In just seven pages of text, Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges raises profound questions about the meaning and value of knowledge in his 1941 essay, “The Library of Babel”: the timelessness of knowledge, its organization, the identity of its stewards and its accessibility. In this installment of “A Text at Work” we invite you to read Borges’ essay, consider the questions posed by Professor Peter Haas in a recent Books@Work seminar, and contribute to the conversation in the comments section.
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From time-to-time we share the link to a short story with some guiding questions or reflections on how the text was used in a Books@Work seminar. Former Books@Work Curriculum Director and professor Paul Jaussen invites you to take a closer look at a short story by Mark Twain in this post.
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News came last week that Zadie Smith, the 38 year-old English writer was named to the shortlist for the BBC’s National Short Story Award. In this installment of “A Text at Work” we invite discussion on Zadie Smith’s short story, “Moonlit Landscape with Bridge”.
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As Americans prepare to celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence, it is worth remembering the long tradition of poetry dedicated to national identity. The best of this poetry is both challenging and affirmative, declaring, as Walt Whitman does in “I Hear America Singing,” “the varied carols” of each person “singing what belongs to him and her.” Such literature beckons us to what Lincoln called a “more perfect union.”
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To add to your summer reading, we are offering James Thurber’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” as our latest text at work, a tale of an “everyman” who escapes from his daily life through elaborate fantasies of bravado and adventure. This story was recently part of a seminar at the Maple Heights City Schools in Maple Heights, OH. When discussing the story, program participants explored the role of fantasy in their own lives, realizing that Walter Mitty may not be as strange as he first appears.
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Since this is the season for gifts and giving, our latest installment of a Text at Work is O. Henry’s famous holiday tale “The Gift of the Magi.” O. Henry was the pen name of William Sydney Porter (1862-1910), a popular American short story writer. The prestigious O. Henry Award bears his name, and is granted every year for excellent short fiction. A Text at Work is a Books@Work “teaser” – a chance to experience a reading and a set of questions to spur discussion. Read it on your own, or share it with a friend. But please don’t forget to come back and comment!
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Kurt Vonnegut’s satirical, often dark and usually humorous novels are both popular and complex. His somber yet fantastical vision of the world was born out of harsh personal experience. Most notably, as a young man Vonnegut enlisted to fight in World War II, where he was captured by the German army. As a prisoner of war, he survived the fire bombing of Dresden. This experience would become the source material for Slaughterhouse Five, one of his most important works.
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