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Home , The Grapes of Wrath

September 2009 | Vol. VIII No. 1

One Civilized Reader Is Worth a Thousand Boneheads

The End of the World as We Know It The Center for the Humanities The media declare any number of the changes we of conflict we used to reserve for the thing we called Advisory Board see around us as “the end of the world as we know war. At the same time, for those of us lucky enough 2009–2010 it.” There are certainly enough potential crises at to live in peaceful and relatively prosperous places Nancy Berg present to place the way of life we have known dur- in the world, we know only that there is warfare in Associate Professor of Asian and Near ing the past five decades at a critical turning point, faraway places we see on televised news reports, or Eastern Languages and Literatures Ken Botnick but I doubt that we will see all or even the majority read about having occurred in the distant past. In Associate Professor of Art of these media-driven emergencies come to pass. My our time and place, we experience only peace, itself Gene Dobbs Bradford Executive Director reference to the end of the world, however, comes built on the ashes of war. We are safe in our homes Jazz St. Louis from the changes war brings, and, as philosopher with our families. We are safe enough to forget. As Lingchei (Letty) Chen Associate Professor of Modern Chinese George Santayana declared, only the dead have seen Andy Chih-ming Wang noted in his presentation Language and Literature the end of war. at the conference, we are “a Elizabeth Childs Associate Professor and Chair of Warfare was the generation rich with memory Department of Art History and sticks in gigabytes, [but] Archaeology topic of an interna- Mary-Jean Cowell tional conference held our remembrance [of war] Associate Professor of Performing Arts is thin and shallow.” Thus Phyllis Grossman in Seoul, South Korea, Retired Financial Executive this past summer (June there was no better place for Michael A. Kahn this conference than South Author and Partner 3-5). The full title of Bryan Cave LLP the conference, co-or- Korea, a land still divided by Chris King a war that has never officially Editorial Director ganized by the Center The St. Louis American Newspaper for the Humanities at ended and that all too often Olivia Lahs-Gonzales threatens to resume. Director Washington Univer- Sheldon Art Galleries Paula Lupkin sity in Saint Louis and The Korean War, often Assistant Professor of Architecture Yonsei University in called the forgotten war, was Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts Erin McGlothlin Seoul, was “The End of actually the end of the world Associate Professor of German the World as We Know as Koreans had known it, Steven Meyer A Sculpture at the Demilitarized Zone, South Korea Associate Professor of English It: War, Representa- and the ongoing danger to Joe Pollack tion, and Memory.” what is left of their world is Film and Theater Critic for KWMU, Writer The conference was meant to examine war and the real. In fact, our planned visit to the Demilitarized Anne Posega meaning of remembrance: how memory and the Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea was Head of Special Collections, Olin Library Qiu Xiaolong formal construction of historical narrative shape the originally canceled after North Korea carried out Novelist and Poet cultural and political representations of war through several nuclear tests and fired a few missiles out to Sarah Rivett art, public institutions, and our concept of justice in sea. We were, instead, scheduled for a day at a spa. I Assistant Professor of English Henry Schvey providing restitutions to the victims of war. was disappointed, but dutifully bought a new swim- Professor of Drama What do we think war is? Is it any conflict? In a suit, which in the end I did not need. Prompted Wang Ning by a number of emailed requests from Washington Professor of English, Tsinghua University time when in some parts of the world, as Professor James Wertsch University participants, the decision to reschedule Marshall S. Snow Professor of Arts and Early noted in his opening remarks on the first day Sciences of the conference, it is “easier to get an AK47 than a our visit to the DMZ was made only hours before Director of International and Area Studies we arrived in Seoul. Ex Officio clean glass of water,” we have democratized the kind Zurab Karumidze Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia Edward S. Macias Provost & Exec VC for Academic Affairs Gary S. Wihl visit our blog site at http://cenhum.artsci.wustl.edu/pubs/blog.htm Dean of Arts & Sciences editor’s notes continued

