|
Our Ethos: Public Intellectualism + Artistic Sensibility
Combining the ethos of public intellectualism and the artistic sensibility at the heart of Lazuli Literary Group, each of our sessions "reads" like a poem--with its own narrative and emotional arc--tickling the senses at just the right moments; the experiences are designed to be artistic, unexpected, and meaningful. |
|
A Nine-Part Series
Virginia Woolf in Poetic Echoes "Virginia Woolf in Poetic Echoes" is a nine-session series that moves chronologically through the novels of Virginia Woolf. Each discussion includes a presentation and analysis of supplementary excerpts--"echoes"--from works of poets & writers throughout history. Sign up for each session separately. |
|
PAST COURSES
Virginia Woolf in Poetic Echoes: The Voyage Out
We will discuss the genesis of Woolf's first novel, The Voyage Out (1915), in relation to its arguably far more unbridled--more poetic, more scathing, more experimental--first draft: Melymbrosia, the unpublished novel written by the yet-unmarried Virginia Stephen. Did Woolf already achieve in Melymbrosia the experimentally lyrical technique (one that was "polished" out of her work for publishers of The Voyage Out) that she struggled for nearly half her life to recreate in The Waves? Why does The Voyage Out read, to some, as more muted and timid than the essays and personal letters that Woolf wrote at the very same time? Together, we will look at slashed semicolons; expunged boldnesses.
Readings
-Full novel: The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf (any edition) - link to free public domain version online
-Full novel: Melymbrosia by Virginia Stephen/Woolf (compiled by Louise DeSalvo)
I highly recommend reading Melymbrosia (Virginia Woolf's "first novel", unpublished, later draft to be The Voyage Out) in addition to--or, if pressed for time, I dare say instead of--The Voyage Out. We will compare poetic choices in shorter corresponding passages (not attached) during our discussion; I have included a pdf of some of the larger-scale scene deletions below. (If you do decide to read only Melymbrosia, I suggest also reading Chapter 25 onward of The Voyage Out; the plot events of this portion are not explored in such sophisticated depth in her original draft).
Excerpts from Melymbrosia
Essays by Woolf: To probe the relationship between musicality and verbal/literary expression that is set forth thematically in this novel and put into practice in later novels, we will look at Woolf's essays "Street Music", "On Not Knowing Greek", and others.
Poems: In the church scene in Melymbrosia, Hirst is reading Sappho's "Ode to Aphrodite". In the corresponding scene in The Voyage Out, he claims that Swinburne's reflection on this poem is "the best thing that's ever been written." You may pair this with the church scene excerpt and the ultimately expurgated interaction between Helen & Rachel in the attached pdf.
We will discuss the genesis of Woolf's first novel, The Voyage Out (1915), in relation to its arguably far more unbridled--more poetic, more scathing, more experimental--first draft: Melymbrosia, the unpublished novel written by the yet-unmarried Virginia Stephen. Did Woolf already achieve in Melymbrosia the experimentally lyrical technique (one that was "polished" out of her work for publishers of The Voyage Out) that she struggled for nearly half her life to recreate in The Waves? Why does The Voyage Out read, to some, as more muted and timid than the essays and personal letters that Woolf wrote at the very same time? Together, we will look at slashed semicolons; expunged boldnesses.
Readings
-Full novel: The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolf (any edition) - link to free public domain version online
-Full novel: Melymbrosia by Virginia Stephen/Woolf (compiled by Louise DeSalvo)
I highly recommend reading Melymbrosia (Virginia Woolf's "first novel", unpublished, later draft to be The Voyage Out) in addition to--or, if pressed for time, I dare say instead of--The Voyage Out. We will compare poetic choices in shorter corresponding passages (not attached) during our discussion; I have included a pdf of some of the larger-scale scene deletions below. (If you do decide to read only Melymbrosia, I suggest also reading Chapter 25 onward of The Voyage Out; the plot events of this portion are not explored in such sophisticated depth in her original draft).
Excerpts from Melymbrosia
- Intro to Rachel & philosophical “tangents” on poetic/literary theory
- Scenes of humor cut from final draft / opinions on male intellectualism & knowing Greek (yes, this is intentionally out of sequence in the pdf - I wanted to attach Rachel's introduction for you first, even though Woolf didn't do it that way!)
- Rachel & Hewet meet / humor / interiority
- Church scene
- Scene b/w Helen & Rachel (cut entirely from final draft)
Essays by Woolf: To probe the relationship between musicality and verbal/literary expression that is set forth thematically in this novel and put into practice in later novels, we will look at Woolf's essays "Street Music", "On Not Knowing Greek", and others.
