PLEASE NOTE THAT BOOKINGS FOR COURSES WILL CLOSE AT 12 NOON ON THE FRIDAY OF THE WEEK BEFORE THE COURSE STARTS. UNFORTUNATELY, WE CANNOT ACCEPT BOOKINGS AFTER THAT TIME.
CHRISTMAS WITH DICKENS & CO (IN-PERSON EVENT)
Eric Summers
Wednesday 3 December 6.00 pm – 7.00 pm
Free event for Dundee West End Christmas Fortnight, Code: 09 127
Christmas and Charles Dickens very much go together. Everyone is familiar with Scrooge and A Christmas Carol. But there is a serious back story to “The Carol” and Dickens also wrote other Christmas stories, as did several of his contemporaries. This free talkwill explore these authors and their Yuletide tales while, of course, giving due prominence to “The Carol” as the greatest of them all.
Please stay and join us for refreshments following the talk.
THE WORLD THROUGH LITERATURE (IN-PERSON COURSE)
Various tutors
Starts: Thursday 29 January 10.00 am – 12.00 pm, 6 weeks
Fees: £60/£48 Code: 09 212
A book club with a difference. Each week a different tutor presents a work of literature from across the genres and facilitates a lively discussion. Literature offers us an alternative view of the world or an escape into the imaginations of the fiction writer and the poet. It creates characters we love or hate and challenges our perceptions.
The works which the group members are asked to read in advance and will be discussed are:
Week 1 – 29th January 2026
Tutor: Benjamin Parris
Work: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
Week 2 – 5th February 2026
Tutor: Katie Donnelly
Work: Saints and Sinners by Edna O’Brien
Week 3 – 12th February 2026
Tutor: Garry MacKenzie
Work: Killochries by Jim Carruth
Week 4 – 19th February 2026
Tutor: Sarah Coakley
Work: We Do Not Part by Han Kang
Week 5 – 26th February 2026
Tutor: Keren MacPherson
Work: What Maisie Knew by Henry James
Week 6 – 5th March 2026
Tutor: Andy Jackson
Work: Selected Poems by Sharon Olds
SHAKESPEARE IN FOCUS – KING LEAR (IN-PERSON COURSE)
Rebecca Brown
Starts Monday 2 February, 10.00 am – 12.00 pm, 3 weeks
Fees: £30/£24 Code: 09 213
This three-week course will look at King Lear in depth. This play is one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies, forcing us to look at the most uncompromising account of the breakdown of human society and yet it also asserts the strength and perseverance of human love. The play asks what binds human society together – what are its fundamental values and how can we recognize them? Through close textual analysis, we will study the play’s language, imagery and characterization and, with the help of film extracts and production slides, see how it works in performance.
Participants are asked to have read the play in advance and to have a copy with them in the sessions.
BITESIZE BOOK CLUB (IN PERSON COURSE)
Andy Jackson
Starts: Wednesday 4 February 10.00 am – 12.00 pm, 5 weeks
Fees: £50/£40 Code: 09 215
Another season of the programme of ‘book club with no homework’ events. Every week will feature something new, and therefore no pre-reading is required!
Each week we’ll read a short story and a poem together and share our thoughts about them. What did you like about them? What didn’t you like? Discussions will be informal and engaging rather than analytical and academic. The focus will be on reading for pleasure and discovering great writing together.
SHAKESPEARE IN FOCUS – MEASURE FOR MEASURE (IN-PERSON COURSE)
Rebecca Brown
Starts Monday 23 February, 10.00 am – 12.00 pm, 3 weeks
Fees: £30/£24 Code: 09 217
This three-week course will look at Measure for Measure in depth. This play is an intriguing mixture of comedy and high moral drama. It presents a dark picture of human frailty and corruption, while, at the same time, showing us what the human spirit is capable of. With the help of close textual analysis, we will discuss its style, imagery, themes and characterisation. Clips from the BBC version will illustrate the play, together with slides from productions by the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Participants are asked to have read the play in advance and to have a copy with them in the sessions.
RUSSIAN LITERATURE (IN-PERSON COURSE)
Antony Black
Thursday 25 February 10.00 am – 12.00 pm, 5 weeks
Fees: £50/£40 Code: 09 218
Life and love were explored by Tolstoy (1828-1910), Dostoevsky (1821-81), Bulgakov (1891-1940) and Grossman (1905-64) in their novels, and by Shalamov (1907-82) in his gulag reminiscences, with a gut-wrenching sincerity, sometimes in circumstances harsher than we can imagine. `’My mother always taught me to be moral and honest, to live a life of truth, as preached by the great Russian writers’ (Valentin Muravsky, 1954). They wrote from different perspectives: Tolstoy became an independent dissenter, Dostoevsky was devoutly Orthodox, the others more or less non-religious. We examine especially Tolstoy’s War and Peace, Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, and Grossman’s Life and Fate.
UNCOVERING THE CLASSICS (IN-PERSON COURSE)
Eric Summers
Tuesday 3 March 10.00 am – 12.00 pm, 4 weeks
Fees: £40/£32 Code: 09 222
Certain novels are known as “classics” because they have “survived”. Many books are quickly forgotten but those that endure usually do so because they are really good and have been enjoyed by several generations of readers. Their titles and their authors are widely known and often quoted. In truth, though, there are plenty of “classics” which need to be revisited. Maybe we never actually got round to reading them, even though we rather wish we had. Others we read when we were young and perhaps did not fully appreciate them. This short course aims to look again at four novels. The life and work of the author will be examined before focusing on the book itself and the issues it raises: often surprisingly relevant today. Time will be left for discussion.
There is no requirement to read the novels before joining the group – plots will be summarised with no spoilers! – but the hope would be that participants will be inspired to pick up these books in the near future.
In this popular short course Eric will explore the times and the works of four very different classical writers:
24th March: Fenimore Cooper: The Last of the Mohicans
3rd March: Mary Shelley: Frankenstein and The Last Man
10th March: Elizabeth Bowen: The Heat of the Day
17th March: Samuel Pepys: Diary (The Great Fire of London)
FRENCH COVERSATION (IN PERSON COURSE)
Joanne Hynie
Starts: Thursday 28 May 10.00 am – 12.00 pm, 5 weeks
Fees: £50/£40 Code: 09 305
Begin your journey into the Francophone world with this short five-week course. While French is spoken across five continents and is one of the six official UN languages, it is also the gateway to the world across the English Channel, just 22 miles away at the shortest point. France is often said to be the most beautiful country in the world, with good reason. Almost every part of the country has unique characteristics that enchant visitors.
The course is for beginners, and also for those who want to build on their early knowledge or revise their existing skills. We will focus on communicating, so on speaking and listening skills, in contexts you are likely to encounter as visitors to France or in on-line chat. We will also begin to understand how the language works, so we have the building blocks to express ourselves more freely. Setting aside time to revise the content of each week is very worthwhile in helping you build your knowledge.
The study of a language is the exploration of another world, an exciting, absorbing, challenging linguistic journey that takes us beyond our well-known physical and cultural borders. We will also make time for a romp through some of the regions of France and some of the customs that make our neighbours so fascinatingly different.
Lifelong Learning Dundee 