We recently launched our 2024 online lecture series with our opening session, ‘Gifts and Books: From Early Myth to the Present’, presented by Professor Nicholas Perkins. During this fascinating talk, Professor Perkins explored extraordinary gift books; narratives about giving and receiving from ancient times to the present and across cultures; and the idea of storytelling itself as a form of gift.
Nicholas Perkins is a Tutor in English at St Hugh’s, and Professor of Medieval Literature. His books include Medieval Romance and Material Culture (ed., 2015); and The Gift of Narrative in Medieval England (2021; paperback 2023), described by reviewers as ‘brilliant’ and ‘radiant’. In 2023 he curated a major exhibition in the Bodleian Library, Gifts and Books, and edited Gifts and Books: From Early Myth to the Present (Bodleian Library, 2023).
The lecture recording is available here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN8qxqSRLTI&list=PLnwIK5ZVRKM2lVcu66ltBxTngXJLjs6Fg.
Photo credit: Wojtek Lubowiecki.
