Head Divided–coming salons in London–looking towards September

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“She had the perpetual sense, as she watched the taxi cabs, of being out, out, far out to sea and alone; she always had the feeling that it was very, very, dangerous to live even one day.”– Mrs. Dalloway

It may be bad for the mind to try to be equally in Moby Dick, Ulysses, Mrs Dalloway and Magic Mountain all at once. I feel the mind muscle aching with the deliciousness of over-use –but wonder if this will result in a Pentecostal babble of tongues–unintelligible and aching for meaning. What I know is that when I am fully in each of these works– and deeply submerged with a gathering of other lively minds– the tempo slows and the language transcends– and suddenly we are swimming in ideas, insights and connections fresh and rich.

Two Studies in London June & July  (use the links to register)

Mrs Dalloway  by Virginia Woolf   Two evening meetings Tuesday June 24th and July 1st 7:30-10 PM

Alice Munro and Eudora Welty Short Stories One meeting July 14th  7-10 PM

“As many critics have observed, however, the real delight of reading Munro – slowly and deliberately — is this: one awakens to the beautiful and perverse in the very ordinary people living among us.”

Coming in September:
Marcel Proust: Swann’s Way, Faulkner: Absalom, Absalom! …in January, time to re-meet Ulysses– so perhaps an Odyssey and Hamlet en route? …and more….send me your requests now!

Words for Focus

These galloping lives– the commitments & details, the lists and demands on our time can eat away at our lives until our daily rhythm is defined by bits and pieces–not passions and purpose. I speak from my own experience– and am recognising my daily struggle to stay present and aware. In the moments of the Salon, my attention is drawn deep into language and meaning– and then into the words of others who are also responding to the ideas and art before us. It is a wonderfully rich and sharp time together; when I am able to take the gift of this awareness, the ability to pay attention and shut out the noise of the thousand clamouring things that need to be done–my relationships and movement through life is simply better. Each member of the Salon community offers insights and a way of seeing that broadens my own–I emerge from our work together with a cleansed and renewed perspective. Two studies are in the process of finishing our 15 week study of Mann’s Magic Mountain just now: while at moments the climb has been hard, the gift of our work together is a clarity on the work of living in the knowledge of our mortality, a deeper understanding of the struggle between the realm of ideas and the urges of passion, some stirring meditations on the embrace of suffocating snow and studies on the sublimity of music…

Again I am living the lesson that to read a few books deeply is more satisfying than trying to read it all. Wishing you all renewed attention and reading time…

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COMING SALONS in Paris
April 4th– Short Story Intensive: Alice Munro and Eudora Welty
April 5th–The Magic Mountain– first third
April 6th–The Magic Mountain second third

COMING SALONS IN London
20 MARCH LIT IN PIT— Salon special in collaboration with Wendy Meakin and Pitfield– an evening of food, wine and The Wasteland

April 1st or April 2nd: 10 week study of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick begins

April 28th: Five week study of Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom! begins (Mondays 8-10 PM)

April 24th: ONe meeting study of Eliot’s poem “Four Quartets”

Upcoming Salons–register now & feed your mind!

Ulysses by James Joyce (20 week study-£300)
 starts 23.01.14 FOUR SPACES REMAINING
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“The Wasteland” by T.S. Eliot (One-meeting Intensive-£35)
 meets 26.01.14 TWO SPACES REMAINING
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (One meeting Intensive-£45) 02.02.14 FOUR SPACES REMAINING

To register for any of the studies above, please follow the link to the events page on the website or email the Salon: gift your mind a workout for the New Year!
Salons in London coming in later Spring: Moby Dick, Middlemarch, Absalom, Absalom! and The Odyssey… Salons in Paris (February 22nd, April and May weekends) include Betweeb the Acts, more Moby Dick, Thomas mann’s Magic Mountain Absalom, Absalom! and short stories: details to come.

Ulysses, Wasteland date change, Frankenstein: Register now!!

Upcoming Salons in London—Jan-February

Ulysses by James Joyce (20 week study-£300)
 starts 23.01.14
Black Voices in American Literature (12 week study through City Lit-£98)
 starts 14.01.14
“The Wasteland” by T.S. Eliot (One-meeting Intensive-£35)
 meets 26.01.14 NOTE DATE CHANGE
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (One meeting Intensive-£45) 02.02.14
To register for any of the studies above, please follow the link to the events page on the website or email the Salon: gift your mind a workout for the New Year!

Salons in London coming in later Spring: Moby Dick, Middlemarch, Absalom, Absalom! and The Odyssey… Salons in Paris (February 22nd, April and May weekends) include Betweeb the Acts, more Moby Dick, Sebald’s The Emigrants, Absalom, Absalom! and short stories: details to come.

