Reflections on Their Eyes Were Watching God by Alison Cable The Dream Keeper, by Langston Hughes Bring me all of your dreams, You dreamers, Bring me all of your Heart melodies That I may wrap them In a blue cloud-cloth Away from the too-rough fingers Of the...
“There is one peculiarity which real works of art possess in common. At each fresh reading one notices some change in them, as if the sap of life ran in their leaves, and with skies and plants they had the power to alter their shape and colour from season to season....
Reading to Widen Perspective The London Literary Salon has always been committed to using literature to combat prejudice. I have been leading discussions on literature by Black Americans for 30 years- and continue to find the study of the passionate writing by Toni...
MEDIA RELEASE – 8 APRIL 2020 (for immediate release) KEEP CALM, READ ULYSSES AND CARRY ON . . . The impact of COVID-19, which initially threatened disaster, has resulted in one London business going global almost overnight. The Kentish Town-based London...
Than there is the writing: to grapple with the words and linguistic pyrotechnics of James Joyce—to enter into his exploration of the body, mind and street-life, to sit in awe of his allusions, musicality, interweaving structures and thematic developments is to expand...
March 16, 2020 From Toby– We are entering into a crisis that is unknowable. There are so many difficulties in this moment– it feels easy to get lost in the anxiety and uncertainty. My go-to coping mechanism is to DO SOMETHING– and not just hoard...
Courses coming with spaces remaining: Beloved four weeks starting mid-April The Years—Five-day intensive study in St Ives April (two spaces available) Yoga and Literary Retreat in Umbria early June of Henry James: The Portrait of a Lady –one space available A Mercy...
“But Virginia Woolf wanted us to take a closer look than this at masculine power and control; to analyse with greater precision some tacit manifestations of sexual polarization and to examine their effects on young women in England in 1880. So we are moved into the...
December 16th, 2019 After last week’s election… In recent Salon discussions and in several social conversations, we have re-visited the question as to why we read writers who present perspectives that we now find deeply problematic. This could be in reference to...
Spend the Winter tackling Ulysses with Toby Brothers and The London Literary Salon By Nicole Hubbard (published on Bookstoker) After a chance conversation with a friend about life after 50, she casually mentioned that each year she had taken on a new project outside...
I would recommend courses led by Toby to anyone who wants to look at a text in detail in a study group
I was certainly surprised at how much I was thrown off balance by these two astounding writers…I look forward to returning for more
We all came to the group with different backgrounds and interests but Mark has skillfully guided us through a stimulating programme of Greek literature.
I always leave the meetings with a much broader understanding of what we are reading than when I arrived
Everyone feels they get heard and therefore that each of us has a contribution to make
In all of the courses I have attended I have felt a bond within the group, and this contributes significantly to the quality of the discussions
Lovely, intimate groups with in-depth discussions, lots of learning, and friendships are made for life there
I’ve read things I’d never dared read before. I’ve made new friends and met really interesting people.
“Since we do float on an unknown sea, I think we should examine the other floating things that come our way carefully; who knows what might depend on it”
Event Details
“Since we do float on an unknown sea, I think we should examine the other floating things that come our way carefully; who knows what might depend on it”
Elizabeth Bishop
Photo by William Foley on Unsplash
Elizabeth Bishop is a poet of details and absences. She explores the world around her, always looking for truth even in the most ordinary observation, with poems that are both controlled and expansive. Sandpiper, written on a return visit to Bishop’s childhood home in Nova Scotia, effortlessly evokes a moment watching a bird searching for food on the shoreline. At the same time she makes the bird a personification of herself, endlessly searching for something, something, something.
Sandpiper can tell us much about Bishop’s vision of our relationship to nature, uncertainty and art. Through repeated readings and discussion, we will work towards a great understanding of this exquisitely constructed poem. It is also quite likely that we will spend some time on the question “Why do so many poets write about birds?”
Salon Details:
Facilitated by Caroline Hammond
Single meeting study, Wednesday 7 July 2021, 6-8.00 pm
£25 includes background materials and opening notes
TO REGISTER for the study, please use the secure Paypal payment button below to pay £25. Contact us if you prefer to pay by direct bank transfer. Opening notes will be sent shortly after registration. The study is limited to 10 participants. Please contact us if you have any questions.
“Risky, I’d say, trying to figure out anybody’s state of mind.”
Although not as well known as some of Toni Morrison’s other novels, Jazz
Event Details
“Risky, I’d say, trying to figure out anybody’s state of mind.”
Although not as well known as some of Toni Morrison’s other novels, Jazz addresses with the power we have come to expect from her issues drawn from the legacy of slavery. The novel is about the flight from the South to the North, from the farm to the city, and from family life to independent living. The backdrop is 1920s New York. The built urban environment replaces the open spaces of Ohio in what is and is not a sequel to Beloved.
The connections and disconnections which Morrison weaves between her characters form a loosely structured saga of generational kinship and friendships, in which preoccupations like love, possession, imprisonment, freedom, hate, and forgiveness, bind and separate people, according to their natures and their experiences. SALON DETAILS
Two meetings, six hours total July 21st & 22nd 5-8 PM BST
Meetings conducted virtually via ZOOM
Jazz by Toni Morrison edition recommended: Picador of 1992 (many copies available on Abe) or Vintage 2005 (229 pages)
£75 includes background notes and materials
TO REGISTER for the study, please use the secure Paypal payment button below to pay £75. Opening notes will be sent shortly after registration. The study is limited to 10 participants. Please contact us if you have any questions.
Despite its title, this is not a novel simply about music. Yet musical rhythms run through its heart. Nor is it simply about race and deprivation, although those issues are central ones. For some commentators, Jazz is Morrison’s most difficult book. Its fluid structure certainly requires careful reading. The study will offer opportunities for considering how the complex arrangement of events and the shifting narration of those events can be understood as a pattern of observation and commentary which reflects hard realities alongside psychological truths.
Description by Geoff Brown- co-facilitator of LLS Jazz study 2020
The Tyger, first published in 1794, is the product of a revolutionary age. Societal transformations in Europe and North America were radically
Event Details
The Tyger, first published in 1794, is the product of a revolutionary age. Societal transformations in Europe and North America were radically altering industry, statehood, philosophy, law and religion. In the vanguard of the Romantic movement that was to produce a generation of poets including Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley Keats and Clare, Blake was a master of the lyric form, finding connections between the natural world and the introspective workings of the heart and mind.
For many readers The Tyger is also woven into their earliest childhood, one of the first poems they were introduced to – heard before it was read. This may be due to the strange idea that any poem about animals must be suitable for children, overlooking the darker aspects of Blake’s masterwork.
Whether the Tyger is part of your personal canon or completely new, exploring the lyricism, imagery and Blake’s unique voice, we will uncover new and unexpected meanings through reading and discussing the poem.
Salon Details:
Facilitated by Caroline Hammond
Single meeting study, Wednesday 21 July 2021, 6-8.00 pm
£25 includes background materials and opening notes
TO REGISTER for the study, please use the secure Paypal payment button below to pay £25. Contact us if you prefer to pay by direct bank transfer. Opening notes will be sent shortly after registration. The study is limited to 10 participants. Please contact us if you have any questions.
The Tyger, first published in 1794, is the product of a revolutionary age. Societal transformations in Europe and North America were radically altering industry, statehood, philosophy, law and religion. In the vanguard of the Romantic movement that was to produce a generation of poets including Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley Keats and Clare, Blake was a master of the lyric form, finding connections between the natural world and the introspective workings of the heart and mind.