Parisian Literary Salon

Alesian Literary Salon Newsletter

August 27, 2007

How quickly the summer passes, sifting through my fingers with an almost imperceptible change from the weight of many days to weightlessness. While I regret being so completely out of touch for the past two months, the gift of a newly washed perspective lessens the pang of missed communications and conversations. I hope for all a sloughing off of the old frustrations and struggles; a re-entering into our lives of work, ideas and learning that is so deeply part of the rhythm of life in France.

Salon News

1. Upcoming Salons
2. Poetry Night- September 5^th

1. Upcoming Salons

Tuesday Nights, 8-10 PM Paradiso by Dante (recommended edition: trans. by Mark Musa- Penguin Classics)

Start date Sept. 11

As I wrote at the start of the summer, the Tuesday evening Salon will continue as we explore the final piece of the Divine Comedy, Paradisio. There is room for 2 participants to join this very strong group of readers, please email me by the end of this (Aug 27^th) week if you are interested. I will send out the reading schedule & opening notes by the end of the week.

Salon Two- Still open….

I had many folks interested in the other Salon- now is the time for a commitment!!! We are down to three choices:

The Sound & the Fury

Hamlet

Middlemarch

These Salons would either meet Tuesday afternoons (2-4 PM) or Monday evenings (8-10 PM). Please indicate your preference with your request for inscription. I will confirm the book choice & meeting times as soon as I have enough subscribed to run the Salon. If you have been considering doing a Salon, this would be a great time to dive in!! If you have done Salons and know of someone who would be a good addition to the Salon community, please pass along the information. The Salon thrives with the vibrancy of the core members and the fresh perspectives of new voices.

2. Salon Poetry Night– Wednesday September 5^th

“What I care about is the hardness of the poems. I don’t like them soft, I want them to be little pebbles, but placed where they won’t dislodge easily. And I’d like them to be little pebbles of precious stone-precious, or semi-precious…”

-Robert Frost from an interview with J. Ciardi, Saturday Review, March 1959

I have had many requests for a poetry salon or a poetry night. We would read a poem or two together and respond to the poem with a structure similar to that we use in the regular Salon but condensed into one evening, as a poem condenses experience into its gathered images and language.

I know there are those who fervently love poetry as well as many who don’t know how to read a poem. I will offer some structures for the study of the poem, but the focus will be on our responses to the language & sounds & structure of the work. As with the Salon, we will use our individual responses and questions to build to a full-bodied read and through this enlarge our own perspectives on the work. I encourage especially those who want to get a taste of the Salon experience or who may not have the time to commit to a 6 week Salon.

Sound enticing? Read on…

Details:

Date: Wednesday, September 5^th

Time: 8-10 PM

Works studied:

· Acquainted with the Night by Robert Frost

· The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot

I know that proposing two works may be ambitious. We will use the Frost poem to do a very close reading, then use the work we have done there (considerations of tone, rhyme, images, symbols, word choice…) to inform our discussion of Prufrock.

Place: Chez moi, 3 ter rue d’Alesia in the 14^th

Registration: Send me an email with your commitment and I will send copies of the poems and other details

Cost: 5-10 euro sliding scale and optional food or beverage contribution