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Reading Makes Us Smarter

Now we even have a study that says so:
NEUROSCIENTSTS FIND THAT READING STORIES CAN LEAD TO BIOLOGICAL CHANGES IN THE BRAIN.
Bibliophiles are right–a book can change your life. Immersing yourself in a fictional story can lead to changes in brain function for up to five days, according to a recent study published in Brain Connectivity.

Over the holidays, it was my happy privilege to attend an all-day Middlemarch marathon-10 AM-10 PM- at the Orange Tree Theatre –mind-altering. I left wanting to strive forward with purpose, wanting to re-read George Eliot, wanting to clean up all the messy corners of my life, wanting an ironic narrator to keep me honest (though in a pinch, the husband will do). Hearing Eliot’s text spoken aloud made me newly aware of how lyrically she zings into human absurdity, revealing our best and worst inclinations all woven together:

And certainly, the mistakes that we male and female mortals make when we have our own way might fairly raise some wonder that we are so fond of it.

We mortals, men and women, devour many a disappointment between breakfast and dinner-time; keep back the tears and look a little pale about the lips, and in answer to inquiries say, “Oh, nothing!” Pride helps; and pride is not a bad thing when it only urges us to hide our hurts— not to hurt others.”

“If we had a keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life, it would be like hearing the grass grow and the squirrel’s heart beat, and we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence.”
― George Eliot, Middlemarch
So yes, I hope to offer a Middlemarch Salon in the late Spring…stay tuned!

“Wonder. Go on and wonder”- Faulkner– Salons coming and news

Coming Salons:
*April 29th The Fields Beneath Poetry Salon 3-4 PM Birches by Robert Frost
*30th April Ulysses Nausicaa chapter (Salon full)
*May 2nd–6-10 PM The Sound and the Fury Salon Intensive (four spaces remaining)
* May 11th 10:30-16:30 Joyce Taster: the Genius of James Joyce at CITY LIT

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The Salon conversations often feel like effervescent glimmers against the chugging engine of schedules and time. The study of words and ideas plunges through the rigid patterns of work to glimpse the wholeness of what we are, of what we could be…at the same time the conversations are so much a reflection of where the individual participants are at any given moment in their lives, and where they meet the language and each other. This unpredictably feels risky–and potent. My head is still full (and this writing is influenced by) the strong work we did on Woolf’s Between The Acts this past Friday evening. Even at the end of the week, readers can come together and find their own framework reflected and sharpened through the vision of the artist of language.

From a Salon participant:
Re the salon, what I’ve found especially appealing – and stimulating – is the way it brings together such a vivid variety of viewpoints and stances and gives each one a space. And allows them to spark off one another and create the most wonderful, unlikely correspondences – a real meeting of minds, as it were. I’m also impressed by the way that, if anyone is struggling with the text (all of us at some point, I imagine), the support and encouragement provided by the group – and, of course, yourself – generate energy flashes that give you the stamina and confidence to continue. Bravo, bravo.

The crunch of family needs, work, depleted energy and resources requires a postponement of the Paris Salons until September. The conversations that happen in those weekends are magical…I do not want to approach them with less than a full load of energy and focus. I am looking towards the second week of September and am taking requests now for readings…on the top of the charts at the moment: Between The Acts and a second consideration of Moby Dick.

As Ulysses takes over my mind and hints of summer starts to scatter us to the world around, there will be fewer Salons on offer in the coming months. I am starting to look towards September offerings and hope to post these in the coming weeks to fortify your summer reading. Some suggestions so far include: Dylan Thomas, Oscar Wilde, Moby Dick, The Odyssey….There may be a few casual evening studies in the second half of June– ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’, anyone? for a bit of Salon gathering fun…let me know where you are, what you are reading and what words move you.

“Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world…would do this, it would change the earth.”
― William Faulkner

So much to read; so little time….Salons coming April & May London 2013

Since I feel this can’t-read-enough anxiety daily, I am trying a new approach: it is not the amount I read but the depth of consideration in what I do read. Cliche? Perhaps…but any given moment or struggle offers a newly carved truth if I am attending to it. I can say over and over to myself ‘we are all doing the best we can’ but is only when I feel it in my bones, hold the words like some delicacy that I must think about to savour, that the truth leaks out beneath the saying.

