This lecture by Dr. Karen Lystra, Professor of American Studies at California State University Fullerton, is a moving and thought-provoking exploration of intimate life in the Victorian age using love letters as historical sources. Across all eras, love letters have been more than a source of communication. They have conveyed parts of the very being of their authors to their beloved correspondents. In the nineteenth century, the exchange of love letters formed a deeply intimate space where one could express their truest selves, their unbridled emotions, and their unrestricted desires. In addition to being fascinating reading, the love letters that Lystra analyzes document aspects of the history of emotional life that are not recorded anywhere else. Professor Lystra’s lecture is presented by the Fr. Henry W. Casper, S.J. Professorship in History, and is part of a series of programs on “Communities, Histories, Identities: How and Why People Tell Their Pasts.”
