Launch of Senior Book Club

‘Decadence’ was the theme for the evening as nearly forty members of the Sixth Form gathered together in The Mitre for the first meeting of Senior Book Club, a screening of ‘Brideshead Revisted.’

Run by the pupils, for the pupils, the club aims to explore both classic and contemporary literature; the only expectation is that they bring both themselves and their opinions! The Club will give pupils a chance to discuss their thoughts and ideas in an informal setting. The emphasis is on enabling all pupils, whether students of English Literature or not, to discover what their contemporaries are reading, make recommendations of their own and discover the wealth and variety of material hiding on bookshelves throughout Repton School.  The hope is that the club will enable pupils to feel a sense of ownership over the literature that they explore during these meetings.

An intensely autobiographical novel, the themes of ‘Brideshead Revisited’ encouraged pupils to empathise with outsiders within a community, as well as asking them to grapple with the implications of indulgence and excess. Pupils can make the most of half term to read the text and on their return will meet to draw comparisons between the decisions made on screen and on paper.  Equally, pupils may also wish to read the intriguing account of Waugh’s own life, Mad World by Byrne, which sheds a great deal of light on the narrative thrust of the novel.