English reading club
ENGLISH READING CIRCLE – SHORT STORY OF THE MONTH ANALYSIS: “THE SWIMMER” BY JOHN CHEEVER
This month's story, and our last of the 2016-2017 cycle, is John Cheever's “the Swimmer.” First published in The New Yorker in 1964, this is perhaps Cheever's most popular and heavily anthologized story, and it serves as a fitting close to our cycle. Perhaps Neddy Merrill's journey across the swimming pools of his suburban neighborhood
ENGLISH READING CIRCLE – SHORT STORY OF THE MONTH ANALYSIS: “THE SNAKE” BY JOHN STEINBECK
This month's story is John Steinbeck's “The Snake”, written in 1934 and published the year after. It forms part of The Long Valley collection, which was published in 1938. The story is set in Monterey, California, and features a character, Dr. Phillips, that is based on the marine biologist and philosopher Ed Ricketts, a friend
ENGLISH READING CIRCLE – SHORT STORY OF THE MONTH ANALYSIS: “SWEAT” BY ZORA NEALE HURSTON
This month we turn back to the past for Zora Neale Hurston's “Sweat,” first published in 1926. Hurston is best known for her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, which was published in 1937, and which explores many of the same themes put forth in “Sweat” in much the same style. Hurston's use of eye
ENGLISH READING CIRCLE – SHORT STORY OF THE MONTH ANALYSIS: “IN THE CEMETERY WHERE AL JOLSON IS BURIED” BY AMY HEMPEL
We return to the late 20th century with this month's story, Amy Hempel's “The Cemetery Where Al Jolson is Buried.” This story was first published in 1983, and it is Hempel's first and most widely anthologized from her. It serves as a poignant example of Hempel's minimalist style and deep tenderness, features that have marked much of
ENGLISH READING CIRCLE – SHORT STORY OF THE MONTH ANALYSIS: “THE STORM” BY KATE CHOPIN
Since our March meeting falls so soon after our previous one, this month's story is short enough to read in one go: Kate Chopin's “The Storm.” Originally written in 1898, it was n't published until 1969, 65 years after Chopin's death. It isn't hard to imagine why this particular story remained unpublished for so long. It's
ENGLISH READING CIRCLE ON POETRY AND PROSE POETRY – POEM OF THE MONTH ANALYSIS: “POETRY” BY MARIANNE MOORE
This month's poem, “Poetry,” by Marianne Moore, is a curious little poem. Moore wrote the first version of this poem in 1924, and then spent nearly five decades revising it, finally settling on a three-line version that she included in her 1967 volume, The Complete Poems of Marianne Moore. (You can read the two versions
Balance of the English Reading Circle, the English reading club celebrates ten years
It is not unusual for a library to offer a reading club among its cultural entertainment activities, but it is peculiar that it develops on Anglo-Saxon readings in English and that the colloquium is held in that language. The fact that it was also started in 2005 and that ten years later it is still active
ENGLISH READING CIRCLE – SHORT STORY OF THE MONTH ANALYSIS: “The Angel at the Grave” by Edith Wharton
Hello everyone. This month's story is Edith Wharton's “The Angel at the Grave,” first published in Scribner's magazine in 1901. The story relates, among other things, the passage of a major literary figure's legacy from one of universal acclaim to the dustbin of history, an obsolete relic from a forgotten past. Maybe some of you
ENGLISH READING CIRCLE – SHORT STORY OF THE MONTH ANALYSIS: “EVERYDAY USE” BY ALICE WALKER
This month's story is Alice Walker's “Everyday Use,” first published in 1973. While this story is predicated on an understanding of the state of the African-American community in the early 1970s, it isn't necessary that you be completely up-to-date. -date on this history in order for you to register its impact. The lessons of “Everyday Use”
ENGLISH READING CIRCLE – SHORT STORY OF THE MONTH ANALYSIS: “WHY I LIVE AT THE PO” BY EUDORA WELTY
Welcome to the inaugural session of the 2015-2016 English Reading Circle! This year's cycle is entitled “American Women's Writing,” and it opens with a story by a woman whose stature, demure though it may be, casts a long shadow over the American literary landscape: Eudora Welty. Her story from Ella “Why I Live at the PO,” first