Month: December 2012

London 2013: Ulysses, The Sound and The Fury, Whitman, short stories, Beowulf, Virginia Woolf…

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making choices

New Year, new possibilities…what better way to kick off 2013 than with a gift to your mind? There are so many wonderful works to delve into; so many ideas to explore as we shake off the shadows of the previous year. The offerings below range from the biggest (and consequently, most satisfying) study of James Joyce’s Ulysses to one-meeting poetry and short story studies.

NOW is the time to suggest or request particular reads; let me know if one of the offerings here appeals (and ideal meeting time if it is not already named) or suggest a work that you would like to read in the Salon. Below are some planned; more to schedule with your requests!

January Salons

* 07.01.13 Walt Whitman Poetry Evening What better way to offset the lethargy of winter and the exhaustion of the holiday schedules then to dip into the poetry of Whitman? His poetry is exuberant, embracing and evocative of the Transcendentalist philosophy that he admired.

* 09.01.13 Bleak House This Salon started in December…we are enjoying our character-based exploration of Dickens’ critical vision: the lawyers, the street sweepers, the wards of Jarndyce and Jarndyce, the mad, the bored, the about to explode… {Salon full}

*17.01.13 The Liar by Tobias Wolff offers a protagonist caught in his own world, using language to separate and shield himself from those he loves- and fears.

* 22.01.13 ULYSSES register now for opening notes…

* 31.01.13 The Sound and The Fury
In William Faulkner’s first truly modernist work, he pushes to break through the confines of time and sequence to get at the essence of human nature- as Malcolm Bradbury explains, “Faulkner’s preoccupation with time has to do with the endless interlocking of personal and public histories and with the relation of the past to the lost, chaotic present.” The Sound and the Fury uses the interior world of its narrators to expose a crumbling world, through inference and allusion rather than through direct social critique.

* 18.02.13 Chekhov Short Story: “The Grasshopper” ‘As readers of imaginative literature, we are always seeking clues, warnings: where in life to search more assiduously; what not to overlook; what’s the orgin of this sort of human calamity, that sort of joy and pleasure…and to such seekers as we are, Chekhov is guide, perhaps the guide…’ –Richard Ford [Salon details to follow]
Other Salons I would like to offer–please let me know if these are of interest and if you prefer a day time or evening schedule; an intensive (one long meeting) or a series (meetings scheduled over a few weeks)..
BEOWULF (Seamus Heaney translation)
BETWEEN THE ACTS by Virginia Woolf
MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN by Salman Rushdie
ABSALOM, ABSALOM! by William Faulkner

Sit Still. Breathe.

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28 Dec. 12
Sit Still. Breathe.
meditation leaf
Occasionally circumstances align to allow a glimpse beneath the surface of the dash and noise of life; if I am ready –or if I am shaken enough—that glimpse can teach me something. This sounds so small but I am constantly aware (in the season of resolutions) how hard it is to truly change even when you recognize how much change would increase the quality of the life you live, the quality of the self you offer.

So this holiday season brought me The Perfect Storm of factors to shake me out of my ruts of the moment: a passport that spent too long with the American Embassy meant our holiday plans were completely overturned, a stubborn virus walked up and hit me in the face and is just now creeping out, and my friend Dan came from North Fork, CA to spend Solstice with us.

So instead of the round of visiting wonderful friends in Paris and Toulouse and spending Christmas Day swimming in the Mediterranean, I slept, thought, read and slept. I grew quiet. I felt sorry for myself, and then I didn’t anymore. I enjoyed my family who were also forced to go slow: cooking, cleaning, playing card games.

