What's on Literature

Keats-Shelley House synchronised reading group

By: Wanted in Rome

Date:

30 Mar, 2020

Reading alone and together, near and far, while in isolation.

Keats-Shelley House is starting a weekly synchronised reading group, every Wednesday at midday (GMT), beginning on 1 April, during this period of isolation in many countries.

The initiative involves reading a short passage in the isolation of your home for about 15 minutes. The invitation to read "alone and together" is extended to everyone, regardless of their location or time zone.

The idea was inspired by John Keats who, on 16 December 1818, wrote from London to his brother George and sister-in-law Georgiana in Kentucky, with the following suggestion:

‘I shall read a passage of Shakespeare every Sunday at ten oClock – you read one at the same time and we shall be as near each other as blind bodies can be in the same room.’

Tracing the footsteps of Rome's foreign writers and artists

Organisers say that by emulating "this ingenious plan, we hope to harness reading’s intimate introspection, and also create a Keatsian community across our own various and hopefully temporary isolations."

Each week’s text will be announced on the KSH Twitter account and Facebook page, where you can leave a comment or suggest a future reading. For full details see KSH website.

*The Keats-Shelley House is currently closed as part of the nationwide lockdown in Italy due to the Covid-19 crisis.