Postcolonial Literature
Led by William Mottolese
$45 for members and $60 for non-members
This spring, the Postcolonial Literature seminar will focus on central works of postcolonial fiction from around the world, both those in translation and written in English. We will focus on fiction from India, West Africa and the Caribbean and pay special attention to women’s experience. This seminar will offer an introduction to the field of postcolonial studies, examine the ways that literature reflects the colonial experience, and attempt to understand the literary expression of world writers and their relationship to mainstream European canonical literature (especially English literature). Central to the study of postcolonial literature are such issues as history, identity, nationalism, diaspora, language, and globalization.
We will read three major works of fiction: we will start the course with Alejo Carpentier’s The Kingdom of This World, then move on to Mariama Ba’s So Long a Letter, and finish with Julia Alvarez’s In the Time of Butterflies.
February 19, March 18, April 15 at 6:00pm
*The fall 2007 Postcolonial Literature Group will finish up their discussion of The Moor's Last Sigh on January 22nd at 6pm. New participants are welcome to join the discussion of Rushdie even if they have not read the whole book.
William Mottolese has taught at Fordham University and Saint Joseph’s College in Indiana and is presently Co-Chair of the English Department at Convent of the Sacred Heart in Connecticut. He has published widely on such subjects as Olaudah Equiano, Laurence Sterne, and James Joyce and is presently at work on a book manuscript on James Joyce and ethnography. He has won numerous teaching awards and is most proud of his three small children who keep him quite busy.
James Joyce: Ulysses Discussion Group
Meets the 2nd Thursday of each month at the Merc. Joining this group requires a James Joyce Membership to the library.
Individual - $125
Student/ Senio r- $110
Reg. Household - $180
Sr. Household - $165
Members of Proust Society call for special rate.
The James Joyce
Group is
devoted to the appreciation of the life, works, and significance of the
Irish author (1882-1941). The discussion on Ulysses meets here at the Merc and you may join the close reading of Ulysses already in progress since October 2006.
Schedule for the reading of Ulysses
January 10th Episode 15 - Circe
February 14th Episode 16 - Eumeus
March 13th Episode 17 - Ithaca
April 10h Episode 18 - Penelope
Henry James: The Golden Bowl
The last of Henry James’ novels is The Golden Bowl and it is to many his greatest work. Published in 1904 and written in his late style, its narrative, characters, images, and psychological insight make it a fascinating reading experience. James set the novel in the international context, and he uses it to explore the question of what brings love and holds love in the conflicts of the modern sensibility. In addition to The Golden Bowl, the seminar will read James’ two unfinished late novels: The Ivory Tower and The Sense of The Past, both published in 1917 after his death, and one late story, “The Jolly Corner”(1908).
Please read for the first class— in the Penguin edition if
possible— through Book First and Book Second of The Golden Bowl. Also begin The Ivory Tower.
6:00pm on the first Thursday of each month:
February 7, March 6, April 3, and May 1
$75 for members; $100 for non-members.
Course led by James Kraft.
James Kraft has taught at the University of Virginia, Universite Laval, and Wesleyan University. He has written a critical study of the early tales of Henry James, edited a five-volume edition of the work of the poet Witter Bynner, written his biography, and published many articles on American and Canadian literature.
Great Books and the Meanings of Life
War and Peace
In describing the measures of greatness in novels,
Virginia Woolf set one novel above all others, declaring: “There is hardly any subject of human experience that is left out of War and Peace.” This latest series of discussions of classic works led by critic and historian James Sloan Allen delves into Tolstoy’s novel to explore some of these subjects—especially how history unfolds and its relation to human reason and will. There will be two sessions of two hours each, and the discussions in both sessions will assume familiarity with the entire book (in the translation by Pevear and Volokhonsky). Allen will also be joined by Elizabeth Cheresh Allen, Professor of Russian at Bryn Mawr College.
Wed., March 19 & 26. 5:30-7:30pm
$55 for members; $60 for non-members
Led by James Sloan Allen.
James Sloan Allen has published widely on cultural history, the arts, ideas, and travel. His forthcoming book, Worldly Wisdom: Great Books and the Meanings of Life, deals in part with books discussed in this class since 2002. He now divides his time between the East Coast and Hawaii.
