LECTURE ON FANNY KEMBLE, AUTHOR OF SLAVERY JOURNAL, MARCH 13

Deirdre David, professor of English and former chair of English at Temple University in Philadelphia, will lecture on "A Crazy Englishwoman: Fanny Kemble and American Slavery" Thursday, March 13 at 5 p.m. in 301 Morgan. Fanny Kemble is the author of the anti-slavery classic, Journal of a Residence on a Georgian Plantation in 1838-1839. One of the most famous of English actresses, Kemble married a wealthy Philadelphian, Pierce Butler, and later learned that Butler's family fortune was derived from one of the largest slave plantations in Georgia. David is currently writing a critical biography of Fanny Kemble, and her talk is based on this research. She is the author of three books, including Rule Britannia: Women, Empire, and Victorian Writing (Cornell 1995). Her visit is funded by the department of English and the College of Arts and Sciences, and it is organized by the Victorian Writing Group, an organization of graduate students and faculty in English engaged in research in Victorian literature.