What's Next at Downton Abbey? Possibilities from History and Literature by Dr. Jennifer Poulos Nesbitt

Season four of Downton Abbey, PBS's acclaimed historical drama, premieres in January 2014.  It is time to review past events and to speculate where series creator Julian Fellowes will take his characters, high and low, in the year 1922.  Drawing on themes from literature, events in history and season four casting information, Dr. Nesbitt will consider possible plotlines and conflicts.  New cast members include the series' first black character, a governess, two suitors for Mary, and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa in a cameo role--how might this information give us clues to forthcoming events?  The lecture will also revisit Downton's early days and the estate's role in World War I.  There will be no spoilers.

About the Speaker:  Jennifer Poulos Nesbitt is associate professor of English at the York Campus of Penn State University, where she has taught since 2003.  A specialist in twentieth century British literature with interest in feminist and postcolonial studies, she received a  Ph.D. in English from Emory University in 1999, and an A.B. from Harvard University in 1987.  She is the author of Narrative Settlements: Genre and Geography in British Women's Fiction, 1918-1939 (University of Toronto Press, 2005).  She is currently working on a project called Rum Histories, which examines rum in the literature of the Anglo-Carribean and Carribean writers from the U.S., England, and Canada.  In addition to writing and lecturing about Downton Abby, she is writing about the film Avatar and novelist James Joyce.  Prior to joining the faculty at Penn State, she taught at Wilkes University in Wilkes Barre, PA.  She grew up in Winchester, MA.

This program is free and open to the public.  Coffee and cookies will be available at 10 a.m.

This program is presented by the Education Committee of the Winchester Seniors Association and is supported by a grant from the John and Mary Murphy Educational Foundation.