If you love discovering (or re-discovering) a book and sharing it with a friend, here’s a chance to do both by reading and discussing some iconic works of 1920s American literature. The postwar period was one of the most creative in the nation’s history, and nothing captured its excitement and diversity more than the works of groundbreaking writers like Ernest Hemingway and Willa Cather.
Join Lisbeth Strimple Fuisz, a lecturer in the English department at Georgetown University, in spirited lectures and informal discussions that focus on a quartet of significant novels that examine the social and cultural upheavals of life during the Jazz Age. Participants should read the first book prior to class. Sherry and cookies are available for refreshment.
Please Note: Select the listed dates below for individual purchase.
Sept. 18 Age of Excess: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (1925)
Fitzgerald highlights the privileged world of the wealthy and elite as he exposes the decadence and ennui lurking beneath its surface.
Oct. 16 The Lost Generation: Ernest Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms (1929)
Hemingway’s military experience was channeled into a highly personal observation of WWI’s destructive power and the hold it retained on the lives of those who lived through it.
Nov. 13 Women’s Voices: Willa Cather’s The Professor’s House (1925)
Willa Cather, a leading voice of literary modernism, offers the story of Godfrey St. Peter, an accomplished Midwestern professor trying to come to terms with the loss of a favorite student and its impact on his family.
Dec. 18 The Harlem Renaissance: Jessie Redmon Fauset’s Plum Bun (1929)
Fauset’s protagonist, a light-skinned African American woman, tries to pass as white in order to feel fulfilled, but finds it might not be the answer to her hopes.
4 sessions
