London Month of the Dead - City in the Dead of Night

LYING IN DARKNESS, DREAMING OF DEATH - The City in the Dead of Night A Live, Illustrated Zoom Talk with Professor Nick Groom Tuesday 26th October 2021 at 7:00 pm What does night mean for the city? What lies behind the drawn curtains? This talk is an imaginary walk through the city at night, describing the nocturnal, often unseen, after-hours cultures. Nightwalking was once illegal, and it still carries a tense aura – like a trespass on a strange realm – but what can darkness reveal about the city? Nick Groom examines the custom of lying-in (keeping corpses at home before the funeral), the exhumation of human remains, whether legal or criminal, and other activities undertaken between the hours of dusk and dawn. We will nightwalk through the city and through time, in the company of artists and writers, anecdotes and urban folklore. Will we find ourselves, like moths, drawn to the bright city lights, or shall we drift into the deeper shadows of dereliction, towards the cemeteries, towards the dead? And how has the experience of the last 18 months, of pandemic and lockdown, affected the nightwalker – indeed, have the politics of the night, even of dreams, shifted...? The talk will be illustrated with many dark images. Tickets £5 including a 20% donation toward a host of restoration projects at Kensal Green Cemetery. Please click here to purchase. Prof. Nick Groom Nick is Professor of English Literature at the University of Macau, an author on subjects ranging from the history of the Union Jack to Thomas Chatterton. He has edited several books and regularly appears on television, radio, and at literary festivals as an authority on English Literature, seasonal customs, J. R. R. Tolkien, the ‘Gothic’ and ‘British’ and 'English' identities. Due to his extensive work on the Gothic, especially on the history of vampires, he has become known as the 'Prof of Goth' in the media. He has written several articles on the Goth scene, including essays on the singer-songwriter Nick Cave, as well as editing classics such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. PLEASE NOTE - This talk will take place virtually via Zoom. Ticket sales will end at 5:00 pm BST on the day of the lecture. A link to the conference will be sent to the email used at checkout at 3:00 pm BST on the day of the event. Please email suzette@acuriousinvitation.com in the event your link fails to arrive. .

LYING IN DARKNESS, DREAMING OF DEATH - The City in the Dead of Night
A Live, Illustrated Zoom Talk with Professor Nick Groom
Tuesday 26th October 2021 at 7:00 pm

What does night mean for the city? What lies behind the drawn curtains? This talk is an imaginary walk through the city at night, describing the nocturnal, often unseen, after-hours cultures. Nightwalking was once illegal, and it still carries a tense aura – like a trespass on a strange realm – but what can darkness reveal about the city? Nick Groom examines the custom of lying-in (keeping corpses at home before the funeral), the exhumation of human remains, whether legal or criminal, and other activities undertaken between the hours of dusk and dawn.

We will nightwalk through the city and through time, in the company of artists and writers, anecdotes and urban folklore. Will we find ourselves, like moths, drawn to the bright city lights, or shall we drift into the deeper shadows of dereliction, towards the cemeteries, towards the dead? And how has the experience of the last 18 months, of pandemic and lockdown, affected the nightwalker – indeed, have the politics of the night, even of dreams, shifted...?

The talk will be illustrated with many dark images.

Tickets £5 including a 20% donation toward a host of restoration projects at Kensal Green Cemetery. Please click here to purchase.

Prof. Nick Groom
Nick is Professor of English Literature at the University of Macau, an author on subjects ranging from the history of the Union Jack to Thomas Chatterton. He has edited several books and regularly appears on television, radio, and at literary festivals as an authority on English Literature, seasonal customs, J. R. R. Tolkien, the ‘Gothic’ and ‘British’ and 'English' identities. Due to his extensive work on the Gothic, especially on the history of vampires, he has become known as the 'Prof of Goth' in the media. He has written several articles on the Goth scene, including essays on the singer-songwriter Nick Cave, as well as editing classics such as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

PLEASE NOTE - This talk will take place virtually via Zoom. Ticket sales will end at 5:00 pm BST on the day of the lecture. A link to the conference will be sent to the email used at checkout at 3:00 pm BST on the day of the event. Please email suzette@acuriousinvitation.com in the event your link fails to arrive. .

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