GOOD TALKS

On Tap for Library Discussion Series

Last year, the Rye Free Reading Room and Allen Clark launched a series of literary discussions open to the public, led by Dr. Mark Schenker Sr., Associate Dean at Yale College and Dean of Academic Affairs. Dr. Schenker has been invited back for two talks this fall.

On Sunday, October 22, Schenker will lead a discussion about Tim O’Neil’s much-recognized “The Things They Carried.” The book is a series of interrelated, semi-autobiographical stories based on O’Brien’s service in Vietnam. Because of its relevance to the Ken Burns’ new PBS documentary, the book has been reissued and is available at Arcade and in the library.

In his 1990 New York Times review, D. J. R. Bruckner said, “Characters snatch stories from one another’s mouths and tell them in a different way, with different incidents. A character may take part of a story away from a narrator and refashion it. A first-person commentator who intervenes to critique or correct a story just told, and who can easily be mistaken for Mr. O’Brien, may turn out to be a character in a later story. The stories themselves eventually seem to be engaged in a dialogue about invention.”

Four weeks later, on Sunday, November 19, Schenker will shift to Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar.”

Both sessions will be held in the library’s meeting room starting at 4:30. Refreshments and cheeses will be served afterwards.

A voluntary donation to the Rye Free Reading Room of $10 or $15 (depending on total attendance) is requested. To reserve a seat, email amcrye@gmail.com.