WEA courses

This course is for anyone with an interest in history and the English Language. It will introduce you to four historical varieties of English and trace the development of English from a cluster of Germanic dialects to one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. The course is open to beginners or people who may have studied the history of English before. It will take place online, over the course of six weeks and presentations and discussions will be readily available after each session.

In this course, we will explore the visual culture in Europe during World War One. From official war art, to soldiers’ sketchbooks, from world-famous artists to anonymous draughtsmen, we will study and discuss a broad range of attitudes to war. We will study many British artists, but also German, French, Italian, and American ones. We will study great works of art, learn a lot about the history of the war from a British and Western perspective, and discuss the role of art and artists during wartime, as well as in the aftermath of war.

The course will explore the enriching links between stories, art and music, concentrating of works from 1920s. From the surrealistic art in France and expressionist art in Germany to the many operas, ballets and symphonies which characterise that tumultuous period. In America, it is frequently referred to as the "Roaring Twenties" or the "Jazz Age", while in Europe the period is sometimes referred to as the "Golden Twenties" because of the economic boom following World War I (1914–1918). French speakers refer to the period as the "Années folles" ("crazy years") emphasizing the era's social, artistic, and cultural dynamism.

The early 20th Century witnessed an extraordinary flourishing of English musical talent – dormant since the death of Purcell 200 years earlier. With the premiere of Elgar's Enigma Variations in 1899, the country at last began to put paid to the German gibe of it being "The Land without Music". With the help of musical extracts, we trace the course of the Renaissance and the individuals who shaped it - featuring Elgar, Delius, Vaughan Williams, Holst, Britten, Walton and Tippett. We also explore how conscious they were of heading a revolution, and address the elusive issue of what we really understand by Englishness in music.

Away from any specific film movements or ‘waves’ relevant to their own countries, some filmmakers seem to earn greater acclaim internationally, often making films set outside their own native country, yet still telling the stories and expressing the themes they wish to portray. We examine what some of these, perhaps universal, stories and themes are, what are the stylistic approaches they use and just how and why these manage to resonate with critics and audiences. Are all these films received with equal praise within the director’s home country, are they seen as ‘selling out’? And regardless of what the director themselves might intend or state, are there still conscious or unconscious echoes of national cinematic movements within their work? And what role might financial sources play? Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon received praise yet the director was regarded by some as ‘selling out’ or ‘exploiting’ himself to the West. Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element could be viewed simply as a Hollywood sci-fi with a French Director, yet does the director add far more as an outsider, making more intellectual comment than one may expect from a commercial genre-movie. Not unlike Peter Wier’s Witness and Jane Campion’s The Piano, so many of these works which despite their creative diversity, also evidence their director’s own unique cinematic voice. Likewise, Wim Wenders recent Perfect Days, set in Japan, how far removed is it from the director’s early underpinnings of German Cinema? Perfect Days (2023), Couching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000), The Piano (1993), Witness (1985),The Fifth Element (1997).

In this short course, we will focus on Expressionism, a key art movement of the beginning of the 20th century. Starting around 1905 in Germany and Austria, with painters and sculptors such as Ersnt Ludwig Kirchner and Karl Schmidt-Rotluff, the expressionist style soon pervaded other art forms, such as cinema. Expressionist works of art were raw and energetic, shocking, sometimes dark and apocalyptic, sometimes light and spiritual, and always intensely free. If you have ever wondered what is Expressionism, how it started and developed, and why these artists painted in such a way, this course is for you!

Paris between 1870 and 1925, in the period known as La Belle Epoque, saw an outburst of artistic creativity in which music played a major role. Composers such as Bizet, Debussy, Ravel and Satie produced innovations which advanced western musical development by overturning Wagner and re-writing the rule book on harmony and form. After a lull since its Romantic hey-day in the 1830s, Paris was once again the centre of the musical world. The city was now a melting pot for artistic endeavour, transforming influences from Russia, Spain, the Far East and the USA into music which became uniquely and elegantly French. In this course, we trace a period, book-ended by two devastating wars, through its achievements in verismo opera, “total art” ballet, impressionism, avant-garde and jazz.

If you’re interested in finding out how the English language developed (and why we don’t all speak German, Danish or French instead of English) this course is for you. We look at the development of the English language through seven different lenses, starting with Old English (Anglo-Saxon) which built on Celtic languages and Latin. We explore the many influences on English including the Vikings through Old Norse, Norman French, Biblical English, Shakespearean English and Global English.