Through these grey and shifting days that usually shatter with the onslaught of parties, gifts, preparations, expectations, I inhaled sage steam and let my thoughts truly wander and stopped making lists. Dan was passing through on his way to lead a 10 day Vipassana Meditation retreat in Norfolk. He told me about his sitting practice and I listened with the intellectual intrigue of someone who cannot possibly imagine sitting still and being quiet for 10 days—but admire those who can. But the forced rest and empty days became my own stillness, and now I can imagine choosing a retreat as a (perhaps more enjoyable) means to achieve this same exquisite sharpness. Thanks to my quiet thoughts, some plaguing complications in professional relationships I am able to re-imagine as not requiring a combative stance, but an approach of shared frustration and an authentic desire to change the dynamic. I am newly aware of how important it is to be able to shift out of my own narrow perspective to that of another, to understand how inexplicable behaviours on the part of others might seem reasonable from their perspective. Of course, being immersed in literature gives me the constant gift of pushing out of my own perspective, of stepping into the world view of others. This results in increased breadth in my own vision, a greater capability for compassion, and a deeper understanding of the world outside of my borders.

Dan describes Vipassana meditation practice as a discipline in studying your responses to external stimuli—we all are constantly responding to sensory stimuli most often sub- or unconsciously. Our senses register a stimulus and somewhere in our body a response occurs: pain, discomfort, pleasure, itch…and then our mind responds to that response. The mind’s responses accumulate to become our mood, our mental landscape but often without an awareness of how those unexamined stimuli contributed to how we feel. Vipassana is aimed to develop an awareness of the stimuli and consequent response.. During the 10 days, students learn the technique and begin to eradicate the root cause of their suffering.

From the Dhamma Dipa Meditation Centre in Herefordshire: “Vipassana means “to see things as they really are”. It is a process of self-purification by self-observation. It is an ancient technique from India, which was originally taught by the Buddha. The teaching is universal and not connected with any religious organisation and can be practised by anyone without conflict with existing religious beliefs or absence of beliefs. For those who are not familiar with Vipassana Meditation we recommend visiting the International Vipassana Website for an introduction.”
Other local Mediation centres and sources from a London Salonista who has also inspired me with her clarity:

Home


http://gaiahouse.co.uk/

And here is one (of many) poet(s) who encapsulates clarity of mind, art of words:

POEM

The spirit
likes to dress up like this:
ten fingers,
ten toes,

shoulders, and all the rest
at night
in the black branches,
in the morning

in the blue branches
of the world.
It could float, of course,
but would rather

plumb rough matter.
Airy and shapeless thing,
it needs
the metaphor of the body,

lime and appetite,
the oceanic fluids;
it needs the body’s world,
instinct

and imagination
and the dark hug of time,
sweetness
and tangibility,

to be understood,
to be more than pure light
that burns
where no one is —

so it enters us —
in the morning
shines from brute comfort
like a stitch of lightning;

and at night
lights up the deep and wondrous
drownings of the body
like a star.
by Mary Oliver, from Dream Work
Atlantic Monthly Pr., 1986, ISBN 0871130696

London Literary Salon named ‘Best Random Thing’ in The Kentishtowner

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kentishtowner

The Kentishtowner is North London’s NESTA award-winning daily online magazine(est.2010): Editors describe the magazine as ‘dedicated to cultural affairs – art, food, pubs, culture, community, history, architecture, music. Kentish Town and Camden as a borough may be at the heart of what we do, but we love the capital as a whole. We’re not bound too rigidly by geography: to prove it, we have a thriving travel section. We believe a mix of features makes for a balanced read.’
They have great reviews as well…and a yearly award scheme based on readers’ votes–Thank you to the Salonistas who made the Salon a winner!

1. Toby Brothers’ Literary Salon

Drawing by far the most votes for a single ‘random thing’ was this rather special book club. To quote one reader in their entirety: ‘Sounds posh (and it is academic) but actually it’s a fabulous friendly forum for real discussion about serious literature. You pay about a fiver per evening and spend an hour or two, over drinks, discussing a good book, play or poem. It’s like a structured book club with interested strangers. I haven’t come across anything like this before – like going back to a university tutorial in a very enjoyable way.’ Said another; ‘A wonderful way to study books one would normally not read by oneself; or if one did, one would most likely not understand!’ and also ‘a most agreeable and useful evening’.

My daughter is surprised the Salon beat the fishdogs at Camden Market.

