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READING AND DISCUSSION GROUPS
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Since April 2009, this page has been
edited by Claire Charlotte McKechnie
(University of Edinburgh). Suggestions
for inclusion may be sent to her: @ |
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These groups are monitored as charting for
the most part a largely non-academic audience for the literature of our
period. The discussion in most groups
is usually lively, often informative, sometimes artless, and remains in the
on-line archive of each group.
Sometimes the discussion ranges beyond the book being studied. It is interesting to see which books are
chosen by more than one group; taken together they form a sort of
extra-university anti-canon. These
groups seem to be chiefly American, and after that British. It seems that such groups online are almost
unknown in France or Ireland. We would
like to hear from readers in other countries who may know of such
groups. A subject for research one
day, perhaps? |
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I will occasionally add a group, and remove
one when it becomes dormant, or cannot now be found – please don’t hesitate
to get in touch if you have any suggestions for the page or if you know where
lost reading groups have gone to. I’d also be very pleased to receive any
feedback about the reading groups. You can contact me at c.c.mckechnie@sms.ed.ac.uk . This page is up-to-date as of 30th November 2010. There are two brand
new features on this site now so check them out and let me know what you
think! |
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Whatever your interests in reading, I hope
this page will provide you with some ideas of ways to get involved in reading
more and/or reading within various genres and modes of nineteenth century
writing. Some of the groups below do not deal solely with Victorian
literature, but they do include some key nineteenth-century texts, which is
why I’ve included them. All there is left to say is happy reading … enjoy! |
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© 2004 Paul Kaye |
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The 18th and 19th
Century Novel on Yahoo.
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Although
this group was very lively with 227 members in July 2009, it seems to have
disappeared at the moment. Last year it could be found at http://dir.groups.yahoo.com/group/18th19thCenturyNovel and
the proposed reading scheduled was as follows: |
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2010 READING/DISCUSSION SCHEDULE |
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I would
be interested to hear from anyone who knows if this group has moved or has
been disbanded. |
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The Literature Reading Circle on Yahoo
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This website
says that, ‘The Literature Reading Circle is a newsletter for online groups
devoted to the discussion of literature in English. No discussion takes place
here; you must join one of the participating groups in order to take part in
discussions. If you are interested in the many online literature groups
available at Yahoo! and beyond - their focus, what they are currently reading
etc. - the Literature Reading Circle is the place for you.’ It can be found at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LiteratureReadingCircle . Here are the texts currently proposed to be discussed
over the coming months by the various reading groups, some of which are
Victorian: |
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NOVEMBER 2010 |
DECEMBER 2010 |
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JANUARY 2011 |
FEBRUARY 2011 |
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MARCH 2011 |
APRIL 2011 |
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MAY 2011 |
JUNE 2011 |
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JULY 2011 |
SEPTEMBER 2011 |
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NOVEMBER 2011 |
DECEMBER 2011 |
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The Nineteenth
Century Literature Group
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This describes itself as ‘a forum for people
who enjoy the literature of the 19th century and includes works from all
countries. List members participate in group reads and discussions which are
not limited to the current selections, and are actively encouraged to
recommend other authors or books and to discuss all facets of the 19th
century.’ Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/19thCenturyLit/ |
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Currently
being read is Lavengro
(the Scholar-the Gypsy-the Priest) by George Borrow |
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November 21 Chapters 1 - 12
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The group
is very active, with 328 members. |
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Epoque Victorienne Anglaise En Lisant Victorian
and British.
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This French language group (‘groupe de lecture dédié à la LITTERATURE
VICTORIENNE en particulier et à la LITTERATURE BRITANNIQUE en général’), formerly at http://fr.groups.yahoo.com/group/EpoqueVictorienneAnglaiseEnLisant/ moved to http://groups.msn.com/VictorianBritish
in 2007. However, the MSN groups have now closed and
this link is no longer available either. There seem to be no French groups
devoted to British Victorian literature at the present moment. |
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French Literature
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This is an active English language discussion group
of French literature, weighted towards the 19thc. It
is a discussion of all aspects of French literature with a focus on works
published during the Nineteenth Century -- authors, works, times, etc.
Authors of interest include Balzac, Hugo, Flaubert, Sand, Loti, Zola,
Maupassant, Dumas, Verne and others. |
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Currently scheduled are: |
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This
group can be found at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FrenchLiterature/ and has 106 members. |
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The Poetry of Thomas Hardy
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This is an offshoot of the Thomas Hardy
Association. Each month a new poem is
discussed. Users
have to subscribe in order to participate.
