Explore History, Culture & Writing

Study the design reform movements – Arts and Crafts, Aesthetic Movement, Art Nouveau and Art Deco – and analyse a wide range of products, including fashion and textiles, graphics, furniture and architecture within their social, historic and artistic context. Includes a museum visit.

Lindsay Anderson is widely recognised as one of the few authentic geniuses of British cinema, a visionary film director unafraid to challenge convention, who left an indelible mark on British cinema (e.g. on Ken Loach and Mike Leigh). He was a true maverick in every sense of the word. His uncompromising artistic vision challenged storytelling to provoke thought and change. He tackled social issues and explored the human condition through his unique directorial style. His key feature films are This Sporting Life (1963), If…(1968), O Lucky Man! (1973) and his final film in 1993, Is That All There Is?



This course is running as part of City Lit's regular collaborations with the British Film Institute (BFI), who are screening a programme of films by Lindsay Anderson during May 2024. Please note that this course is taking place in the Cultureplex at City Lit, Keeley Street.

Study the dominant design aesthetics of the twentieth century – its development, successes and fall from popularity. Movements will include Constructivism, the Bauhaus, Pop and Punk. Design practices will include graphics, architecture and furniture. #arthistory #weekendcourse #design #modernism #bauhaus.

Explore the intimate relationship between Beckett’s universe of unbelief, presided over by a Godot who never comes, and Dante’s poem, the most exalted, vastly influential literary expression of medieval Christianity, whose presence can be felt everywhere in the Irishman’s long oeuvre, in every genre – in his plays, novels, stories, poems, essays - and at every stage of his career. What brought them together, and what were the results?

Join us for an in-depth study of this incredible, and possibly unique, family. What can their story tell us about the impact of race, social class and gender upon the lives of enslaved women in Barbados?

Join us to explore the rise of a dark, psychologically complex strain of Crime Fiction in the 1940s and 50s. Often termed the ‘psycho-thriller’, these novels put the criminal mind centre-stage, delving into murkier recesses of the human psyche than had previously been entertained. Focusing on two key examples of the genre, Patrick Hamilton’s Hangover Square and Patricia Highsmith’s Strangers on a Train, we will analyse and contextualise the psycho-thriller as it evolved in Britain and America.

Discover the mysterious people who lived in Central Italy and ended up being enveloped by the Romans.

Jerusalem is considered the holy city for the three monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) and is one of the most iconic cities in the world.