Watch, Read, Listen

Authors Kristen Case, Gerald Early, Pico Iyer, and Megan Marshall in conversation with Karla Nielsen, Curator of Literary Collections at The Huntington

Spring 2020 and the onset of a global pandemic saw many writers returning to Henry David Thoreau’s Walden for guidance for living in a constricted space and with a reduced footprint. Beginning on July 4, 1845, Thoreau moved into a cabin on Walden Pond for two years, two months, and two days. He chronicled the experience, first in his diary and later in a long essay: Walden, or Life in the Woods which was published in 1854.

Now Comes Good Sailing, a volume of essays edited by Andrew Blauner, coming out from Princeton University Press in October 2021, explores the ongoing resonance of Thoreau’s groundbreaking work of observation and reflection. The volume takes its title from the last four words that Thoreau wrote in his diary.

Four of the contributors to the volume join us in conversation for this Shapiro Center event moderated by Karla Nielsen, Curator of Literary Collections at The Huntington. Dr. Nielsen will also show images of The Huntington’s seven drafts of Walden.

Amy McNair, professor of Chinese art at the University of Kansas, explores the calligraphy found in the Lingering Garden in Suzhou, a famous setting for two outdoor formats of calligraphy. Plaques written by friends of the owner identify places and views within the garden, while engraved stone slabs display the owner’s collection of antique calligraphy examples.

Nothing generated interest, imitation, and outrage throughout Europe better and more lastingly than Giambattista Guarini’s Pastor Fido. In this talk, Eileen Reeves, professor of comparative literature at Princeton University, discusses allusions to the controversies emerging from that frothy and scandalous tragicomedy of 1589 in the astronomical works of Italy’s other most famous citizen, Galileo Galilei.

This is the Dibner Distinguished Fellow Lecture.

Hilary Mantel, whose literary archive is held at The Huntington, is one of the most critically acclaimed authors working today. Her unprecedented double Booker Prize wins for Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies combined with sell-out West End and Broadway stage adaptations and award-winning television dramatizations brought her unquestionable public prominence. But Mantel’s Tudor novels constitute only one element of a writing career, which has spanned nearly 34 years, troubled myriad genres, and explored multiple forms. “Reading and Re-Reading Hilary Mantel” constitutes the first international conference on Mantel’s work and seeks to act as a “state of the field” event, bringing a diverse range of Mantel scholars together to consider the complex presences and resonances of Mantel’s work in the 21st century.