Explore History, Culture & Writing

This course aims to make Stein’s thought more familiar by examining her contribution to a philosophical-phenomenological understanding of faith and religion.

German Expressionism influenced Hollywood horror after itself being influenced by early Swedish Nordic noir. Along with F.W. Murnau and Robert Wiene, Fritz Lang was one of the key figures of German Expressionist cinema. Their influence crossed borders and is alive today in cinema tropes, camera techniques and narrative themes still used by filmmakers, game designers and artists. Their films changed moviemaking forever as directors and set designers created a nightmare environment of unnatural perspectives and distorted images in early films such as Nosferatu (1922 F.W. Murnau), The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919 Robert Weine), and Metropolis (1927 Fritz Lang) which led to Dracula (1931 Tod Browning), Spellbound (1945 Alfred Hitchcock) and Blade Runner (1982 Ridley Scott). American pulp fiction shaded this into film noir in The Killers (1946 Robert Siodmak) and Double Indemnity (1944 Billy Wilder), films created by directors who had fled the land of German Expression. It had come full circle.

This course will provide a brief introduction to the history of film spectatorship, tracing its origins in the silent era up to the present day. The course will explore a number of films in detail, includingThe Truman Show (Peter Weir 1998 US), Cinema Paradiso (Giuseppe Tornatore 1998 Italy), The Matrix (Wachowskis 1999 US) and others.

Look at the least known episodes in London's history, Lundenwic (AD 600-900) and Lundenburh (AD 900-1000).



Includes an introductory lecture and a guided walk.

We explore poems written by three highly original English women poets. Their styles of writing are unique as they respond to the stresses of their lives, and to their position as women, with wit and humour. Their resilience shows them as the reverse of Smith’s famous line ‘Not waving but drowning’.

City Lit and the British Museum present the annual Classics Day, offering a day of lectures celebrating luxury and beauty in the ancient world. This year’s inspiration is the major exhibition "Luxury and power: Persia to Greece at the British Museum". Anyone with a love of the classics is welcome. No previous knowledge required.

There are a surprising number of films that make use of repetition as a motif or as a structuring device for their narratives. Two particularly celebrated examples are Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis 1993 US) and Memento (Christopher Nolan 2000 UK/US). This course will explore this phenomenon, by referencing psychoanalytic film theory and the idea of the repetition compulsion, but also through the detailed analysis of both of these films.

Why do we value art? For the pleasure it gives us, the emotion it expresses, its truthfulness, its form? In this introduction to the philosophy of art we will consider various approaches to these questions and others.

Commedia dell’Arte originated in Italy in the 16th century, establishing a lasting legacy on many playwrights. Carlo Goldoni, a sharp observer of Venetian society, took this tradition and moved it forward, paving the way for Italian theatre. Discover more about Goldoni's characters, themes and how he staged the plays. We will also read from two of Carlo Goldoni’s most famous works: Servant of Two Masters and The Mistress of the Inn.