- "Street Music" by Virginia Woolf (attached pdf)
- "On Not Knowing Greek" by Virginia Woolf
Poems: In the church scene in Melymbrosia, Hirst is reading Sappho's "Ode to Aphrodite". In the corresponding scene in The Voyage Out, he claims that Swinburne's reflection on this poem is "the best thing that's ever been written." You may pair this with the church scene excerpt and the ultimately expurgated interaction between Helen & Rachel in the attached pdf.
- "Ode to Aphrodite" by Sappho
- "Sapphics" by Algernon Charles Swinburne
Virginia Woolf in Poetic Echoes: Night and Day
We will look at how Woolf evolves her language in Night and Day (1919) to deal with the tension between the particular and the universal, between individuals and the crystalline network of Victorian/Eduardian "civilization" that binds them. Are her characters all but forced into flights of fancy, stream-of-consciousness prose, in moments when "realistic" civilization can no longer contain the narrative Woolf feels they merit? These scattered descents into daydreaming, to me, mark the beginning of the style that Woolf was to cultivate more fully in later novels--novels that would have, in her words, "no scaffolding; scarcely a brick to be seen; all crepuscular, but the heart, the passion, the humour, everything as bright as fire in the mist…." (1920).
The supplementary texts from Aurora Leigh and The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman engage with Night and Day by sketching an outline--through poetry and prose, respectively--of how the convention of marriage interacts with a woman's ability to do the work of her choosing. We will be looking at the differing literary techniques used to handle characters who move "out of bounds"; this should, hopefully, allow us to recognize the brilliance of some of Woolf's choices.
In all sorts of fascinating ways, Night and Day feels both extremely regimented and entirely chaotic; of all of Woolf's novels, it seems to me that this one--though touted (or maligned!) for its "conventional" structure--could wrench its pages from its binding, toss them into an entropic flux, and have them land in an order that would, magically, appear equally conventional and chaotic. We will discuss why!
Readings
It is, of course, encouraged that you read all of Night and Day and as much of the supplementary readings as you can. If time does not allow, however, here are some excerpts in order of priority (for our discussion):
We will look at how Woolf evolves her language in Night and Day (1919) to deal with the tension between the particular and the universal, between individuals and the crystalline network of Victorian/Eduardian "civilization" that binds them. Are her characters all but forced into flights of fancy, stream-of-consciousness prose, in moments when "realistic" civilization can no longer contain the narrative Woolf feels they merit? These scattered descents into daydreaming, to me, mark the beginning of the style that Woolf was to cultivate more fully in later novels--novels that would have, in her words, "no scaffolding; scarcely a brick to be seen; all crepuscular, but the heart, the passion, the humour, everything as bright as fire in the mist…." (1920).
The supplementary texts from Aurora Leigh and The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman engage with Night and Day by sketching an outline--through poetry and prose, respectively--of how the convention of marriage interacts with a woman's ability to do the work of her choosing. We will be looking at the differing literary techniques used to handle characters who move "out of bounds"; this should, hopefully, allow us to recognize the brilliance of some of Woolf's choices.
In all sorts of fascinating ways, Night and Day feels both extremely regimented and entirely chaotic; of all of Woolf's novels, it seems to me that this one--though touted (or maligned!) for its "conventional" structure--could wrench its pages from its binding, toss them into an entropic flux, and have them land in an order that would, magically, appear equally conventional and chaotic. We will discuss why!
Readings
It is, of course, encouraged that you read all of Night and Day and as much of the supplementary readings as you can. If time does not allow, however, here are some excerpts in order of priority (for our discussion):
- If you read only one thing in preparation for the session (or if you are finding your reading of Night and Day unrewarding), please read the article "Virginia Woolf's Pivotal Sophomore Novel" by Lauren Groff in The Paris Review. I rarely assign literary criticism--only when it is meaningful and when it is lyrical, which this one is: https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2019/07/09/virginia-woolfs-pivotal-sophomore-novel/
- Night and Day (1919) by Virginia Woolf (full novel if you can, but key excerpts to pre-read attached in pdf; note that though we will be looking at individual sentences/paragraphs from throughout the book, the attached pdf is solely excerpted from the last two chapters)
- Aurora Leigh (1856) by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (excerpts attached in pdf)
- The Wife of Sir Isaac Harman (1914) by H.G. Wells (excerpts attached in pdf, mostly from Chapter 10)
Virginia Woolf in Poetic Echoes: Reading Jacob’s Room through a painter’s lens
In this session, we will discuss the poetic flowering of Virginia Woolf's experimental style in her third novel, Jacob's Room (1922). Following The Voyage Out and Night and Day--works consciously engaging with and visibly resisting Victorian styles of writing--Jacob's Room represents Woolf's unabashed break with accepted forms.
