“On The Shortness of Life” by Seneca (4 May, 2016)

Great turnout to discuss  Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, a terrific book that seems amazingly fresh 200 years after it was written.  We talked about a lot of themes in the book, a parent’s relationship with their child, loneliness, Frankenstein’s wilful obliviousness to his actions and a lot more besides.

While the book was written in a time when the reader was expected to enjoy the writing, the underlying story still had an incredible force that drove the narrative along.  We were surprised that Shelley was only 22 when she wrote it.

David Murphy bought along some books and we chose one of those: a collection of essays by Seneca called On The Shortness of Life.  We’re looking at the 2004 Penguin edition which is only 105pp – hooray!

If you can’t get that exact book, the three essays it contains are:

• On the Shortness of Life
• Consolation to Helvia
• On Tranquility of Mind

The next meeting will be on May 4 at the The All Nations Hotel and usual.  There will be the normal extraordinary meeting out during the school break on April 6 for those who are around.  I refer attendees to the rules regarding extraordinary meetings.