Frank Foley
Frank Foley
Conversations & Discussions
Literature Heart & Soul!
Welcome to my space for sharing insights into great works of literature, and sparking conversations that help us think about the human condition. With your active engagement, we can connect and keep these great works alive in the 21st century!
I'm Frank Foley, and for a sense of who I am, and what I'm trying to do, please check out my recordings below. There's an audio of me trying to capture the essence of Literature Heart and Soul, a short video describing a wonderful passage from Ian McEwan's Atonement, and another describing a passage from The Great Gatsby!
Thanks for listening!
You turn the page, read the next sentence ... and something previously unspoken inside you, resonates in your soul with clear, articulated meaning. A second later, as you savour this moment of clarity, it is gone, but somehow you are changed, enriched.
Great literature has this power to move us, to stir in us buried feelings, and express what we can only struggle to say.
Through novels, short stories, poems and plays, we will explore ideas of what it means to be human, in all its complexity and ugliness, simplicity and beauty.
We'll do this with grace, humility and a sense of fun that will, hopefully, keep our serious selves quiet for a while!
Hello, I'm Frank Foley and I've been creating and tutoring my own literature study groups across Kent in the UK since 2006. I'm passionate about my courses, and despite being under real pressure to keep them going over the past couple of years, I'm delighted to say things are getting back to where they were before.
In terms of qualifications, I have a BA in English Literature from the University of Wales, Cardiff, and an MA in English Literature from the University of Kent.
To let you into a little secret - I am hugely excited about 2026, and getting back to a full programme of courses!
My Literature Lover series will explore a superb literary novel each month, focusing mainly on 20th century and contemporary books. The Great Classics series, as you might imagine, will focus on key literary works of the western canon, from Austen to Eliot, Dickens to Dostoevsky, the Brontes and, of course, many more!
I will also run courses on Shakespeare's great tragedies, contemporary drama, the European novel, masterworks of the western canon, and a range of superb short stories! Hopefully there will be something for you!
If you're still with me, thank you!
My classes are friendly and accessible, and open to anyone with a sense of adventure because we're going to be exploring this wonderful thing we call life, in all its glorious simplicity, complexity and mystery!
Yes, exploring rather than analysing; staying open and curious rather than rigidly trying to find THE answer. So, if you're the black and white type, intent on pinning things down, let me beguile you with nuance, undecidables, and the subtle beauty of grey areas!
Literature Heart & Soul, then ... a sanctuary for the literary minded! A space to engage with great fiction, enrich our understanding of who we are, and connect with other kindred spirits!
Fiction is for getting at the truth when the truth isn't sufficient for the truth
Tim O'Brien
Coming October 2026
The Elegance of the Hedgehog - 3-Week Discussion Group
Delighted to be offering this class on Muriel Barbery's wonderfully philosophical novel, The Elegance of the Hedgehog!
A publishing phenomenon when it was released in 2006, the novel asks existential questions about identity, meaning, and the purpose of life, as well as exploring issues such as class, suicide, and difference between appearance and reality.
Elegance is a fascinating novel full of literary, philosophical and cultural allusions, and always sparks interesting discussions in my groups - be sure to book your space today!
Sundays 18th October - 1st November, 4 to 6 pm
3 weekly 2-hour sessions - Online, via Zoom - £36
Ubuntu and the spirit of my groups!
Something else I want to add to all this wonderful literary energy, is the spirit of ubuntu! Ubuntu is a west African concept that I first learned of in 2005, the year before I ran my first private group. It has served as a kind of philosophical framework for my groups ever since.
There's no direct translation of ubuntu into English, but even the simple, "I am because we are," caught my eye back then. At some point, I began to think of ubuntu as meaning something like, "I can be fully me, when I help you be fully you," and though it's not necessarily exact as a translation, I think it's something to aspire to in our groups!
(The Wikipedia entry for ubuntu is here - how would you translate it?)
As we discuss each book in detail, it helps if you've read it before the first session. Obviously, this is not always possible, but it does help the flow and energy of our discussions if we are familiar and engaged with the book in question.
We will look at the main threads and the key themes. We'll look at the central characters and their characterisations. We'll look at structure, setting and writing style. And we'll do all this from, on the one hand, a wider, more general perspective, building up an overall impression of the book, and on the other, close in, exploring key passages, line by line if necessary, finding evidence for our more general ideas.
Sessions will typically last for two hours with a short break at the halfway point.
I will introduce and outline each session. This will vary from five to fifteen minutes depending on the text in question, and whether or not I've had a coffee beforehand. Then we'll get into the discussion!
That's about it! If this sounds interesting, join one of my groups or email me if you have any further questions.
Thanks, Frank. :)
"She had always wanted words, she loved them; grew up on them. Words gave her clarity, brought reason, shape."
Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient