The London Literary Salon specialises in courses on literature taught over Zoom, said Horatio Clare in the Financial Times, but it also offers immersive field trips in which people can study books in an appropriate setting with a small group of like-minded guests.
You can study "The Odyssey" on a Greek island; Woolf's "The Waves" in St Ives; Proust in Paris; or, as I did earlier this summer, explore the themes of "Moby-Dick" on a week-long sailing holiday in the Hebrides. Not only was the sailing itself thrilling, the scenery spectacular and the atmosphere convivial, but the trip (including the chance to learn seamanship) really did deepen my appreciation of the book.
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Occasionally, the weather turned rough, the boat heeling hard over amid "leaping blasts of black waves". We spotted puffins, seals, dolphins and other creatures – including, as luck would have it, Melville's great "fish". At least four minke whales graced the final part of our voyage. "'Thar she blows!' we cried, delighted", as our souls swelled with awe at the sight. "We knew much more, now, about "Moby-Dick"'s setting, the whales' empire – the infinite sea."
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