Literature   

Let’s explore Louise Penny’s ongoing mystery series about Armand Gamache, Chief Inspector of the Sûreté du Quebec and the villagers of Three Pines. Through lectures and discussion, we will focus on overarching themes, character development, and literary devices in the books, with attention to the arts, cultural elements, history, humor, philosophy and even food in these award-winning novels. The class sessions are as follows: 1) January 11: “A Trick of the Light” (2011) and ”The Beautiful Mystery” (2012), 2) February 1: “How the Light Gets In” (2013) and “The Long Way Home” (2014), 3) February 29: “The Nature of the Beast” (2015) and “A Great Reckoning” (2016), 4) March 21: “Glass Houses” (2017) and “Kingdom of the Blind” (2018).

NOTE: This is Part 2 of a year-long 12-session course. Students need not have participated in Part 1. Participants should read the specific titles before each lecture/discussion session. The sessions are not consecutive weeks. This course meets three times on Thursday, 1/11, 2/1, and 2/29, with an optional fourth session that meets after the end of the OLLI term on 3/21.

Icons of The Jazz Age, Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald both wrote novels based on their time together on the French Riviera. Though known only for her glamorous lifestyle, Zelda was an artist and a writer. She composed “Save Me the Waltz” (1932), a novel about a woman trying to become a dancer, during a two-month stay in a psychiatric clinic in Baltimore, Maryland. Scott wrote “Tender Is the Night” (1933) over an eight-year period. In it, he portrays the expat life, the movie industry, and the burgeoning field of psychology. We will read and discuss both these novels in the context of the Fitzgeralds’ lives and of the 1920s. Please be prepared to read up to 150 pages per session.

NOTE: There will be no class on January 18. Recommended editions: F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Tender Is the Night,” introduction by Amor Towles, Scribner, 2019; and Zelda Fitzgerald, “Save Me the Waltz,” Handheld Press, 2019. There will be no class meeting on Thursday, January 18.

Felicia Bornstein Lubliner, a survivor of ghettos and concentration camps (Auschwitz and Gross-Rosen) in Nazi-occupied Poland, wrote and spoke publicly afterward about her Holocaust experiences. Her son, the course instructor, invites you to delve into her written stories and oral presentations, published as “Only Hope: A Survivor’s Stories of the Holocaust.” Each story will be read aloud, either by the instructor or by students who have the book. Participants will be invited to share their reactions, questions, and insights. We will discuss the historical context and lessons to be learned about that period, the universal human responses that the narratives evoke, and the relevance of the subject matter to challenges we face in modern times. 

NOTE: Purchase of “Only Hope” is optional. It is available as a paperback book for $15.99 and as a Kindle download for $5.99.