Coetzee and the Year to Come

Hey All,

I've talked to a few people that have been to past gatherings and that’d like to come to the next one, about when would be a good time. And so far Saturday afternoon is looking good. Because the ANUSA Student space is closed over the summer holidays, we’ll have to gather elsewhere. I would suggest meeting outdoors somewhere, but we have threats of rain for Saturday, so I thought a good place to meet would be the Wig and Pen. It shouldn’t be too busy in the afternoon.

So, 3pm at the Wig and Pen, unless anyone has any objections to that plan (Saturday's pretty close so I thought I should be pretty unequivocal... sorry, it's crap and we'll try and avoid t in the future). Probably at one the big tables at the back.

So as you probably know already, the reading we’ve set is J.M. Coetzee’s The Lives of Animals (link over on the right). However, I think that these summer holiday meetings would be a great opportunity to have some thorough and explicit discussions of what this group can/should: do, be and become over the coming year. I think discussing a bit of both (Coeztee and the year to come [GOOD TITLE, I’ll use it]) would be great… I feel that there’s something about the scope, and um… something else I can’t nail now, of the Coetzee lecture that lends it to a broad and sweeping discussion of Animals; the many different ways we’ve thought about them in the past (and some hinted at, and seemingly contradictory, suggestions about how we should think about them).

That’s that!
‘Til Saturday: Stay Gold

Dee

Hullo All!

I only realized last night that the next gathering was scheduled on the blog for tomorrow the 12th of December. I’m afraid that I haven’t done really any of the work of preparation for having a meeting tomorrow (booking a space, letting people know on through email list, giving more information about what he had in mind for the gathering etc.)

So, I’ m gonna suggest that we postpone for a little week and try for the weekend. But I’ll throw out to you as to which day and time we meet, so that everyone that wants to come can. So, I recon either Saturday or Sunday, afternoon or evening? When’s good for you (or when in is NOT good)?

But, but, but if anyone is still keen to get together with some people tomorrow evening to discuss the Coeztee article, or you know, whatever you feel like… email me a time, place and maybe a phone or your email address and I’ll pass them on to everyone else.

What I had in mind for this meeting (I guess the weekend one) and some of the other ones that we manage to get together over the university holidays was to discuss what we’d like to do and be over the next year. In my mind this included developing a plan, schedule or calendar that has built into it a thread or narrative, in the hope that there won’t be as much reliance on all of us as individuals, and our session to session selection of texts when it comes to the maintenance threads of thoughts and themes. So the Coeztee reading in itself wasn’t for me going to be the focus of our discussions (but it still could be), but rather, a good example of a text that I know I for one am really looking forward to discussing and working through next year – something we can bounce off when thinking about what practically we are doing: reading and discussing texts.

Ok, that’s some jibba jabba from me. Let me know when’s good next weekendish (or if it’s not good at all and just have it postponed a bit further).

Something about christmas,
Daniel