Literary Nomads

Dorian Gray and Difficult Conversations

Listen Later

12 March 2025

Episode 5.07  - Dorian Gray and Difficult Conversations

Where do we find people to talk to about our reading? And what do we say when we find them?

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Chapters

00:00    Disturbing the Olive Garden
06:14    Opening Theme
06:47    Lost Roads and Madness
16:31    Dorian: The Seduction Fulfilled
23:11    Some Discussion Strategies
32:00    Yes, But Where?
42:04    Do I Have To?
44:49    Mailbag: Too Much?
48:56    Closing Shot & Theme

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Goals of Good Literature Talks:

  1. Maintain and grow relationships
  2. Avoid violence (of any kind)
  3. Have everyone agree to civility
  4. Engage the literary questions
  5. Listen and build upon what you hear
    1. “Ethical attentiveness”

      2. Some: Discussion Strategies:

      • Use “I” Statements
      • State what you notice
      • Draw others out to say more
      • Keep questions open

        • Places to Find/Build Communities for Talk:

        • Book Clubs
        • Literary Festivals
        • Academic Classes and Webinars
        • Open Mic Nights
        • Online platforms: Discord, reddit, Goodreads
        • “Fishing” with Allusions in Everyday Speech
        • Storytelling Circles
        • Poetry Slams
        • Author Talks and Book Signings
        • Public Library Reading Programs and Groups 
        • Book Stores
        • Literature Podcasts
        • Read to Those Who Cannot Read Themselves
        • Buddy Reads
        • Neighborhood Book Exchanges
        • Book Swaps
        • Little Free Library projects
        • Add Book Talks into an activity you already do (i.e. Book Discussion Walking Club)
        • Travel to a Popular Literary Location
        • Readers’ Theater
        • Silent Book Clubs
        • Shared Reading in Parks or Cafes
        • Read-Aloud Gatherings
        • Read-a-thons/Read-ins
        • Literary Pub Quizzes
        • Guest Speakers & Authors
        • Literary Salons
        • “Pop-Up” Book Talks
        • “Read and Dine” Event
        • Hosting your own informal get-togethers at home

          • The excerpt from Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray:

          He played with the idea and grew wilful; tossed it into the air and transformed it; let it escape and recaptured it; made it iridescent with fancy and winged it with paradox. The praise of folly, as he went on, soared into a philosophy, and philosophy herself became young, and catching the mad music of pleasure, wearing, one might fancy, her wine-stained robe and wreath of ivy, danced like a Bacchante over the hills of life, and mocked the slow Silenus for being sober. Facts fled before her like frightened forest things. Her white feet trod the huge press at which wise Omar sits, till the seething grape-juice rose round her bare limbs in waves of purple bubbles, or crawled in red foam over the vat’s black, dripping, sloping sides. It was an extraordinary improvisation. He felt that the eyes of Dorian Gray were fixed on him, and the consciousness that amongst his audience there was one whose temperament he wished to fascinate seemed to give his wit keenness and to lend colour to his imagination. He was brilliant, fantastic, irresponsible. He charmed his listeners out of themselves, and they followed his pipe, laughing. Dorian Gray never took his gaze off him, but sat like one under a spell, smiles chasing each other over his lips and wonder growing grave in his darkening eyes.

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          100+ Poems & Short Stories for Challenging Conversations: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1o_XYH70qp2N6g3Dhp_MXqsAdrhEM0-rEEH9EJOZ1kSc/edit?usp=sharing

          Complete Resources:   https://waywordsstudio.com/project/marvell/

          Have a Question? Literary Nomads Mailbag: https://forms.gle/MmhqcGgeLcjCaVK97

          Transcript:  https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/transcript-5-08-dorian-gray-and-difficult-conversations/

          What are your thoughts on our discussion?  Email me: [email protected]

          ===

          Literary Nomads is the primary program of Waywords Studio (https://waywordsstudio.com). The podcast posts new material each week, with thought-provoking examinations of literature around selected questions or themes and several smaller supplemental episodes in between the larger programs: history, writing, and contemporary applications of ideas.

          Visit us for expanded resources for guests and the Waywords community, for other programs and writing, and for opportunities to support our goal to expand reading. Resources available can include full bibliographies of material referenced, full and partial texts, annotated editions, supplemental and expanded episodes, fictional explorations, teaching and learning resources, additional essays, and online courses.

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          CREDITS:

          Original music by Randon Myles (https://randonmyles.com/)

          Transitions by Natalie Harrison and Sarah Skaleski

          USING THIS WORK:

          This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. It is open to be used and adapted for all not-for-profit uses with proper attribution.

          MLA CITATION:

          Chisnell, Steve. “Dorian Gray and Difficult Conversations.” Waywords Studio, 21 March 2025, https://waywordsstudio.com/podcasts/waywords_podcast/dorian-gray-and-difficult-conversations/

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          Literary NomadsBy Steve Chisnell
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