March meeting: 19 March 2016

Modernist Mythopoeia: the Twilight of the Gods with Dr Scott Freer 

Myth and Religion in Literary Modernism

In this, our second meeting of the year, we further explore the contemporary value of myth in describing the human condition, following on from our ruminations on mythos and logos in our January meeting. Dr Scott Freer, associate lecturer for The Open University and the University of Leicester, will introduce and discuss his book, Modernist Mythopoeia: the Twilight of the Gods, in which he argues that the experimental modernist form of mythopoeia, the integration of mythological themes into poetry and fiction, was directed towards expressing a range of perspectives that fall between material secularism and dogmatic religion and embodied an altered perspective on mythos and logos.

Scott Freer will take us on a literary whistle-stop tour around the work of Friedrich Nietzsche, TS Eliot, Franz Kafka and DH Lawrence and introduce the less well known Hilda Doolittle and Wallace Stevens, revealing how they accommodated various shades of secularity and brought an inconclusiveness to the mysteries of existence to be embraced and poeticized.

Everyone welcome - existing fans, newcomers and the simply curious.   

The Garden Room at Great Meeting Chapel on Saturday 19 March 2.30 - 4.30 pm

Doors open, with drinks available, from 2.00 pm

The chapel is at 5 East Bond Street, Leicester, LE1 4SX (just across the road from John Lewis). There is a small (free) car park. A donation of £3 per person covers room hire and other costs.

For more information, use the contact details on the right. We're very friendly.