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Literature

Join us on our courses as we explore the world of literature, from classic books to poetry. Our experienced instructors will guide you through the works of renowned authors and help you develop a deeper appreciation for the written word. Enroll now and embark on a journey of literary discovery!

Poetry: A 20th Century Menu

Thomas Hardy, W B Yeats, Sylvia Plath, Dylan Thomas?

Or into the twenty-first century with

Seamus Heaney, Carol Ann Duffy, or Simon Armitage? This course gives you a chance to study some of your favourite poets writing since 1900, everyone from Wendy Cope, D H Lawrence and U A Fanthorpe to Brian Bilston.

 

These poets and more will be on the menu for you to choose during our first session,

when a popular vote will help us to draw up a seven-week programme. Read and explore your favourite poems with a friendly group of Leisure Learners - or discover someone completely new to you.

Reading Books in Library
Stacked Books
Stacked Books

Jane Austen’s
Pride and Prejudice

It’s been the inspiration for countless sequels, parodies and spin-offs, but there’s nothing quite like ‘Pride and Prejudice’. Jane Austen’s much-loved novel features not only characters like the Bennet Sisters, Mr Darcy and Lady Catherine de Burgh, but a wealth of social history waiting to be explored.

 

Whether this is a book you’ve enjoyed many times, the inspiration for wonderful viewing on film or TV, or just a title that you’ve always meant to get around to reading, you’ll find studying ‘Pride and Prejudice’ in the company of like-minded Leisure Learners a great way to spend the first months of 2025. We’ll be looking at the novel through its issues and occasions, from ‘Dancing and Dining’ through ‘Judging and Misjudging’ through to the happy ending with its multiple marriages.

TWO GREAT MYSTERY WRITERS: ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE AND AGATHA CHRISTIE

Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 – 1930) and Agatha Christie (1890 – 1971) remain two of the most celebrated and popular writers of detective fiction. Doyle, of course, created Sherlock Holmes, and Christie Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple. Doyle died at a time when Christie had become perhaps the best-selling crime writer in the language and had published her most famous (and notorious!) novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (1926). Doyle knew Christie’s work and Christie was heavily influenced by Doyle. This is one of the many interesting topics we shall consider during the course.

Of Doyle’s book we shall give close attention to The Hound of the Baskervilles and some of the short stories. It would help if you can read or refresh your memory of The Hound.

We will look at Agatha Christie as ‘The Queen of Crime’ during the inter-war ‘Golden Age’ of crime fiction. Extracts for discussion will be distributed.

This should prove an enjoyable course for fans of crime fiction and those who know little about the subject!

George Orwell's Essays

George Orwell is frequently called one of the best English essayists. His essays are provocative, thought-provoking and raise subjects and issues which remain as relevant as when they were first published. He writes about politics, what has come to be called ‘popular culture’, literature and the importance of the correct use of language amongst other things. His own language is lucid, readable and entertaining. The essays give a sense of a man using the essay form to clarify his own thought, but that thought is always debatable. Indeed, these wonderful pieces will, I am sure, give rise to lively discussion!

All of the essays we will discuss are to be found in George Orwell, Selected Essays in the Oxford World’s Classic series and it would be very helpful if you equip yourself with a copy. There are other selections of the

essays but this one contains all the texts we will discuss. However, I will provide copies of the essays under discussion on a weekly basis as the course continues.

“That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you’ve understood all your life, but in a new way.” — Doris Lessing

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