Due to unforeseen circumstances, this even is cancelled. Apologies for the inconvenience. We will reschedule this for another date and announce it soon.
READING THE CLASSICS
with Mark Schenker
Mark Schenker returns to the Willoughby Wallace Library to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence with four great works of American literature.
THE SONG OF SOLOMON by Toni Morrison
Wed | Oct 28 | 2 pm
HOUSEKEEPING by Marilynne Robinson
Wed | Nov 18 | 2 pm
Call to register 203-488-8702
About Song of Solomon
After two books of the 1800s, both by white men, we turn to a book written in the 20th century, written by a Black woman. Toni Morrison (1931-2019) wrote eleven novels (along with several nonfiction titles), and was a recipient of both the Nobel and Pulitzer Prizes. Song of Solomon, published in 1977, garnered the National Book Critics Circle Award.
The third novel of Morrison's career, it opens in the era of Jim Crow segregation (also when the main character, Milkman, is born) and takes place during the Civil Rights Movement, as Milkman comes of age. Identity, alienation, and family legacy are just a few of the themes explored in this novel. Morrison uses American history as a backdrop throughout the novel to portray and critique what is demanded of Black Americans. Read more about the book in our catalog, including an excerpt and reviews, here.
Dr. Schenker has asked that attendees please read the books before coming to the last two sessions of this Reading the Classics series; this is a discussion, not a lecture.
American Journeys
Mark Schenker, retired senior associate dean of Yale College, returns to WWML to present four works of American literature in recognition of this year's 250th anniversary of our nation's Declaration of Independence. These books, by women and men, include fiction and nonfiction and range from the mid-19 to late 20th century.
They span America from Nantucket to Idaho, the Mississippi River Basin, from New Orleans to Minnesota, and a personal quest from a city in Michigan to rural Pennsylvania and Virginia.
Wednesday, October 28, 2 pm