Percival Everett: The 2026 Esmond Harmsworth Lecture
02 June @ 5.00pm to 6.15pm
About Percival Everett: The 2026 Esmond Harmsworth Lecture in American Arts and Letters
The Myth of Propositional Content and the Possibility of Fiction
Where does meaning reside in fiction, and how is it constructed when context itself is propositional? How does a culture read and understand when the driving push toward fiction is fueled by voyeurism?
In this lecture, Percival Everett explores how readers generate meaning from narrative, and how fiction’s interpretive demands are shaped by culture, perception, and curiosity.
Everett argues that the ability to read fiction critically and extrapolate meaning beyond the text is essential to a culture’s capacity for reasoning and empathy. He considers how storytelling operates when driven by voyeurism, and what this reveals about the ways audiences engage with narrative.
Presented by the Rothermere American Institute as the 2026 Esmond Harmsworth Lecture in American Arts and Letters, Everett is a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award–winning author whose novel James reimagines Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from Jim’s perspective.
The lecture continues a distinguished series that has featured leading figures in American literature and criticism, and forms part of Unfinished Revolutions, a season tracing the living legacy of 1776.
Tickets
Please see important booking information below.
Booking information
Tickets:
This event is currently sold out. To be added to the waiting list, email tickets@schwarzmancentre.ox.ac.uk or call 01865 615500 (Monday to Friday, 12.00pm to 6:00pm).
Running time:
Approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes
Age guidance:
Recommended age 12+
Location:
Theatre
About Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities
Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities is a major new cultural and academic landmark for the University of Oxford, bringing together seven humanities faculties with performance, exhibition, and public engagement spaces under one roof. Located in the Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, it is designed to foster interdisciplinary collaboration while opening the humanities to a wider public through events, performances, and year-round programming.
At its heart are world-class venues including a concert hall, theatre, cinema, recital spaces, and galleries, supported by flexible teaching and meeting facilities. A central atrium acts as a social hub, blending academic life with informal gathering spaces, cafés, and exhibitions. More than a university facility, the Centre functions as a civic cultural destination, connecting scholarship with creative practice and strengthening Oxford’s wider cultural life.
