Frank's literary take-aways!

Part 5 of my celebration of Ben Okri’s wonderful collection of essays, A Way of Being Free, published in 1997. I love this book, it’s a poetic and beautiful homage to storytelling, writing, creativity and freedom, presented with a positive spirit of human flourishing and connectivity. Quote: "There are two essential joys in storytelling. The joy of the telling, which is to say of the artistic discovery. And the joy of the listening, which is to say of the imaginative identifi

My celebration of Ben Okri’s wonderful collection of essays, A Way of Being Free, published in 1997. I love this book, it’s a poetic and beautiful homage to storytelling, writing, creativity and freedom, presented with a positive spirit of human flourishing and connectivity. My focus here is a quote from the essay, The Joys of Storytelling 1. For context I began with these quotes. Quote 1: "Homo fabula: we are storytelling beings." Quote 2: "We are part human, part stories."

Continuing my celebration of Ben Okri’s wonderful collection of essays, A Way of Being Free, published in 1997. Episode 2 here! I love this book, it’s a poetic and beautiful homage to storytelling, writing, creativity and freedom, presented with a positive spirit of human flourishing and connectivity. My focus here is a quote from the essay, The Joys of Storytelling 1. Here's the quote: "Let us extend the heresy. Let's create a little fugue out of it. Our lives are great inv

Continuing my celebration of Ben Okri’s wonderful collection of essays, A Way of Being Free, published in 1997. Episode 3 here! I love this book, it’s a poetic and beautiful homage to storytelling, writing, creativity and freedom, presented with a positive spirit of human flourishing and connectivity. My focus here is a quote from the essay, The Joys of Storytelling 1. Here's the quote: "How many of us try to live with a sense of beauty about the shape of our lives, the same

My celebration of Ben Okri’s wonderful collection of essays, A Way of Being Free, published in 1997. I love this book, it’s a poetic and beautiful homage to storytelling, writing, creativity and freedom, presented with a positive spirit of human flourishing and connectivity. My focus here is a quote from the essay, The Joys of Storytelling 1. For context I began with these quotes. Quote 1: "Homo fabula: we are storytelling beings." Quote 2: "We are part human, part stories."

A little take-away from Don Delillo’s wonderful 1997 novel, Underworld! After a stylistically perfect opening sequence, set in 1951, the book starts in the 1990s and works back through the decades to loop back to the early 50s. One of the book’s main protagonists is Nick Shay, middle aged in the 1990s, whose story unfolds in reverse to his late teens. This short audio focuses on a conversation between 17 year old Nick, and a wise Jesuit priest to whom Nick’s been sent for ref

My short take-away from the 1965 novel, Stoner by John Williams. William Stoner attends university to study agriculture with a view to taking over his parents' farm in the future. But a moment of epiphany when studying Shakespeare sonnet #73 changes the course of Stoner's life in ways he had never imagined. For more ideas and my literature courses: frank-foley.com/literature Here's a link to Shakespeare sonnet #73: http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/73.html

My short audio on the opening lines of Hamlet by William Shakespeare! This week’s take-away focuses on how Shakespeare creates tension in the first few lines of the play. Bernardo and Francisco’s confusion over guard-duty roles establishes the tension, and hints at the wider confusion in Denmark in regards threats of attack from Fortinbras. More on my website: frank-foley.com

My short audio on the issue of bantering in the novel, The Remains of the Day (1989) by Kazuo Ishiguro. For Stevens bantering is a serious business. With his private self subsumed into his professional role as a butler, everything becomes a function of service - even the spontaneous conversational oil of bantering. Stevens sees it as another task to be carried out, but is bantering a craft that can be learned? For discussion groups and literary study, go to my website: frank-

From the 1934 collection, More Pricks Than Kicks, Samuel Beckett's short story, "Dante and the Lobster" is for me, one of the great stories of the 20th century. My short video is a celebration of this story, with an attempt to do justice to that stunning ending. Read the story here: Dante and the Lobster

My short take-away from the 1965 novel, Stoner by John Williams. William Stoner attends university to study agriculture with a view to taking over his parents' farm in the future. But a moment of epiphany when studying Shakespeare sonnet #73 changes the course of Stoner's life in ways he had never imagined. Here's a link to Shakespeare sonnet #73: http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/73.html My website: frank-foley.com

Katherine Mansfield was one of the great short story writers of the 20th century, with works such as Bliss, In a German Pension, The...

Taken from the 2003 collection, The Burned Children of America, Jonathan Safran Foer's short story, A Primer for the Punctuation of Heart...

My take on the Hemingway short story, "The Battler" from the collection, In Our Time, published in 1925. Young Nick Adams has just been...

One of the great works of world literature, Hamlet by William Shakespeare, is famous for its revenge narrative, its existential angst, and its great soliloquies … yes, including that one … "To be or not to be…" Despite all that good stuff, in this short video I'm going to spend five minutes paying homage to a three word line … the greatest line in Hamlet! Is it usually overlooked when exploring this incredible play? Yes. Am I the only one bonkers enough to spend time talking

Sometime back in 1995, when most of the students of the University of Wales, College Cardiff had gone home to their families for the...

Christina Stead, Australian writer, born 1902, died 1983. Best known for her novel, The Man Who Loved Children (1940).

Ben Okri, born in Nigeria in 1959, is an essayist, novelist, and poet, most widely known for his 1991 Booker Prize winning novel, The...

My short audio exploring the opening lines of Kazuo Ishiguro's 1989 Booker Prize winning novel, The Remains of the Day. "It seems...

My short audio on the significance of the date, July 1956, at the beginning of The Remains of the Day.

My short take-away from Atonement (2001) by Ian McEwan. Precocious teenager Briony Tallis struggles with the mysteries of the mind and experience as she tries to find the seam between her finger not moving and then moving! Here's my audio clip explaining why I love this passage! #Atonement #IanMcEwan #literature #novels

Another little literary gem for you! This one is from The Great Gatsby by F Scott Fitzgerald, and focuses on the moment Nick Carraway,...

My short audio explaining the feeling and passion behind my literature heart and soul courses! Exploring novels, for me, is not about...

(click image for audio) In a short aside in chapter 22 of Vanity Fair, the narrator tells us about a gentleman he knows who, "used to do little wrongs to his neighbours on purpose, and in order to apologize for them in an open and manly way afterwards." The result of this, the narrator continues, is that his friend is, "liked everywhere, and deemed to be rather impetuous - but the honestest fellow." Thackeray, it seems, were he alive today, would understand exactly what we