We will look at Jacob's Room in light of some of Woolf's own ideas about literary theory as expressed in her diary entries, essays, and letters. Salvador Dali's rollicking text 50 Secrets of Magic Craftsmanship will give us further inroads into the perceptual possibilities of Woolf's experimental novel.
Reading
Please read Jacob's Room in its entirety (it is not too long--less than 200 pages) before the session; no supplementary pre-readings this time, so you can focus on the main work! In this case, I believe it is part of Woolf's daring accomplishment that she is able to sustain a full novel--and continue to call it a novel--in the style that she does.
-Woolf’s literary approach: “No scaffolding…fire in the mist” [Diary]
-Reviews of Jacob’s Room
NARRATIVE GAZE
-Narrator
-Structure
*Empty space
*Spotlight
*Snapshot narratives
*Center
COLOR PALETTE
[“Sickert” essay]
“DROMEDARY OF IMAGES”
-Malleable images
-Repetition
THE “ALMOST-NOTHING”
Absence & Still-Life
EMOTION
PERSPECTIVE/DISTANCE
Letter-writing
“UNDERPAINTING” / TEMPORAL ASPECT
-Time lapse
-Interruptive timelines
-Lasting antiquity
TREATMENT OF SUBJECT / HUMOR
Compassionate satire
THE PATTERN BENEATH THE ABSTRACTION / “THE UNSEIZABLE FORCE”
-Society
-Complicity in war
In this session, we will discuss the poetic flowering of Virginia Woolf's experimental style in her third novel, Jacob's Room (1922). Following The Voyage Out and Night and Day--works consciously engaging with and visibly resisting Victorian styles of writing--Jacob's Room represents Woolf's unabashed break with accepted forms.
We will look at Jacob's Room in light of some of Woolf's own ideas about literary theory as expressed in her diary entries, essays, and letters. Salvador Dali's rollicking text 50 Secrets of Magic Craftsmanship will give us further inroads into the perceptual possibilities of Woolf's experimental novel.
Reading
Please read Jacob's Room in its entirety (it is not too long--less than 200 pages) before the session; no supplementary pre-readings this time, so you can focus on the main work! In this case, I believe it is part of Woolf's daring accomplishment that she is able to sustain a full novel--and continue to call it a novel--in the style that she does.
- Diaries (1920-1922) – V. Woolf
- “Walter Sickert: A Conversation” (1934) – V. Woolf
- “Pictures” (1925) – V. Woolf
- 50 Secrets of Magic Craftsmanship – Salvador Dali
-Woolf’s literary approach: “No scaffolding…fire in the mist” [Diary]
-Reviews of Jacob’s Room
NARRATIVE GAZE
-Narrator
-Structure
*Empty space
*Spotlight
*Snapshot narratives
*Center
COLOR PALETTE
[“Sickert” essay]
“DROMEDARY OF IMAGES”
-Malleable images
-Repetition
THE “ALMOST-NOTHING”
Absence & Still-Life
EMOTION
PERSPECTIVE/DISTANCE
Letter-writing
“UNDERPAINTING” / TEMPORAL ASPECT
-Time lapse
-Interruptive timelines
-Lasting antiquity
TREATMENT OF SUBJECT / HUMOR
Compassionate satire
THE PATTERN BENEATH THE ABSTRACTION / “THE UNSEIZABLE FORCE”
-Society
-Complicity in war
Virginia Woolf in Poetic Echoes: Mrs. Dalloway
Instructor: Sakina B. Fakhri
Literary Focus
In Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf experiments with a structure as intransigent as the chiming of clocks over the course of a single day. “The design is so queer and so masterful,” Woolf notes in her diary, and “I’m always having to wrench my substance to fit it.” Quite a departure from Jacob’s Room, indeed, in which the substance itself leads, blooming into a structure at once unexpected and organic!
We will explore the forbidding coldness (or “stiff, glittering and tinselly” quality, as Woolf puts it) of this design—of the novel itself & of the world therein. Our focus will be Woolf’s wielding of literary “madness”; a thing distinct from its psychological implications, this phenomenon will be handled as a character’s descent (ascent?) into a system of functioning that is inconsistent with the restrictive—sometimes inhuman, often hypocritical, always limiting—offerings of society.
