English Studies research seminar - Stopping for Death: Public Engagement, Personification and Grief

Stopping for Death: Public Engagement, Personification and Grief

Lesel Dawson

In the first half of this paper, I will reflect on some collaborative, public engagement activities and outputs on grief to explore the challenges and opportunities of co-produced research. I will discuss Good Grief: A Virtual Festival of Love and Loss, the free booklet Stillbirth, Neonatal Death and the Grief Journey, the animation Children, Grief and Creativity, and the short fiction film Lost Property.

The second half of the talk will develop some of these ideas through a discussion of the psychological and therapeutic approaches to grief considered in my research project Creative Grieving. Drawing on a range of theories, practices and creative works, I consider the interrelationships between grief, creativity, and the imagination and the therapeutic potential of envisioning grief (or death) as a person, object or landscape.

Lesel Dawson

Dr Lesel Dawson is Associate Professor in Literature and Culture at the University of Bristol, specialising in grief, Renaissance literature and the history of the emotions. She is also the Arts and Culture Lead for Good Grief: A Virtual Festival of Love and Loss. She’s leading a research project on Creative Grieving and writing a book that explores how art and the imagination can enable the bereaved to express and process their loss. The book will draw on insights from psychotherapists, bereavements councillors and art therapists as well as artists, photographers, directors and writers who have turned to creative projects as a means of expressing and processing their grief. Lesel is the author of Lovesickness and Gender in Early Modern Literature and the co-editor of Revenge and Gender from Classical to Renaissance Literature. She also wrote the screenplay for the short fiction film, Lost Property, co-directed by Jimmy Hay and Natasha Rosling.

Durham University members can join using this link.

https://durhamuniversity.zoom.us/j/92852733158?pwd=eERuTDA3RERCZkU3R2NIRStDUVRGUT09

Meeting ID: 928 5273 3158
Passcode: 670520

If you wish to attend and are not a member of Durham University please email louise.creechan@durham.ac.uk