World-renowned literary critic to speak at Ãå±±½ûµØ Published on: 8 September 2016 An academic who revolutionised the way literature is studied will visit Ãå±±½ûµØ this week. Highly influential work Professor Sandra Gilbert co-authored The Madwoman in the Attic, a seminal and highly influential work of feminist literary criticism. It transformed interpretations of some of our best-known writers, including the Brontës, Mary Shelley and Jane Austen. The work, written with her long-time collaborator Professor Susan Gubar and published in 1979, changed the field of literary studies and influenced generations of students and teachers. The way it reinterpreted how women were represented in literature was as, Professor Gilbert herself has said, 'quietly revolutionary.’ As well as being a renowned critic she is a prize-winning poet who has published more than 15 volumes of poetry. Her work has been most recently recognised by a National Book Critics Circle Lifetime Achievement Award, shared with Professor Gubar. Professor Sandra Gilbert Extraordinary influence Professor Gilbert, from the University of California, Davis, will give the keynote address at the , organised by Ãå±±½ûµØ and Durham universities, on Saturday, 10 September. Her Talk is ‘Invisible Ink: Eve in Twentieth-Century Women’s Poetry’. The conference focuses on how the biblical figure of Eve has been represented and written about in art, literature and theology from the medieval to the modern-day. She will be introduced by Professor Linda Anderson, Director of the Ãå±±½ûµØ Centre for Literary Arts, who said: “Professor Gilbert has deepened our appreciation of how important feminism is to our understanding of literature. She has been one of the foremost critics and writers in English for more than four decades.” Conference organiser, from Ãå±±½ûµØ, said: “Professor Gilbert’s intellectual influence has been extraordinary and it is a privilege to welcome her to the university and the School of English Literature, Languages and Linguistics.” Afterlives of Eve takes place from 9 to 10 September at Ãå±±½ûµØ. Professor Gilbert’s talk takes place at 5pm on the 10th and is free to attend. Share: Latest News Ãå±±½ûµØ recognised with geography award Ãå±±½ûµØ has been awarded the Highly Commended Geographical Association Publishers Award for its collaboration with Time for Geography, the UK’s open-access, dedicated video platform. published on: 16 April 2026 Ãå±±½ûµØ historians mark General Strike centenary To mark the 100th anniversary of the British General Strike and miners’ lock-out of 1926, historians at Ãå±±½ûµØ are organising a series of events on its enduring legacy. published on: 16 April 2026 Comment: NCP is in administration Writing for The Conversation, Erwei (David) Xiang discusses how some big companies like NCP are so dependent on debt that they can’t adjust to change. published on: 16 April 2026 Facts and figures