Coming Salons

From the madness of the final days of courses to the shift towards travel and pause of the summer days, moments of time shape and shift even as I try to hold them—wanting the possibilities of summer expansion to always be anticipated—not past. I hear the echo of Gatsby’s ever-receding green light—the human reaching towards that never seems quite satisfied with fulfillment.

But contemplation is one of summer’s gifts—and I have been thinking strongly about the challenges in human communications and how we negotiate differences in opinions, beliefs, world-views. The Salon conversations explore these dynamics and test out clashing perspectives—and how these can be used—if thoughtfully & respectfully held. I found this article by Benjamin Mathes useful to continue thinking about difference and engaging disagreements.

The literature we study—some subtlety, other works more directly, such as transgressive fictions by Nabokov & Smart—exposes boundaries and limits of behavior that we may not even be aware we maintain. The poem, ‘Kindness’, by Naomi Shihab Nye offers another approach to loss or challenge in relationships.

You will find details below on the coming works being offered in the Salon. Some studies are at or near capacity so please register soon so you can plunge into the readings.
—Toby

I am very excited for the opportunity to lead studies with the London Literary Salon and to be part of the Salon community. My wife Johanna and I relocated to England this past spring from Chicago, where I have been leading Salon-style Great Books discussions for the last two decades.

I’ve known of Toby’s wonderful work with the Salon for a couple years now, and when the opportunity to move to London came along for Johanna and me, one of the first items on my must-do list was to get in touch with Toby. I am very grateful to her for the warm welcome she has given me.

I am absolutely passionate about discussion-based learning. What happens in the Salon and in Great Books discussion groups is a very rare thing these days. The Salon is one of the few places I know of where we can have meaningful conversations about things that matter—about the big questions that confront us as we go through life, about love, duty, faith, justice, beauty, work, and death.

One of our chief challenges as human beings, I think, is to understand ourselves and the world into which we have been born. The desire to understand, in this broad sense, is what drives me as I lead a discussion. Each time we open a new book, we are confronted with something unknown. It makes sense to me that we shouldn’t immediately understand much of what’s going on; after all, not knowing is the place from which we all naturally start. So, in our discussions we work together to try to make sense of the story or the ideas an author has put before us. We ask what kind of work this is, what is the author trying to say and why does the author say it in this manner; we look at our experience and reactions as we read; we fit in this author’s ideas with what other writers and artists have said and shown; and, ultimately, we ask ourselves how this work fits with and enhances our own understanding of the world.

Building answers to these questions is often difficult going. Many, if not most of the books we study in the Salon are quite challenging, both intellectually and emotionally. Again and again, though, I have been amazed at the insights made by participants in group discussion.

A friend in the US who trains teachers to lead discussions recently sent along a link to an article in the Utne Reader that captures what is so special about good discussions:

“. . . (M)ost people have ideas that matter, ideas that would make a difference if they could be developed fully. People, regardless of their position or status, can think of things that move discussions to whole new levels of sparkle and resolution. Individuals you would never suspect of being interesting have absorbing stories to tell and disturbing insights that would humble even the most long-winded of us right out of our self-importance and rush. If the conditions are right, the huge intelligence of the human being surfaces. Ideas seem to come from nowhere and sometimes stun us. 

“The best conditions for thinking, I assumed for years, were hypercritical, competitive and urgent. Schools, organizations, governments and families convince us of that. But in fact it is in schools, organizations, governments and families that people do some of their worst thinking. That is because the conditions for thinking there are usually appalling. 

“The best conditions for thinking, if you really stop and notice, are not tense. They are gentle. They are quiet. They are unrushed. They are stimulating but not competitive. They are encouraging. They are paradoxically both rigorous and nimble.” 

I know that Toby creates those best conditions, and they are what I strive to create in discussion, as well.

I will be starting off at the Salon with a couple of short studies this fall: a two-session Hamlet study and a Plato taster (keep an eye out for that). I’ll also be co-facilitating a section of the Daniel Deronda study with Toby.

I look forward to meeting more members of the Salon community, and I welcome your suggestions for other studies we might add. Is anyone interested in any of my favorites: Homer’s Iliad, perhaps, or some Darwin? Or maybe Herodotus, the Greek tragedies, or the great Icelandic novelist Halldor Laxness’ masterpiece Independent People?

This is still in progress– feedback is most welcome!! In a time when hope needs to be kindled, turning to significant literature may be a salve– certainly this is a way out of the narrowness of our own experience….

 “Faulkner tackles complex and universal human questions through mesmerising and unforgettable characters. The brilliance of this book emerges in the Salon study group, where you have the liberty to dive deeply into Faulkner’s work, question and discuss with others. Not many novels will stand up to 20 hours of discussion, but it felt we could have continued for another 20 hours. The Sound and the Fury was one of the most difficult books I have ever read, but through the Salon study it was also one of the most rewarding and impactful.”

