“She had the perpetual sense ... of being out, out, far out to sea and alone; she always had the feeling that it was very, very dangerous to live even one day” - Mrs. Dalloway
Over four sessions, Mark Schenker, formerly of Yale College, will lecture on four powerfully moving novels by novelists from England, America, and Ireland. Spanning nearly a century of fiction by women and men, the works engage issues both large (the Plague, American slavery, WWI, the Vietnam War) and personal (relations between women and men, the love of parents for their children, the burden of feeling out of place even among your own kind).
Together, we will encounter ordinary people rising to extraordinary challenges in prose that is nothing short of astonishing, exploring the challenge of living with what has been called “the unreality of reality.”
Sessions will meet every other Tuesday to provide ample time to read the books, listed below. The class will meet in the Library’s Komansky program room.
Space is limited, please register HERE. You can click the title of the book, below to link in our catalogue. Also, inquire at patron service desk for reserved copies of each book, now available for all courses:
September 19: Mrs. Dalloway (1925), by Virginia Woolf
October 3: Beloved (1987), by Toni Morrison
October 17: The Things They Carried (1990), by Tim O’Brien
October 31: Hamnet (2020), by Maggie O’Farrell
Verso University is the Library’s lifelong learning and education initiative, serving up year-round offerings of classes, workshops, and lectures designed to further education and learning. Offerings run the gamut of educational opportunities, ranging from one-time lectures to ongoing courses to classes that meet weekly or perhaps monthly.
Verso University programs are made possible by the generous support of the Nancy J. Beard Lifelong Learning and Education Fund.