The recent weeks have included two galvanizing studies of Moby Dick in Paris, the on-going challenge and glory of the six month Ulysses study and the start of a new program: Poetry Salons at the Fields Beneath Cafe adjacent to Kentish Town West. Coming up (and time to sign up):

The Sound and The Fury Salon Intensive 6-10:30 PM cost is 45 pounds; evening includes a pot-luck meal. Participant in recent Paris S&F study had this feedback: “Our study of this book has re-made me as a reader and student of human nature…”. Reading Faulkner will infuse your mind–but sign up today to get the notes and start reading. recommended edition: Norton Critical
Friday April 19th;
four remaining spaces
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Between the Acts Salon Intensive
5:30-10 PM cost is 45 pounds; evening includes a pot-luck meal.
Virginia Woolf on how to read: “[F]ew people ask from books what books can give us. Most commonly we come to books with blurred and divided minds, asking of fiction that it shall be true, of poetry that it shall be false, of biography that it shall be flattering, of history that it shall enforce our own prejudices. If we could banish all such preconceptions when we read, that would be an admirable beginning. Do not dictate to your author; try to become him. Be his fellow-worker and accomplice. If you hang back, and reserve and criticize at first, you are preventing yourself from getting the fullest possible value from what you read. But if you open your mind as widely as possible, then signs and hints of almost imperceptible fineness, from the twist and turn of the first sentences, will bring you into the presence of a human being unlike any other. Steep yourself in this, acquaint yourself with this and soon you will find that your author is giving you, or attempting to give you, something far more definite.” from The Second Common Reader
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Weekly brief Poetry Studies at The Fields Beneath Cafe Mondays 3-4 PM register by contacting me; cost is the purchase of a coffee or tasty treat and sliding scale donation to the London Literary Salon (4-8 pounds suggested).

Moby Dick The recent Salon Intensive in Paris on Moby Dick was amazing and exhaustive– and we only had six hours. I am considering proposing a Moby Dick study in London–interested? We would go for 5ive weekly meetings– it is a matter of blood and sweat to complete the work in less time. Please email me with schedule prefernces (Thursday afternoons? Wednesday or Thursday evenings?) and if there is enough interest, I will announce the study in the next newsletter…The Arcola Theatre is offering this performance until May 4th:
http://www.camdenreview.com/reviews/theatre/2013/apr/ahab-spring-%E2%80%93-moby-dick-arcola-theatre

 

See you in the pages…

Salon feedback March 2013

Sunrise-on-Parliament-Hil-001The experience of the Salon resists easy definition–but to help those new to the studies, here are some words from recent Salons:

Thank god! This chapter really did not give me a steady place to hold on, but rereading (again, again, again!) on the train on the way back tonight, I can get the vibe coming through. Strange how a reading group unlocks that extra energies (something which the scientific mind cannot explain!)

I can now see the battle with the mother too, which shouldn’t be a surprise, as it is Stephen after all. (The battle with the father was more obvious, to me. ) It’s all there right at the beginning: A hesitating soul taking arms against a sea of troubles, torn by conflicting doubts, as one sees in real life.

Thank you again for this journey, it has made my year. –Ulysses participant, 2013

Thanks for being such a calming but persevering Captain Rehab–ever ready to straighten somewhat tossed limbs of thought and help us stand firm but open in our reflections. Moby Dick participant, Paris 2013

thanks infinitely for the salon. Not only was it fun, interesting, revealing, enlightening etc, but you have such a gift for
leading the group gracefully & intelligently. It’s not an easy or obvious thing to be able to do, & I for one really appreciated it.
A great evening.
Moby Dick participant, Paris 2013

It was a most enjoyable session and thank you for making us love such intimidating classics as Moby Dick, which we look at on our bookshelves, feigning to have read them … and for making those sessions so rich, so lively, so entertaining in spite of the themes.
Thank you, B. for welcoming the whole crew of whalers with a wonderful dinner in your beautiful place.
Thank you, companions in whaling for your bright and enriching insights.
Looking to the next session, whatever may be the topic.
Moby Dick participant, Paris 2013

This is why I read too or engage with the “objects” people make… I believe it is a duty and a privilege to witness and share in the lives of others, the people one loves or hates we are all on the same path, life itself is the great equaliser. There is no question that each text changes as one lives life, meaning is not fixed.

I ask this question all the time yet, with Ulysses I feel/see that there is a higher power which must have moved Joyce along for all the reasons you state below… xenophobia, hatred, alienation, all traits humans find so easy to conceive…. being “good” or “self aware” is the challenge. Clearly Joyce’s compulsion to bring the ancients to us, to see if we will learn from history and allow the “strangers” to dwell in our hearts with the hope that some of us will have the courage to change. –Ulysses participant, 2013

Where it is…where it went : London Salons in April 2013

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Coming Salons in London: register now using the links to the events page
08.04.13,15.04.13 Poetry Salon at The Fields Beneath Cafe 3-4 PM (drop-in as room allows, contact me for details)
19.04.13 The Sound and the Fury Salon Intensive 18-22:30
26.04.13 Between the Acts Salon Intensive 17:30-22:00

There are moments (in some cases, weeks, months) when the unending challenges thrown at you make even the weather feel like a personal slam-down. Family illness, friends in need, work eruptions– all seemed to be in cahoots with this endless frigid weather. Even reading that this Arctic Spring may be in fact due to human fault did not lift the mood here–rather made it worse. These events have resulted in a reduced Salon schedule– April claims a new energy, new possibilites both in the Salon and in the world around.