The passages I have selected reflect these flights of “madness”—and these, to me, are the most interesting parts: syntactically, a poetic letting-loose—the moments in which characters delve into the fluidity beneath the inexorable structure proclaimed by the chiming of the bells. In the post-war, post-pandemic, imperialist atmosphere of 1923, how does the entrance of death “in the middle of my party” allow lyricism, deflect structure? With what literary tools does Woolf rend the veil that upholds surface distinctions involving time, age, illness, political benevolence, gender, and domesticity? Are only the “mad” in this book allowed poetry?
Reading
Required
-Excerpts from Mrs. Dalloway (in class pdf)
Strongly recommended
-Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf [novel]
Additional
-"Fear no more the heat o' the sun" from Cymbeline - William Shakespeare [poem]
-“Ode on a Grecian Urn” - John Keats [poem]
-“Ode to a Nightingale” - John Keats [poem]
-“Tradition and the Individual Talent” - T. S. Eliot [essay]
Artistic Presentation
The artistic tie-in—which will remain largely a surprise—will weave together Woolf’s diary entries, relevant letters, and portions of Rachel Carson’s poetic masterpiece of marine biology The Sea Around Us. [So many (gorgeous) renditions of Mrs. Dalloway have focused on the bells and the music—I wanted to offer something a bit different!]
Instructor: Sakina B. Fakhri
Literary Focus
In Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf experiments with a structure as intransigent as the chiming of clocks over the course of a single day. “The design is so queer and so masterful,” Woolf notes in her diary, and “I’m always having to wrench my substance to fit it.” Quite a departure from Jacob’s Room, indeed, in which the substance itself leads, blooming into a structure at once unexpected and organic!
We will explore the forbidding coldness (or “stiff, glittering and tinselly” quality, as Woolf puts it) of this design—of the novel itself & of the world therein. Our focus will be Woolf’s wielding of literary “madness”; a thing distinct from its psychological implications, this phenomenon will be handled as a character’s descent (ascent?) into a system of functioning that is inconsistent with the restrictive—sometimes inhuman, often hypocritical, always limiting—offerings of society.
The passages I have selected reflect these flights of “madness”—and these, to me, are the most interesting parts: syntactically, a poetic letting-loose—the moments in which characters delve into the fluidity beneath the inexorable structure proclaimed by the chiming of the bells. In the post-war, post-pandemic, imperialist atmosphere of 1923, how does the entrance of death “in the middle of my party” allow lyricism, deflect structure? With what literary tools does Woolf rend the veil that upholds surface distinctions involving time, age, illness, political benevolence, gender, and domesticity? Are only the “mad” in this book allowed poetry?
Reading
Required
-Excerpts from Mrs. Dalloway (in class pdf)
Strongly recommended
-Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf [novel]
Additional
-"Fear no more the heat o' the sun" from Cymbeline - William Shakespeare [poem]
-“Ode on a Grecian Urn” - John Keats [poem]
-“Ode to a Nightingale” - John Keats [poem]
-“Tradition and the Individual Talent” - T. S. Eliot [essay]
Artistic Presentation
The artistic tie-in—which will remain largely a surprise—will weave together Woolf’s diary entries, relevant letters, and portions of Rachel Carson’s poetic masterpiece of marine biology The Sea Around Us. [So many (gorgeous) renditions of Mrs. Dalloway have focused on the bells and the music—I wanted to offer something a bit different!]
|
Studies in literary form and structure
The Writerly Mind These courses will focus on close readings of passages to illuminate the effects of various formal elements on artistic expression. We are interested less in historicity and literary theory than we are in the vibrancy contained within the final product--we will analyze every swing and curl of the prose or poetry and explore the effects of those techniques on the reader's ready palate. |
|
Forster's Aspects of the Novel
Instructor: Sakina B. Fakhri
A study of the evolution and the nuances of the novel form via E.M. Forster’s Aspects of the Novel.
I have chosen this text because I find its treatment of the novel to be delivered in beautiful prose: phrases like “... little luminous disks of a pre-arranged size, pushed hither and thither like counters across the void...” to describe the function of flat characters in a novel, for instance.
In-depth discussion will focus on a selection of E.M. Forster’s analyses in Aspects of the Novel as well as excerpts from Edwardian, Victorian, and Modernist novels (significantly, these excerpts will not include Forster’s own fiction, nor will they overlap with the excerpts Forster himself provides). Our aim is not necessarily to revere Forster’s recommendations of novelists’ practices; in my opinion, there is perhaps no literary dogma more delightful than the breaking of expected patterns with near-surgical precision & intelligence to meaningful & beautiful ends. We will read Forster’s work as a seedbed for stimulating thought; hopefully, from the progression of our discussion will emerge a satisfying brilliance.
This class may primarily appeal to writers of literary fiction, screenwriters, literary theorists, and readers of dense & lyrical fiction.