Poetry lovers, who have not already done so,
are cordially invited to join this free list by going to The Thomas Hardy
Association's website at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, http://arts.st-andrews.ac.uk/ttha/ |
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Click on
‘Poetry Discussion Group’ under the heading ‘TTHA Special Host Services’, and
follow the simple instructions for subscribing. |
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The Thomas
Hardy Association Poem of the Month for December 2010, ‘We Are Getting to the
End’, will be posted to the POTM Mailing-List on December 1st. |
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Click on
the Poetry Discussion Group button, and then fill in the simple form
provided. Once you have subscribed,
you will automatically receive all POTM messages and will be able to
contribute to the discussions via email. |
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The Thomas Hardy Association’s poem of the
month for November was ‘A Night of Questionings’. Poems discussed in 2010 have included ‘Under
the Waterfall’, ‘Before Life and After’, ‘The Year’s
Awakening’, and ‘Moments of Vision’. |
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British Studies
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NWCBS
(North Western and Western Canada British Studies Group) is a low-traffic,
non-commercial list for scholars, professors and researchers in British
Studies who are located in the Northwestern United States and Western
Canada. Members are encouraged to join
the North American Conference on British Studies. |
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Subscribe:
NWCBS-subscribe@yahoogroups.com |
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Post message: NWCBS@yahoogroups.com |
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Unsubscribe:
NWCBS-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com |
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Margaret
DeLacy, List moderator. @ |
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Bookies Too
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This has 1234
members, and is very active. Their discussion schedule includes two books per
month. They primarily discuss literary fiction but members may nominate books
from any genre for discussion. They then vote from among all nominated titles
to arrive at a schedule. They are
currently discussing To Kill a
Mockingbird by Harper Lee. |
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Coming Up: |
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For more information about the group,
visit their website: http://bookiestoo.com/ or see http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BookiesToo |
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Classic Books
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The group is currently discussing The Prime Minister
by Anthony Trollope and the schedule underway is as
follows: |
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October
29.........Chap 1 - Chap 14 |
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Planned discussions of classics include: |
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December 10: Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson |
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Join this
group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Classic_Books/.
This group is very lively, with 346 members. |
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British Classics
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Some of the
authors read in this reading group include Jane Austen, Anne Bronte,
Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte, Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens, Arthur Conan
Doyle, George Eliot, Elizabeth Gaskell, Oliver Goldsmith, Thomas Hardy, James
Hogg, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, John O'Keefe, Sir Walter Scott, George Bernard
Shaw, Mary Shelley, Robert Lewis Stevenson, Bram Stoker, Jonathan Swift,
Oscar Wilde and many others. By way of offering a sample of the kinds of
books read and discussed, I’ve put 2010’s schedule below. Next Year’s
proposed schedule is not yet available but I will update this page as soon as
it is possible to do so. |
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2010 READING/DISCUSSION SCHEDULE |
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You can join
this group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/British_Classics/.
This is a dynamic group with 278 members. |
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ClassicGothicHorror
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Unfortunately, this group seems to have also
disappeared, despite its popularity. I would be interested to know what has
happened to it. This group reads and discusses one classic gothic horror book
each month. ‘Authors include but are not limited to Bram Stoker, Mary
Shelley, Horace Walpole, Wilkie Collins, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Charles
Maturin, Robert Lewis Stevenson, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, Matthew
Lewis, H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Washington
Irving and others. They choose their books through nominations and polls. |
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Last
year, the group had 133 members and was a lively discussion forum. |
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The 2009 reading/discussion schedule
consisted of: |
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May: The Haunted Bookshop, by Christopher Morley |
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Please get in touch with me if you have any
information about where this reading group may have gone and I will update
this page! |
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19thC Children's Literature Group
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The Google
group dedicated to the discussion of Nineteenth Century Children's
Literature, announced by Michelle Smith in September 2008 (School of Culture and
Communication, University of Melbourne), is a great way of finding out about
CFPs and competitions in this field of study.
You can either receive group messages via email (in digest or
individual format) or read messages online. You can join the group by
visiting http://groups.google.com/group/19thcenturychildlit.
email her directly if you’d like to be involved in this m.smith@deakin.edu.au |
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Access to the group on the web requires a
Google Account. If you don't have a Google Account set up yet, you'll first
need to create an account before you can access the group (you can use an
existing email address and it only takes a minute to do). |
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Magazine
Modernisms blog
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Readers are
invited to visit the Magazine Modernisms blog, where they are currently
conducting their first book club event. Over the next 2 weeks
seven of their contributors–Eurie Dhan, David Earle, Rob Hurd, Verna Kale,
Michael Rozendal, Robert Scholes, and Daniel Worden–are reading and posting
on Catherine Keyser's new book Playing
Smart: New York Women Writers and Modern Magazine Culture, followed
by a reply from Professor Keyser. We hope MSA members will visit the
blog (http://www.madmogs.wordpress.com)
and add their own contributions to the first of many book
club conversations. |
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Reading RLS – the Robert Louis Stevenson online
reading group
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UPCOMING PROGRAMME |
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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ReadingRLS/ This is a small, but active, reading group with
only 28 members. Interest in RLS might lead readers to the Robert Louis
Stevenson website, edited by Prof Linda Dryden and hosted by Edinburgh Napier
University http://www.robert-louis-stevenson.org/ . Prof
Richard Dury, who is heavily involved in the online reading group, is one of
the consultant editors of this site. |
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For
the Table of Contents, click |
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