
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Spring 2012 (Room 5B.330): Crossing Over : Myths of the afterlife ; afterlives of myth |
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| 17 January | Leon Burnett | Persephone – Extraordinary Renditions: To Hell and Back |
| 24 January | Anat Vernitski | Baal’s Journey to the Underworld |
| 31 January | Open session | Reflections on the underworld |
| 7 February | Ole Wiedenmann | Greek and Biblical Myths in Eastern German Literature |
| 14 February | Alexei Vernitski | The Helmet of Horror |
| 21 February | Ben Pestell | Agamemnon’s Front Door |
| 28 February | Roderick Main | Jung’s Night Sea Journey |
| 6 March | Jeremy Solnick | The Golem – Creating the Human Facsimile: Tellings and retellings of the myth |
| 13 March | Cate Gunn | Visions of the land of the dead |
| 20 March | Suzanne Nolan | The End of the World – appropriations of Maya predictions |
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Summer 2012 (Room 5A.330): Orpheus |
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| 1 May | Open session | The Death of Orpheus (Ovid’s Metamorphoses) |
| 8 May | Lyndon Davies and
Penny Hallas |
The Orpheus Project
(6 p.m. start) |
| 15 May | Leon Burnett | Denise Levertov’s Orpheus |
| 22 May | Open session | Further Orpheus poems |
| 29 May | Ole Wiedenmann | Telipinu: Vanishing and reappearing Hittite gods |
2010-11Tuesdays, 5-6 pm. Room 5B.114 |
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| Autumn 2010 | ||
| 12 October | Ben Pestell | The Oar |
| 19 October | Open session | The Epic of Gilgamesh |
| 26 October | Saul Andreetti | Retellings |
| 2 November | Dr Leon Burnett | The Horse |
| 9 November | Open session | Beowulf |
| 16 November | Open session | Genesis |
| 23 November | Open session | The Wisdom of Solomon |
| 30 November | Tony Wood | The Wave |
| 7 December | Dr Cate Gunn | Devils |
| 14 December | Marie-Louise Mederer | Snakes |
| Spring 2011: Tree of Life | ||
| 18 January | Dr Leon Burnett | Winter |
| 25 January | Open session | Yeats |
| 1 February | Ben Pestell | Tree of Life: Sacred Groves, Golden Boughs |
| 8 February | Dr Leon Burnett | Tree of Life: Odin and the Ordinary |
| 15 February | Dr Cate Gunn | Tree of Life: Dream of the Rood |
| 22 February | Tony Wood | Tree of Life: Tolkien and Trees |
| 1 March | Dr Leon Burnett | Tree of Life: Mann |
| 8 March | Dr Cate Gunn | Tree of Life: Wildwood |
| 15 March | Dr Leon Burnett | Tree of Life: Plutarch |
| Summer 2011 | ||
| 3 May | Professor Kiyoshi Hamano (Kyoto Bunkyo University) | Sukunahikona |
| 10 May | Alice Downer | Ragnarök |
| 24 May | Professor Roderick Main | Some characteristics of Celtic mythology |
| 7 June | Abdul Atteh | The Story of Kawa and Newroz |
| 14 June | Suzanne Nolan | Popul Vuh |
| 21 June | Dr Susan Oliver | The Raven and the First Men |
| 28 June | Sharihan Al-Akhras | Jinn in Islamic myth |
2009-10
Tuesdays, 5-6 pm.
Spring 2010
- 2 March: Matt Boyle, Underworld
- 9 March: Philippe Dauphin, Mysticism (Hermes Trismegistus)
- 16 March: Open session — Music
- 23 March: Ben Pestell, Homecomings
Summer 2010
- 4 May: Kopal Gautam, Bhagavad Gita
- 18 May: Dr Deirdre Serjeantson, Trees
- 1 June: Saul Andreetti, Transformation
- 15 June: Rowena Clarke: The Garden
Essex Myth 