Nicholas Hilliard miniature, believed to portray Aemilia Lanyer
What comes to mind when you think of English Renaissance poetry? Probably Sidney, Spenser and Shakespeare. Perhaps Wyatt and most certainly Donne. We delight in their inventive iambic pentameters, their creative imagery, their musical verse that takes our minds back to a time of courtly intrigue and endless linguistic innovation. We get lost in their clever metaphors, and revel in their elaborate rhetoric.
But what comes to mind when you think about women and the poetry of the English Renaissance? The chances are you might think of the many, many women who appear in the poems by Wyatt, Sidney, Spenser, Donne and Shakespeare. And this is where we find a disturbing paradox: while Renaissance women are everywhere on paper, it’s very hard to find them holding a pen. This is the conclusion Virginia Woolf came to in 1928, on speaking to a small group of Cambridge female students at a time when, after long struggles, women were allowed to study at university but still could not obtain a degree. Woolf, ever the storyteller, cast her mind back to the 1600s to imagine what would have happened if Shakespeare had ‘a wonderfully gifted sister’, how would her fictional biography go? As Woolf concluded, it ended badly.
Until very recently, if you wanted to read poetry written by women in Shakespeare’s day you would be in trouble. If you were really determined you might come across English women whose poetry survived largely because they were lucky enough to be in elevated social positions, the likes of Queen Elizabeth I, and Ladies Mary Sidney and Mary Wroth. But what about the common woman? One who could have been Shakespeare’s sister?
In the last decades scholars have started scouring archives and libraries in search of women writers of the English Renaissance, and they’ve made surprising discoveries. Despite not being born in courtly circles and being mostly denied any education or professional path, some English women managed to write (and occasionally even publish) impressive poetry in the 16th and 17th centuries. So, who were they? And was their poetry any good?
I’m excited to be leading the LitSalon study Women poets of the English Renaissance, whichinvites readers to explore this previously silent canon and begin to form an opinion. Together we will let these poems live again by revisiting their dormant sounds, rhymes and imagery. The study focuses on three groundbreaking poets and their work: Anne Locke’s fiercely devotional poetry; Isabella Whitney’s mock ‘last will’ bequeathing London to Londoners; and the feminist poetry of Aemilia Lanyer, who came from an Italian-Jewish family of courtly musicians and is rumoured to have been Shakespeare’s ‘Dark Lady’.
Together we will try to build a picture of these poets and their lives in the Renaissance world. And we will look to pair up their poetry with artefacts from that world, enabling the words and objects to converse across time. We will ask the compelling question: how does this poetry speak to us today?
Virginia Woolf at Monk’s House,photo courtesy of Harvard University Library, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
As I re-read Between the Acts in preparation for our first study based on the novel this autumn in St Ives, I wonder why it is probably the least-known and read of Virginia Woolf’s works. This was her last book – completed shortly before her suicide in 1941 and published posthumously – and I can’t help speculating about her thoughts and mood as she wrote it, what extremes of ambivalence and ambiguity it reflects.
In this book I hear an agonised, desperate cry against the forces – both external and internal – that were closing in on Virginia Woolf. Forced to move permanently to Monk’s House, her beloved country home in Sussex, to escape the bombings of London, she found the bucolic retreat that was so nourishing to visit became claustrophobic as a permanent home. This novel, written in the echoes of the bombing raids, in the knowledge that, as she wrote in her journal ‘each fine day may be the last’ helps us to understand the strangeness, the jagged vision of the book. The narrative is not apparently about the war, but the war informs the author’s vision in singular ways.
Woolf’s rendering of a village pageant—the awkward but majestic vision of Miss LaTrobe as she tries to mirror back to a complacent people the enclosure of their history and a stagnant view of Britishness—becomes the central character in the book. This feels like a response from Woolf to her predicament: forced from her lively urban world into the constraints of a rural space, immersion in the ostensibly ideal village community threatens to suck her dry artistically.
