Reading Group: Discussions 2008

2008 | January 10: Of Human Bondage

W. Somerset Maugham's 1915 Novel
(also FREE online)

Maugham Resources

• Maugham (glbtq)
• Maugham (Wikipedia)
• 20th Century GLBT English Literature (glbtq)
• Maugham Novels FREE Online – including Of Human Bondage which is public domain
• We have also discussed Maugham's Cakes and Ale and The Moon and Sixpence.
• Maugham Films (IMDb) – one of the most often-filmed authors of the 20th century — including Rain, Of Human Bondage, The Letter, The Razor's Edge, Hitchcock's Secret Agent (from Ashenden), Moon and Sixpence, The Painted Veil, The Moon and Sixpence.

February 14: A Severed Head

Iris Murdoch's 1961 Novel

Murdoch Resources

• Murdoch (Wikipedia)
• Murdoch Internet Resources
• "Iris Murdoch" by Joyce Carol Oates
• "Go(o)d in Iris Murdoch" by Alan Jacobs
• We have also discussed Murdoch's The Bell, The Black Prince, A Fairly Honorable Defeat, The Sea The Sea, and Under the Net.
• Murdoch Films (IMDb) — Biographical film Iris (2001) — Jim's review of Iris.

March 13: Balthazar

Lawrence Durrell's 1958 novel

Durrell Resources

• Durrell (Wikipedia)
• Durrell (glbtq)
• International Lawrence Durrell Society
• Lawrence Durrell Archive
• The Alexandria Quartet (Wikipedia) – Balthazar is the second part of the tetralogy
• Durrel as NY Times Featured Author – reviews, articles, more
• Alexandria, Egypt (Wikipedia)

• Durrell Films (IMDb)

April 10: The Night Watch

Sarah Waters's 2006 Novel

Waters Resources

• Waters (glbtq)
• Fingersmith – summary & notes
• sarahwaters.com
• Interview with Waters (BBC)
• Interview with Waters (booksense.com)
• Waters's 10 favorite Victorian novels – free online copies of all titles at Online Books
• We have also discussed Waters's Tipping the Velvet, Affinity, and Fingersmith.
• Lesbian Novel (glbtq)
• Waters Films (IMDb)

May 8: Symposium

Plato's ca. 385 BCE Dialogue
(also FREE online)

Plato Resources

• Plato (glbtq)
• Plato (Wikipedia)
• Classical Greek GLBT Literature (glbtq)
• Plato (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
• Plato on Friendship and Eros (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
• Plato FREE Online – all of Plato is available online in free public domain editions
• Perseus Project – Classical Literature Online
• Plato Films (IMDb) – Hedwig and the Angry Inch contains a show-stopping musical number based on the Symposium.

June 12: The Eye in the Door

Pat Barker's 1993 Novel

Barker Resources

• Regeneration (Part 1 of Regeneration Trilogy) - Amazon.com resources
• Eye in the Door (Part 2 of Regeneration Trilogy) - Amazon resources
• Ghost Road (Part 3 of Regeneration Trilogy) - Amazon resources
• NY Times Featured Author – Pat Barker (reviews, articles, interview)
• World War I (Wikipedia overview, with links)
• Yahoo! Links to World War I sites
• Poet Siegfried Sassoon is fictionalized as a major character in Barker's novel. Here are complete texts of his major poetry:
  • Siegfried Sassoon: Counter-Attack, and Other Poems
  • Sassoon: The Old Huntsman, War Poems, & Lyrical Poems
  • Sassoon: Picture-Show
• Another great poet of World War I, who appeared in Regeneration, is Wilfred Owen; here is his Collected Poetry. (Several of his poems were set to music by Benjamin Britten in the extraordinary War Requiem.)
• 1997 film version of Regeneration. Also note: a classic film about WW I is Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory,

July 10: Earthly Powers

Anthony Burgess's 1980 Novel

Burgess Resources

• Burgess (Wikipedia)
• International Anthony Burgess Foundation
• Anthony Burgess Center
• Burgess 1985 audio interview (Wired for Books)
• Burgess 1973 interview (Paris Review)
• The Pope – Historical Overview (Wikipedia)
• Burgess Films (IMDb) – including A Clockwork Orange.

August 14: Ripley Under Ground

Patricia Highsmith's 1970 Novel

Highsmith Resources

• Highsmith (Wikipedia)
• Highsmith – brief overview of her life and writings
• Highsmith (glbtq)
• Highsmith at W.W. Norton – from her publisher: basic information, plus the complete short story "The Mobile Bed-Object"
• Mystery Fiction: Lesbian (glbtq)
• The Novel: Lesbian (glbtq)
• Highsmith Films (IMDb) – including Strangers on a Train and the Ripley films.

September 11: Roman Nights and Other Stories

Pier Paolo Pasolini's 1950s short fiction

Pasolini Resources

(Pasolini was an influential novelist, poet, critic, political theorist, and filmmaker)

• Pasolini (Wikipedia)
• Pasolini (Kirjasto/Books & Writers) – brief introduction
• Pasolini.net – extensive site in Italian (click English flag for translations into English)
• Pasolini (glbtq)
• Pasolini & Literature (glbtq)
• Pasolini (Senses of Cinema)
• The Films of Pasolini – in-depth reviews of all his pictures on DVD, with an introduction to his life and works (part of this Website)
• Pasolini Films (IMDb) – including Accattone, The Gospel According to [St.] Matthew, Oedipus Rex, Teorema, and Salò.

October 9: A Room of One's Own

Virginia Woolf's 1929 Essay

Woolf Resources

• Woolf (Wikipedia)
• Woolf as New York Times "Profiled Author" – original reviews, more
• Virginia Woolf Web – many resources
• Introduction to Woolf
• Works by Woolf – free, unabridged copies of all available Woolf texts online
• Woolf Films (IMDb) – including Orlando, To the Lighthouse, Mrs. Dalloway
• Works by Woolf which we have discussed previously
  • Mrs. Dalloway (discussed May 1998)
  • To the Lighthouse (discussed July 1999)
  • A Room of One's Own (first discussed August 2001)

November 13: TBA

December 11: TBA