From Beowulf through The Odyssey, our study of the classics informs our understanding of the role of art and literature in forming our sense of ourselves and human history. This will be the first Salon study of the Oresteia so will have the energy of new and...
Già volgeva il mio disio e ’l velle, sì come rota ch’igualmente è mossa, l’amor che move ’l sole e l’altre stelle. Now my will and my desire were turned, like a wheel in perfect motion, by the love that moves the sun and the other stars. These breathtaking...
While many have described Bleak House as Dickens’ most sophisticated work, indeed his best work, it is not usually listed as the best known of Dickens’ body of writing. This may be in part due to the size of the text- at over 900 pages, it is an intimidating and often...
Daniel Deronda, published in 1876, is George Eliot’s final—and most controversial novel. Eliot had spent much of her life exploring the connections and separations between cultures and faiths. Her interest in Judaism and the Jewish people of England is played out in...
“I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me. Like the bodiless heads you see sometimes in circus sideshows, it is as though I have been surrounded by mirrors of hard, distorting glass. When they approach me they see only my surroundings,...
Absalom, Absalom! is said to be Faulkner’s most difficult but most brilliant work. Absalom presents the story of Thomas Sutpen, an enigmatic stranger who came to Jefferson in the early 1830s to wrest his mansion out of the muddy bottoms of the north Mississippi...
“He had a word, too. Love, he called it. But I had been used to words for a long time. I knew that that word was like the others: just a shape to fill a lack; that when the right time came, you wouldn’t need a word for that anymore than for pride or fear.” –WIlliam...
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.