Set in an English country house shortly before the Second World War, the opposing themes of unity and dispersal are invoked to consider how, in a moment between two horrific wars, people may find meaning in a changing world. These themes are figured in the characters of Bart Oliver and his sister Lucy Swithin. Bart is a ‘separatist’ by action and outlook, he misses the adventure and heroics of his previous life in India and his preference for excitement and unpredictability is exemplified in his impetuous Afghan hound. In contrast, Lucy is a unifier who brings together those around her and her home to create harmony, and whose faith speaks to her of comfort and an all-inclusive vision.
While unifying ties bind lovers and family, there are many moments in this work when those ties are critiqued or broken. The unity of vision that can be so compelling is also what underlies a fierce nationalism that threatens violence against those not included. Unity may provide comfort, but it can also be suffocating, while the disruption caused by dispersal may offer possibility in its chaos.
Front cover of the first edition
Characters, events and thoughts disrupt the action of the novel, at the heart of which is a pageant intended to draw together the literature and history of England, as though in a requiem. The position of the play within the novel, the interaction between the performance and its audience, the scatterings of stories and voices across the production, all explore the role of art as reflective or interrogative of our lived experience. As Julia Briggs suggests:
“The pageant expresses the need to forge a relationship with the past and its narratives, yet the impossibility of doing so at a moment of national crisis, when the familiar is giving way to the unknown . . . Living in an old country, writing in an old language, Woolf found its ancestral voices both seductive and inhibiting.”
Julia Briggs, Virginia Woolf: An Inner Life
Theatre is, by definition, a shared experience: group involvement in the apprehension of an artistic moment. The pageant strikes a balance between comedy and lament for a lost culture; it provides a unifying moment for its audience through the spell of language, just as its content tells of the progressive loss of community through a series of fragments and pastiches that the audience struggles to grasp. The title of the book shifts our focus from the play itself to the world that drives inexorably through the performance—between the acts—even as the play continues. Where do we find the real performance? How can art depict the present moment?
More than eight decades on, I find Woolf’s evocation of the human condition remarkably resonant in our own troubled times and Alex Clark’s article on the BBC Culture website is illuminating. I look forward to discussing the book, the past and the present with other enthusiastic readers in Cornwall on our Between the Acts study later this year and there are still places available if you are interested in joining us.
At the LitSalon’s Reading the Body retreat in Umbria earlier this month, I was reminded how intimidating creative writing can be for many people — even the most intelligent, eloquent and accomplished.
As fifteen of us gathered and got acquainted in front of the villa, with its many varieties of trees and birdsong, I knew there’d be no shortage of inspiration for our writing together. Not to mention the literary discussions and daily yoga practice. Yes, we’d be not only reading the body but writing it too.
A few people pulled me aside to say that they would not be joining the writing workshop. More than a few were hesitant: it wasn’t their thing; they’d been scarred at school; they weren’t creative enough; it’s intimidating . . . But, like Mary Oliver says, ‘it doesn’t have to be.’
The way we write together in these workshops is more about noticing, connecting, and playing with words. Because I gently direct the writing, participants can be released from pressure and be spontaneous and intuitive — the opposite of the kind of writing we did in school. There’s no concern for grammar, spelling, punctuation, ‘You don’t even have to use words — you can doodle if you want,’ I say. We’re not concerned at all with perfection. It’s precisely the imperfection of spontaneity that’s at the heart of this playful writing, and I reckon that’s why it feels so good.
It feels good because there’s no critique, no judgment, just reflection. It isn’t a contest; it’s listening to our inner voices and knowing that everyone has something to say. Sharing and noticing the process of writing, not the writing itself. Of course, you can read your words if you want to. And sometimes, but not always, there’s a bit of magic in what emerges.
By the third workshop, word had spread like our laughter in the air. Almost everyone had given it a go. We made pantoums (an ancient Malaysian poetic form), sankalpas, metaphors, a collaborative poem . . . As a facilitator I was grateful for the bravery and creativity of all who participated and I like to think it added to their retreat experience. I wrote in my own reflections, ‘the Salon is as full of curious, creative women as the place is full of aromas — herbs, grass, rain. Fruits are ripening. Are we?’
If you feel curious or inspired, why not join me online for the next set of workshops in the ‘Writing Through the Seasons’ series? Summer starts on Tuesday 27 June.