be as many as 20 other such and some of the food the villagers served tunnels as yet undiscovered. us: cold noodles with dog meat. I was Our next stop was a large told that only the most honored guests observation tower overlook- could have dog meat with their noodles. ing the DMZ. This tower (Almost every member of our group, serves as a reception center however, politely pushed the meat aside for tourists, and from it one because dogs are co-workers and com- can see into North Korea. rades of Mongolian shepherds. We could The DMZ is a long scar not eat the flesh of our friends.) across the land at the 38th The coin-operated binoculars timed Parallel. This boundary, 2.5 out, and my view of North Korea and miles wide and 155 miles the DMZ went black. As I walked back long, is marked by a jagged to the bus, I thought about how the line of barbed wire fences peaceful world of those North Korean and is dotted with military peasants I met so long ago had also run posts continuously manned out of time, and had turned darker with Once past the military checkpoints, by well-armed soldiers. each retelling of the political signifi- we began our tour of the DMZ at a site cance of the Korean War. And then I that seemed more like a theme park than As I looked north through the coin- wondered how the media of the future a military strong point. Large colorful fed binoculars available in the tower, I would treat our country’s involvement letters topped with larger than life hel- remembered a very different representa- in the two wars we are helping wage in mets and barbed wire spell out “DMZ.” tion of North Korea. Nearly 30 years Western Asia right now, and whether There is also a sculpture of Korean adults ago I visited North Korea for the first “once they too faded from public atten- and children trying to push together time. It was a strange coincidence that tion” other such conflicts would follow. the two halves of a divided globe. Inside had led me there. During the Cultural Perhaps they might not if, as James the globe is a map of North Korea on Revolution in China (1966-1976), I Dawes noted in his presentation, we one side and South Korea on the other, spent a number of years as a “reedu- begin to create a collective moral archive with the people trying to join the two. cated youth” among the herders of the of the degrading reality of such conflict. Despite this optimistic sculpture, visit- Horqin Grassland in Mongolia. The For the most part we avoid looking at ing the DMZ, as Washington University Jirim League Cultural Troupe, a collec- the crimes of war, the torture, rape and Professor Henry Schvey noted in his blog tion of local writers, had created a play massacre of civilians, and the destruction about our trip, is “like watching two de- entitled “The Red Grassland,” to tell the of their homes and livelihoods. cades collide: the 1950s and the 2000s.” story of the people living in the Horqin Nowhere was this more evident than in a area of Inner Mongolia. In addition to We choose to forget. Professor Dawes South Korean propaganda film vilifying the actual writers, the Troupe wanted is taking the confessions of Japanese war the North. This film, which creates the to include members of other classes, so criminals and, in the face of continuing atmosphere of a World War II newsreel they invited some farmers to “judge” cultural and political denials, creating an with modern production techniques, is the political “correctness” of their work. accurate representation for future genera- not just for foreign tourists. It is a field Other than the authors themselves, tions. He warns us that demonizing war trip destination for South Korean school the group of “reeducated youths” from criminals is itself a moral failure because children, and is meant to teach them the Beijing were the most likely candidates doing so prevents us from getting at the cultural and political significance of the living in the village, so, in another nod reasons behind these acts—acts that we Korean War. I wondered what lessons to political correctness, I was selected to are all capable of under certain circum- were taught in the North, where there be an “honorary author” in the travel- stances. Rather than demonizing war was no counterbalancing freedom of the ing group. We visited many places; one crimes and their perpetrators, we have press or access to world opinion. The dif- of the stops along the way was Ji’an on the responsibility to turn such crimes fering representations of that war may be the border with North Korea. We also into something we can understand, and too disparate to permit dialogue between visited a neighboring village whose name hence learn to avoid and among generations. I cannot remember. The North Korean in the future. peasants in this village treated us as We also visited the third of four distinguished guests. I remember only known tunnels that had been hand-dug three things clearly: the beautiful danc- by North Korean prisoners to enable ing and music presented by these local Jian Leng infiltration and eventual invasion of people, the dizzying carnival-ride swing Associate Director the South. There are thought to that could travel an entire 360 degrees, Center for the Humanities book of the month by Gerald Early

