Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Reading Schedule October 2013-May 2014


The James Joyce Society of Sarasota

 

 

N O T I C E

 

 

TO:  All our members and others interested

 

RE:   The Reading Group Schedule and Agenda -- October 2013 to May 2014

 

This season we have designed our Agenda for the reading sessions keeping in mind our efforts to emphasize significant elements of Joyce’s life and literary output. Therefore, this season involves one major work of Joyce, an examination of another literary figure closely associated with Joyce, and some interesting biographical information related to Joyce.

 

We have selected A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man as the principal focus because it has been ten years since we have read this work. It seems a good time to revisit Portrait. In a way Portrait has been overshadowed by Ulysses and Dubliners. However, the Random House Committee—a jury of scholars and writers--who chose the finest 100 English novels of the 20th Century considered Ulysses deserved first place, followed by The Great Gatsby in second place, and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man in third place.  Portrait does embody many themes and innovative techniques that influenced 20th Century  literature. It is also Joyce’s most personal work and, perhaps, the most read of all his literary output. It is Joyce’s autobiographical account of a young man’s intellectual awakening. Ray Matienzo will facilitate the five sessions devoted to Portrait.

 

A second part of the 2013 – 2014 season will be a consideration of a major literary figure who had a significant relationship with Joyce:  Samuel Beckett, born in 1906, twenty-two years younger than Joyce, seems to belong to another generation.  He was awarded the Noble Prize for Literature in 1969, nearly half of a century after the publication of Ulysses.  However, Beckett had an intimate place in the Joyce family life in Paris in the early 1930’s  and he assisted the nearly blind Joyce in the writing of Finnegans Wake.

 

Kevin O’Halloran and Jack Gilhooley will be doing a duet of sorts on Beckett.  Kevin will discuss Anthony Cronin’s impressive biography of Beckett.  Jack will lead us through Beckett’s Endgame, one of his most important plays and among those associated with the Theatre of the Absurd.

 

A third highlight of the coming season will be a discussion of the years Joyce spent in Trieste.  It does seem a bit odd that the most creative Irish writer of the 20th Century (and perhaps all time) should have spent some of his most creative years in an Adriatic port of the Habsburg Empire.  However, owing to a fateful series of circumstances, this is exactly what happened.

 

Our Joyceans, Jim McCormack and his wife, Elaine, are travelling to Trieste expressly

for the purpose of investigating Joyce’s life in this somewhat backwater port.  When Jim returns to Sarasota, he will share his findings with us.

 

Finally, we have about four opportunities in the spring of 2014 for other reading group members to lead discussions on related topics. More information on this and other matters will be provided at the appropriate time.

 

The North Sarasota Library has been reserved for all the scheduled “Second and Fourth” Wednesday meetings, starting at 10:15 AM, from October 23 to May 14.  No meetings are scheduled on the fourth Wednesdays of November and December because of the holidays.  The North Sarasota Library, 2801 Newtown Boulevard, is located one-quarter mile east of the intersection of Highway 301 and Martin Luther King Boulevard.

 

*          *          *

 

Meeting Agenda and Readings for 2013 – 2014

 

 

October 23:  Samuel Beckett

   

Discussion of the life of Samuel Beckett, his relationship with James Joyce and his daughter Lucia, and his subsequent poetry, novels, and dramatic works earning for him the Noble Prize in 1969.  Kevin O’Halloran with lead the discussion.

  

(Text:  Samuel Beckett, The Last Modernist (645 pages). Anthony Cronin, Harper Collins, 1996).  This is NOT required reading.

 

 

November 13:  Endgame

   

Samuel Beckett’s Endgame.    Jack Gilhooley, who may be assisted by his friend, Peter

Maloney, will present the analysis and discussion of the play.

    

(Text: Endgame, A Play in One Act (91 pages), Samuel Beckett, Grove Press, 1958;

NOTE: Many other editions of this play exist).

 

 

December 11:  James Joyce in Trieste

    

Joyce resided in Trieste from 1904 to 1920 (although he was required to leave Trieste during World War I, when he lived in Zurich).  His Trieste years were a highly creative period in his life.  Jim McCormack will be visiting Trieste this September and October.  He will tell us what he discovered and lead the group discussion.

    

(Text:  The Years of Bloom:  James Joyce in Trieste 1904 – 1920 (320 pages),

John McCourt, University of Wisconsin Press, 2000;  This is NOT required reading for this session.

 

 

January 8,   January 22,   February 12,   February 26,   March 12:  James Joyce,

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

            

Ray Matienzo will lead the group through the five sessions dedicated to this

important novel.  This will be the centerpiece of our reading season.  Ray will suggest a text so that the group can follow one edition, making it easier for quick reference

to specific passages in the book.  However, this is not required, just helpful.  There are many editions of this novel.

    

Ray will also distribute notes for each session as well as critical literary  commentaries on Portrait at the appropriate time.

   

Ray will be using: James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man:

Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Seamus Deane (New York: Penguin Classics, 2003).   ISBN-10: 0142437344, ISBN-13: 978-0142437346.

 

[Note: It is current available new at Amazon for $9.09 and used copies are available as well.]