Editor’s note:
Below, hot off the press, are two reviews of Alison’s writing sessions in Umbria.
‘An unexpected bonus for me was Alison’s writing groups. I went with a lot of trepidation, wanting, but not expecting to be able to write anything creative – even though I have wanted to do so for years. I have come back with a notebook full of fragments, embryonic poems, and ideas. We were told to dismiss our inner critic, and thanks to the time limits- (5 minutes to write a poem!) – my ‘busy old fool’ – (a Welsh Methodist superego) – never got a chance to stick his thin nose into the process, or to sniff disapprovingly at my unruly spontaneity.’
‘Alison proposes a writing experience which works just as well for a seasoned writer as it does for a beginner. Her exercises are uniquely tuned to take away inhibitions and provide participants with the confidence they need to express themselves freely. I found the writing that emerged could be as surprising as it was effective. Alison’s natural empathy immediately makes everyone feel comfortable. It’s about harmony; she creates a little circle of concord. She provides the wings we need to fly. And we do!’
Photograph of Toby Brothers on Agistri by Sandrine Joseph, @london_lost_in
As we wrap up another sparkling Salon week at Rosy’s Little Village (a name that doesn’t do justice to the place), I reach to capture the enriching moments that make this immersion so fulfilling.
It is, of course, a luxury to spend a week immersed in one work of literature. To do so on a wooded Greek island in the Saronic Gulf is pretty extraordinary. Our venue provides a unique community feel: just minutes from a humming port, Rosy’s Little Village offers all we need to sustain us through our days of reading and discussion, and it is a simple amble down through the flower strewn terraced rocks to the sea.
Going away. The upheaval of habit, the reckoning of what you really need (and how that can fit into the limits of baggage), the many details of home leaving that brings you to some clarity about how complicated life is—how many daily tasks need to be passed along, how the build-up of things undone needs reckoning to be able to leave with some lightness . . .
But when all that is done—or, at least, done enough—the lightness that you have earned as you step off the plane, find your way to the ferry, drink deeply of the sea-fed air and let the intense sun of the Saronic gulf envelop you: this is where the release begins.
In the first week, the Odyssey study rolls out with sessions of reading and discussion, exercises to develop our attention to breath, language, presentation, embodiment of the text and a sense of play; poetry interludes allow us to explore as a group —sometimes discussing, sometimes just sitting in wonder at the craft. Everyone finds their own rhythms around the scheduled sessions and nourishing meals. For some, it is early morning walks to the wild headlands to seek alpine swifts skimming over the sea. For others, it is an early dip to greet the dawn and her rosy fingers. For others, it is Jane’s gently guided yoga practice where the sun salutations feel like an intimate encounter with the glistening light that floods us from the open space of the performance tent. For others, it is painting or writing or reading time in a nook of the flowered rocky terraces.
Photograph of dawn on Agistri by Sandrine Joseph, @london_lost_in
In this fresh world, I find my mind unclenching as the days simplify. This makes a fecund space in which to consider ancient and profound works. No matter how many times I have encountered the monsters and sought Ithaca with Odysseus, I open myself newly with each group and learn more—about the epic, about myself. S points to the way Homer makes respectful space for grieving as natural, as necessary; SJ wonders if the journey shows how the structure of home can be psychological – a space that moves with us – can you, snail-like, be your own home and therefore make peace with a travelling life? Others are amazed at the immense staying power of an oral text: interactive and shared in the group, these passages become chants that we embody.
In the second week we encountered the Oresteia with a seasoned group—many of whom had been on the previous year’s Odyssey study. This was my second encounter with the dramatic trilogy, first studied on a long weekend in the outskirts of Paris. I gained such rich nuggets from the work on Agistri with this particularly game group. I learned what stichomythia is, how it functions in the dramatic context and, finally, how to pronounce it. I watched Jane coach the group into speaking as one voice, and witnessed the pulse of power that group chanting creates. There was also the special sonnet recitation while planking, but that really needs to be experienced to be appreciated . . .
