Past Society Events in 2019

 

Click here for information about future events planned for the rest of this year and beyond.

 

Click here to see a timeline of the major Society events since our foundation in 1973!

 

March Literary Meeting

Saturday 16th March 2019

Pale Maidens and Femmes Fatales – a talk on Fin de Siècle Symbolism and Stoker’s women

 

A fascinating and profusely illustrated talk by Gail-Nina Anderson explored the effect of the late Victorian Symbolist Movement on the portrayal of the leading women in Stoker's novels, especially in Dracula and The Jewel of Seven Stars. At the time of their writing, the Symbolist and Decadent Movements in art were drawing away from the mundane features of modern life to explore an exotic, imaginative dream-world of idols and archetypes.

Using the vivid imagery of artists such as Beardsley, Munch, and Burne-Jones, Gail-Nina re-examined Stoker's women, especially Mina, Lucy, and Queen Tera, as representatives of the beautiful disturbing world of Fin de Siècle romanticism.

 

New Year Meeting

Saturday 26th January 2019

Film Evening

 

To tie in with our Society trip to Germany later in the year, which will visit many of its locations and the studio where it was made, we screened Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror, the 1922 classic silent film which was the very first (unofficial) screen version of Dracula. Bram Stoker's widow Florence quite justifiably sued the company responsible for the film for breach of copyright, and the judgement in her favour ordered that all copies of the film be destroyed. Fortunately for future generations, a few copies survived, so this masterpiece of early cinema can still be enjoyed today. We presented the version restored in 1997 by the British Film Institute and Channel 4 TV, featuring a specially composed score by Hammer Films' composer James Bernard.

Over thirty members and guests thoroughly enjoyed revisiting a great classic, not just of horror cinema, but of cinema as a whole.

 

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