Browse Hierarchy ESH7052: Cultures of Friendship

Friendship, said Samuel Johnson, 'like a well-stocked wine cellar, should be constantly renewed'. But he also cautioned that `we form many friendships by mistake'. In an age that embraced sensibility and revolution, clubs and commerce, the varieties of friendship and complexities of the discourse around it are striking. In `Cultures of Friendship' we will explore theories of friendship in classical antiquity, Christian ethics and enlightenment philosophy; the practice of friendship as recorded in letters and diaries; representations of friendship in literature and visual culture; political and economic pressures on friendship (including rivalry, corruption, and revolution); the place of friendship in emotional regimes, among women and children, and some famous friendships and fallings-out.