Valerie Tutson

Fri 11/28/2008, 5-7pm:

SALON - Storyteller Valerie Tutson on Once and Future Storytelling. In Senegal they say, "When an old person dies, a library is buried." Tutson explores storytelling, the work of Rhode Island Black Storytellers and its annual FUNDA FEST in January, and the relevance of this ancient oral art form in today's image-driven technical age; as she slyly puts it, storytelling is not a spectator sport! Co-presented with the RI Foundation. For Athenaeum members and their guests.

Karl Jacoby

Fri 11/21/2008, 5-7pm:

SALON - Karl Jacoby on the History of the Frontier and the Frontiers of History. Brown History Professor Jacoby's new book Shadows at Dawn: A Borderlands Massacre and the Violence of History details an 1871 massacre of Tucson-area Apaches by Anglos, Mexicans, and native tribes. In a nod to our last year's series on 1838 and this year's on the future of the library, his talk will trace 1830s policies and philosophies that led to increasing conflicts and violent resolutions as the frontier expanded lawlessly westward in the decades that followed, and he'll reflect on the changing role of the 21st century author in an increasingly on-line world. Do questions of ownership, citizenship, and nativism raised by 19th century geographical expansion connect to the idea of the borderless global world seemingly promised by today's electronic expansion of information? Books for sale and signing thanks to Borders! For Athenaeum members and their guests. (Sponsor: Studio Hop, 810 Hope Street, 401-621-2262)

James Wood

Tues 11/18, 7pm:
Series: The Once and Future Library, part 3: The New Yorker's literary critic James Wood on Reading and Writing on Reading. A world of libraries presupposes a world of readers; what is the future of that world? Wood gives a brief history of the notion of the common reader, describing how critics and writers have tried over centuries to engage a large, public readership; defends the idea of the common reader against attacks from both populism and faux-populist elitism; and distinguishes between current academic writing and his brand of literary journalism. Wood's new How Fiction Works available for sale and signing thanks to Borders. Free and open to the public! (Series Sponsor: Dan Siegel, M&S Rare Books)