This is how a recent Faulkner study was described by a participant. Our next study starts Monday afternoon — we will be reading Light in August. I hesitate from describing any great book with a few pithy statements– it is reductive and loses all the subtle craft of the writer’s art. This is an incredibly important book to read– even as it is a hard book to read: we have not finished talking about nor understanding how racism continues to daily impact all of our lives– nor do we understand how to eradicate racism from our social structures. Reading this book may not tell us how to do so– but my experience has taught me that reading and discussing a text that explores the wounds and tragedy of racism in good faith offers each reader an opportunity to examine their own understanding of the history and impact of race divisions, resulting in greater openness and recognition of the humanity of all. There is still time to register and start reading– we will consider the first three chapters in our meeting on Monday–reading approx. 55 pages per week.

Light in August by W. Faulkner  Seven-week daytime study starting April 18th “It is just dawn, daylight: that gray and lonely suspension filled with the peaceful and tentative waking of birds. The air, inbreathed, is like spring water. He breathes deep and slow, feeling with each breath himself diffuse in the natural grayness, becoming one with loneliness and quiet that has never known fury or despair….”

Hamlet Tuesday April 26th  Evening Intensive study:  Celebrating the 400 year anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, there are many events including the Complete Walk sponsored by The Globe– 10 minute presentations of all the plays: http://www.shakespearesglobe.com/theatre/whats-on/special-events/the-complete-walk . To really enjoy any of the plays, a careful study is essential to spend time with the language, trace the developing imagery and notice the irony, rhetoric and gorgeous presentation of the characters in lyric rhythms. This one-meeting study of one of Shakespeare’s greatest works will give participants useful tools for attending other Shakespeare plays with a deeper understanding.  There are spaces available– but sign up now to receive opening notes and preparation.

Hamlet Intensive April 26th— One meeting study of the extraordinary play in honour of Shakespeare’s 400 year anniversary

“What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form, in moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?”

The Guermantes Way by Marcel Proust Wednesday early evenings 6-7:50 PM seven week study starting May 11th

A wonderful group has started the exploration of Proust’s In Search of Lost Time on Wednesday evenings. If you have read the first two volumes, you would be welcome to pick up the third with us. I was describing my recent discovery of Proust (after being a Joyce gal for much of the Salon history–seems you are one or the other–but I can never definitively choose) : Proust makes me think and read differently. I am more careful in my observations, more aware of competing impulses in human relationships, more able to negotiate sentences built like cathedrals with patience. And then there is the recognition of self-deception, the struggle between desire and intellect, the oppression of habit, the juice of jealousy–Proust draws it all.

Here is a more objective description of the third volume:

After the relative intimacy of the first two volumes of In Search of Lost Time, The Guermantes Way opens up a vast, dazzling landscape of fashionable Parisian life in the late nineteenth century, as the narrator enters the brilliant, shallow world of the literary and aristocratic salons. Both a salute to and a devastating satire of a time, place, and culture, The Guermantes Way defines the great tradition of novels that follow the initiation of a young man into the ways of the world. This elegantly packaged new translation will introduce a new generation of American readers to the literary richness of Marcel Proust.  (quoted from GoodReads)

Hamlet Intensive April 26th— One Meeting study of the extraordinary play in honour of Shakespeare’s 400 year anniversary

“What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form, in moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?”

Light in August by W. Faulkner seven week daytime study starting April 18th “It is just dawn, daylight: that gray and lonely suspension filled with the peaceful and tentative waking of birds. The air, inbreathed, is like spring water. He breathes deep and slow, feeling with each breath himself diffuse in the natural grayness, becoming one with loneliness and quiet that has never known fury or despair….”

To the Lighthouse by V. Woolf five week evening study at SAP in Hampstead

“What is the meaning of life? That was all- a simple question; one that tended to close in on one with years, the great revelation had never come. The great revelation perhaps never did come. Instead, there were little daily miracles, illuminations, matches struck unexpectedly in the dark; here was one.”

Why am I getting this newsletter again???

You may be asking– or you may be seeing this for the first time…amongst the ecstatic flight of our Proust and Joyce studies, the terrible beauty of our Faulkner work– our discussions around meaning and language and gender and identity– there is also the banality of technology and its limitations. As the Salon community grows, the pressure on the website and my VERY limited technical knowledge means breakdowns: so many may not have received recent news or the communication was unreadable.

