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Displaying 11 - 20 of 48
Displaying search results for: "literature"
Literature: The story of the detective story
The detective story is one of the most popular literary genres, as well as one that has produced some classic novels. Each week we focus on a short detective story or novel, reading and discussing key passages. The selected novels are in chronological order, from the 19th century to modern times. We begin with Edgar Allen Poe and Conan Doyle, and end with Sophie Hannah. We’ll be able to share and debate interpretations, sharpen our critical and appreciative faculties, understand what detective fiction can tell us about the society and culture that produced it, and, hopefully, be inspired to read other works by the writers featured on the course.
The course is funded by the Greater London Combined Authority.
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Course Information
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Dates:Mon 13/01/2025 -
Mon 24/03/2025Times:10:30am - 12:30pmDuration:6 sessionsLocation:Methodist Church Hall (Beckenham)
Bromley Road
Beckenham
BR3 5JETutor:Brandon RobshawCourse code:Q00020027How you'll learn:In venueAvailability:10+ places remainingStatus:AvailableFee rangeFree to £42.00
British Literature in the 1950s
In this course we will discuss and analyse the following authors and their works. These are: Look Back in Anger - John Osborne. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - Muriel Spark. The Vet's Daughter - Barbara Comyns. A Voice Through A Cloud - Denton Welch. A Kind of Loving - Stan Barstow. These texts are an eclectic blend of plays, novels and the autobiographical in the case of Denton Welch, an eccentric and now largely forgotten. There will be great scope for discussion and the voicing of opinions, and you will be encouraged to develop your own theories and interpretations in a supportive atmosphere.
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Course Information
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Dates:Mon 13/01/2025 -
Mon 24/03/2025Times:10:00am - 12:00pmDuration:10 sessionsLocation:OnlineTutor:Stephen SmithCourse code:Q00017886How you'll learn:OnlineAvailability:4 places remainingStatus:AvailableFee rangeFree to £74.00
History: China 1912 to 1992 – Empire to Republic
This second of two courses on modern Chinese history concentrates on the history of China from 1912 to 1992 a time marked by profound transformations, including the fall of the imperial system, the rise of the First Republic, the Warlord Era, the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, and major upheavals of war, rebellion, revolution and geopolitical alignment. We trace the political social, cultural and economic development of China in the 20th Century. We consider the events, ideas and personalities that shaped this extraordinary national story. Throughout, we draw parallels with our own time and how we got here.
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Course Information
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Dates:Mon 13/01/2025 -
Mon 24/03/2025Times:10:30am - 12:30pmDuration:10 sessionsLocation:Petts Wood Memorial Hall (Petts Wood)
200 Petts Wood Road
Petts Wood
BR5 1LATutor:Laurie JohnstonCourse code:Q00017563How you'll learn:In venueAvailability:2 places remainingStatus:AvailableFee rangeFree to £100.00
Literature: German Literature Post 1945
This course, composed of new texts, builds on similar courses on German literature given by Stephen Smith. Four novels and one poet will be analysed and placed in context over the 10 weeks’ duration of the course.
The first text, The Passenger by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz, was actually written in 1938, but having recently been rediscovered, it is too good not to include. We will begin with this novel and then explore:
Vertigo - WG Sebald.
Lost - Hans Ulrich Treichel.
Kairos - Jenny Erpenbeck.
The Poetry of Durs Grunbein.
The course will offer great scope for discussion of excellent texts, which are intellectually, imaginatively and emotional stimulating.
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Course Information
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Dates:Tue 14/01/2025 -
Tue 25/03/2025Times:7:00pm - 9:00pmDuration:10 sessionsLocation:OnlineTutor:Stephen SmithCourse code:Q00017914How you'll learn:OnlineAvailability:8 places remainingStatus:AvailableFee rangeFree to £74.00
WEA Membership
WEA membership is changing: more information is coming soon!
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Membership Information
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Duration:12 monthsFee:£15
Literature: The Literature of Migration
Migration always brings a story. Whether migration stems from joyful exploration and curiosity, or is the result of loss, coercion or danger, each narrative tells us something new. In this course, we will be considering the portrayal of migration, the many contexts which lead to authors writing about migration, and how other themes are bound in with this idea. In our discussions together, we will be considering a wide range of texts and genres from across the ages, and working to expand our understanding of such a fundamental experience.
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Course Information
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Dates:Tue 14/01/2025 -
Tue 25/03/2025Times:1:30pm - 3:30pmDuration:10 sessionsLocation:OnlineTutor:Clare JacksonCourse code:Q00018507How you'll learn:OnlineAvailability:10+ places remainingStatus:AvailableFee rangeFree to £74.00
Literature: Dutch Short Stories
This five week course will introduce you to an often neglected area of the European short story, this being stories from the Netherlands. Each of the five stories can be found in The Penguin Book of Dutch Short Stories, which is the text we will work from.
