The Lit Salon’s studies of Philosophy and Ideas explore works of philosophy, history, political science, psychology, religion and the natural sciences that challenge us to examine how we think about ourselves and the world around us.
In our ongoing monthlyGreat Ideas, Great Books study, you will read key texts in the western intellectual tradition by authors such as Homer, Sophocles, Plato, Dante, Shakespeare, Machiavelli, Milton, Marx, Austen and Eliot.
Also monthly, our Spontaneous Philosophy group meets for an on-the-spot close reading of concise and provocative selections from the world’s most influential thinkers across the ages—and, there’s no advance prep necessary.
Check below for our current offerings. Do you have ideas for a study not listed? Contact us to suggest a study.
Long Ago and Far Away is an ongoing, weekly virtual Salon group that began in January 2020 as an eight-week study of the
Event Details
Long Ago and Far Away is an ongoing, weekly virtual Salon group that began in January 2020 as an eight-week study of the Myths and Legends of Troy. Since then, the group have continued together and met weekly through a year of lockdown, going on to read:
over twenty Classical Greek dramas by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides
some of the oldest extant Greek myths in Hesiod’s Theogony and Works and Days, and the Homeric Hymns
Ovid’s Roman retelling of myths from Greece in the Metamorphoses
foundation myths of Mesopotamia and the Epic of Gilgamesh
most recently, the biblical Book of Genesis
Now well into their second year, the dedicated and energetic readers in the Long Ago group will next turn north for an extended study of stories from the Norse tradition. First up: beginning 28 April, 2021 is a first sequence on the Sagas of Icelanders.
Long Ago and Far Away meets in six-week segments, with a flexible reading plan that follows the interest of the group. Following the first six-week round of Icelandic Sagas, the group will likely continue with more of the sagas, and then delve further into Norse myth and legend in the Prose and Poetic Eddas, the Song of the Nibelung, and the Saga of the Volsungs.
If you are interested in joining the Long Ago and Far Away group on continuing basis, please email facilitator Mark Cwik for more information.
New topic starting 28 April, 2021: Literature of the Norse
Online discussions using Zoom meeting interface. Zoom is free for participants, instructions will be sent upon registration.
Book edition:
The Sagas of Icelanders, introduction by Robert Kellogg, with preface by Jane Smiley
(Penguin Classics, 2001)
ISBN-13: 978-0141000039
About the Icelandic Sagas:
As grandly epic as Homer, rich in tragedy as Sophocles, compellingly human as Shakespeare, and psychologically keen as Chekhov—the sagas of Icelanders are the crowning achievement of medieval Scandinavian narrative and rank among the world’s greatest literary treasures. They describe a world of a millennium ago that nevertheless rings familiar with perennial human struggles.
The forty-plus narratives of adventure and conflict that comprise the sagas are set in Iceland’s 9th- and 10th-century Age of Settlement, when a handful of families fled the oppressive kingship of Norway to set up new lives on an island in the middle of the Atlantic. It was in Iceland the era of a unique commonwealth of free chieftains with no king, clerical hierarchy, or armies, ruled by Viking traditions of honour and blood vengeance. Written down anonymously several hundred years later, the sagas look back on a pioneer generation struggling to forge and maintain a self-governing community in a harsh environment at the edge of the known world.
With economy of style and astute insight into character, the sagas portray poets, warriors, statesmen, farmers, and outlaws—strong and determined men and women who strive for power, wealth, fame, respect, and love in a frontier society that wavers between the rule of law and vengeance.
In this study we will first look closely at two of the short sagas, to become familiar with the unique literary style and the cultural background of these great tales. We’ll then lauch into the grand, multi-generational Laxdaela Saga, followed by one of the gems of the saga tradition: the story of the wily, Odyssean poet-warrior hero of Egil’s Saga.
Can’t find what you’re looking for?
Would you like to study something else? Have a look at our past salons to see what events we have run previously.
Or do you have a suggestion for a salon? We’d love to hear your ideas. Please let us know.
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.