'When Cupid Met Psyche' This lecture has just been delivered to AGIP in North London (2nd March 2024).
The full transcript with all the images can be seen on this website under my 'Articles'.
Here is the synopsis:
The tale of Cupid (Eros) and Psyche by Apuleius is nearly two thousand years old and has retained its power to fascinate artists, writers and analysts. This talk explores the history of the myth and the sources of its fascination and makes use of the huge selection of paintings that have illustrated the courtship of this pair whose names now grace the most profound of principles.
This myth played a part in my novel 'Camille and the Raising of Eros' (synopsis and availability under My Books on this website). The myth has a very rich content and has been of great interest and sometime an inspiration to writers, artists, psychologists, psychoanalysts and cultural historians. There will be many paintings shown during the talk.
My Talks and Lectures with Slides. (These talks can usually be given again)
On 2nd March 2024 my lecture to AGIP 'When Cupid Met Psyche' as decribed above. Full transcript with images is on the 'Articles' section of this website.
It was a special pleasure to give the AGIP Annual Lecture on Saturday 17th November 2018. The Title - 'Hysteria, Hypnotism and Art of the Fin de Siecle: The Raising of the Unconscious'. This happened at The London Resource Centre, 356 Holloway Road, London N7 6PA. The content of this lecture draws considerably on the background environment of my 'The Strange Case of Madeleine Seguin' novel.
I was very happy to present a lecture in July (2017) to AGIP in Archway, North London.This was particularly about the malady of 'hysteria' that was prevalent in the late 1800s and early 1900s and a popular diagnosis. I drew substantially from the research for my 'Madeleine' novel and the lecture contained much about the culture around 'hysteria', connecting it to the work of the Symbolist writers and artists of the time, whose imagery also features strongly in the lecture.
I was very happy to give a lecture on Symbolist Art to the Lansdowne Club, Berkeley Square, London in November (2017). This was a private function, for members only, but I am very ready to speak about this subject to any interested groups or societies. Just E-mail me.