ocu reading and discussion series on women’s autobiographies
“The Journey Inward: Women’s Autobiography” is the theme for the Let’s Talk About It Oklahoma reading and discussion series hosted by Oklahoma City University with support from the Oklahoma Humanities Council. A dancer, a scientist, and a pioneer are a few of the fascinating women participants will encounter, joining them on their journeys (both literally and figuratively) into the heart of personhood. These five provocative and entertaining writers are some of our country’s finest and most entertaining modern autobiographers, and their works will challenge us to explore the relationships among their lives and ours.
Oklahoma City University invites the community to come enjoy this five-part series of lively book discussions. Although participants may attend several sessions, all are encouraged to participate in the whole series to grasp the richness in this series theme. At each session, a humanities scholar will make a 30-40 minute presentation on the book in the context of the theme. Small group discussion will follow with experienced discussion leaders. At the end, everyone will come together for a brief wrap-up.
Anyone interested in participating is encouraged to pre-register and borrow the reading selections. To reserve your books, contact Harbour Winn at (405) 208-5472, or via e-mail at hwinn@okcu.edu. Information can also be found on the web site of the Center for Interpersonal Studies through Film & Literature: www.okcu.edu/film-lit/.
The series will be held in room 151 in Walker Center on the Oklahoma City University campus from 7 to 9 PM on Tuesdays, beginning January 10 and continuing on alternate Tuesdays through February 21. The final session will then be one week later on February 28. Books, theme materials, and services for this series are provided by “Let’s Talk About It, Oklahoma,” a cooperative project of the Oklahoma Library Association and the Oklahoma Humanities Council. Funding for this series is provided by a grant from the Oklahoma Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Readings and dates:
January 10 Eudora Welty’s One Writer’s Beginning.
Pulitzer Prize-winning Welty, one of our country’s most distinguished writers, reflects upon memory as “that most wonderful interior vision,” the very stuff of autobiography. She also describes memory as “terribly important, a source and a force, too.” Her richly detailed glimpse into her Southern childhood yields a book that recounts inward and outward journeys, a short gem that can catalyze the process of reflection for each of us as well as launch our series theme. The scholar offering background and perspectives will be Dr. Elaine Smokewood.
January 24 Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Priutt Stewart
The frontier journal of Stewart, full of the tang of the prairies, tells the story of a pioneer woman who helped settle the American West. First published in 1914, these letters of an “ordinary” woman raised in Oklahoma reveal a born writer who taught herself to read and write. The weaving together in her reflections of ebullience and reticence, joy and sorrow, optimism and perseverance, makes modern life seem bland indeed. The scholar offering background and perspectives will be Dr. Harbour Winn.
February 7 Zora Neal Hurston’s Dust Tracks on a Road
Author of Their Eyes Were Watching God, one of the most acclaimed novels in American literature, Hurston writes an exuberant account of her journey from childhood poverty in the rural south to prominence in the Harlem Renaissance, and then on to a pauper’s death. Collector of southern folklore and traditions, she explores issues of identity, education, family, love, motherhood, work, voice, slavery, activism, and the double jeopardy of being black and female. The scholar offering background and perspectives will be Dr. Regina Bennett.
February 21 My Life by Isadora Duncan
Expressing herself in dance all her life, Duncan lived on the edge of convention, of financial security, and of intellectual currents. Her audacity, intensity, and extravagance always amaze us. And yet, she writes of her impoverished childhood, her longing for education, her struggles to balance career and personal relationships, her lifelong quest for artistic fulfillment and recognition, and her hope for security and understanding. Candid and brave, a book not to miss! The scholar offering background and perspectives will be Dr. Jennifer Kidney.
February 28 Margaret Mead’s Blackberry Winter.
In The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan called Mead the “most powerful influence on modern women.” Although we now have others who symbolize woman as thinkers, Mead and her autobiography remain among the most famous. Interestingly, she focuses on family, not career in Blackberry Winter. Rather than the exotic South Seas people she studied, she instead reflects on her personal life as granddaughter, daughter, student, wife, mother, and finally, grandmother. The scholar offering background and perspectives will be Dr. Lloyd Musselman.