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| 2017.0009 [SPEAKING] |
| Date Range of Records: |
1972-2011 |
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The Greer Archive has been made available because of its historical and research importance. Statements which form part of the collection are not made on behalf of the University and do not represent the University's views. It contains material that some researchers might find confronting. This includes: explicit language and images that reflect either the attitudes of the era in which the material was originally published or the views of the creators of the material but may not be considered appropriate today; names, images and voices of deceased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in published and unpublished printed material, audio recordings and photographs; discussion and descriptions of sexual violence, medical conditions and treatment.
The Speaking series comprises 840 folders relating to almost forty years of Germaine Greer’s speaking engagements from 1972 to 2011, most files dating from the late 1980s to 2011. Greer rapidly became a celebrity speaker following the publication of The Female Eunuch (1970), commanding high prices for her appearances, which she ploughed back into funding for the University of Tulsa Center for the Study of Women’s Literature, of which Greer was the founding director (1979-1983). Her appearances on the American Speakers’ Circuit (c.1975-1982) were managed by the American Program Bureau. The Speaking series contains some records from 1972-1975, notably her 1972 tour of Australia and International Women's Year (IWY) 1975, and from the early to mid 1980s, but records of speaking engagements in this period are mainly held in Series 2014.0045: Major Works.
The Speaking series has been created from a well controlled filing system, consisting of folders titled by name of event, and organised chronologically by date of event. This arrangement appears to have been established to manage Greer’s speaking commitments from 1989, presumably as requests to speak became an ever increasing part of her professional and academic engagement, also contributing to her income. There is evidence that Greer initiated this system of arrangement, with notes to her assistant Carol Horne to file in “Speakers’ file”, and file tiles written in Greer’s hand, and/or correcting file titling. Carol Horne went on to initiate various enhancements to assist Greer, including daily running sheets (described as schedules or job sheets in the item list), and wall calendars. The year sequences were packed in reverse chronological order in 23.5 units. Files have been refoldered into acid free folders and physically reordered into 24 units in straight chronological order from 1972. The original labels of some, but not all, files have been retained.
Most files consist primarily of arrangements, and may include the initial invitation, subsequent correspondence, fee negotiations, records of payment, and often thank you letters and cards. Many files include a daily running sheet (schedule), diligently prepared by Carol Horne, containing all pertinent information on the day’s event(s), including a summary of the event(s), contacts on the day, parking and/or travel and accommodation information. The daily schedules often include other engagements, such as television or radio media engagements, giving a consolidated record of Greer’s activities on the day. Other records include Greer’s responses to media and speaking offers, often drafted by Greer and transcribed by Carol, research and background material, photocopies of cheques, invoices for expenses. This series shows clearly what Greer was doing when. It is in some ways a “Shadow Archive” or quasi diary, quotidian but illuminating. The wall calendars (1992-2010) held in Series 2017.0066, give a visual representation of Greer’s daily commitments and are another way into the “business of Greer” and her activities. Amid the administrative arrangements and schedules are some unexpected finds. Item 2017.0009.00313 contains a first raw pass of her sad article on euthanizing her dog, Margot. “Mummy fix…”, fluently written in pencil on the verso of her lecture on 'Shakespeare as a Subversive'. The polished article was published in The Telegraph ‘The day the lights finally went out on Margot’ 18/11/00. (Held in Item 2014.0046.00600).
Only a small number of files contain copies of the talks given, reflecting both Greer’s often declared emphasis on speaking spontaneously and protectiveness of her Intellectual Property. Where lectures and talks are held on file they are described in the item list as “laser print of typescript”, with the title and first few words of the talk included to assist with its identification. The title of each talk is entered where it can be determined from the file title or content; if there is no mention of a typescript in the item description there is not one on file. A typescript is most likely to be found for an academic conference and it is also possible to track some of Greer’s academic papers via published proceedings, e.g. Greer’s Conference paper on ‘Shakespeare and the Marriage Contract’ (2017.0009.00639) was published in the Shakespeare and the Law Conference Proceedings (held in the Publications Series as Item 2014.0056.00076).
Many fee paying engagements were negotiated on Greer’s behalf by her long standing literary agent, Gillon Aitken and his associates. Gillon Aitken founded his agency in 1976 and chaired it, through a number of name changes, until his death in 2016, by which time it had become Aitken Alexander Associates. Correspondents from his agency are entered in the item description with the name of the agency as it appears in their letters. Greer appearances were also negotiated by other agents. In 2002, Graham Stansfield of “Sympathetic Developments” began to arrange a long running series of speaking engagements titled ‘An Evening with Germaine Greer’, held in various regional cities and towns, at which Greer spoke and then took questions from the audience. These performances usually sold out and achieved upwards of £1500 per engagement. ‘An Evening with Germaine Greer’ was rebadged in 2009 to 'Forty Years of Feminism and Fun' to tie in with the Gulbenkian Theatre's 40th anniversary and to mark forty years since publication of The Female Eunuch. (2017.0009.00733). This format continued to be a lucrative engagement, with more than 20 bookings in 2010. Other regular bookings were made by ‘Updates Conferences’, which presented one day conferences for A Level Sociology and English students in London and regional cities. Greer gave 45 lectures between 1992 to 2000, for a fee of £1000, rising to £1500, per lecture. Unfortunately there is no typescript on file of Greer’s oft repeated lecture ‘The Political Incorrectness of Penetrative Sex’, which was universally rapturously received by A Level Sociology Students as was 'The Boorishness of Lady Chatterley's Lover' by A Level English, but there is a typescript of ‘Shakespeare as a Subversive’ (2017.0009.00313). Greer also worked with other agents at times, often on events promoting Greer’s books. Colman Getty ran The Whole Woman publicity campaign in 1999, also dealing with other work offers, and Midas organised Greer’s promotional circuit for Shakespeare’s Wife in 2007.
