American literature workshop begins Sept. 11

WASHINGTON » The Gunn Memorial Library welcomes Mark Scarbrough, a scholar on 19th Century American literature, for a five week session exploring literature, politics and culture in the United States through the genre of short stories.

While the short story didn’t originate in the United States, it became the form the new nation re-invented and made its own. From Nathaniel Hawthorne through Charlotte Perkins Gilman, participants will examine these changes through our cultural history before and after the Civil War. Join us for a lively lecture/discussion format. Copies of the short stories will be available at the circulation desk, when reserved in advance. Please sign up today. Supplies are limited.

The discussions will be held on Mondays at 10 a.m. The schedule is:

Sept. 11: Nathaniel Hawthorne, “My Kinsman, Major Molineux” (1832)

Sept. 18: Herman Melville, “Bartleby the Scrivener” (1853)

Sept. 25: Bret Harte, “The Outcasts Of Poker Flat” (1869)

Oct. 2: Charles Chesnutt, “The Wife Of His Youth” (1898)

Oct. 16: Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper” (1892)

Scarbrough started his professional life as an academic and did his doctoral work in nineteenth century American literature at the University of Wisconsin, Madison before accepting a job at Saint Edward’s University in Austin, Texas. He has given papers on Chaucer at the International Medieval Conference and onAmerican literature at the MLA and regional MLA conferences. After several years teaching, he resigned and moved to New York to write. In New York, he met and married Bruce Weinstein.

Together, they have written more than two dozen cookbooks, and have appeared on The Today Show, CBS This Morning and The View and selected as The Most Influential People of Litchfield County. Mark is enmeshed in literature and has been a popular book group and literary discussion leader across Southern New England.

For more information on Scarborough, visit bruceandmark.com

This program is free and open to the public but registration is requested; call 860-868-7586 for further information or visit www. gunnlibrary.org

The Gunn Memorial Li- brary is located at 5 WykehamRoad at Route 47 on the Green, in Washington, CT

Mark Scarborough will lead a five-week series of workshops on American literature at the Gunn Memorial Library in Washington, starting Sept. 11.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS The Gunn Memorial Library is holding a workshop series on American literature starting Sept. 11.