Obscene in the Extreme: The Burning speaking world, the book remains one and Banning of ’s The of the most frequently challenged by Grapes of Wrath parents who don’t like it.) By Rick Wartzman In part, was PublicAffairs, 2008 banned because it contained obscene language (bastard, bitch, shitheel, pecker, 308 pages including index, nuts, dong) but mostly because of its bibliography, endnotes, and photos political message about capitalism: the 1. Trampling Out the Vintage large agribusiness farmers of California, For fear the hearts of men are failing Associated Farmers, with the help of local governments and law enforcement, For these are latter days we know were out to exploit and ruthlessly op- The now is spreading press, isolate, and stigmatize the migrant workers who were entering the state, God’s word declared it would be so escaping their foreclosed farms and the --The Carter Family, “No Depression conditions that prevailed in Heaven,” 1936 between 1930 and 1936 in , On Monday, August 21, 1939, the Arkansas, and other parts of the lower Kern County Board of Supervisors by Midwest and the upper South. Nothing a vote of 4-to-1 removed copies of John is probably more vividly remembered Steinbeck’s recently published novel, The from the Depression than the images of field, was the epicenter of the conflict Grapes of Wrath, from the shelves of its weather-beaten, impoverished ““ between the migrants, the farmers, and public library. That book banning was families, their possessions strapped to local government. Oddly, the supervi- going on in the United States in 1939 their Model Ts and Model As, traveling sor who most energetically pushed for hardly comes as a surprise: journalist on Route 66 to the promised land of banning The Grapes of Wrath, a con- H. L. Mencken had been arrested in California, , in hopes servative named Stanley Abel, thought 1926 for selling copies of a banned issue of work, and finding mostly squalid the ban would generate publicity and of American Mercury, which he edited, squatters’ camps, better-run federal help Kern get more aid from the federal in Boston Common; U. S. Customs migrant camps, police brutality, leftist government to deal with the migrants, banned D. H. Lawrence’s 1928 novel, union organizers who frequently orga- who were a drain on the local social Lady Chatterley’s Lover, on the grounds nized unsuccessful strikes, low wages, services budget. (Kern continued to of obscenity; the U. S. Post Office and towns that did not want them. No provide the migrants with free medical burned 500 copies of James Joyce’s crisis of poor, dislocated citizens was to care when every other California county Ulysses in 1922; ’s create the same political and economic had stopped, once federal aid was cut.) 1938 novel, To Have and Have Not, was unrest and despair in the United States The national press besmirched Kern’s banned in Detroit and Queens; and until the coming of Hurricane Ka- reputation, describing it, inaccurately, we needn’t ask how many segregated trina in 2005. “This is a rough book,” as a place of squalor and despair since libraries in the South carried any books Steinbeck wrote his agent while he was the arrival of the migrants, which upset by black writers. (The white librar- working on it, “because a revolution is the locals greatly. Banning Steinbeck’s ians could simply say that their budgets going on.” In the , many, on both popular, controversial, and highly po- didn’t permit them to buy material in the left and the right, felt that a socialist lemical novel would divide and which their patrons had absolutely no in- or communist revolution in America was become symbolic of the ideological war terest. So, in effect, the books were not imminent or at least possible; those on between left and right over the plight of banned but rather ignored.) Government the left were determined to foment what the poor. (federal, state, and local), seemingly, they thought was a historical inevita- 2. We Come with the Dust and We Go had a more compelling interest in what bility that would end the madness of With the Wind people were reading than you might private property, the inequality of wealth Rick