Joyce days: The Dead short story intensive 17.12.12, Ulysses in January

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The final study on offer in the London Literary Salon for this year is fittingly James Joyce’s lyrical masterpiece, “The Dead”.
Usually one would not dare suggest reading the final paragraph first, but in this case, nothing is given away. Just know the power and resonate beauty of this paragraph is immeasurably increased when you arrive here through the journey of the story.

A few light taps upon the pane made him turn to the window. It had begun to snow again. He watched sleepily the flakes, silver and dark, falling obliquely against the lamplight. The time had come for him to set out on his journey westward. Yes, the newspapers were right: snow was general all over Ireland. It was falling on every part of the dark central plain, on the treeless hills, on the Bog of Allen and, farther westward, softly falling into the dark mutinous Shannon waves. It was falling, too, upon every part of the lonely churchyard on the hill where Michael Furey lay buried. It lay thickly drifted on the crooked crosses and headstones, on the spears of the little gate, on the barren thorns. His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead.

James Joyce’s ‘The Dead Salon Intensive Monday December 17th This story of a party on the edge of the year, at the end of an era, on the edge of Modernity is a wonderful introduction to Joyce’s fluid style. His use of epiphanies and the richly resonant references that build over the course of this novella are carefully employed to evoke the layers of the characters as they gather in the holiday festivities, each carrying their own wounds and histories. For those still missing our work with Ulysses or if you would like to taste a bit of Joyce for the holidays, this is a wonderful study to join.

Coming Salons for the New Year

Starting the third week of January 2013

Ulysses by James Joyce

There is a strong argument for studying this huge and intimidating text- book list chart-topper of 100 greatest books of all time, critics’ darling, most lauded/least read, the book that many literary academics dedicate their lives to studying…but you will only know for yourself by diving in. I believe the only way to study it is with a group of hungry, curious readers who all contribute to evoking meaning—through their questions as well as their insights. The Ulysses Salon will commence with a close study of the first section. Any time spent studying Joyce leaves one a better reader- a broader thinker- even if all the references, repetitions, epiphanies and allusions are not immediately understood.

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
Starting the week of January 14th; I am in the process of determining the schedule so please email me with requests: Thursday evenings, Thursday or Friday afternoons are both a possibility…we will meet for four weeks.

Dickens between the shoulder blades

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We have started our journey through Bleak House; through the fog and detritus of Dickens’s London, into the depths of Chancery…we may even have a field trip to the newly opened Dickens Museum and enjoy a performance of A Christmas Carol and a Dickensian Christmas Walk. If one is to be in chilly London with the pond becoming jellid towards freezing and the winds blowing through to your bones, you might as well celebrate the season.

Nabokov on Bleak House

For nearly twenty years, Vladimir Nabokov delivered a series of very popular lectures first at Wellesley and later at Cornell introducing undergraduates to the delights of great fiction.
Below is an excerpt from his lectures on Bleak House (following on his studies of Jane Austen)

With Dickens we are ready to expand. It seems to me that Jane Austen’s fiction had been a charming rearrangement of old-fashioned values. In the case of Dickens the values are new. Modern authors still get drunk on his vintage. Here there is no problem of approach as with Jane Austen, no courtship, no dillydallying. We just surrender ourselves to Dickens’s voice—that is all…All we have to do when reading Bleak House is to relax and let our spines take over. Although we read with our minds, the seat of artistic delight is between the shoulder blades. That little shiver behind is quite certainly the highest form of emotion that humanity has attained when evolving pure art and pure science. Let us worship the spine and its tingle. Let us be proud of our being vertebrates, for we are vertebrates tipped at the head with a divine flame. The brain only continues the spine: the wick really goes through the whole length of the candle. If we are not capable of enjoying that shiver, if we cannot enjoy literature, then let us give up the whole thing and concentrate on our comics, our videos (our Facebook and Youtube, VN would have added), our books-of-the-week. But I think Dickens will prove the stronger.
V. Nabokov, Lectures on Literature (1982 First Harvest/ HBJ NY ) Pg 63-4.

