Christmas with Jane Austen and Charles Lamb

Jane Austen relished Christmas festivities with her family, but, as a novelist, knew its potential for unfestive conflicts and unwise liaisons. Perhaps she was the first novelist to use Christmas to stage social disasters. Come and explore the significance of Christmas in all Austen's novels, especially 'Emma', with John Mullan. Charles Lamb, Austen's contemporary and metropolitan counterpart, was fascinated by festivity - sociability, seasonality, holy days and holidays, and he was a personal expert on hangovers. Come and hear Lamb's meditations on religion, worship, eating, drinking and being merry with Gregory Dart.