The stories for consideration and analysis are:
Young Titans - Nescio.
The Sirens - Maria Dermout.
The Portrait - Hella Haasse.
Paula - Cees Nooteboom.
Sunrise Day - Margriet De Moor.
The course will involve lectures, discussions and advice on further research into the subject. Each session will dissect a narrative and relate its context, meaning and style.
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Course Information
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Dates:Tue 14/01/2025 -
Tue 11/02/2025Times:4:00pm - 6:00pmDuration:5 sessionsLocation:OnlineTutor:Stephen SmithCourse code:Q00017912How you'll learn:OnlineAvailability:4 places remainingStatus:AvailableFee rangeFree to £37.00
Literature: Books for the Soul: Reading for Wellbeing
Books for the Soul: Reading for Wellbeing
Do you love the enchanted world of stories?
Remember how hearing stories read aloud made you warm and happy?
Yes? Then this is the course for you.
A friendly, gentle reading and self-discovery circle. The power of shared reading is good for the soul.
Come discover modern fiction and true stories on heart-warming themes like friendship, community, hope, love and food.
Each week we’ll read and reflect on the story, on our own lives. We’ll share and tell our own tales, from books we read as children, from stories of our own lives.
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Course Information
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Dates:Tue 14/01/2025 -
Tue 18/02/2025Times:12:30pm - 2:00pmDuration:5 sessionsLocation:The Good Story
45 St Leonards Road
Bexhill
TN40 1JATutor:Nicola TorodeCourse code:Q00020132How you'll learn:In venueAvailability:10+ places remainingStatus:AvailableFee rangeFree to £37.80
Literature: Selected plays by Aristophanes
Aristophanes (c.450-388 BCE) writing in the Fifth Century is regarded as the key author in Ancient Greek comedy. His plays will be studied, read and workshopped. We shall look at how his plays might be put on, and staged today. His plays often have structures similar to a sketch show and he uses many comic devices still popular with comedians today. His plays are a little rude though (sometimes very rude). We shall look at how he creates his comic characters and situations. We shall discuss the issues that he wants to write about and consider if these are still relevant to a modern audience trying to make sense of the political and social world today. Over ten weeks, two to three plays will be discussed and workshopped to appreciate the various theatrical devices that Aristophanes often uses.
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Course Information
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Dates:Tue 14/01/2025 -
Tue 25/03/2025Times:10:00am - 12:00pmDuration:10 sessionsLocation:The Greenleaf Centre (Walthamstow)
67-69 Greenleaf Road
Walthamstow
E17 6QPTutor:Thomas CroweCourse code:Q00017605How you'll learn:In venueAvailability:8 places remainingStatus:AvailableFee rangeFree to £100.00
History: Anglo-Saxon Culture 500-1100CE
A short (5 sessions) introduction to the range and complexity of Anglo-Saxon culture based upon selected survivals in the archaeological record ranging from exquisite, illuminated manuscripts to stunning portable timepieces. Each week we will concentrate on one theme/aspect of the Anglo-Saxon world and consider up to 5 objects from the time and use them to consider the Anglo-Saxons, their society and their legacy to us. There will also be extensive discussion of how difficult questions persist about the interpretation of the period and its survival in the archaeological record. There will be plenty of opportunity for discussion and questions throughout.
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Course Information
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Dates:Tue 14/01/2025 -
Tue 11/02/2025Times:10:30am - 12:30pmDuration:5 sessionsLocation:Enfield Baptist Church (Enfield) (Enfiel
Cecil Road
Enfield
EN2 6TGTutor:Laurie JohnstonCourse code:Q00020130How you'll learn:In venueAvailability:10+ places remainingStatus:AvailableFee rangeFree to £60.00
Literature: Contemporary British Fiction
This course will consider and analyse the following authors and their texts. These are: The Stranger’s Child - Alan Hollinghurst. The Blue Flower - Penelope Fitzgerald. A Pale View of Hills - Kazuo Ishiguro. Last Orders - Graham Swift. On Chesil Beach - Ian McEwan. These texts will provide a window into the different regions of Britain during the last fifty years, decades of major change in the social fabric and political nature of Britain, though several of our texts will trace these changes back to the earlier part of the twentieth century, and in doing so, we will encounter themes of identity, class and the decline of Empire. There will be much to prompt discussion and challenge our assumptions.
This course is funded by Greater London Combined Authority.
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Course Information
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Dates:Wed 15/01/2025 -
Wed 26/03/2025Times:10:30am - 12:30pmDuration:10 sessionsLocation:Duke Street Church
Quadrant Road
Richmond
TW9 1DHTutor:Stephen SmithCourse code:Q00019812How you'll learn:In venueAvailability:4 places remainingStatus:AvailableFee rangeFree to £100.00