Thackray Insights: The Heart of the Matter

Emma Trott takes the stage at the Thackray Museum of Medicine on Saturday 16 January for The Heart of the Matter, a talk that looks at the heart from two very different angles at once. It's part of the museum's Thackray Insights series, which pairs medical practice with wider cultural and literary perspectives, and this one puts the heart right in the middle.

On one hand, there's the heart as a critical muscle—the pump that keeps everything moving. On the other, it's one of our oldest and most loaded metaphors, shorthand for courage, grief and love. Trott works with both readings side by side, and the literature of surgery provides a window into the cutting-edge medical research that happens behind the scenes. The whole session is built around that double reading: the clinical and the human, the organ and the symbol.

It's a good fit for the museum, too. The Thackray is built around the history of medicine, so hearing about the heart as both a biological machine and a cultural icon feels right in that setting. If you've ever wondered how the actual practice of surgery sits alongside the way we talk about the heart in books and art, this is exactly that conversation.

Tickets are £14.95, and that includes entry to the museum, so you can wander through the galleries before or after the talk. It runs on Saturday 16 January at the Thackray Museum of Medicine in Leeds.