Wartzman’s Obscene in the Ex- think, and clearly more than it ought distribution, and the hegemony of the treme is framed around the week in Au- to have had. Steinbeck himself was no bourgeois and the rich; and those on the gust that the Kern Board of Supervisors stranger to censorship before The Grapes right were equally determined to prevent passed its ban of The Grapes of Wrath of Wrath: his 1937 novella, Of Mice and a monstrous form of totalitarianism (August 21) and—as a result of the Men, his breakout book, was challenged that would destroy the primacy of the generally negative press it generated— on the grounds of containing profanity individual and the free market system, was forced to reconsider and vote and promoting euthanasia. (A staple on and stymie economic growth and wealth on it again (August 28). Between many school-reading lists in the English- creation. Kern, right outside Bakers- book of the month continuedcontinued

States; and lots Steinbeck became an or a of sales for The Lincoln Steffens, exposing the horrors of Grapes of Wrath an industry as a way of showing the gro- because people tesqueries of capitalism. For Steinbeck, were curious this was a happenstance, not a career. what all the to- After a few false starts, once he was able do was about. to control and channel his anger, he was Steinbeck able to write the book straight through himself was, by in six months. The success of the book turns, fright- astonished Steinbeck. As Wartzman ened, irritated, writes, “Other proletarian literature from and bemused the ‘30s—Jack Conroy’s The Disinherit- by the attention ed, Robert Cantwell’s The Land of Plenty, his novel was Erskine Caldwell’s Tobacco Road, and receiving. He James Farrell’s trilogy, Studs Lonigan— hated being a would command the attention of critics, Kern County librarian Gretchen Knief, pictured here with a group of celebrity. He but The Grapes of Wrath alone would school children, was taken aback by the censoring of The Grapes of Wrath. feared that become a true commercial phenomenon, “If that book is banned today, what will be banned tomorrow?” she asked. the Associated with Steinbeck on pace to sell 430,000 (Kern County Museum) Farmers were copies by the end of 1939.” going to frame The popularity of the book unnerved this frame, Wartzman provides a highly him on a rape charge. He had trouble the farmers and the right. Wartzman readable and engaging account of the eating and sleeping, and certainly did relates how vigorously they fought back: farm labor crisis in California that led to not want to go near any California with the ban, with conservative writ- Steinbeck’s writing of the novel against produce farms. His marriage was in ers’ novels that countered Steinbeck’s the national backdrop of Depression era, trouble. He was not, before his 1939 work or commentaries and treatises that politics that led up to this epic, known for being a particularly po- unmasked The Grapes of Wrath as pro- moment of the Kern ban. As might be litical novelist. (1936), paganda, with testimony from migrants expected, this particular week was a time his novelization of the California Cotton who hated the book. Some genuinely of pretentious speeches by liberals about Strike of 1934, was noted for being did because they thought that Steinbeck the sanctity of civil liberties and the rise even-handed in its account. Steinbeck used them (he was afflicted with guilt of fascism in the United States; insensi- did not want to be on any side for fear about this) and they thought he stigma- tive, paranoid speeches by conservatives that readers would think he was giving tized them. Many of the migrants were about the inadequacies of the poor and them mere propaganda rather than a strikingly conservative in their moral the rise of communism in the United thoughtful and considered work of art and religious views and were deeply of- about politics and the human struggle. fended by the sexual situations and the Make a Gift to the “I’m not interested,” he said, “in ranting profanity in the book. Wartzman does Center for the Humanities about justice and oppression.” He knew an especially good job here comparing a lot of leftists, but they did not greatly this contestation over the book to the oin other donors and supporters trust him or consider him one of their southern response to Harriet Beecher to ensure that the Center for Jthe Humanities can continue to own, and he was not enamored of them. Stowe’s 1852 anti-slavery novel, Uncle fulfill its mission. Help us continue Learning about the migrant camps and Tom’s Cabin. to make the humanities a part of the history of California agriculture In the backdrop, Darryl Zanuck of public life and yours. as he