‘You can dance, sing, mime, show pictures, play sounds etc etc … but you can’t speak or play or display words.’

What happened when the six students on the MSt C-Course “Silences: Henry James to Now” in Hilary Term 2024 were challenged to give their class presentations using any means of communication except words? Magnificently, they rose to the challenge, producing films, soundtracks, a computer game, tarot cards and an unclassifiable ten minutes involving eggshells, litter gathered from Port Meadow and calligraphy ink standing in for DDT. Their work opens up new ways of thinking about texts, new ways of communicating about texts, new ways of engaging in textual criticism and new ways of being in the classroom. This seminar showcases their creations.