Literary Salon @ Inverness

Launching the Inverness Literary Salon

I've been doing some research on the history of literary salons and the format used by modern salons. It would be helpful if the Eden Court Writers group members looked at the three links below and gave some thought as to what we are hoping to achieve from a monthly gathering. There seem to be three types in operation:

• The Paris Salon is highly organized and offers in depth discussion of assigned texts on a weekly basis as well as special events in Paris and London. http://literarysalon.free.fr/wordpress/?page_id=9

• The new Edinburgh Salon (called Cobalt) launched in March with an organized event including brief readings by authors of their work and a discussion. http://living.scotsman.com/books/Scotland39s-capital-adds-to-.5077823.jp

• There seems to be an even less formal option on the Edinburgh scene, where 40-60 people gather on the last Tuesday of the month at a bar to drink and discuss books they love, things they are working on, etc. but without a formal agenda or program moderator. http://www.cityofliterature.com/projects.aspx?sec=6&pid=27&item=484s

We can of course follow these formats or create our own. If we want a more organized monthly gathering with specific texts to discuss or authors to be invited for discussion/presentation, I would suggest we use Eden Court and try to find an organizer among us (Kristin, I nominate you!!) to line up guest speakers. Having the Eden court venue and name behind us would give us credibility and make the job of bringing in experts and authors much easier I suspect. If we do not intend to have a planned agenda, then a local pub like the kind Kevin is exploring will be perfect.

Definition of a Salon from Wikipedia -- A salon is a gathering of stimulating people of quality under the roof of an inspiring hostess or host, partly to amuse one another and partly to refine their taste and increase their knowledge through conversation and readings, often consciously following Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "either to please or to educate" ("aut delectare aut prodesse est"). The salons, commonly associated with French literary and philosophical salons of the 17th century and 18th century, were carried on until quite recently in urban settings among like-minded people of a 'set'. Two of the most famous 17th century literary salons in Paris were the Hôtel de Rambouillet, established in 1607 near the Palais du Louvre by the marquise de Rambouillet and, in 1652, in Le Marais, the rival salon of Madeleine de Scudéry, a long time habituée of the Hôtel de Rambouillet. Here gathered the original "blue-stockings" (les bas-bleus), whose nickname continued to mean "intellectual woman" for the next three hundred years.