We considered the strange and primitive drive for justice—when is it revenge, when is it punitive, when is it restorative? We discussed the various ways of understanding the resolution of the Furies into the Eumenides: what it suggests about the role of female deities, how this moves towards democracy, whether this is the submerging of matriarchal power into patriarchal authority. We considered the right of a mother to rage against the needs of communal security when faced with the murder of her child. We read together the astonishing poetry that the Oresteia has inspired since its first performance and, after inhabiting rage and vengeance performed in the most majestic language, we danced a jig of life to celebrate our return to the clear light of present-day sea-soaked space.
To immerse myself in one work, for one week, with a curious and playful gathering of minds is truly a luxury. We come together, we question, disagree, explore, inspire and laugh together. Sometimes, we even dance.
Here is some feedback from participants:
“The Odyssey study on Agistri island has been a total marvel . . . It was on every level nourishing, emotional, spiritual and always caring . . . The island is beautiful, especially in Spring, you can swim, go kayaking, walk to the village and go hiking in the pines trees forest. Looking forward to going again!”
SJ
“To sit by the Agean and delve into the mysteries of Homer’s Odyssey, expertly facilitated with an intimate group was such a treat! Learning about meter, oratory performance, Greek history and mythology with breaks to dip into the blue was heaven. I think what I enjoyed most though was the extraordinary community formed over the week-long study. Looking forward to the next one!”
SC
“What more can I say than that it was once again fabulous in every sense of the word!”
JG
“I love Rosy’s; it’s peaceful, beautiful and uncomplicated. The location and access to the sea are both amazing.”
LitSalon regulars know how meaningful it can be to discuss great works of literature. By engaging with the texts and hearing the thoughts of fellow readers, we can gain a deeper understanding of writers such as Joyce, Proust, Shakespeare — and of ourselves. Recently I have been working with the London LitSalon to develop new studies that will help participants enjoy similar experiences with great art and learn to ‘read’ paintings more deeply.
My name is Sean Forester. I am a classically trained oil painter who studied at the Florence Academy of Art, and I also studied literature at Cambridge after graduating from the Great Books program at St. John’s College in the United States. Currently based near San Francisco, I travel to Europe regularly and, as a new LitSalon facilitator, my aim is to invite you to join me in exploring the language of art: composition, colour, symbolism, visual narrative and more, as well as considering the cultural context in which artworks were created. Together we will look closely at paintings by artists such as Van Eyck, Titian, Rembrandt and Monet, and consider the question: How do the artist’s techniques impact the ideas in the artwork and the emotions we feel?
Unfortunately, my first LitSalon Study: Reading Great Paintings, due to take place in-person at London’s National Gallery in April, did not run entirely according to plan. When I developed Covid on arriving in London from Italy, we tried postponing by a week, but Covid persisted and eventually we had to move the study online using Zoom.
As a group, we looked at paintings ranging in style and period from Van Eyck’s The Arnolfini Portrait to Monet’s Water Lilies, via works including Titian’s Bacchus and Ariadne and Rembrandt’s Woman Bathing in a Stream. Zoom provided a different experience from the one originally envisaged, but we received positive feedback from those who were able to make the revised date. Anyone who wasn’t part of the event can get a flavour of the study from this link: https://padlet.com/k5jyty77dd/london-literary-salon-at-the-national-gallery-kd8d1jgsmy4w0274.
The Arnolfini Portrait, Jan van Eyck, National Gallery
In The Arnolfini Portrait Van Eyck used a wood panel, a tempera underpaintingand many thin layers of glazing in oil paint with tiny brushes. The painting has a perfect central balance, with the figures and the objects balanced across a vertical centre line. Van Eyck painted with astonishing precision, portraying carefully selected details that were likely intended to be significant, even symbolic, opening the work to a variety of interpretation. As one of the first genre paintings in the history of Western art, I feel The Arnolfini Portrait was highly influential on later artists such as Vermeer.
