Edith Wharton: Two Novels

Published on by Steven J. Venturino

This Newberry Seminar is now concluded. It was held in the spring of 2017.

This seminar explores two of Edith Wharton’s most important novels—The House of Mirth (1905) and her Pulitzer-Prize winning The Age of Innocence (1920). We will spend several sessions on each novel, allowing for an in-depth and appreciative look into Wharton’s literary technique, as well as her treatment of art, architecture, culture, personal change, and historical transformation. We will also sample film adaptations of the novels. Seven sessions.

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A Serial Reading of Our Mutual Friend

Published on by Steven J. Venturino

This Newberry Seminar is now concluded. It was held in the fall of 2016.

Our Mutual Friend is Charles Dickens’s last completed novel, filled with humor, dark satire, multiple plotlines, and remarkable prose. This seminar considers the book in serial weekly installments (no spoilers) for an engaging in-depth look at Dickens’s literary craft, social criticism, and psychological insight. Eight sessions. For the first session, please read pages 13-51, but please do not read the book’s introduction.

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