About us
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
Homeric Epics, The Iliad, May 17, 2026, 2nd of 8 Mtgs, Please read Bks 7-12
·OnlineOnlineSession #2 of 8
Now our group moves back to the first western epic poem, the progenitor of all narrative storytelling to follow: Homer's The Iliad to be followed by the first sequel: The Odyssey.Moving from the medieval and early modern deconstructions of Troy back to its source—the Homeric epics—offers a rare opportunity for "intellectual archaeology."
Justification: From Chivalry to the Agon
Reading Homer after Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde and Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida allows for a rigorous examination of the teleology of heroism. Chaucer reframes the Trojan conflict through the prism of Boethian philosophy and the courtly love tradition, elevating the internal psychological landscape over the external battlefield. Shakespeare, conversely, provides a cynical, late-Renaissance deconstruction, where the "heroic" figures of antiquity are reduced to "emulous factions" and the glory of the Bronze Age is stripped of its luster.
Returning to the Iliad and Odyssey is not a mere chronological exercise but a confrontation with the ontological foundation of Western literature. It enables the group to analyze how the "Matter of Troy" evolved from a study of menis (wrath) and divine-human intersections into a vehicle for medieval romanticism and Elizabethan satire. This "reverse reading" highlights the radical shift from the pre-Christian, existential ethics of the Homeric agon—the struggle—to the later focus on romantic fidelity and political decay. It permits a comparative analysis of how the character of the "Greek" and the "Trojan" was molded to serve the ideologies of 14th-century England and 17th-century London, respectively.Homer’s Influence on Dante
Despite the "sovereign" status Dante accords to Homer (l'alto poeta) in Canto IV of the Inferno, his influence is characterized by a fascinating paradox: Dante could not read Greek and had no direct access to the Homeric texts. His Homer was a figure of Latin mediation and Virgilian echoes.- The Reinvention of Ulysses: In Inferno XXVI, Dante’s portrayal of Ulysses is a significant departure from the Homeric "homecoming." While Homer’s Odysseus seeks the restoration of the household, Dante’s Ulysses is driven by a transgressive desire for "virtue and knowledge,” leading him beyond the Pillars of Hercules to his doom.
- The Epic Structure: Dante adopts the Homeric focus on the journey as a metaphor for the soul's refinement, though he redirects the epic "return" toward a theological "ascent."
Editions [available from your local library or online]:
Any English translation (there are 18 in the last 75 years -see session graphic), but we recommend:The Iliad, Emily Wilson, W. W. Norton, 2025, ISBN: 9781324102076
A groundbreaking recent version using strict iambic pentameter. It is acclaimed for its lexical precision, particularly in how it handles social hierarchies and gendered language, offering a fresh, crystalline perspective. Used: $10+The Odyssey, Emily Wilson, W. W. Norton, 2017, ISBN: 9780393356250
Used: $9+Online via Zoom
RSVP for the link.Schedule of Readings (and link to Topics):
May 03, 2026 - Homer: The Iliad, Books 1-6
May 17, 2026 - Homer: The Iliad, Books 7-12 [Topics]
May 31, 2026 - Homer: The Iliad, Books 13-18
Jun 14, 2026 - Homer: The Iliad, Books 19-24
Jun 28, 2026 - Homer: The Odyssey, Books 1-6
July 12, 2026 - Homer: The Odyssey, Books 7-12
July 26, 2026 - Homer: The Odyssey, Books 13-18
Aug 09, 2026 - Homer: The Odyssey, Books 19-24Summary of previous sessions:
Homer Meetup SummaryFor 2026 [subject to change]:
Homer: Iliad/Odyssey
Virgil: Georgics/Aeneid
Ovid: Metamorphosis /Erotic Poems8 attendees
Past events
172
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