A Closer Look Book Club provides an opportunity for in-depth conversation about literature in an informal setting. The Book Club meets in the Michael and Helen Dobrich Library of the Poetry Center. For more information, contact Cybele Knowles at knowles@email.arizona.edu
The Family Tree by Margo Glantz
with Julian Etienne Gómez Baranda and Cybele Knowles
Thursday, October 8, 5:30 p.m.
“I turn on my tape-recorder”—and thus begins this book about family, race, and country from Mexican author Margo Glantz, structured as a recorded conversation between the author/narrator and her parents. Combining elements of the novel, autobiography, history, and family photo album, The Family Tree explores the life of a Jewish couple who emigrated from the Ukraine to Mexico, and also opens a window onto the larger experience of the Jewish immigrant community in Mexico.
This is a special bilingual meeting of the Book Club. The Family Tree
is available in both English and Spanish, and you may read either version; the discussion will be in English. Our bilingual Book Club is designed to create a new mix of readers and communities, and is co-sponsored by the Mexican Consulate in Tucson.
See you there!
Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino
with Cybele Knowles
Thursday, November 12, 5:30 p.m.
In Invisible Cities, the aging Chinese emperor Kublai Khan and the Venetian explorer Marco Polo sit down for a chat. Kublai Khan wants to know more about his vast empire, most of which he has never seen. Marco Polo, who has been traveling the land in the employ of the Khan, describes fifty-five fantastical cities. These descriptions are interspersed with dialog between the two men. Invisible Cities is about cities, imagination, desire, and philosophy, and is named by many a Calvino fan as their favorite work by one of the most important writers of the 20th century.
Each Shop Talk begins with a mini-lecture on the featured author, followed by a conversation about the author and the work. A study packet containing biographical information, excerpts, and criticism is made available for each event, and no advance knowledge of the poet or works discussed is required. All discussions take place at 6:00 p.m. in the Michael and Helen Dobrich Library of the Poetry Center. For more information, email Rodney Phillips at melville@email.arizona.edu
The Work of Robinson Jeffers
Monday, September 14, 6:00 p.m.
Joel Arthur, MFA alumnus and Academic Skills Coordinator at the University of Arizona SALT Center, leads a discussion of Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962), a forerunner of contemporary ecopoetry whose intense, sweeping work is emblematic of the Carmel/Big Sur region of California.
The Work of Juliana Spahr
Monday, October 19, 6:00 p.m.
Chris Nelson, MFA student and Jacob K. Javits Fellow at the University of Arizona, leads a discussion of the work of Juliana Spahr, who reads for the Poetry Center on October 23. Spahr’s work targets injustice in the prevailing conditions, be they ecological or political, in language that is hypnotic and fresh.
The Work of Eleni Sikelianos
Monday, November 30, 6:00 p.m.
Poet, fiction writer, and Poetry Center volunteer Colleen Burns leads a discussion of the work of Eleni Sikelianos, who reads for the Poetry Center on December 4. Sikelianos’s poetry takes innovative forms on the page, employing drawings, photographs, and collage to examine ideas of place and self.