Reading
Time commitment
Ultimately, the time you spend in preparation for the session is up to you–all of our classes are designed to be meaningful experiences for those who have done all the reading, a suggested 2-3 hours of reading, or no reading at all; we will re-read key excerpts during the session itself to give all participants sufficient fodder for discussion.
Instructor: Sakina B. Fakhri
A study of the evolution and the nuances of the novel form via E.M. Forster’s Aspects of the Novel.
I have chosen this text because I find its treatment of the novel to be delivered in beautiful prose: phrases like “... little luminous disks of a pre-arranged size, pushed hither and thither like counters across the void...” to describe the function of flat characters in a novel, for instance.
In-depth discussion will focus on a selection of E.M. Forster’s analyses in Aspects of the Novel as well as excerpts from Edwardian, Victorian, and Modernist novels (significantly, these excerpts will not include Forster’s own fiction, nor will they overlap with the excerpts Forster himself provides). Our aim is not necessarily to revere Forster’s recommendations of novelists’ practices; in my opinion, there is perhaps no literary dogma more delightful than the breaking of expected patterns with near-surgical precision & intelligence to meaningful & beautiful ends. We will read Forster’s work as a seedbed for stimulating thought; hopefully, from the progression of our discussion will emerge a satisfying brilliance.
This class may primarily appeal to writers of literary fiction, screenwriters, literary theorists, and readers of dense & lyrical fiction.
Reading
- Aspects of the Novel by E.M. Forster
- *Additional reading will be shared with participants via pdf
Time commitment
Ultimately, the time you spend in preparation for the session is up to you–all of our classes are designed to be meaningful experiences for those who have done all the reading, a suggested 2-3 hours of reading, or no reading at all; we will re-read key excerpts during the session itself to give all participants sufficient fodder for discussion.
Serialization in Dickens, Buffy, Barber, and Joyce
Instructor: Sakina B. Fakhri
By delving into a variety of artistic forms (literature, classical music, and television), we will consider the ramifications of the early Victorian practice of publishing novels as serials.
How–if at all–does the potential of audience intervention affect the artistic mind? What literary techniques did the Victorians employ to hold their plots at the edges of cliffs, the ending of one chapter simultaneously ready for conclusion or renewal of the next? What stylistic aspects of Modernist fiction may be attributable to a newfound assurance that novels would be entertained as cohesive wholes, possibly “binge-read” in a single sitting? We will also consider the economic web that ensnares the serialized work–for better or worse–and how bending to these “current” considerations may (or may not!) affect the timelessness of such pieces. To what extent does an artist adjust to a readership, a television show to its fans, a musical score to its patrons? We will discuss the boldness of writing that refused to adjust–that which is styled with a patience that assumes that one will be given the chance to complete one’s story.
Obviously, there is no expectation that you imbibe these works in their entirety before our discussion! I will provide a pdf of suggested reading/watching/listening that should span 2-4 hours, and we will look at focused excerpts during the session itself; even if you aren’t able to do any preparation, the session should run smoothly and there will be a great deal to discuss.
You do not need any familiarity with the above works to enjoy this session.
Instructor: Sakina B. Fakhri
By delving into a variety of artistic forms (literature, classical music, and television), we will consider the ramifications of the early Victorian practice of publishing novels as serials.
How–if at all–does the potential of audience intervention affect the artistic mind? What literary techniques did the Victorians employ to hold their plots at the edges of cliffs, the ending of one chapter simultaneously ready for conclusion or renewal of the next? What stylistic aspects of Modernist fiction may be attributable to a newfound assurance that novels would be entertained as cohesive wholes, possibly “binge-read” in a single sitting? We will also consider the economic web that ensnares the serialized work–for better or worse–and how bending to these “current” considerations may (or may not!) affect the timelessness of such pieces. To what extent does an artist adjust to a readership, a television show to its fans, a musical score to its patrons? We will discuss the boldness of writing that refused to adjust–that which is styled with a patience that assumes that one will be given the chance to complete one’s story.
- Samuel Barber’s Violin Concerto, Op. 14 (1939) [music]
- Excerpts from James Joyce’s Ulysses [fiction]
- Excerpts from Charles Dickens’s Bleak House and David Copperfield [fiction]
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer [television show]
Obviously, there is no expectation that you imbibe these works in their entirety before our discussion! I will provide a pdf of suggested reading/watching/listening that should span 2-4 hours, and we will look at focused excerpts during the session itself; even if you aren’t able to do any preparation, the session should run smoothly and there will be a great deal to discuss.
You do not need any familiarity with the above works to enjoy this session.