Shopping Bag
My AccountThis post is authored by contributor, Teresa Bergen. Ms. Bergen is the author of the novel Killing The President, and in addition to writing, transcribes and edits oral histories, paints animal portraits, makes costume devil horns, teaches yoga, and plays bass in an indie rock band.
Many Portlanders want to read classic books, but prefer not to tackle them alone. At least, that’s what I gathered from my first time participating in a library-sponsored read the classics group. Two of my friends have been going for a while, and invited me along. It turned out to be a lively and mentally stimulating way to spend a winter afternoon.
Here’s how it works: readers sign up online at the library’s website. Then they go to whichever library is sponsoring the group. Participants pick up a copy of the classic, which they keep until the group meets. They return their books at the meeting. They can sign up for the whole series, or drop in for book or two. Reed College professors lead each group. The discussion lasts two hours. All groups meet on Sunday afternoons.
We are currently mid-session for this season’s offerings. Here are the series:
- Greece and Rome at the Gresham Library
- Middle Ages at the Hillsdale Library
- 1600s & 1700s literature at the Central Library
- 1800s literature at the Woodstock Library
- 1900s literature at the Hollywood Library
I was curious to learn who attended classics book groups. When I went to discuss Madame Bovary on a recent Sunday at the Woodstock Library, only eleven people showed up out of the twenty-five registered. Which is too bad, as there was a waiting list. But unfortunately that’s what often happens if you don’t charge people money. I ran into another person I knew, whom I had no idea was interested in reading classics. Turns out he’s a veteran of such groups and has read quite a few. Our group was about equally split between men and women, mostly over forty. Several of them belong to multiple classics reading groups.
Christine McBride led our group. She is a visiting professor of English and humanities at Reed. She specializes in 19th and early 20th century British and American fiction and is currently revising a book manuscript about Henry James. So she will probably shine especially brightly at April’s discussion of The Portrait of a Lady.
McBride started by introducing the book and giving historical context. She explained how Flaubert reworked a common plot of adultery to write a new sort of novel. Flaubert obsessed over his carefully crafted language to bring exceptional fidelity to lived experience. He minutely described everyday things and pared away the abstractions of romantic love. Flaubert was more interested in craft than saleability, which inspired other writers. And still haunts us today.
For those of you who have read this far and don’t know the story of Madame Bovary, she marries a doctor in small town France, but quickly grows bored of him. He’s a kind, simple guy, but unambitious and not so bright. Emma reads lots of romance novels, and wants the kind of excitement they seem to promise. She engages in two affairs, ruins her health, neglects her daughter, buries the family in debt, then kills herself with poison.
The discussion was lively and heated at times. McBride couldn’t always get a word in as we argued over the characters. People got especially worked up over how justified Emma Bovary was in her infidelities. Some believed that the limited opportunities for women excused her. Others thought her husband was a pretty nice guy and didn’t deserve her treachery.
The program is made possible by the National Endowment for the Humanities Fund of The Library Foundation (who was chosen for Give Guide 09…still time to donate!). Each classics group has two or three more meetings in 2010. If you’re interested in joining the discussion, you can pre-register for free at the libraries website.
