English Reading Circle on Short Stories
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. 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 wasn’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 It isn’t hard to imagine why this particular story remained unpublished for so long. Its
ENGLISH READING CIRCLE – SHORT STORY OF THE MONTH ANALYSIS: “YELLOW WOMAN” BY LESLIE MARMON SILKO
This month’s story is Leslie Marmon Silko’s “Yellow Woman,” first published in 1974. Marmon Silko is among the most celebrated and noteworthy of contemporary Native American authors, and “Yellow Woman” focuses in large part on a theme that recurs in much of her work: the relationship modern Native Americans have with the traditions and mythology
ENGLISH READING CIRCLE – SHORT STORY OF THE MONTH ANALYSIS: “A NEW ENGLAND NUN” BY MARY E. WILKINS FREEMAN
This month’s story is Mary E. Wilkins Freeman’s “A New England Nun,” first published in 1891. The story is heavily realistic, and infused with a high degree of local color and detail meant to fully capture the bucolic pace and feel of village life in late 19th century New England. This languid tranquillity is the
Balance del English Reading Circle, el club de lectura en inglés cumple diez años
No es extraño que una biblioteca ofrezca entre sus actividades de animación cultural un club de lectura pero sí es peculiar que se desarrolle sobre lecturas anglosajonas en inglés y que el coloquio se realice en ese idioma. Que además se haya iniciado en el 2005 y que diez años más tarde siga activo nos
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. Perhaps 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 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 P.O.” 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 “Why I Live at the PO,” first
ENGLISH READING CIRCLE FIRST SHORT STORY OF THE MONTH ANALYSIS: “Hills like White Elephants” by Ernest Hemmingway
This month we close the 2014-2015 Reading Club cycle with two short stories that deal with a shared set of themes: gender and language. The first story is Ernest Hemmingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants,” published in 1927 and included in the collection Men Without Women. At a mere three and a quarter pages long, this