Cost and Registration Information

Early Registration Price (January 9 at 10 am – January 26 at 4 pm): $190
Regular Registration Price (January 26 at 4 pm – first day of class): $209

Members, seniors, and students get a 10% discount.

This seminar is full. Please call (312) 255-3700 to be added to the wait list.

Excuse our dust!

Beginning January 2018 the Newberry will be undertaking renovation of much of the first floor. The Adult Education Seminars Program will still have use of the basement classrooms, but please check this link frequently for the latest conditions - which exterior doors are open or closed, where to find an accessible entrance, which restrooms are available, etc.

Because of the renovation, the Newberry Bookstore will be closed during the Winter/Spring and Summer 2018 terms. As such, seminar participants will be responsible for acquiring all required texts for their seminars on their own. We apologize sincerely for the inconvenience, and appreciate your understanding. We have put together a list of helpful resources that should make it easy to find the books you need.

Seminar Description

We will read short stories of literary merit written in the past 25 years by the following highly acclaimed authors: Tim O’Brien, Alice Munro, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Jay McInerney, and Edith Pearlman. We will discuss the stories and explore the themes and moral questions these authors raise. In addition, we will discuss the authors’ varied backgrounds, their styles, and the writers that influenced them. Finally, we will view online segments of readings and/or interviews by the authors. Six sessions.

Linda Levine (MA in English education from Northwestern University) has taught English and humanities for several decades, including previous seminars at Newberry.

Materials List

Required:

• Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried. ISBN#: 978-0618706419
• Edith Pearlman, Binocular Vision. ISBN#: 978-0982338292

The instructor will also email each participant scanned short stories by Munro, Adichie, and McInerney. They may either read these stories online or print them out.

First Reading:

• For the first class, please read "On the Rainy River", “Ambush”, “Speaking of Courage”, “Field Trip”, “Notes”, “In the Field” from The Things They Carried.

This class is part of the Newberry’s Adult Education Seminars Program. Learn more about our registration procedures.