James Joyce: Enigmas and Puzzles – curator tour

About this event

Curator of MERL Collections, Dr Ollie Douglas, is joined by a different specialist for each of these monthly tours. Together they take visitors on a short conversational guided trip approaching our collection from a different perspective that reflects the guest speaker’s expertise, ensuring you’ll learn something new every time.

9 December: Special Collections tour takeover

University of Reading Special Collections are taking over the MERL monthly gallery tour and giving it a literary theme! Join rare books librarian, Claire Clough, and archivist, Jackie Bishop, for a curator tour of the exhibition James Joyce: Enigmas & Puzzles on display in the Staircase Hall.

Learn about James Joyce and his amazing personal archive, which is now part of Special Collections. We will explore the themes of the archive, library and artwork, which shine a light on Joyce’s creative methods, his struggles to get published, his family life and his huge circle of friends and supporters.

The tour in the Staircase Hall will last about 45 minutes and culminate in an opportunity to peek behind the scenes. At the end of the session there’ll be a chance to ask questions and to chat with Claire and Jackie.