The South Carolina Center for the Book will host Dr. Margaret J. Oakes for a lunchtime program on Thursday, September 6th, 12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Oakes is an Associate Professor of English at Furman University in Greenville andis also is the Coordinator of the Humanities Program at Furman, an interdisciplinary program which lead first-year students through a chronological look at the history of ideas in related humanities fields.   Her program at the SC Center for the Book is entitled, The Letters of Queen Elizabeth I: the Humility of Power.

Elizabeth I was regarded with awe by her people in her own lifetime, but she frequently communicated with her subjects as well as her fellow monarchs and counselors. Her avenues of communication were much more limited than those used by most politicians nowadays; Elizabeth only had at her disposal official written communications and public appearances. However, we also have the benefit of being able to read dozens of Elizabeth’s letters from throughout her life. This other means of communication – written messages, in the form of personal, diplomatic, and political letters – were created with the same attention to the delicacy of the situation, her relationship with the speaker, and, most importantly, her underlying objective in writing the letter in the first place. This talk will explore the surprisingly distinctive voices in Elizabeth’s letters as she assesses the relative degrees of power between her and the recipient of the letter, plays the recipient’s desires and weaknesses, and offers the right mixture of praise, conciliation, advice, and sometimes veiled threats, depending on the situation.

Dr. Oakes will speak at the free lunchtime program on June 28th at the SC Center for the Book though the sponsorship of The Humanities Council SC, a state program of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Attendees at the program are invited to bring a bag lunch to enjoy. Drinks will be provided. 

The South Carolina Center for the Book is the South Carolina affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the Book in Washington, DC and is a cooperative project of the South Carolina State Library, the USC School of Library and Information Science, and The Humanities CouncilSC. Formerly known as the Palmetto Book Alliance, the SC Center for the Book changed its name in 2006 to align with the 49 other Centers for the Book across the country. The Center’s mission is to celebrate South Carolina’s rich literary heritage and bring public attention to the importance of books, writers, and reading.

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