Once again, I am on the path from London to Rome, this time with a group of students from the English Department at Marylhurst University.  We will spend a week in London, then travel to Rome for a week and a half.  While in London, we will be turning our attention to ancient Londinium, the Roman settlement that preceded modern London.

As a class, we’ll be thinking about the spatial imagination of English writers about Rome that gave rise to the legend of the Roman war campaign.  Still working this deep vein of literary geography.  In order to research this further, we are thrilled to be spending a research day at the British Library! 

It has been a dream of mine to bring a group of students to the BL and offer an initial training in how to become a researcher at a manuscript and rare book library.  Thanks to the Roman War obsession, it is coming to pass.  Slavoj Zizek’s oft-quoted essay comes to mind: “Enjoy your symptom!”

MU students will also be writing an encyclopedia entry on the London Wall for the University of Victoria’s Map of Early Modern London project–we are super excited to be invited as a pedagogical partner for this innovative and interactive Spatial and Digital Humanities project.  Dr. Janelle Jenstad is the director of the project at UVic and has already challenged our thinking about the way the Roman Wall defined urban and imaginative space in medieval and early modern London.

Marylhurst University students following the Roman War campaign in London and Rome!  Follow along on their blogs:

Sarah Allen                       http://rasha1784.blogspot.com/

Aaron Anderson               http://www.bookhermit.com/tag/lr2014/

Kathryn Brimhall             http://brimkattravels.wordpress.com

Jonathan Gilbert              http://jonathangilbert001.wordpress.com/

Krista Lamproe                 http://willowgravity.wordpress.com

Lizzie Owen                      http://st0rmyskies.wordpress.com/

Celeste Perez                   http://vamonosamigos.wordpress.com/

Bethany Smith:                 http://renzeesmith.blogspot.com/

Robert Stearns                  http://rs1stearns.wordpress.com/

Photo credits:

http://www.timetravel-britain.com/articles/london/roman.shtml