We will be discussing The Heart by Maylis de Kerangal. The first 10 registered attendees will be mailed a free copy of the book. (Books will only be sent to Delaware addresses.)
Those who can obtain their own copy of the book can register as well. People who participate in all three discussions will receive some free swag items from Delaware Humanities!
There will also be an online discussion taking place in our Summer Book Club Facebook group for anyone who is not able to participate in the Zoom discussion.
Upcoming Discussions:
Aug 12th – Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
Follow “@dehumanities” on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to stay up to date on other events.
Book Summary:
Just before dawn on a Sunday morning, three teenage boys go surfing. While driving home exhausted, the boys are involved in a fatal car accident on a deserted road. Two of the boys are wearing seat belts; one goes through the windshield. The doctors declare him brain-dead shortly after arriving at the hospital, but his heart is still beating. The Heart takes place over the twenty-four hours surrounding the resulting heart transplant, as life is taken from a young man and given to a woman close to death. In gorgeous, ruminative prose, it examines the deepest feelings of everyone involved as they navigate decisions of life and death. As stylistically audacious as it is emotionally explosive, The Heart mesmerized readers in France, where it has been hailed as the breakthrough work of a new literary star. With the precision of a surgeon and the language of a poet, de Kerangal has made a major contribution to both medicine and literature with an epic tale of grief, hope, and survival.
SPONSORED BY THE SELBYVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARY
When we give, what do we expect in return?
Join us for a short, 30-minute lunch conversation on Craig Arnold’s poem “Bird-Understander“.
You can find the poem here. To join the conversation, please register.
Contact us with any questions!
REGISTRATION OPENS JULY 15!
We will be discussing Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. The first 10 registered attendees will be mailed a free copy of the book. (Books will only be sent to Delaware addresses.)
Those who can obtain their own copy of the book can register as well. People who participate in all three discussions will receive some free swag items from Delaware Humanities!
There will also be an online discussion taking place in our Summer Book Club Facebook group for anyone who is not able to participate in the Zoom discussion.
Follow “@dehumanities” on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to stay up to date on other events.
Book Summary:
At times stern, at other times patient, at times perceptive, at other times in sad denial, Olive Kitteridge, a retired schoolteacher, deplores the changes in her little town and in the world at large, but she doesn’t always recognize the changes in those around her: a lounge musician haunted by a past romance; a former student who has lost the will to live; Olive’s own adult child, who feels tyrannized by her irrational sensitivities; and her husband, Henry, who finds his loyalty to his marriage both a blessing and a curse. As the townspeople grapple with their problems, mild and dire, Olive is brought to a deeper understanding of herself and her life – sometimes painfully, but always with ruthless honesty. Olive Kitteridge offers profound insights into the human condition—its conflicts, its tragedies and joys, and the endurance it requires.
In 2016, a federal appeals court struck down an Ohio law that provided penalties for lying during political campaigns. The reason? There is, in fact, a constitutional right to lie. Sure, you can be prosecuted for things like fraud, perjury, and libel, but those are exceptions. In general, constitutional protection for free speech does not depend on whether the speech is true. And when the topic is politics, untruthful speech is not only protected under the First Amendment, but enjoys the highest level of constitutional protection. Why? That’s what this talk is about. For twenty minutes or so, we’ll step back from the fray of partisan politics to take a look at the history and ideas behind our current system. After a brief Q and A, we’ll spend the rest of the program discussing the following questions: Have we, or have we not, reached a point in the history of our country where political lying has so disrupted our electoral system that the public good requires the establishment of legal limits comparable to those placed on perjury? If so, what should such a policy look like, and what unintended consequences might follow?
How do we decide what we believe, and what we don’t believe? Drawing on philosophical, psychological, and legal resources – and avoiding partisan politics – this talk outlines a few of the unconscious factors that influence the way humans reach conclusions and make decisions.