 

*          *          *

 

Enjoy the remaining weeks until our group reunites at the North Sarasota Library on October 23rd.

 

Best regards,

 

Tom Steiner

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Reading Agenda: February 13 through May 8 2013


The James Joyce Society of Sarasota

Meeting Place: North Library ( @ ¼ mi east of 301 I on MLK )

Time:   10AM to 11:30

Further information: Betty Muessle 941 358 1705 or Thejamesjoycesocietyofsarasota@gmail.com

Dubliners may be downloaded for free from Guttengberg.org. ( If you choose plain test option and you wish to adjust font size and/ or print out, you can cut and paste into a Word or other word processing  document and manipulate from it. )

Cheap hard copy editions can be found on line. Dover Thrift Edition is one very reasonably priced edition. 

 

February 13:   The legends of two Irish women revolutionaries as told by Deidre Martin followed by a  discussion of    Dubliners: “The     Sisters”

February 27:   Dubliners:      “An Encounter” and “ Eveline”

March 13:         Dubliners:   “After The Race “and “The Boarding House”

March 27:        Dubliners:   “A little Cloud” and “Counterparts”

April 10 :          Dubliners:     “Clay” and ‘A Painful Case”

April 24:          Dubliners:       “Ivy Day in The Committee Room “and “A Mother”

May 8:              Dubliners:            ‘The Dead”

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

January 23, Reading Agenda

Wednesday, January 23, at North Library , 10AM. Jim McCormack will review Gordon Bowker recently published biography of James Joyce. His lecture is titled "The Portrait of An Artist as an Old Man"and should be interesting whether or not you have read the book. Hope to see you there.

Monday, January 14, 2013

Birthday Event; February 2, 2013

THE JAMES JOYCE SOCIETY OF SARASOTA invites you to its annual JAMES JOYCE BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION Saturday, February 2, 2013 presenting a program prepared by Dublin trained Joycean KEVIN O'HALLORAN A LECTURE ON MAUD GONNE, (WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS' MUSE) entitled "MAUD GONNE-IRISH REVOLUTIONARY" Time 2:00-4:00 PM Place The Crocker Memorial Church at Historical Society of Sarasota County 1260 12th Street- between N. Tamiami Trail and Coconut Ave. Parking available on site For more information contact Betty Muessle at 941-544-5049 or www.jamesjoycesocietyofsarasota.org

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Reading Agenda Autumn 2012



The halcyon (well at least hot if you are here), days of summer have flown bringing us to a reopening of our reading sessions. They will occur this year on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month; please note the change from 1st and 3rd.
 
As previously, we assemble at 10AM and start shortly thereafter concluding about 11:30AM . Our location remains the same: North Library, large meeting room. Remember always to check the other rooms if you do not see us there. Sometimes even at the last minute, we are asked by the library to switch venues.

We will look forward to seeing you during the season!!!

It would be helpful if you would indicate whether you intend to attend the October 10 meeting.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Betty Muessle 941 544-5049 or bettymuessle@gmail.com.

Reading Agenda for Autumn 2012

October 10 Selections from Anne Enright’s volume of short stories, Yesterday’s Weather (available in quantity in library and inexpensively on I) “Until The Girl Died”,” Yesterday’s Weather”,” Wife”, “Natalie”

October 24 Anne Enright : The Gathering,(Mann Booker Prize 2007 ), ( available in quantity in library and inexpensively on I)

November 14 Katherine Anne Porter : “The Flowering Judas” and “ The Jilting of Granny Wetherall”, (Can be found in many collections of American short stories).

November 28 “The Dressmaker’s Child”, “The Room” , “Cheating at Canasta”, and “A perfect Relationship” from William Trevor’s collection of short stories Cheating at Canasta(available in quantity in library and inexpensively on I)

December 12 Sebastian Barry: The Secret Scripture (novel) (available in quantity in library and inexpensively on I)

December 26 No Meeting

January 9 Selections from work of James Joyce TBA

January 23 Selections from work of James Joyce TBA

Friday, May 4, 2012

May 16,2012 Reading Group Agenda

All wecome to our last session of the season. We will be showing and discussing the film, "Wings of The Dove", based on the Henry James novel of same title. North Library 10AM

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Reading Group Agenda, begining February 15, 201

Winter 2012 Reading Group Schedule
North Library,( @1/8 mi on MLK , east of Rte 301), 10AM, on 1st and 3rd Wednesdays
For more information, reply to this email for call 941-358-1705,
or visit our website listed below. All works can be procured through library and can be purchased inexpensively over Internet; some may be found at Internet free book sites.
February 15
Selections: F Scott Fitzgerald:
Novella: “May Day”
Short Story: ‘The Diamond as Big as the Ritz”
Both are part of the public domain and can be found for free on such sites as “feedbook.com”.
March 7
Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor:
“A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, “Good Country People”, “Revelations”,
March 21
Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor:
“The River”,” The Life You Save May Be Your Own”, “The Displaced Person”
Or
Film showing of William Kennedy’s novel, Ironweed, (Group will vote).
April 4:
The Love of My Youth, by Mary Gordon
April 18:
The Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole
May 2
Charming Billy by Alice McDermott
May 16 TBA