A new season of online alumni book discussions has already begun through the Kelly Writers House. All Penn alumni and parents of current students are eligible. To register, write to [email protected], and visit writing.upenn.edu for more details.
Book Group #64: Dec. 3-17, 2012; Jan. 3-17, 2013
The Poetry of John Ashbery | No preparation is necessary for this month-long examination of the man many consider to be the greatest living American poet, which will be led by Al Filreis, Kelly Professor and Faculty Director of the Writers House. Copies of poems will be sent to participants via email. Ashbery, incidentally, will be a Kelly Writers House Fellow in 2013.
Book Group #65: Jan. 14-Feb. 12, 2013
Woody Allen: Annie Hall and Bullets Over Broadway | Participants will examine two popular films by Woody Allen under the guidance of Valerie Ross, director of critical writing in the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing.
Book Group #66: March 11-22, 2013
Rhetorical Figures: The Many Lives of Metaphor in Nabokov and Beyond | Led by Eric Jarosinski, assistant professor of German at Penn, this group will explore the complex intersections of language and experience through the work of Vladimir Nabokov and others. It will focus on Nabokov’s short novel Transparent Things as well as excerpts from George Lakoff and Mark Johnson’s Metaphors We Live By and Paul de Man’s influential essay “The Epistemology of Metaphor.”
Book Group #67: April 8-19, 2013
Stephen King: Story to Screen | Guided by Rolf Potts, the 2011-12 ArtsEdge Writer-in-Residence at Penn, this group will examine how two Stephen King novellas—The Body and Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption—became the films Stand By Me and The Shawshank Redemption.
Group #68: May 13-23, 2013
What we talk about when we talk about Nathan Englander’s riff on Raymond Carver’s iconic “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” | Participants will read both Carver’s “What We Talk About When We Talk About Love” and Nathan Englander’s recent “What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank.” Al Filreis and David Roberts W’83, a member of the Kelly Writers House Advisory Board and denizen of the alumni book groups, will lead the discussion.
Book Group #69: May 28-June 6, 2013
Beyond Pink Floyd’s The Wall: What’s Out There? | Using The Wall’s lyrics as source texts, this group—led by Patrick Bredehoft, director of the Penn Alumni Interview Program—will examine the ways in which Pink Floyd’s iconic album/rock opera still holds significance for listeners today.