Bacchus and Ariadne, Titian, National Gallery
Bacchus and Ariadne is a dynamic painting, a feast for the senses. Titian used almost every colour available to him in 16th-century Venice. The composition is not centrally balanced like the Van Eyck, but rather uses an off-centre “steelyard balance” (as explained by H. R. Poore in his book Pictorial Composition). We can observe how all the warm colours are on the right side of the painting (except for the red sash on Ariadne), while all the cool colours are on the left (except for blue robe on the woman playing the cymbals). The way the story from Ovid is depicted is interesting: the meeting of Bacchus and Ariadne is shown by their eyes meeting across empty space, reinforced by strong diagonal lines. The tiny ship on the ocean horizon alludes to Theseus’ abandonment of Ariadne, while the circle of stars in the sky alludes to the metamorphosis she will experience after joining with the god Bacchus.
An Elderly Man as Saint Paul, Rembrandt, National Gallery
In his later work, such as Woman Bathing in a Stream and An Elderly Man as St. Paul, Rembrandt’s painting techniques are essentially the opposite of Van Eyck’s. He worked on canvas instead of wood, painted with thick impasto paint and used large brushes. In comparing Rembrandt with Van Eyck we can ask, “How does technique make possible (and also limit) their artistic vision? How does it impact what we feel when we look at their paintings?”
Water Lilies at Sunset, Monet, National Gallery
Finally, we can move forward to the nineteenth century to look at paintings by Claude Monet, the master of French Impressionism. Around 1800, tube paints became available and modern chemistry created many more colours. Artists such as Corot begin to paint en plein air. Monet embraced this, spending most of his time outdoors painting scenes in different weather and lighting conditions. In doing so, he created some striking innovations. He realised that shadows are not brown, but full of colour — purple, blue, red — he also realised that a white shirt is not simply white, that white has colours such as yellow, pink, blue and green, within it. At this time, colour theory began to be developed and Monet embraced that too, using complements and split-complements in his paintings. He also used broken, layered brush work to a greater degree than any artist before him, employing these techniques to explore all the ways a painter can see and feel about the landscape. Rather than traditional subject matter, he explored the play of colour and light and the movement between realism, impression and abstraction. In Snow Scene at Argenteuil we can see the different colours in snow and Monet’s use of a blue-orange complementary colour scheme. In Water Lilies and Water Lilies at Sunset, we see a complex use of complementary pairs (blue/orange, red/green, yellow/purple) as Monet explores the visual impressions created by lilies, surface water, deep water, and reflections.
Looking closely at colour, composition and painting technique provides a strong foundation for exploring our ideas and emotions about a given artwork. Clearly Rembrandt is a great artist because of the depth of his vision — he seems to see into the human heart — as well as his technical skill. This is where group discussions can be so rewarding, as people share their ideas and emotional responses, and I look forward to having more opportunities to explore this with members of the LitSalon – in-person and online – in the future.
For anyone interested in hearing Toby talk about how the LitSalon came into being, what it’s all about today and a little bit about swimming in icy waters, listen to her interview with Pendarvis Harshaw, a former student of hers at The Athenian School in California, here on Rightnowish.
Snow was falling when I arrived in Athens, which will be my home for the next two years. The hills around the city stayed white for a whole week, making the trees loaded with oranges which line every street seem even more magical. The move has been complicated and much delayed, necessitating a break from the LitSalon. It’s by very happy coincidence that my first new study will be on the island of Agistri, to read the Odyssey and The Oresteia, with lots of familiar faces (and some new) joining me in my new home.
In the meantime, I am enjoying Athens’ incomparable museums before the onslaught of summer visitors. Museums, like literature, have always captivated me – just as words help us to make sense of the past, objects can do something similar, bringing us a closer connection to history.
For a lover of the Homeric legends, the National Archeological Museum is the highlight of an Athens visit. The first two rooms house the contents of the graves from the palace at Mycenae, including the famous gold ‘Mask of Agamemnon’. Here are the hauls of treasure that Odysseus kept acquiring and losing, which Homer described so meticulously even though, a hundred lines later, they would end up at the bottom of the sea. They are gleaming inside their glass cases, seemingly ready to be loaded on to a ship.