As a “brand” whose attraction doesn’t seem to fade, Greer can command substantial fees for her presence and be discretionary about her charges and the use of her time. Where known, fees have been included in the item description as they provide an interesting insight into Greer’s fee practice. Her fees appear to be a sliding scale, along the lines of, “for each according to his ability…for each according to his needs…” Greer has stated that she does not have a fixed fee and while aware of her value, will sometimes agree to no fee or a reduced fee if it is for an organisation she wishes to support, or an area of particular interest or professional engagement. She will happily speak at Glyndebourne for a modest honorarium and an opera ticket, she doesn’t charge for her lectures for colleagues at Cambridge and she is often generous in her support of her academic colleagues, fundraising and charitable causes. In 2000, Greer agreed to give two lectures on Shakespeare in Italian in exchange for her business class fare to Venice, where she was the first women ever to give the opening lecture of the academic year at the prestigious academic institute Ateneo Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, noting "Any excuse for a visit to Venice!” (2017.0009.00271). She will however expect and receive several thousand pounds to speak to profit making organisations and at well funded conferences.
This series shows that the range of Greer’s speaking engagements is extremely diverse and her pace is relentless. Greer’s own estimate in 2003 of her speaking commitments was 30 per year (2017.0009.00415). She seems to be constantly criss-crossing the country, sometimes with two or more commitments on the same day, often enjoying driving herself. From the late 1990s Greer began to use a regular driver, John Jones, and her charged travel expenses came to include his mileage and “waiting time”. Greer usually refused offers of overnight accommodation, noting she needed to return to her Essex property The Mills “for her animals”. On 22 April 2004, she spoke, not unusually, at three events. In the morning about invertebrates at Buglife Charity Launch, (of which she was a recently appointed Honorary Vice-President), at Barnes, London; then to the Savoy Hotel for the Romantic Novelists’ Association Awards Luncheon; finally to Oxfordshire to give the after dinner 2004 Lord North Commemorative Talk.
Greer is a regular speaker at literary Festivals, including Hay on Wye, and its international satellites Kerala and Cartagena, though she cancelled her appearance at the 2002 Festival because its sponsorship by Nestle (2017.0009.00373). She is also willing to support minor festivals and in the same year spoke at the first Frinton on Sea literary festival for a modest fee (2017.0009.00369). She always shows herself to be a supporter of her home county of Essex, appearing at the Essex Writers’ Festivals, opening the Essex Festival of Country Life (1997, 2002), and presenting prizes to local school children. Speaking at the 2005 Essex Book Festival, Greer offered to send poppy seeds collected by her to anyone who wanted to sew them around open areas of Essex, as part of her promulgation of the poppy as the wild flower of Essex, and the file includes her poetic instructions on how best to scatter the seeds (2017.0009.00583). She opens and speaks at many art exhibitions, including regular talks at the Rebecca Hossack Gallery which exhibits Aboriginal art in London, and enjoys participating in gardening events, such as opening the Australian Garden at the Chelsea Flower Show and lecturing at Kew Gardens. Greer speaks at many schools, including speaking to students at Eton College several times, lectures regularly to Cambridge “Circuses” and Senior Common Room seminars, and is in demand as a participant in high profile debates. Greer’s timetable generally includes periods of international travel each year during which she invariably has engagements to speak at international academic conferences and festivals.
Throughout this series there is evidence of Greer’s protectiveness of her Intellectual Property and her clear view of her professionalism as an experienced speaker. She refuses to allow transcriptions of her talks to be published without her having an opportunity to correct and rarely gives permission for her talks to be recorded, noting in 2001, “A lecture, especially with questions for the audience, is an encounter between lecturer and audience. If Professor Greer was making an audio-lecture she would do it differently.” (2017.0009.00349 Speaking: UEA [University of East Anglia], Thomas Paine Lecture, 15 November 2001). Greer generally will not supply an abstract of her talk in advance (unless for an academic conference) and often may not even give a title for her lecture – many requests from organisers for detail for programmes, publicity etc. are met with a “Professor Greer is too busy…” Despite the frustration one can sense in many of the letters from organisers asking, with increasing desperation, for information on what she will speak about, almost without exception the responses after the event are glowing. Greer is very conscious of her cachet and reputation as a speaker, making the point time and again that she wants her presentation to be fresh, that she is not the speaker who will read out something and she doesn’t know what she will be interested in speaking about several months in advance. Conversely, she sees no issue with recycling a lecture and often reuses material, tailored to the audience at hand. Lectures are often drawn from what she is working on at the time, e.g. ‘Women, Poetry and Suicide’ lectures given in 1995/1996 appear to be based on Slip-Shod Sibyls, and her “An Evening With…” question and answer show was often subtitled Shakespeare’s Wife as she was researching and writing this publication in 2007. In correspondence in Item 2017.0009.00341 Speaking: Ideas at the Powerhouse: Leading Thinkers Conference, Brisbane, 19 August 2001, Greer writes, "You may be used to low key speakers who can drone on ad infinitum. I am not one of those. I am trying to tell you what you need to do … Please pay attention. I have been in this game a very long time..." |
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| 24 Units (4.08m) |
| Collection Category: |
Culture and the Arts, individuals |
| Access Conditions: |
Access: Restricted |
| Finding Aids: |
Yes listed ONLINE |
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