Join us in celebrating the life and work of Edward Thomas at the Edward Thomas Literary Festival 2024.
Join Professor Guy Cuthbertson as he reflects upon his experience of teaching Thomas's poetry and prose at universities and discuss Edward Thomas's thoughts about school, university and teaching. Thomas refers in Lob as, 'he never could spare time for school / To unteach what the fox so well expressed'. Thomas's idea of 'unteaching' has been interpreted in different ways, and can be a useful way of thinking about Thomas, school and university. Bad teaching is in fact unteaching, but when teaching Thomas's work there is often a need to do some beneficial unteaching.
About Guy Cuthbertson
Professor of British Literature and Culture. Cuthbertson mostly works on the literature of the twentieth century, with a particular focus on the Edwardian era, the First World War, and the 1920s with published work on Edward Thomas (1878-1917) and Wilfred Owen (1893-1918). He has also worked on D.H. Lawrence (1885-1930).
Guy Cuthbertson is interested in many things, including the First World War, and a wide range of literature. His research has focused on a number of related themes, including 'Back to the Land' movements, the simple life, the natural world, environmentalism, ideas of 'home', joy, hope and celebration. A key theme of his work tends to be writers' preference for the countryside rather than the city, and a literary scepticism about modern life and technology. Rebels, poets, soldiers and outsiders are of interest to Cuthbertson, along with folk culture, old buildings and the countryside. He gave the British Academy's Chatterton Lecture on Poetry in 2018, on Edward Thomas, later published as '"I should want nothing more".
