Encounter, the CIA, the IRD and the relationship of British intellectuals with the Establishment
Listen to a podcast of the eveningFriday 20 January 2012, 6–8pm
Institute of English Studies, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU
Jason Harding, Maren Roth, James Smith, Matthew Spender and Frances Stonor Saunders
In 1967 it was revealed that the magazine Encounter had been secretly financed by the CIA since its foundation. Stephen Spender, its British co-editor, resigned. Its American editor Melvin Lasky stayed on. Whereas the CIA aspect has received much publicity and several academic studies, the involvement of the British co-sponsors, the Information Research Department of the Foreign Office, has largely been ignored. This symposium will discuss the extent to which editorial decisions were compromised by the magazine’s secret sponsors, what were the differences in outlook and policy between the CIA and the IRD, and what damage was caused by the revelation of its secret agenda. Though the symposium will concentrate on Encounter, it will also discuss the larger question of Anglo-American cultural relationships.
The speakers will be: Jason Harding (Durham University, and TS Eliot Project, Institute of English Studies); Maren Roth (currently writing a biography of Melvin Lasky and supervisor of the Lasky papers in Munich); James Smith (New College, currently writing a book on British intellectuals and the Establishment); Matthew Spender (son of Stephen Spender and a board member of the Stephen Spender Trust); Frances Stoner Saunders (author of Who Paid the Piper?: CIA and the Cultural Cold War).
Stephen Spender: Life and Work, Poetry and Prose
Thursday 20 October 2011, 6pmInstitute of English Studies, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU
Alan Jenkins, Christopher Reid and John Sutherland in conversation, chaired by Lara Feigel
Stephen Spender was a poet who used personal experience as a basis for his writing, often reworking the same experiences in his poetry, his journals and his autobiography World Within World. This discussion will explore the relationship between the life and the work and between the poetry and the prose, looking at key episodes in his life that appear in multiple texts. The speakers will also showcase new, previously unknown work by Spender. The poet Alan Jenkins will introduce an unpublished poem recently discovered in the Spender archive and literary critics Lara Feigel and John Sutherland will preview their edition of Spender’s previously unpublished journals, which is to be published by Faber in May 2012. They are joined by the poet Christopher Reid who worked closely with Spender on his 1994 collection Dolphins.
Highlights of the Stephen Spender centenary year 2009
Tuesday 13 October 2009
Centenary reading
With Fleur Adcock, Grey Gowrie and Craig Raine
The Chapel, University College, Oxford, OX1 4BH
Saturday 28 February 2009
Centenary celebration
• A lecture by John Smart
• Readings of original poetry by current Gresham’s pupils
• Recordings of Spender reading prose, poetry and in discussion
• A display of Spender’s work and memorabilia
Auden Theatre, Gresham’s School, Cromer Road, Holt, Norfolk NR25 6EA
Friday 27 February 2009
Centenary conference
With John Sutherland, Barbara Hardy, Valentine Cunningham, Peter McDonald, Mark Rawlinson, Alan Jenkins, Stephen Romer, Michael Scammell
Institute of English Studies, University of London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU
26 February 2009 Centenary Reading
With Grey Gowrie, Tony Harrison, Seamus Heaney, Barry Humphries, Andrew Motion and Natasha Spender
A John Coffin memorial event
Faraday Theatre, The Royal Institution, 21 Albemarle Street, London W1S 4BS
Listen to a recording of the reading
Centenary reading
With Fleur Adcock, Grey Gowrie and Craig Raine
The Chapel, University College, Oxford, OX1 4BH
Saturday 28 February 2009
Centenary celebration
• A lecture by John Smart
• Readings of original poetry by current Gresham’s pupils
• Recordings of Spender reading prose, poetry and in discussion
• A display of Spender’s work and memorabilia
Auden Theatre, Gresham’s School, Cromer Road, Holt, Norfolk NR25 6EA
Friday 27 February 2009
Centenary conference
With John Sutherland, Barbara Hardy, Valentine Cunningham, Peter McDonald, Mark Rawlinson, Alan Jenkins, Stephen Romer, Michael Scammell
Institute of English Studies, University of London, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU
26 February 2009 Centenary Reading
With Grey Gowrie, Tony Harrison, Seamus Heaney, Barry Humphries, Andrew Motion and Natasha Spender
A John Coffin memorial event
Faraday Theatre, The Royal Institution, 21 Albemarle Street, London W1S 4BS
Listen to a recording of the reading