BRIONI SHAW SEMINAR (June, 2008): A POLL
As you may
know, our colleague Jay Tunney is writing a book on the relationship between
Shaw and his father, the thinking man’s boxer Gene Tunney, the apotheosis, it
seemed, of Shaw’s Cashel Byron. With
hopes that the book will be published by June of 2008, Jay (and the ISS) would
like to celebrate the occasion and commemorate the Shaw/Tunney relationship by
hosting a two-day, three-night Shaw Seminar in the second week of June 2008 on the island of Brioni (or Brijuni) off the coast of Croatia, where the Shaws and the
Tunneys launched a life-long friendship by spending a month together in 1929.
The Villa Punto Naso (now replaced)
where the Shaws visited the Tunneys.
The object of this email is to sound out
interested people about the feasibility of such a Seminar in terms of
attendance, so please respond to this proposal as soon as possible.
The main island of the
Brioni Islands
The Brioni Seminar would be like the
conversation between the Shaws and the Tunneys in not having a single theme but
in covering many topics, in this case in a
series of panel discussions, the difference
being that our topics would be pre-determined by discussion and
consensus. Suggestions for panel topics are welcome. [When asked
by reporters in
Jay has sketched out a sort of minimalist six-day
schedule, including
travel days to and from the two-day, three-night Seminar,
that would go something like this:
Ø DAY 1, for those coming from North America, would involve getting to an overnight
stop within striking distance of Brioni, the most likely place being
Venice. A flight from New York to Venice
would run about $900 roundtrip, although one could fly more directly and
expensively to Pula, the mainland city on the Croatian Istrian
coast nearest to Brioni where the ferry from Venice docks. Europeans and others closer could fly or
drive directly to
Ø
DAY 2 would involve getting to Brioni and
checking in at the Neptun-Istra Hotel ($85 for a
single, $130 for a double, and $150 for a suite), but you could also book,
more cheaply, at the next door Hotel Karmen ($70 for
a single; $110 for a double). Breakfast
comes with the hotel room. If you chose
to come through
Ø DAY 3, FIRST DAY OF THE SEMINAR at the Hotel Neptun-Istra. After a welcoming speech/ keynote address by the President
of Croatia, President Mesic,
the Seminar would be devoted to panel discussions in the day and a dinner and
dramatic production in the evening (a concert reading of Cashel
Byron’s Profession in dramatic
form?).
Ø DAY 4: SECOND DAY OF THE SEMINAR. Seminar days
would begin around 9:00 am and conclude around 3:00 pm so that people can rest
or tour around the island before evening dinners and performances.
Ø
DAY 5: Split into two groups. Group # 1
would depart Brioni after breakfast for whatever path would take them home, via
the
Rovinj
Ø DAY 6, for Group # 2, would involve
taking the island ferry from Brioni to
SUMMARY: The two-day, three-night Seminar on
Brioni would thus require a minimum of six nights and seven days away from
home, if one embarked from North America, and minimal total cost would probably
be between $2,500 to
$3,000 U.S. per person
(tax-deductible, in some cases), including such expenses as:
Ø
the flights, which would be
up to you to arrange.
Ø
the hotel in
Ø
the hotel in Brioni (hotels in Brioni would be booked for groups and
arranged by Jay Tunney for 2-3 nights, as the case may be, so this
would be arranged for you).
Ø
the hotel in
Ø
ferries or hydro-foils to and
from
Ø
a Seminar fee of $250 per
person that would cover the reception and dinner on Day 2 and the lunch
and the dinner on Day 3 and the ferry between Pula-Fazana
and Brioni. Group # 2 should add an extra $135 per
person to the standard Seminar fee for the Day 4 bus tour.
Ø
Other meals and incidental expenses not covered by the Seminar fee.
European participants could undoubtedly cut
down on travel time and other costs.
You of course
could expand on these minimalist versions by traveling elsewhere in
MORE ON BRIONI: Strictly speaking, Brioni (or Brijuni in Croatian) is a name given to a group
of islands off the Istrian coast of Croatia, but it’s
also the name given to the largest of the islands in that group, which
contained the elegant seaside resort where Bernard and Charlotte Shaw spent a
month with Gene and Polly Tunney in 1929, visiting them at the villa Punta Naso. Among other guests at the time were the
composer Richard Strauss and drama critic Max Beerbohm. [Gene Tunney wrote about Shaw in his autobiography, Arms for Living: "His acquaintance with the world's great works of music
was incredible. He knew every note of Wagner and frequently sang passages to
differentiate as we would wind our way through the lovely trails of
Brioni. No period of my life was more
valuable than this. It was like a
matriculation in a cosmic school."]
Lots to see on Brioni, from the ruins of Emperor Augustus's summer
residence to petrified dinosaur footprints. The island was bombed during
World War II and its buildings mostly destroyed. For years it was
closed to the public and was an official residence of President Tito of
Hotel Neptun-Istra on Brioni
City of
Any questions? The local Seminar
arrangements and registration would largely be in the hands of Jay Tunney and a
committee of locals, and the academic side (the arranging of panels and any
theatrical events) would go through an ISS committee that I would probably
chair, but please direct all questions to me at dietrich@cas.usf.edu.
Please select one of the following in
replying as soon as possible:
1. Definitely coming.
2. Likely to come but not definite. Will let you know by:
3. Doubtful but possible.
Will let you know by:
4. Probably not coming.
5. Definitely not coming.
In
addition, please specify if you would be likely to offer to participate in a
panel. And please specify the total number of people in your party, if
you would come. And of course we'd like to hear from
everyone, to minimize guessing. Negatives are as important as
affirmatives in counting noses.
Sorry for the length of this, but we wanted you to
have as realistic an idea as possible of what the trip would involve. Thanks very much for your
response. If there is a sufficiently positive response, we
will eventually call for suggestions for panel discussions and offers to
participate. The deadline
for commitments is June 1 because Jay has to make hotel reservations by
that date.
WEBSITES:
For Brioni: http://www.fazana.net/eng/brijuni/index.asp
For
the Hotel Karmen: www.istra.com/katalog/katalog/katalog.asp?j=eng&id=128
For the Hotel Neptun-Istra:
www.istra.com/katalog/katalog/katalog.asp?j=eng&id=127
For Fazana
(Brioni ferries to and from
For
For Rovinj: travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-482675-rovinj_vacations-i
For Porec: porec.aventin.hr/porec-istria-croatia/index.htm
Suggest
other websites to add to this list.
Porec Basilica (6th C.)
BRIONI WALK
On behalf of
Jay and Kelly Tunney, best wishes and we hope to see you in Brioni in June of
2008,
Dick
Dietrich
Richard F. Dietrich
President, International
Shaw Society
Series Editor, University
Press of
(www.upf.com/seriesresult.asp?ser=gbshaw)
Professor Emeritus,
dietrich@cas.usf.edu /
813-503-0584