ONCE0361 - Book Discussion: Four Women and a Russian: Timeless and New Global Fiction

Course Description

This semester we will read some old, some new, and some not so very old gems of literary fiction. We begin, at popular request, with Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s chilling tale of murder and corruption in 19^th century Russia, Crime and Punishment. From Russia we fly to 1950’s Naples, to read the mysterious Elena Ferrante’s coming of age novel, My Brilliant Friend. We follow with Brian Morton’s New York story of Florence Gordon, a crusty feminist of the sixties. We continue with the autobiographical Nora Webster, Colm Toibin’s much-lauded tale of an Irish widow. We end with a southern American classic from the twentieth century, Eudora Welty’s The Optimist’s Daughter. Feel free to bring a snack or bag lunch.

This course is held at the Temple University Ambler campus. There is a morning session from 10 AM to 12 PM and an afternoon session from 1 to 3 PM. Choose the course section that best meets your needs.