What we’re about
An Excursion Into the Odd and Fantastical
We are a group dedicated to reading the great literature of the Western canon. Over the last few years, we’ve read and discussed a multitude of renowned works ranging from older classics by Homer, Virgil, Milton and Dante to modern works by Melville, Thomas Mann, Proust and Joyce. We’ve not been intimidated by either a work’s ancient pedigree or its challenging intellectuality. We understand that reading these works that have survived over time and trying to understand their meaning is an adventure of the human spirit worth pursuing.
From 2020, under a new group name, we’re on a course of selections with themes offbeat and fantastical. The works include odd tales of strange psychology (such as by Dostoevsky, Gogol, and Faulkner) to the fantastical and weird (such as by Swift, Wells, Kafka and Lovecraft). And yes, selections from the Bible will be included, because what could be more weirdly mysterious than those stories?
In August 2023, we recorded an online session featuring "The Grand Inquisitor" section of Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov. Click for an unedited sample session of our group. Use passcode: TK$2E#k!
Below is the list of classics we’ve been reading and the ones remaining before we shift to poetry in 2024. All of these are written by great authors of enormous intellect and power. We have a very talented group of members who love debating, discussing and investigating the fine points of these stories. We hope you’ll join us and welcome new members also enthralled by the classics.
1. Dostoevsky: Devils (Oxford UP) [1872] (read 2020)
2. Marquez: Love in the Time of Cholera [1985] (read 2020)
3. Faulkner: Absalom Absalom [1936] (read 2020)
4. Zola: Thérèse Raquin [1868] (read 2020)
5. Kafka: The Castle [1926] (read 2020)
6. James: Turn of the Screw [1898] (read 2020)
7. Shakespeare: King Lear [1608] (read 2020)
8. Nietzsche: Thus Spoke Zarathustra [1883] (read 2020)
9. Bible: Genesis/Job/Song of Solomon (read 2021)
10. Aristophanes: Clouds [423 BCE] / Wasps [422 BCE] / Birds [414 BCE] (read 2021)
11. Sophocles: Antigone [ BCE] / Philoctetes [ BCE] (read 2021)
12. Euripides: Medea [431 BCE]/Hippolytus [428 BCE]/Bacchae [405 BCE] (read '21)
13. Apuleius: The Golden Ass [170 CE] (read 2021)
14. Dante: Inferno/Purgatorio/Paradiso [1320] (in progress: 2021 via other Meetups)
15. Spenser: Faery Queene (1st book only) [1590] (2021)
16. Swift: Gulliver’s Travels [1726]; A Tale of a Tub [1704] (read 2021)
17. Voltaire: Zadig [1747]; Candide [1764] (read 2021)
18. de Sade: Justine [1791] (read 2021)
19 Lewis, M.G.: The Monk: A Romance [1796] (read 2021)
20. Hoffmann, E.T.A.: Tales of Hoffmann [1819] (read 2021)
21 Austen: Northanger Abbey [1797/1818] (read 2021)
22. Shelley: Frankenstein [1818] (read 2022)
23. Joyce: Ulysses [1922] (re-read 2022)
24. Gogol: Diary of a Madman [1835] (read 2022)
25. Balzac: Girl with the Golden Eyes [1835] (read 2022)
26. Bronte: The Tenant of Wildfell Hall [1848] (read 2022)
27. Poe: Collected Stories [1830s-40s] (read 2022)
28. Hawthorne: Collected Short Stories [1830-40s] (read 2022)
29. Melville: Bartleby, the Scrivener [1856] / Benito Cereno [1855] (read 2022)
30. Stevenson: Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde [1886] (read 2022)
31. Stroker: Dracula [1896] (read 2022)
32. Verne: 20000 Leagues under the Sea [1871] (read 2022)
33. Wilde: The Picture of Dorian Gray [1890] (read 2022)
34. Perkins-Gilman: The Yellow Wall-Paper [1892] (read 2023)
35. H.G. Wells: Island of Dr. Moreau [1896] (read 2023)
36. Zamyatin: We [1924] (read 2023)
37. Woolf: Orlando [1928] (read 2023)
38. Lovecraft: Collected Stories [1920-30s] (read 2023)
39. O’Conner: Wise Blood [1952] (read 2023)
40. Golding: Lord of the Flies [1954] (read 2023)
41. Burgess: A Clockwork Orange [1962] (read 2023)
42. Pynchon: Crying of Lot 49 [1964] (read 2023)
43. Le Guin: The Dispossessed [1974] (read 2023)
45. Dostoevsky, The Brothers Karamazov [1880] (read 2023)
46. Murasaki, The Tale of Genji [read 1000] (read 2023)
Upcoming events
2
•OnlineChaucer, The Canterbury Tales, 01-11-26, 6th of 6 Sessions
OnlineGeoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales (late 14th century) is both a vivid portrait of medieval life and a timeless study of human nature. Written in Middle English—the living language of Chaucer’s England—it gathers a diverse group of pilgrims journeying to Canterbury, each telling stories that reveal wit, faith, desire, hypocrisy, and laughter. The work’s brilliance lies in its variety: bawdy fabliaux, courtly romances, moral sermons, and fables all mingle in a single tapestry of voices. Reading it in the original language is demanding but deeply rewarding: you’ll hear the rhythm and humor as Chaucer’s first audience did, and glimpse the roots of modern English. A glossed edition (with notes or a facing-page translation) will ease the way, allowing the vitality of Chaucer’s verse—its sharp observation, compassion, and playfulness—to shine through as freshly now as six centuries ago.