There are gold drinking vessels, tripods and bowls for mixing wine, all of them splendidly decorated. Objects made to be desirable as well as useful. Real hands lifted these cups, or wound the strands of gold beads around their necks and admired themselves in mirrors shaped like lotus flowers. Everything is rich with detail, even the smallest objects contain secret worlds. The blade of a knife is inlaid with a picture of a striped cat stalking water birds, a large gold signet ring shows a masted ship with full crew and two couples hailing it from the shore. Although so much of the Odyssey is fantastical, a myth, the people that Homer sang about never seem more real, or more like us, than when looking at the treasures they collected in life, and brought with them on their journeys to the afterlife.
When the weather turned sunny and warmer a few weeks after we arrived, we spent Saturday on Aegina, an island familiar from last year’s study – the whole group made a day trip to see the temple there. The tables and chairs where we had a long, lingering lunch were all packed away for the winter, but the museum was open. Everywhere in Greece has museums, and even the tiniest are full of treasures. One of my favourite objects is here, a terracotta jug from the 6th century BC showing Odysseus and his companions escaping form the cave of Polyphemus. I like it even more because, compared to some of the other objects on display, it’s not particularly well made: the painting is pretty crude, cartoonish. It is probably best described as fan merchandise – somebody bought it because they thought the Odyssey was really, really cool. I feel the same way!
This time in Athens has given the Odyssey and Oresteia such a fresh new context, and has already increased my anticipation of sharing the joy of reading them when the study starts.
My mother frequently told me that I lacked patience. As in, utterly and completely, almost like I was missing an internal organ. I turned the criticism into a kind of badge – of course I had no patience, but look at how much I can do all at once! Frantic movement as a superpower . . .
But high speed has its issues and one of the gifts of passing years is more time for thinking – and re-thinking. So, when Salon facilitator Mark Cwik first named and developed the ‘Slow Reading’ practice, I was intrigued but not quite certain this was my style.
And then came Finnegans Wake.
I had resisted the Wake knowing that it is considered by many to be unreadable, but since a few honoured Salonistas kept nudging – even (Rachel) putting an excerpted book of Shem and Shaun in my hands – well I thought, what the hell: I have spent enough time with James Joyce and really, how long can I avoid the Wake? We began in 2017 and some iteration of the Wake group continues to trip through its ‘appatently ambrosiaurealised’ pages, seeking earwigger references and disappearing down the most unexpected rabbit holes – sometimes intoxicating, sometimes infuriating, but always opening up my understanding of the underlying structures of human history and identity. We read 3-5 pages a week. Some of the group have managed an entire read of the book already and we are re-Cycling-Vico-like through. And always learning.
Thus the Wake work led me to consider other Slow Read possibilities – and Ulysses was the obvious next choice. Although new readers may at first baulk at the six-month study, once they are rolling in the Bloomian pages, most chime in that we need MORE time! But once through a first read – once the arc of the book is in your mind – you are ready for a more thoughtful approach, where we can really discuss each paragraph with attention.
In the Slow-Read Ulysses that started in September 2022, we have wonderful readers from all over the world, contributing expertise on philosophy, Jewish traditions and scholarship, psychological theories, economics, gender relationships, music, Irish history, aesthetics, narrative form, medical practices, modernism . . . we are truly eating with relish.
This week’s discussion of six pages, for example, included reflections on the Language of Flowers; desire as articulated in masochism; the Mary/Martha story from the Gospels of Luke and John, and how these are reflected in our Martha and Mary (Molly) characters; the use of the colour yellow to signal treachery; the figuration of Black people in missionary narratives; Marxism; Matzoh; what motivates people to turn to faith; relationship between colonial and religious projects; the geography of interior thoughts; the narcotic quality of sexual fantasies; pious frauds (echoing Pope Pius X); the relief of Sophocles on no longer being driven by lust . . .
The Ulysses Slow Read – like the Wake – is not a three or five year commitment. Rather, it invites participants to dip in and out as their lives allow and interests demand. Anyone who has previously read Ulysses can dive in to a 6-8 week series of study sessions (as long as there is space) and pick up the thread wherever we are. Each week, about half the participants adopt a particular passage and present this to the group with their own research or reflections.