Let us hear from you…

As I am proposing coming studies and starting to consider the line-up for the September offerings or possible short summer study, your input is invaluable– and confirms the newsletter has been received. And simply: it is always enjoyable to hear from members of the Salon community.

Salon Community happenings: One of the current Ulysses travellers, Annabel Abbs, has a book on Joyce’s daughter launching in June so watch the site for more information: 15 June, at Waterstones on the Kings Rd, SW3. 7-9pm

Poet Jehane Markham will be running a six-week poetry workshop starting in May on poetry-making from myth that sounds delicious…

A small group of us will be celebrating our journey through the Search for lost time in Proust with a few days following in Prout’s footsteps– and later in June there will be celebrations all over the world for Bloomsday–and the Salon will join in those here in London.

• Antigone Salon Intensive April 2nd 5:30-10 PM
• Transcendentalists Intensive April 3rd 4-9 PM

After the joy and exuberance of our February studies, I am so pleased to be able to return for more digging in the realm of language and ideas with the shimmering Paris Salonistas.

Why am I getting this newsletter again???

You may be asking– or you may be seeing this for the first time…amongst the ecstatic flight of our Proust and Joyce studies, the terrible beauty of our Faulkner work– our discussions around meaning and language and gender and identity– there is also the banality of technology and its limitations. As the Salon community grows, the pressure on the website and my VERY limited technical knowledge means breakdowns: so many may not have received recent news or the communication was unreadable.

Let us hear from you…

As I am proposing coming studies and starting to consider the line-up for the September offerings or possible short summer study, your input is invaluable– and confirms the newsletter has been received. And simply: it is always enjoyable to hear from members of the Salon community.

Here is how one of the participants described a recent Salon:

“And once again, there we were, somehow suspended in space and time, flying above the bridges of Paris in B’s little cabin in the sky, singing the praises of Ms Morrison, dancing along with her rhymes and rhythms, swimming in a foreign language that was so, but not so, familiar, wondering how the voice attached to words makes different sounds in our heads…it’s all so mysterious and wonderful.”

The registration is on the website– please let me know if you have any questions.

See you in the pages….

This five week study starts next Monday, February 1st in Hampstead– at the Society for Analytical Psychoanalysts –but you do not need to be a psychoanalyst to join. Faulkner has this amazing ability to get deeply into the conversation that happens between people: what is said, what is suggested what is meant, what is submerged…his exploration in Sound & Fury of a family disintegrating amidst the tragedy of the old South is powerful and absolutely relevant to our world today. He examines gender relationships, struggles between parents and their outraged children, sibling rivalry & love, the weight of a grotesque history on individual identity and racial struggles.

A recent participant describes the study of Sound & Fury in the Salon:

William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury is often named as one of the best novels of the 20th century. Faulkner tackles complex and universal human questions through mesmerising and unforgettable characters. The brilliance of this book emerges in the Salon study group, where you have the liberty to dive deeply into Faulkner’s work, question and discuss with others. Not many novels will stand up to 20 hours of discussion, but it felt we could have continued for another 20 hours. The Sound and the Fury was one of the most difficult books I have ever read, but through the Salon study it was also one of the most rewarding and impactful.

Here is the description of the study:

In William Faulkner’s first truly modernist work, he attempts 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 exposes a crumbling world through inference and allusion rather than through direct social critique. In the modernist method, Faulkner employs stream of consciousness and symbolism as connecting fibres against interior realities that must competing for authority.

This study will draw upon participants’ questions and ideas to shed light on this complex text. The book is richer when discussed, enabling the first time reader access to Faulkner’s vision while those re-reading will find greater depth and resonance. Upon a first reading, the narratives appear jumbled and opaque but as the pieces start to fit together, the complex and careful become apparent planning that Faulkner uses and to what end? This is what we must grapple with our study.

“…I seemed to be lying neither asleep nor awake looking down a long corridor of gray half light where all stable things had become shadowy paradoxical all I had done shadows all I had felt suffered taking visible form antic and perverse mocking without relevance inherent themselves with the denial of the significance they should have affirmed thinking I was I was not who was not was not who.” ― William Faulkner

We will be reading from the Norton Critical edition of The Sound and the Fury.

To register, please visit the SAP site: the cost for the five week study is £95.      http://www.thesap.org.uk/events/the-sound-the-fury-by-w-faulkner/

The Paris studies are intensive not simply because we cram our work into one meeting: the energy that the original Salon group brings to the work is powerful and inspiring. Here is how one of the participants perfectly describes our recent study:

Signs Preceding the End of the World by Yuri Herrera  Sunday Feb. 14th 3:30-8:30 PM €45 for more details and registration: http://clone.checkyourtestsite.co.uk/course/signs-preceding-by-yuri-herrera-paris-salon-intensive/