delmarva diary

The Education of Henry Adams, Time Change for Discussion

2008-04-14T13:36:00.000-07:00

*Please notice the change in time, to allow everyone to attend the Holocaust Service
Before there was the Addams family, there was the Adams family.
Before Morticia and Gomez and their offspring Wednesday and Pugsley, there were John and Abigail Adams and their offspring John Quincy Adams and his offspring Charles Francis Adams and his offspring Henry Brooks Adams.
John Adams was the second President of the United States. To those of us who get our history from novels, he is best known as the husband of Abigail Adams.
John Quincy Adams served as the sixth President of the United States. To those of us who who get our history from the flickering screen, he is best known as the defender of Cinque and his comrades on the Amistad.
Charles Francis Adams, Sr. was a congressman and diplomat. Most of us dilettantes had never heard of him until we started paying attention to his son.
Henry Adams was a journalist, historian, and writer. His autobiography, The Education of Henry Adams, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1916, was ranked first in Modern Library's list of 100 Best Nonfiction Books, and was named "the best book of the 20th century" by The Intercollegiate Studies Institute.
One of the questions St. Peter's Readers might ask, when we meet to discuss this book,* is whether such high praise is deserved.
We could also discuss the effect focusing on his education had on his autobiography as a whole. If we wanted to be particularly snarky, we could discuss the possibility that he chose this focus so he could avoid talking about his personal life, especially his marriage.
We will discuss these and other questions when we meet in the St. Peter's Church conference room at
*5:30 p.m. on April 27 in Lewes, Delaware. For directions, please call the church office.

"Middlesex" with St. Peter's Readers

2008-03-23T12:14:00.000-07:00

"Middlesex by Jeffery Eugenides isn't just a story of a hermaphrodite's journey to adulthood," one reviewer said.
Since I haven't finished reading it -- I'm in the middle of Middlesex, -- I can't tell you everything it's about, just that it's about a lot of things. The main character is named Calliope - sometimes called Callie, sometimes called Cal -which is also the name of one of the muses. The one who is the patron of epic poetry. So a question for discussion might be, is this a modern epic?
Eugenides, in another interview, said if he could pick one image for this book it would be the interior of a Greek Orthodox Church, with its pools of light and darkness, and with Christ Pantocrator on the ceiling. In fact, he said, he thought of the main narrative voice as that of Christ Pantocrator.. This might be another topic for discussion.
If we have time, we can also discuss hermaphrodite journeys.
St. Peter's Readers will discuss Middlesex Sunday, March 30 at 5:00 in the parish hall of St. Peter's Church in Lewes, Delaware. All are welcome. For directions, please call the church office.

Jacqueline Mitchard

2008-03-17T23:17:00.000-07:00

I knew that she was an extremely well-known writer.
I knew that her book had been made into a movie starring a well-known actress.
I knew that I had found her first book The Deep End of the Ocean utterly absorbing.
I did not know that she was such a good speaker.
I did not know that she cared so deeply about writers and writing and, especially, unknown writers.
Jacqueline Mitchard gave the key-note address at the Writers at the Beach conference held in Rehoboth Beach last weekend. It was interesting and helpful and well-organized. It was also very funny.
She made some thought-provoking remarks about writing what people really read and about the nature of good fiction, which is not character-driven but event-driven.
She encouraged all of us to keep writing and invited us to attend her writers' retreat.
I did not know that Jacqueline Mitchard would be so inspiring.

Jimtown, Delaware

2008-03-15T15:45:00.000-07:00

It's one of the oldest communities in Delaware, but it's not on the map.
It's called Jimtown.
It makes you ask yourself, what, exactly, is a town?
There is no general store in Jimtown.
There is no church in Jimtown.
There is no gathering place, like a post office or baseball diamond, in Jimtown.
There is no school in Jimtown.
Yet when the developers who bought the farm west of Jimtown Road broke their promise to leave the 20 acres nearest Jimtown Road undeveloped, the people of Jimtown got mad.
And when the Delaware Department of Transportation decided to build a highway east of Jimtown Road, the people of Jimtown got madder.
Because Jimtown is a group of people who've lived near each other and cared about each other for a long time.
Jimtown is the essence of a town -- it is a community.