How Literature and Books can tell us more about ourselves and our lives

Tutor: Anne Gormley, B.A. H. Dip in Ed. Hons, M.A. Mod English Literature/Hons

12 week course

A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.’ Italo Calvino

Books are powerful levellers, great healers and superb sources of conversation as well as being solid dependable companions on our journey through life.

C.S. Lewis author of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe once wrote that Literature doesn’t simply describe reality, but it adds to it by irrigating the deserts that our lives have already become.

Join us in this popular course where you will be transported into different worlds and meet new and exciting people. You may find yourself in Russia with Gogol and Chekov or even in West Cork and Mayo with Frank O Connor, William Trevor John Millington Synge and many others. Or you can climb the moors in Yorkshire and discover Emily Bronte and the passionate Heathcliff.

This course consists of 24 workshops (split into two terms, 12 weeks in the autumn term and another 12 weeks for the spring term) where we will discover how Drama, Poetry, Fiction, Short Stories can change us. Our capacity for language will become re-energised and our imaginations and inner worlds more enriched and inspired.

The course will look at literature of the 19th,20 and 21st centuries and compare the similarities and differences between them. We will look at writers such as Beckett, Joyce, Bronte, Yeats, Seamus Heaney and other Laureates and authors and learn how to get the most from books and understand better how literature works to tell us more about ourselves and the world around us.

Join us for stimulating sessions on:

Women in Literature past, present and future

Learning from certain themes in English literature-Fear, Violence, Conflict…

Society in Literature past, present and future

The dark side of humanity in literature- what does that tell us about ourselves?

What is it about Books that lures us in and helps us escape?

What makes a good story?

What can we learn from books that will help us be happier people?

Please note, this is a 24 week course spread over the autumn and the spring term at the price of €135 per term or you have the option to pay for the two terms together at a discounted price of €260 for the 24 weeks.  Check the Buy Now options on this page.