Events

Thomas Hardy and John Stuart Mill

A lecture by Demelza Hookway

This is the first in a series of five lectures about Thomas Hardy and is part of a larger project from a Hardy Country working group which includes Dorset County Museum, the National Trust and the University of Exeter. Designed to promote knowledge and understanding of Hardy, the lectures will provide a physical experience of this ongoing project to revise the profile of Thomas Hardy both locally and nationally. The addition of lectures by academics studying Hardy provides a link to contemporary ideas about him and his work and a link to a public who know Hardy only from his novels.

Event details

Demelza Hookway of the University of Exeter opens the series with a talk about Hardy and John Stuart Mill – a British philosopher and political economist and an influential contributor to social and political theory.  Hardy called John Stuart Mill “one of the profoundest thinkers” of the nineteenth century. This talk will show how he was both a critic and a champion of Mill’s ideas as he tested them out in his novels.

Demelza‘s talk on Thomas Hardy and John Stuart Mill takes place at Dorset County Museum on Thursday 25 April at 7.30pm.  Entry is free but a donation of £3 is encouraged to cover costs – everyone is welcome and there is no need to book. Doors open at 7pm.

For further information contact the Museum on 01305 262735 or check the Dorset County Museum website

Forthcoming Lectures at the Dorset County Museum:

Thursday 25 July: Dr Peter Robson, ‘Hardy and Dorset Folklore’
Thursday 29 August: Samantha Briggs, University of Exeter, ‘Hardy and Architecture’
Thursday 26 September: Dr Tony Fincham, Chairman of the Thomas Hardy Society, ‘Hardy’s Landscapes’
Thursday 24 October: Professor Tim Kendall, University of Exeter, ‘Hardy’s Poetry of the First World War’

Related Sources:

National Trust: Hardy Country
Hardy Country

Location:

Dorset County Museum