Editions [available from your local library or online]:
The Canterbury Tales: Seventeen Tales and the General Prologue. A Norton Critical Edition, Third Edition, Edited by V.A. Kolve and Glending Olsen. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 2018. ISBN: 9781324000563 Used: $13+
The Selected Canterbury Tales. A New Verse Translation by Sheila Fisher. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 2012. ISBN: 9780393341782 Used: $7+ [Mid/Mod English on facing pgs]
The Riverside Chaucer. Third Edition. Edited by F.N. Robinson. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780199552092 Used $25+
Online via Zoom
RSVP for the link.
Schedule of Readings [P&T=Prologue and Tale]:
Nov 2, 2025 -Front matter, General Prologue,
Nov 16th - The Knight's Tale
Nov 30th - Miller's P&T, Reeve's P&T
Dec 14th - Wife of Bath's P&T,
Dec 28th - Friar's P&T, Summoner's P&T
Jan 11th, 2026 - Pardoner's, Nun's Priest's P&T, Chaucer's Retraction
Summary of previous sessions:
Meetup Summary -Chaucer
For 2026 [subject to change]:
Chaucer: Troilus and Criseyde
Shakespeare: Troilus and Cressida
Virgil: Georgics/Aeneid
Ovid: Metamorphosis /Erotic Poems
Homer: Iliad/Odyssey14 attendees
•OnlineChaucer, Troilus & Criseyde, 01-25-26, 1st of 3 Sessions. Please read Books 1&2
OnlineNext our group will be comparing Geoffrey Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde (1386) with William Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida (1602) which offers a fascinating study in literary evolution and tonal shift. While both works use the same Trojan War backdrop, they feel worlds apart. Chaucer’s poem is a sweeping, sympathetic medieval romance that treats the lovers with "courtly love" tenderness. In contrast, Shakespeare’s play is a cynical, jagged "problem play" that satirizes the heroics of war and the fragility of romance.
The transformation of the heroine is a major talking point.
- Chaucer’s Criseyde: A complex widow driven by survival and fear.
- Shakespeare’s Cressida: Often seen as more worldly and "fickle," reflecting the harsher Elizabethan view of her "falseness."
Comparing a Middle English epic poem to an Early Modern drama sparks rich discussions on:
- Perspective: Chaucer’s intimate narrator vs. Shakespeare’s detached, biting wit.
- Themes: How "honor" and "constancy" degrade from the 14th to the 17th century.
It’s a rare opportunity to see how two of history’s greatest writers "remixed" the same tragic legend for their own eras.
Editions [available from your local library or online]:
Ch: Troilus and Criseyde. Norton Critical Edition, Edited by Stephen A. Barney. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 2006. ISBN: 9780393927559 Used: $7+
Ch: The Riverside Chaucer. Third Edition. Edited by F.N. Robinson. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780199552092 Used $25+
Sh: Troilus and Cressida. Revised Edition. The Arden Shakespeare. Edited by David Bevington. Bloomsbury, 2015. ISBN: 9781472584748 Used: 9+
Online via Zoom
RSVP for the link.
Schedule of Readings:
Jan 25, 2026 - Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde, Books 1 and 2
Feb 08, 2026 - Books 3 and 4
Feb 22, 2026 - Book 5 and Shakespeare's Troilus & Cressida
Summary of previous sessions:
Posted after first session
For 2026 [subject to change]:
Chaucer: Troilus and Cressida
Virgil: Georgics/Aeneid
Ovid: Metamorphosis /Erotic Poems
Homer: Iliad/Odyssey6 attendees
Past events
164
Group links
Organizers
Members
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