“She is a friend of my mind. She gather me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order.” —Beloved by Toni Morrison
The Magic Mountain study continues to amaze us all with its reach of philosophy and identity formation; we are approaching the end of this incredible work and are starting to consider the next big literary immersion–talk of Moby dick, Faulkner…Proust?? The Salon Intensives detailed below are designed for a deep though brief immersion in these formative works; email lit salon@gmail.com with questions, suggestions and feedback…
Beloved Two meetings: Thursday Feb. 27th & Thursday March 13th 7:30-10 PM; cost £45
Teaching Beloved again in the study on Black Voices at CityLit has brought me back to the incredible power of this work. We are discovering as a group how what is unthinkable in human nature becomes a part of what we are– and how one integrates the struggles into a whole personhood helps to determine our strength. This book also shows the poignant beauty even in a life that feels unlovable…and how the self must be claimed in order to be made whole.
Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot ONe Meeting 9th March Four hour Salon Intensive, cost £40.
T.S. Eliot’s ‘Four Quartets’ is often described as the best long poem of the 20th century. Eliot’s vast final work attempted to order and understand the movement of time, the dissatisfaction of worldly experience, the nature of purgation and the struggle towards artistic wholeness and spiritual health(modified from C.K. Stead). In the poem, Eliot weaves belief systems and diverse influences including Dante, The Bhagavad Gita, The Eightfold Path of Buddhism, the New Testament, medieval mystics, Greek myths and the Grail Legend: so our study will also involve comparing wisdom traditions.
I will provide each participant with pages of annotations and reference reading (gratefully donated by Mike McGarry, fellow educator and philosopher)—but as always with the Salon work, the focus is on the text itself.
Salons starting end of March, April :
Moby Dick by Herman Melville — 10 week study starting Wednesday March 26th (two week break April 16 & 23rd); Tuesday afternoon studies available
Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner – 5 week study to start end of April– please email me schedule requests (week day preferences, afternoon or evening meetings)