did his research for The Grapes of 20th Century Fox, who purchased the Send your check, payable to Wrath changed Steinbeck. What he rights of The Grapes of Wrath for the Washington University, to: learned angered him. His guides to the staggering sum at the time of $70,000, The Center for the Humanities migrant underworld, Eric Thomsen and was trying to fight off both the left and c/o Shannon McAvoy Grass Thomas Collins of the Resettlement Ad- right in making the film version. The Washington University in St. Louis ministration (a federal agency), showed left wanted a Marxist film, capitalism Campus Box 1202 him the intricacies of the migrant life red in tooth and claw; the right wanted a One Brookings Drive and farm politics, the shocking pov- St. Louis, MO 63130-4899 film that showed the horrors of commu- erty, the enormous power, money, and nism, the pathologies of the migrants, extensive organization of the farmers. and glories of free enterprise. The film, In a sense, with The Grapes of Wrath, announcement directed by , who saw it The Center for the Humanities in Arts and Sciences at Washington University is simply as a family drama, was neither— pleased to announce our three Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminar fel- unless the fact that a film studio, owned lows for 2009-2010. The theme of the Sawyer Seminar is “How Deep is the Ocean: by a major bank, had taken a decidedly The Rise and Fall of Jazz as Popular Music.” It will be a year-long interdisciplinary anti-capitalistic novel and made it into examination of the transformation of jazz from popular dance music to high art the biggest money-making film of 1940 music and how that transformation has affected not only the audience and practi- was ultimately a triumph of the co-opt- tioners of jazz but American music and the institutions that define and disseminate ing powers of capitalism. Wartzman’s it. book is not, by any means, a complete account of the making of the film, but it Dr. Maya C. Gibson has been appointed the Postdoc- is sufficient for the narrative at hand. toral Fellow of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminar. She will teach an undergraduate course in the Wartzman tells, in part, the story of spring that will combine her specialization in the life and leftwing politics in California, starting art of jazz singer Billie Holiday with the larger concerns with socialist writer Upton Sinclair’s of the seminar. Her Ph.D. dissertation in Musicology, nearly successful run for the gover- which she completed last year at the University of Wiscon- norship of California in 1934. The sin—Madison is entitled “Alternate Takes: Billie Holiday popular attraction of leftwing politics at the Intersection of Black Cultural Studies and Historical in the state draws the ire and pumps Musicology.” the organizational muscle of the right. Ultimately, Culbert Olson, a socialist, Dr. Matthew A. Shipe has been appointed the Andrew does win the governorship in 1938, and W. Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminar Fellow. Matthew one of his most important appointments completed his dissertation, “On Being Updike Forever: is leftist intellectual Carey McWilliams, Narcissism as National Epic in ’s Short Fic- biographer of Ambrose Bierce and au- tion,” in 2007, receiving the Ph.D. in English and Ameri- thor of the 1939 nonfiction companion can Literature from Washington University. He will teach to The Grapes of Wrath, Factories in the a freshman seminar focusing on classic American and Field, also a popular book but not nearly British novels and films that principally feature musicians so as The Grapes of Wrath. McWil- and music-making. liams becomes head of the Division of Jerome Camal has been appointed the Dissertation Fel- Immigration and Housing, in other low of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Sawyer Seminar. words, the man in charge of farm labor Jerome is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Musicology in issues in the state of California. One of the Department of Music at Washington University and the most radical things he does as farm completing his dissertation, “From Gwoka Modènn to Jazz chief is to recommend a minimum wage Ka: Music and Ideology in Guadeloupe.” for farm workers, an aid to the unions. The Center will run five sessions of the seminar during McWilliams was even more intensely 2009 fall semester. All members of the community are hated by the right than Steinbeck. welcome to attend any sessions. Please see the times and The Big Farmers are the bad guys locations of the five sessions for this fall on the insert page of this newsletter. Please here, yet in a way there is more ambi- call the Center at 