Register now for September Salons– spaces available in Absalom, Absalom! and in the afternoon study of Proust’s The Way by Swann’s — evening study is FULL…
Absalom, Absalom! is said to be Faulkner’s most difficult but most brilliant work. Absalom presents the story of Thomas Sutpen, an enigmatic stranger who came to Jefferson in the early 1830s to wrest his mansion out of the muddy bottoms of the north Mississippi wilderness. He was a man, Faulkner said, “who wanted sons and the sons destroyed him.”
STARTING IN SEPTEMBER
In Search of Lost Time Vol. I The Way by Swann’s by Marcel Proust 8 weeks £120 meeting times offered: Tuesday afternoons, Wednesday evenings (starting week of Sept. 8th) Wednesday evenings are full– email the Salon if you would like to be added to the wait list (a second session maybe proposed if there is enough interest
Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner 4 week study Monday afternoons or evenings, £65 More details below….
STARTING IN OCTOBER
The Alexandria Quartet by Lawrence Durrell (Monday evenings) Details posted early September
4 week study of Virginia Woolf’s The Waves Details posted early September
Starting in January: 20 week study of James Joyce’s Ulysses
Proust, Faulkner, Joyce: the names may be weighty, but once in the work, the beauty of the language and the provocation of ideas and deeper contemplation buoys us up. I hope you can join us for these dynamic studies.
Any given moment–no matter how casual, how ordinary–is poised, full of gaping life…
–Anne Michaels, Fugitive Pieces
More thoughts on Absalom, Absalom!
The multiple voices and perspectives each clamor to have their story told, to get to the heart of how they understood the fecund and exhausted world and their role in it. Faulkner orchestrates shifting sympathies and the reader is struck with how deeply immersed we become with the characters and the unfolding mystery at the heart of the work. Racism and its imbedded structure in Southern history at first seem to be the background against which the drama of the story is played out; but ultimately slavery and its de-humanization of all involved becomes the project of the book to explore—although from an unusual and intimate angle. This book will offer the Salon much to discuss in its gorgeous language and complex subjects: racial identification, pride, identity, impact of history on family, the drive of revenge, the struggle to claim selfhood in a broken world…
Salon Details:
Meet for four weeks Monday nights 8-10 PM
Cost is £65 –this includes all resources, background material and extensive notes. To register, please use the Paypal button found on the event site—contact The Salon if you have any questions…
