Swedenborg, Literature and the Imaginal

As Part of its ongoing commitment to free education and educational resources, the Swedenborg Society is pleased to announce a new programme of weekly evening seminars.

Running throughout June on Monday evenings, the first of 4 seminars on 'Swedenborg, Literature and the Imaginal' will be led by Dr William Rowlandson of the University of Kent. Chiefly drawing on Swedenborg's presence in Latin American Literature, they will investigate the peculiar interrelationship of fiction and non-fiction as a means of exploring the imaginal.

- Week 1 (6 June) 'So what is the Imaginal anyway?'
- Week 2 (13 June) 'What is Borges?'
- Week 3 (20 June) 'Praying for the souls of the fictional dead: Juan Rulfo's Pedro Paramo'
- Week 4 (27 June) 'Magical Realism: Can the real be magic? Can magic be real?'

The classes will be held at Swedenborg House in the Society's beautiful boardroom and library space, the David Wynter Room, and they will follow a seminar format of a 40-minute presentation, followed by a short intermission, and a workshop and discussion session.

Places are limited and registration is for the 4-seminar series as a whole. (Bookings for the individual classes may be considered on request to [email protected])

WILLIAM ROWLANDSON is a Senior Lecturer in Hispanic Studies at the University of Kent. He is the author of 'Imaginal Landscapes: reflection on the mystical visions of Jorge Luis Borges and Emanuel Swedenborg' (Swedenborg Society, 2015) and 'Borges, Swedenborg and Mysticism' (Peter Lang, 2013) and has published widely on Latin American cultural and political history including the history of Guantanamo Bay and Cuba during the War on Terror. He has written for the 'Guardian' and has also edited 'Daimonic Imagination: Uncanny Intelligence' with Angela Voss (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013).