314-935-5576 to reserve a seat and obtain a free parking sticker. guity than one thinks. All are equally Refreshments will be provided. guilty of not seeing the migrants as human beings: for the right, they are the undeserving poor who would rather be did not desire revolution (as soon as the bust up unions; and the writers were right on the dole than work and who cause US entered World War II, they became that this sort of conflict, when properly crime and create disorder and expense blue collar workers and lost what little dramatized by a historical moment, is a wherever they go; for the left, they are interest they had in labor organizing) damn good story. the romanticized political tool to create and they were clearly a drain on govern- Wartzman’s book is recommended a new world order, salt of earth folk ment resources and a blight on the local to readers with an interest in American with their heroic strength or pathetic communities; the left was right that the literature or in the labor movement. In- victims of the grinding wheels of capi- farmers wanted to suppress wages and cidentally, when the Board of Supervisors talism; for journalists like Steinbeck, organized relentlessly to defeat the unions met on August 28, despite considerable they are essentially a good story. On and the migrants while condemning the public pressure, the ban was not lifted. the other hand, everyone has a point: workers for organizing, using the police the right was correct that the migrants power of the state to control migrants and N. Euclid, 367-4120. Books will be available for You are invited to join Boone’s Bookies to dis- Events in purchase. cuss Loving Frank by Nancy Horan. 2pm and 7pm, SLCL-Daniel Boone Branch, 300 Clarkson September Saturday, September 5 Rd., 994-3300. St. Louis Writers Guild is proud to present The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry is the se- “Business Fundamentals for Writers,” a work- lection this month. 7pm, SLCL-Mid-County shop presented by Faye Adams. 10am, Kirk- Branch, 7821 Maryland Ave., 994-3300. wood Community Center, 111 S. Geyer Rd. All events are free unless otherwise indicated. SLWG members free, $5 for non-members. Mystery Lover’s Book Club @ Rock Road Author events generally followed by signings. Please register in advance: www.stlwriters- invites you to join the monthly conversations. All phone numbers have 314 prefix unless oth- guild.org. Board meeting will follow workshop. Stop by the branch in advance to pick up a copy erwise indicated. of the current selection. 7pm, SLCL-Rock Road Join the Mystery Lover’s Book Club. For Branch, 10267 St. Charles Rock Rd., 994-3300. Tuesday, September 1 the current selection call Jennifer at 752-9224. 10am, SLPL-Carondelet Branch, 6800 Michi- Thursday, September 10 St. Louis Public Library invites you to join the gan Ave. Machacek Book Discussion Group as they You are invited to join the HQ Afternoon Book discuss The Story of Forgetting by Stefan Mer- Tuesday, September 8 Discussion Group as they discuss Moonflower Vine by Jetta Carleton. 1:30pm, SLCL-Head- rill Block. 10am, SLPL-Machacek Branch, 6424 You are invited to attend the St. Louis County Scanlan Ave., 781-2948. quarters Branch, 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd., 994- Library’s Grand Glaize Library Book Dis- 3300. Webster Groves Public Library Book Dis- cussion Group as they discuss Hummingbird cussion Group will meet to discuss Cutting by Dorothy Arnzen. 2pm, SLCL-Grand Glaize The Thursday Matinee Book Club gathers to for Stone by Abraham Verghese. 6pm, 301 E. Branch, 1010 Meramec Station Rd., 994-3300. discuss a wide variety of titles from bestsellers to popular African . 1:30pm, Lockwood Ave., 961-3784, or visit www.wgpl. Left Bank Books presents a reading and book org/readers. SLCL- Natural Bridge Branch, 7606 Natural signing with Dyana Furmansky, author of Ro- Bridge Rd., 994-3300. St. Louis County Library’s Book Discussion salie Edge: Hawk of Mercy. 7pm, LBB, 399 N. Group will meet to discuss The Story of Forget- Euclid, 367-6731. If you like mysteries, the Murder of the Month ting by Stefan M. Block. 7pm, SLCL-Meramec Club is for you. This month’s The Tuesday Night Writers’ Critique Group selection is Desert Spring by Michael Craft. Valley Branch, 625 New Smizer Mill Rd., 994- will meet to read and critique each others’ work. 3300. 3:30pm, SLCL-Indian Trails Branch, 8400 Del- Writers of all levels of experience are invited port Dr., 994-3300. Wednesday, September 2 to join. For more details contact Susan: ch2b- [email protected]. 7pm, B&N Crest- Authors @ St. Louis Public Library invites Join St. Louis County Library for a discus- wood, 9618 Watson Rd. you to join Lyah Beth LeFlore, author of Wild- sion of Turning Tables by Heather and Rose flowers. 