In this Masterclass, Jane Davis, Director of The Reader Organisation, will bring a thirty year reading relationship with this great novel to bear on the question of why Middlemarch stands as a key text behind the development of Get Into Reading.

George Eliot writes of Dr Lydgate, one of her key characters:

He for his part had tossed away all cheap inventions where ignorance finds itself able and at ease: he was enamoured of that arduous invention which is the very eye of research, provisionally framing its object and correcting it to more and more exact relation: he wanted to pierce the obscurity of those minute processes which prepare human misery and joy, those invisible thoroughfares which are the first lurking-places of anguish, mania, and crime, that delicate poise and transition which determine the growth of happy or unhappy consciousness. [ch. 16]

Don't come to Middlemarch looking for the usual stuff of novels. This book is an experiment which tests what a novel might do in accounting for human being, turning people and moments under a remorselessly investigatory lens. You don't need to have read the book in advance, as we will work from selected passages (but if you can read it, do).

Masterclass Course Aims

Maintaining regular contact between the growing number of practising Get Into Reading facilitators is very important to The Reader Organisation. The Masterclass is an opportunity to keep facilitators up-to-date with the latest GIR practice, to polish reading and facilitation techniques, and to share good ideas face to face. Facilitators are encouraged to attend as many of the courses are they wish, but it is strongly advised to complete at least one half-day school every two years.

Each class will focus on a particular theme, situation or author that will be of particular use to practicing GIR facilitators. One Masterclass could delve into the reality of reading in prisons, whilst another could discuss how to tackle the work of Thomas Hardy. We welcome suggestions on themes to be investigated in depth in these sessions, as they firmly based on the needs of GIR facilitators.

Comments on on Brian Nellist's Masterclass, April 2009:

‘Immensely good and nourishing.'

‘Brian at his best!'

'A chance to be taken through an unfamiliar poem by someone who has such skill and enthusiasm.'

Please contact Mark Till, GIR Training Programme Assistant: readtolead@thereader.org.uk ( 0151 794 2242 ) with any such suggestions, or questions concerning the Masterclass.

Booking

The Middlemarch Masterclass has now sold out. To attend future Masterclasses, when announced, please download the booking form: PDF / Word.

Costs

Attendance on the half-day school costs £30, including lunch and refreshments, to be paid in advance.

Upcoming Masterclass Courses

Thursday, 15th April 2010 (subject TBC)

Wednesday, 2nd June 2010 (subject TBC)

Tuesday, 5th October 2010 (subject TBC)

Previous Masterclass Course

4^th November 2009, Liverpool - 'Tennyson’s In Memoriam', with Clare Williams

25th August 2009, Liverpool - 'Gilead by Marilynne Robinson', with Jane Davis

17th June 2009, Liverpool - 'Poems that Pack a Punch', with Kate McDonnell 

7th April 2009, Liverpool - 'Book One of The Excursion by William Wordsworth', with Brian Nellist

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