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I’m undertaking my first public lecture, for my friends at the Melbourne Free University, with an improvised fugue on our media-driven notions of the heroic versus one version of the real deal I happen to have been working with closely over … Continue reading →

Just to let you know, my recovery continues to leap from strength to strength.  Got some advanced phsyio/rehab to get through starting today, but I feel strong as an ox most mornings.  The trick will be to make that last all … Continue reading →

I’m just home from hospital, where my op has exceeded expectations, and my recovery looks sets to break records too. Thank you all SO much for all your good will and support. I can’t wait to join you in Ross House … Continue reading →

Just the pre-op thing, as my go-slow prep has allowed me time for reflection on all sorts of stuff past and present.  Stumbled on this in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, in Walter Kaufman’s splendid translation: On Scholars     They are skillful … Continue reading →

My bypass surgery’s been scheduled for 17 August, with my recovery and recuperation likely to take at least three months after that, so it looks as if this silly cardiac business is going to put a question mark over the rest … Continue reading →

Hi, all. I’ve had angiogram today that has revealed that I will indeed need bypass surgery shortly. I’m seeing the surgeon 27 July and hope the actual surgery will happen as soon as possible after that. So, for the moment, all courses in … Continue reading →

I get asked this a lot, and a few stray responses gathered in my head yesterday, in a big enough murmuration of starlings that I tried to collect them on paper.  Here’s a PDF of the result. How I Teach

Four Confirmations I have confirmed bookings for four courses upcoming from April, on The Canterbury Tales, W.B. Yeats, Icelandic Sagas, and late Shakespeare.  Details of the courses and the texts you’ll want to acquire if you’re planning on attending can be … Continue reading →

The three short courses I’ve recently announced, on Emily Dickinson, Shakespeare’s Sonnets, and the history of English,  are now booked to run at Ross House in April-June.  Full details can be found on the “Courses and Seminars” link.

Announcements of two new courses, one on Dante’s Divine Comedy and another on Seamus Heaney’s Beowulf, can be found on the Courses & Seminars link.