7pm, SLPL-Schlafly Branch, 225 N. MacDowell. 10:30am, SLCL-Thornhill Branch, You are invited to attend the St. Louis Writers Euclid, 367-4120. Books will be available for 12863 Willowyck Dr., 994-3300. Guild’s Open MIC Night. Register in advance purchase. at www.stlwritersguild.org. 7pm, Wired Cof- Borders Book Club will meet in the cafe in fee, 3860 S. Lindbergh. The 2009-2010 season of Observable Read- Sunset Hills to discuss Plainsong by Kent Haruf. ings begins with readings featuring poets Nor- 7pm, 10990 Sunset Hills Plz., 909-0300. New As the Page Turns Discussion Group will man Finkelstein, Tyrone Williams and Steven members always welcome. discuss A Green Journey by Jon Hassler. 7pm, Schreiner. 8pm, Schlafly Bottleworks, 7260 SLCL-Weber Road Branch, 4444 Weber Rd., Southwest Ave. [email protected]. Thursday, September 3 994-3300. You are invited to join the Mystery Lover’s The HQ Evening Book Discussion Group in- Friday, September 11 Book Club to discuss Innocent in Death by J. vites you to join a discussion of You can expect great company, discussion, and D. Robb. 10am, SLCL- Headquarters Branch, by . 7pm, SLCL-Headquarters refreshments at the Great Expectations Rock 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd., 994-3300. Branch, 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd., 994-3300. Road Book Discussion Group. This month’s The Trailblazers Book Discussion Group You are invited to join the Sachs Evening Book selection is TBA. 10am, SLCL- Rock Road invites you to discuss Beach House by Jane Discussion Group as they discuss the current Branch, 10267 St. Charles Rock Rd., 994-3300. Green. 10am and 2pm, SLCL-Jamestown Bluffs selection, available at the front desk. 7pm, SL- Saturday, September 12 Branch, 4153 N. Hwy 67, 994-3300. CL-Samuel C. Sachs Branch, 16400 Burkhardt Pl., 994-3300. The St. Louis Public Library invites you to the The Book Journeys Group will discuss Three Romance Readers Book Club as they discuss Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson. 2pm, SLCL-In- White Lies by Jayne Ann Krentz. 10am, SLPL- dian Trails Branch, 8400 Delport Dr., 994-3300. Wednesday, September 9 The Bookies Book Discussion Group invites Buder Branch, 4401 Hampton Ave., 352-2900. Authors @ St. Louis Public Library presents you to discuss Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones. 2pm, Authors @ St. Louis Public Library presents Gil Robertson, author of Family Affair: SLCL-Oak Bend Branch, 842 S. Holmes Ave., Linda Porter, author of Torn Between Two What it Means to be African American 994-3300. Brothas, for a reading and book signing. 2pm, Today. 7pm, SLPL-Schlafly Branch, 225 st. louis literary calendar

SLPL-Julia Davis Branch, 4415 Natural Bridge 2pm, SLCL-Samuel C. Sachs Branch, 16400 St. Louis Public Library invites you to join the Ave., 383-3021. Books available for purchase. Burkhardt Pl., 994-3300. Buder Branch Book Discussion Group for a St. Louis Writers Guild presents a “Night of Join us once a month for our Eureka Hills Eve- discussion of Hot, Flat, and Crowded by Thom- Poetry and Music” with Michael Castro and ning Book Discussion Group. This month’s as Friedman. 1pm, SLPL-Buder Branch, 4401 J.D. Perran. Advance registration is requested: book for discussion will be Off Season by Hampton Ave., 352-2900. www.stlwritersguild.org. 6:30pm, Cicero’s Anne Rivers Siddons. 6pm, SLCL- Eureka Hills Sunday, September 20 Restaurant, 6691 Delmar Blvd. Branch, 103 Hilltop Village Center, 994-3300 Left Bank Books and L’Ecole Culinaire in- Monday, September 14 Authors @ St. Louis Public Library and Read vite you to join Julie Usher, author of Cookie St. Louis invite you to join author Stefan Mer- A Retrospective Reading and New Poems Swap, for a reading and signing. 2pm, L’Ecole rill Block, who will read from and sign copies Culinaire, 9811 South Forty Dr., 367-6731. with John Knoepfle, Emeritus Professor of of The Story of Forgetting. 7pm (6:30pm, public English, University of Illinois at Springfield. reception) SLPL-Schlafly Branch, 225 N. Euclid, Monday, September 21 12:15pm, UM-St. Louis, JC Penney Center, 367-4120. Books available for purchase. Room 222. Park in Lot C or take MetroLink, Join the Thornbirds for a lively discussion of 516-5699. Left Bank Books invites you to a reading and Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs. 2pm, SLCL- signing with Michael MacCambridge, author of Thornhill Branch, 12863 Willowyck Dr., 994- Tuesday, September 15 More Than a Game. 7pm, LBB, 399 N. Euclid, 3300. Florissant Valley Branch Book Discussion 367-6731. The Ethical Society of St. Louis and Left Group. 