Literature Classes in Washington, DC

In many ways, Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre is a haunted book—and in turn, one that has haunted readers and writers since its publication in 1847. Join us for a series of lectures that begin with Brontë’s classic Gothic novel, then continue into its literary afterlife, up to the present moment. We will read Jane Eyre alongside texts that take...

Virginia Woolf is widely known for her fiction, perhaps most remembered for her novels—from Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse to Orlando and The Waves. Yet, Woolf was also a master of the essay, and she wrote both short and long-form essays to reflect on the art of fiction, on the vocation of the writer more broadly, as well as on the pressing...

For this new session of the Coucou Book Club, dive into the hedonistic young voice of Françoise Sagan, through her famous novel Bonjour Tristesse.  Françoise Sagan (1935-2004) was a French playwright, novelist, and screenwriter. She was known for works with strong romantic themes involving wealthy and disillusioned bourgeois characters....

Join author Stephanie Rabinowitz for an exciting exploration of relatively unsung American literary gems that you should be reading. From Willa Cather’s Death Comes for the Archbishop to John Williams’s Stoner, Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, Henry James’s What Maisie Knew, and Wallace Stegner’s Angle of Repose...

The How to Eat Cake: Cunnilingus Workshop is an oral sex workshop that helps participants learn their way around down there and discover the best techniques for giving toe-curling cunnilingus! Five Things You Need to Know About The Class: Class sizes are small and cover the female sexual anatomy, tools, tips, techniques and tricks. All participants...

Due to COVID-19, all scheduled classes will be held Virtually. The perfect happy hour or after-brunch alternative, these workshops are a unique experience that is tastefully racy, fun, and educational! The Blow His Mind! Oral Sex Workshop helps participants learn the best techniques for giving mind-blowing fellatio, and quickly! No more achy jaws!...

Simone de Beauvoir: Existentialism, Phenomenology, Feminism Simone de Beauvoir—activist, author, social critic, philosopher—is considered one of the pioneering figures of existentialist and feminist philosophy. Although her work spans multiple genres and address numerous modern social questions and classic philosophical dilemmas, it was the 1953...

Especially useful for overcoming writer’s block, this course explores the surprising potential of a playful union between fixed rules and imaginative writing. This workshop invites participants into the strange and meticulous world of constraint-based writing.  We take as our entry point a group of French writers and mathematicians called the...

From stories of Roman emperors drowning their dinner guests in roses to the reveries of Baudelaire’s Flowers of Evil, tropes of decadence—decay, decline, decomposition—have flourished in modern times. Decadence has played a vital role in narratives of culture, history, and political economy. On the one hand, decadence can indicate a sense...