A brilliant work of literature–combined with exceptionally lively minds: well, that’s the ticket. Throw yourself into a challenging read for a few weeks then join with a group of other committed readers and we warmed up the world within and without ourselves.
The recent Salons– the on-going Ulysses study, last weekend’s Moby Dick double-header in Paris–feed us with words, connection, and deeper understanding. Somewhere in the words of a careful craftsman, my own struggles became part of rhythm of life lived in company rather than an individual wound that isolates. The Salons are not therapy, but there is power and embrace in considering the struggles and triumphs of others through literature.

Look man, we’d probably most of us agree that these are dark times, and stupid ones, but do we need fiction that does nothing but dramatize how dark and stupid everything is? In dark times, the definition of good art would seem to be art that locates and applies CPR to those elements of what’s human and magical that still live and glow despite the times’ darkness. Really good fiction could have as dark a worldview as it wished, but it’d find a way both to depict this world and to illuminate the possibilities for being alive and human in it.
–David Foster Wallace

Paris Salons-February filling fast–Fury, Swimming Feathers and Beowulf

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Please register today to get the opening notes and assure your place in these studies. To register, use the link below or under ‘Events’ on the front page to access the information on each study–if you have any problems, please email me: litsalon@gmail.com.
Yesterday, a Salon participant thoughtfully gave words to the Salon experience: The Salons create ‘a rigorous familiarization with the book, the other people and oneself through our discussions…’. The choices for the February studies range from the rough beauty and forthright study in courage of Beowulf to the lush and probing lyricism of The Sound and the Fury. For those particularly interested in the short story genre (or with less reading time), the Cheever/Carver pairing will provide ample room for exploration of human beauty in unexpected places…
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February weekend 15th-17th

Short Stories: Raymond Carver & John Cheever Friday 15.01.13 7-10 PM 35€ We will examine Carver’s ‘Feathers’ and Cheever’s ‘The Swimmer’.

The Sound & The Fury (rec. ed: Norton Critical) Saturday 16.02.13 5-10 PM 45€

Beowulf (Seamus Heaney translation–either Faber or Norton Critical Ed.) Sunday 4-8:30 PM 45€

Coming in March: Moby Dick, Between the Acts and Jugged Hare (short story)

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Paris Salons February 15-17: Sound and Fury, Beowulf and Short Stories

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The Paris Salons offer intensive, dynamic discussions centred on a single work (or two short stories) that readers prepare in advance with critical support and resources. Upon receipt of payment, you will receive notes and introductory materials including the Salon location. Salons are hosted in participant homes and include the pleasure of a pot-luck meal along with the rich company of other authentic readers.To register, please visit the Event page linked to the listing or accessible from the home page.
Please complete registration as soon as possible to get the notes and start reading !!

February weekend 15th-17th

Short Stories: Raymond Carver & John Cheever Friday 15.01.13 7-10 PM 35€

The Sound & The Fury (rec. ed: Norton Critical) Saturday 16.02.13 5-10 PM 45€

Beowulf (Seamus Heaney translation–either Faber or Norton Critical Ed.) Sunday 4-8:30 PM 45€

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March Salons start reading…
these will be available for registration in the coming weeks…

Moby Dick by Herman Melville (rec. edition: Norton Critical) Saturday 23.03.13 5-10 PM
Between The Acts by Virginia Woolf (rec. ed. Oxford World Classics) 24.03.13 Sunday 4-8:30 PM
Jugged Hare (contemporary short story) by L. Welby Bridport Prize winner 2012 22.03.13 7-10 PM

Previous Salon feedback

“Thank you, once again, for a stimulating, interesting, and just plain fun book salon on Saturday! I really enjoyed it. It reminds me how important it is to have an English language literary conversation in my life again… Oddly enough, it makes me feel more integrated in France!”…
“Once again what a great session that was, and a difficult and demanding one. I think we really managed to do justice to The Aeneid even in that short space of time…and it was so great being AWAY, out of Paris, in a spacious house with the fire at night and the rooms full of light and sun the next morning. A lovely experience…” “I came away my mind still full of the reading…”

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