London Salons: Bleak House starting this week, Joyce’s The Dead 17.12, Ulysses in January…

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Winter slides in and I feel hibernation urges and sun-hungry…what better time to lose my self in a good read?

BLEAK HOUSE SALON starting Wednesday December 5th

“In Chancery

London. Michaelmas term lately over, and the Lord Chancellor
sitting in Lincoln’s Inn Hall. Implacable November weather. As
much mud in the streets as if the waters had but newly retired from
the face of the earth, and it would not be wonderful to meet a
Megalosaurus, forty feet long or so, waddling like an elephantine
lizard up Holborn Hill.”

These are the opening lines of Bleak House the delicious winter study starting on Wednesday. Something about this time of the year feels very ancient and primal…in the hands of Dickens, we dip into Victorian England but also journey into the world of poverty and madness that is an ever-present human experience. There is one remaining space; email me asap if interested.

James Joyce’s ‘The Dead Salon Intensive Monday December 17th This story of a party on the edge of the year, at the end of an era, on the edge of Modernity is a wonderful introduction to Joyce’s fluid style. His use of epiphanies and the richly resonant references that build over the course of this novella are carefully employed to evoke the layers of the characters as they gather in the holiday festivities, each carrying their own wounds and histories. For those still missing our work with Ulysses or if you would like to taste a bit of Joyce for the holidays, this is a wonderful study to join.

Coming Salons for the New Year

Starting the third week of January 2013

Ulysses by James Joyce

There is a strong argument for studying this huge and intimidating text- book list chart-topper of 100 greatest books of all time, critics’ darling, most lauded/least read, the book that many literary academics dedicate their lives to studying…but you will only know for yourself by diving in. I believe the only way to study it is with a group of hungry, curious readers who all contribute to evoking meaning—through their questions as well as their insights. The Ulysses Salon will commence with a close study of the first section. Any time spent studying Joyce leaves one a better reader- a broader thinker- even if all the references, repetitions, epiphanies and allusions are not immediately understood.

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

Paris Salon feedback

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Last weekend we had a Salon overnight in Villennes-sur-Seine outside of Paris with a wonderful group of readers working carefully through Virgil’s Aeneid: rich work, lovely, floating in the air setting and scrumptious eats…felt like a Spa for the mind.

Here are some of the participants’ comments:
“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!”-WWM

“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 and Lizzie was such a relaxed and generous host.

I came away my mind still full of the reading and realised that the characters that stuck with me most were the WOMEN. Juno – wonderfully complex with her passionate nature but also the wisdom of her advice to Aeneas about letting the Latins keep their own name and culture etc; the wonderful, tragic Dido; Camilla the woman-warrior, bosom bared…(and for me to a lesser extent Juturna). Truly great portraits of women!

I wish I’d picked up on the post-script by Fagle before…I found the parallels between the first half of the Aeneid and Aeneas’ wandering and the Odyssey, and the second war-packed part and the Iliad absolutely relevant and true.

Hope you had a good evening and now you’re back in London, swimming in Hampstead pool as I write perhaps, life packed with more sharing and teaching…

Looking forward to Melville!”

Coming Salons in Paris for 2013 (Proposed)
weekend of January 25th-27th –Short story study, Aeneid, Beowulf (to be confirmed)

Weekend March 22nd-24th Moby Dick, Sound & The Fury and…? Send your requests now!!27.11.12

Toby’s Aeneid weekend in Paris: Traffic jams and twilight wanderings to experimental Japanese food down cobbled streets with dear friends…braving the trek to the western suburbs to study the Aeneid on a ship like huge home perched in the edge of a hill overlooking the Seine valley…nine hours of engaged reading and discussion on the strivings of Aeneas and the powerful female characters that disappear in wisps of smoke around him…fine food to keep us going through the founding of Rome…dashing back to Paris through startling Sunday sun to a Thanksgiving feast amongst more Paris friends–one brief quiet moment I stood in front of the Gare St Lazare full of words and love and blooming in the winter sun.

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