Virginia Woolf described “Middlemarch” as “the magnificent book which with all its imperfections is one of the few English novels for grown-up people”. Over twelve weeks we’ll examine the relevance of every one of those carefully chosen phrase as we read our way through the novel.
One of the great triumphs of “Middlemarch” is the way in which it weaves the complex and flawed lives of the large cast together into a rich tapestry describing life in England at an important moment in the development of the country as a modernising society. The tensions between the old and the new; between established and tradition beliefs, and new ways of believing and living; this one of the ways in which the book lives for us today.
It also contains some of the very best writing in English in the nineteenth century – and also one laughably flawed sentence. At the end of the course there will be a prize for the person who spots “that sentence”!
We will follow the same approach as all the previous ‘slow reading’ courses with an introductory video lecture sent out the week before each group discussion on zoom. However because the chapter lengths in this book are so long we will follow a slightly different structure from previous courses. Every third week will be a ‘reading week’ with a short consolidation session on zoom for those who want it.
The course will start week commencing the 14th September and finish week commencing 30th November.
Cost: £110