After years of reading and teaching Ulysses, I am so thankful for this practice of reading slowly and thoroughly. I am discovering gems that I have previously skipped over, and finding correspondences that I only now realise. The Slow Read also gives me time to explore more thoroughly the secondary literature, especially useful as there was a tremendous flowering of new work to coincide with the centenary celebration of the book in 2022.
I would not say I have yet learned patience, but my mother would be surprised at my increasing ability to cultivate it. I have a practice – in both the Wake and Ulysses Slow Read sessions – that builds my capacity for attention and (the reward of exercising patience?) complexity. And I have learned so much: my sense of wonder expands with each dive into the realms of art, history, human nature, and the weird and beautiful intricacy of the human mind.
I recently had to confess to our new facilitator, Anne Boyd Rioux, author of the highly acclaimed Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why it Still Matters, that I have never really warmed to Little Women. This is in spite of its strong credentials as the archetypal feminist fiction and a book that has inspired countless women – many of them (including luminaries such as Simone de Beauvoir, Patti Smith, Coretta Scott King and Zadie Smith) celebrated for their talents and tenacity – to emulate the character of Jo March in forging their own brilliant careers.
On reflection I wonder to what extent my feelings are based on an instinctive distaste for the title (even as a child I thought it demeaning) and that of its sequel Good Wives. Anne patiently explained to me that in the US Little Women was first published in two volumes, the first in 1868 followed by Little WomenPart Two in 1869, soon thereafter becoming a single book following its huge success. However, here in the UK (and the rest of the English-speaking world), the publishers – rather than the author – persisted in maintaining two volumes: Little Women and Good Wives.
Further confusion was caused in 1880 when the US publisher produced a new edition in which much of the language of the original text was ‘improved’ by, for example, amending the March girls’ use of the “ain’t” to “am – or is, or are – not”, in the process robbing the original prose of its vitality! For this reason Anne urges readers to seek out the original text and recommends the Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition (ISBN: 978-0143106654).
All of the above (further encouraged by this New Yorker article) has led me to the conclusion that I should re-read Little Women (in its original form) with an open mind and, if my schedule allows it, join her Reading Little Women study starting on 29 March!
As we begin to prepare for our next visit to the Greek island of Agistri for another week reading Homer’s Odyssey (28 April – 5 May 2023) here are a few reflections on our past experiences.
Jane, Caroline and I have now run two Odyssey retreats at Rosy’s Little Village on the island of Agistri in the Saronic Gulf near Athens. Each of these journeys has been personally and collectively deeply fulfilling. It is such a beautiful indulgence to spend a week fully immersed in an epic that – however much I may think I know of the narrative – surprises me on every reading with what it reveals about human nature, the deep past, our present relationships, the encounter with the stranger . . .
That quality of immersion, away from loud and full regular life, allows the mind to expand in unexpected ways. And then there is the space itself: Rosy and family have a created a unique environment, full of natural beauty and views over the crystalline waters, which feeds the imaginative realm. This is not to forget the wonderful feeding of the body, the food at Rosy’s is deliciously fresh and thoughtfully created.
We have devised a schedule that combines the rigour of study with time to reflect and enjoy the place itself. Caroline’s guidance through contemporary poetic interpretations of the Odyssey is often cited as a favourite part of our week together, as is Jane’s generous sharing of her talent and passion for enacting the text: the words come alive as each participant has the opportunity to prepare a passage with her expert coaching and support. Without giving too much away, Jane and Caroline have activities and sessions planned that open us all up to each other and to the themes and language of the text.
Every journey through the Odyssey in Agistri feels almost dreamlike as we experience the beauty of the place and the depths we are able to discover in our work together. And then there is the swimming, the sunshine, the company . . .
Many of last year’s participants are returning to Agistri with us to enjoy reading Aeschylus’s Oresteia (which is fully booked) and here are some of their comments on the Odyssey experience:
“It was a wonderful trip . . . the landscape, especially around the islands, is so seductive that you can see how these wonderful texts were written.”
“I loved the discussions around the text and getting to know a fascinating group of people.”
“It was an amazing and enriching experience.”
The Odyssey group on Agistri in 2022
There are still some places available on this year’s Odyssey trip if you would like to join us for this special offering!
