English Literature: Jane Austen, Big Brother and The Handmaid’s Tale – Surveillance and Control with Dr Lucy Thompson from Aberystwyth University
June 11 @ 12:45 - 13:30
In this live interactive English Literature session, we will be joined by Dr Lucy Thompson, Lecturer in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Creative Writing in the Department of English & Creative Writing at Aberystwyth University, who will present Jane Austen, Big Brother and The Handmaid’s Tale: Surveillance and Control.
We often associate surveillance with modern technologies such as CCTV, data tracking, and social media monitoring. Yet organised forms of surveillance long predate these developments. Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century societies were already shaped by practices of scrutiny and regulation that influenced behaviour and structured everyday life. Literature not only reflects these conditions but also helps us to understand how they work.
This webinar explores surveillance as a cultural and historical practice through a range of literary texts. Writing by Jane Austen, for example, shows how communities are organised through sustained acts of watching, judging, and policing others, particularly in relation to gender and social expectation. These concerns remain visible in later fiction, including Nineteen Eighty-Four and The Handmaid’s Tale, where surveillance becomes more visibly institutional and political. Bringing these texts into conversation, the session considers how literature reveals, critiques and reshapes systems of observation and control across different historical contexts.
Lecturer Profile: Dr Lucy Thompson
Our events are designed so that a group of students can take part from a classroom, or students and teachers can take part as individuals, either from school or from home. There is no charge to take part.
As a live, participative event, this session will not be recorded but slides will be shared, where available.
Suitable for: Aged 16+ pre-university students studying or with an interest in studying English Literature, Creative Writing and related subjects. Teachers and members of school staff, as always, are welcome too and participants can join as individuals from school/college or home, or as a group from school/college.
Preparation/Pre-Reading: We encourage students to consider the topic and think about some of the key elements and questions in advance. Students can also think about questions they have about studying at university level.
The IT Setup: The event will be run on Zoom and participants will be able to join using laptops, tablets, and mobile devices. If you are joining as a school group, we recommend connecting with one device and projecting on to a whiteboard. You will be able to interact with the university via a microphone and/or typed comments and questions. Full details will be sent to those who have registered (see below) prior to the event.
Booking a Place: This is free for schools and colleges. If you would like to take part in this event, please register your interest using the link to the registration form below: