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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Accommodation was in bunks, four to a cabin, and we all took part in the sailing, learning from our captain, Mungo Watson, how to "flake an anchor chain, ease a sheet, tie a bowline" and read a seascape – just like the sailors aboard the New England whaling ship in Melville's epic 1851 novel. And for two hours a day, we gathered for seminars led by Tobin "Toby" Brothers, the founder of the Salon, who holds advanced degrees in literature, education and counselling. She was full of inspiring insights, and our discussions were never less than engrossing, with everyone feeling "safe to think aloud". We had "sumptuous" meals cooked for us, and the islands we visited – Muck, Eigg, Rum, Canna – were beautiful.
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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