Great Books Discussion Group (Virtual)
Fridays @ 10AM on Zoom
December 1 through April 26
Read and discuss classic short works with fellow intellectuals from around the country. Registration required. The Zoom ID/password will be sent via email with your registration confirmation.
The selections to be discussed are widely available from three sources:
The Vintage Book of Contemporary American Short Stories, Edited by Tobias Wolff, referenced as VB.
Great Short Stories of the Masters, Charles Neider, Editor, referenced as GSS.
Found on the Internet are referenced as INT.
2024 Reading List:
Jan. 5, 2024
Full Text of Professor Bernhardt; A Comedy, Internet Archive,
Arthur Schnitzler
Scott Bradfield, The Darling, P.69, Wolff
True Relation of the Apparition of One Mrs. Veal, P.39, Neider,
Daniel Defoe
Jan. 12, 2024
Love in the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Narod-ru, Internet
Home, Jane Phillips, P.410, Wolff
Champion, Ring Lardner, Blogger, Internet
Jan. 19, 2024
Joseph Conrad, An Anarchist, The Short Story Project, Internet
Kate Braverman, Tall Tales From the Mekong Delta, P. 89, Wolff
Youth is Beautiful, Hermann Hesse, Prospero's Isle, Internet
Jan. 26, 2024
Nikolai Gogol, The Overcoat, Fountainhead Press, Internet
Chopin in Winter, Stuart Dybek, P.141, Wolff
The Unknown Masterpiece, Honore' de Balzac, Prospero's Isle, Internet
Feb. 2, 2024
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love,
Raymond Carver, tnsatlantic.org, INT.
What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank,
Nathan Englander, Writer's Village University. INT.
Savannah -La- Mar, Thomas De Quincey, P. 48, GSS.
Feb. 9, 2024
Maxim Gorky, One Autuum Night, American Liturature.com. INT.
Edward D. Jones, The First Day, Wolff, P.286.
My Mother, Andre Gide, GSS, P.99.
Feb. 16,2024
D.H. Lawrence, The Blind Man, Weber State University, INT.
That in Aleppo Once, Vladimir Nabokov, Mass. Inst of Tech. INT.
Mart Gaitskill, A Romantic Weekend, Wolff, P. 185.
Feb. 23, 2024
John Steinbeck, The Chrysanthemums, Literary Fictions.com, INT.
Every Day Use, Alice Walker, Harpers Magazine, INT.
Richard Ford, Rock Springs, Wolff, P.162.
March 1, 2024
Solange, Alexander Dumas, New Musicals.Inc, INT
A Tale of Olden Time, Heinrich, GSS, P. 116
Amy Tan, Rules of the Game, Wolff, P. 497
March 8, 2024
Jack London, By the Turtles of Tasman, INT
Minor Heroism, Allen Gurganus, Wolff, P. 207
The Legend of St. Julian the Hospitaller, GSS, P. 73
March 15, 2024
Sea Oak, George Saunders, Barcelona Review, INT
The History of Krakatuk, E.T.A. Hoffmann, GSS, P. 152
Aunt Granny Lith, Chris Offutt, Wolff, P. 385
March 22, 2024
Willa Cather, Eric Hermannson’s Soul, University of Nebraska INT
Emergency, Dennis Johnson, Wolff, P274
The Disabled Soldier, Oliver Goldsmith, GSS, P. 103
NO MEETING FRIDAY, MARCH 29
April 5, 2024
Chekhov, A Living Chattel, Prosporo's Isle INT
Gabriel Garcia Marques, The Handsomest Drowned
Man in the World, ndsu.eds, INT
Daddy Garbage,John Edgar Wideman, Wolff, P. 521
NO MEETING FRIDAY, APRIL 12
April 19, 2024
The Kreuzer Sonata, Leo Tolstoy, Prosporo's Isle
James Joyce, GSS, P. 199
The Begger Woman of Locarno, GSS, P. 211
April 26, 2024
Raymond Carver, Cathedral, Wolff, P. 108
Franz Kafka, A Country Doctor, GSS, P. 205
Frank O'conner, The Majestry of the Law, Tania
Hirshman, Number 25b, INT, scroll down to story
May 3, 2024
Bernard Malamud, The Mourners, Story of the Week, INT
Dog Heaven, Stephanie Vaughn, Wolff, P. 509
The Massacre of the Innocents, Maurice Maeterlince, GSS, P.266