2pm, SLCL-Florissant Valley Branch, Urban Lit Discussion Group will meet to dis- Bank Books invite you to attend a reading and 195 New Florissant Rd., 994-3300. cuss Purple Panties by Zane. 7pm, SLPL–Car- signing with Judy Shepard, the author of The Cliff Cave Book Discussion Group. 2pm, SL- penter Branch, 3309 S. Grand Blvd., 772-6586. Meaning of Matthew. 7pm, Ethical Society of St. CL-Cliff Cave Branch, 5430 Telegraph Rd., 994- Trailblazers After Dark meet to discuss Louis, 9001 Clayton Rd., 367-6731. 3300. Newcomers welcome! Lying with Strangers by James Grippando. ¡Leamos! Spanish Book Discussion Group St. Louis Public Library invites you to discuss 7pm, SLCL-Jamestown Bluffs Branch, 4153 N. will discuss Mira si yo te querre by Luis Leante. Stefan Merrill Block’s The Story of Forgetting. Hwy 67, 994-3300. 7pm, SLPL–Carpenter Branch, 3309 S. Grand 6:45pm, SLPL-Kingshighway Branch, 2260 S. The Wednesday Night Book Discussion Blvd., 772-6586. Vandeventer, 771-5450. Group invites you to join the discussion of the River Styx celebrates its 35th season with a The Tuesday Night Writers’ Critique Group riveting tale My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult. featured reading by poets B.H. Fairchild and will meet to read and critique each others’ work. 7pm, SLCL-Cliff Cave Branch, 5430 Telegraph Jenny Mueller. Admission is $5, $4 for seniors, Writers of all levels of experience are invited Rd., 994-3300. students and members. 7:30pm, Duff’s Restau- to join. For more details contact Susan: ch2b- St. Louis County Library invites you to a Book rant, 392 N. Euclid, 533-4541. [email protected]. 7pm, B&N Crest- Discussion. 7:30pm, SLCL-Florissant Valley Tuesday, September 22 wood, 9618 Watson Rd. Branch, 195 New Florissant Rd., 994-3300. Grand Glaize Library Book Discussion The Book Bunch selection this month is Atlas Join the Evening Book Discussion Group Group will discuss Big Stone Gap by Adriana Shrugged by Ayn Rand. 7pm, SLCL-Grand for a discussion of The Songlines by Bruce Trigiani. 2pm, SLCL-Grand Glaize Branch, Glaize Branch, 1010 Meramec Station Rd., Chatwin. Visitors welcome; open membership. 1010 Meramec Station Rd., 994-3300. 994-3300. 7:30pm, SLCL-Oak Bend Branch, 842 S. Hol- mes Ave., 994-3300. As the Page Turns Book Discussion Group Do you like to chat with friends about your favor- invites you to join in the discussion of Winter ite books? Join our book club, the Prairie Com- Thursday, September 17 Wheat by Mildred Walker. For further informa- mons Adult Book Club! September’s selection tion, please pick up a list of our future selec- is The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Jose- Book Journeys invites you to join a discussion of Sundays at Tiffany’s by bestselling authors tions at the front desk. 7pm, SLCL-Weber Road phine B. by Sandra Gulland. Stop by the circula- Branch, 4444 Weber Rd., 994-3300. tion desk to pick up your copy. 7pm, SLCL-Prai- James Patterson and Gabrielle Charbonnett. rie Commons Branch, 915 Utz Ln., 994-3300. 2pm, SLCL-Indian Trails Branch, 8400 Delport The St. Louis Poetry Center continues its fall Dr., 994-3300. Poetry @ the Point series with St. Louis poets St. Louis Writers Guild presents Loud Mouth Lecture: “Finding My Voice and Writing From Maurice Hirsch and Stephen Koritta. 7:30pm, Open MIC Night, a live performance for writers the Focal Point, 2720 Sutton Blvd., Maplewood. and guests who are 18+ years. 8pm, The Mack, the Heart: From Unpublished to Sold in Than a Year,” presented by Angie Fox. 7pm, Doors open at 7pm, 973-0616. Dinner and re- 4615 Macklind Ave., 63109. Register online to freshments are available at Maya Café next read: www.stlouiswritersguild.org. B&N Ladue, 8871 Ladue Rd. Advance registra- tion requested: www.st.louiswritersguild.org. door before and during the reading. Wednesday, September 16 Wednesday, September 23 Cliff Cave Book Discussion Group. 2pm, SL- Saturday, September 19 St. Louis Public Library invites you to read Join the Bookies to discuss Slaughterhouse 5 CL-Cliff Cave Branch, 5430 Telegraph Rd., 994- by Kurt Vonnegut. Visitors welcome; open 3300. Newcomers welcome! and discuss African American titles. Call 383- 3021 for current selection. 12:30pm, SLPL-Julia membership. 2pm, SLCL- Oak Bend Sachs Afternoon Book Discussion Group. Davis Branch, 4415 Natural Bridge Ave. Branch, 842 S. Holmes Ave., 994-3300. st. louis literary calendar continued

Financial assistance for this project has been provided by the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency, and the Thursday, September 24 Regional Arts Commission. St. Louis Public Library invites you to join the Central Book Discussion Group. The selection for September is Wit’s End by Karen Fowler. 4pm, SLPL-Central Branch, 1301 Olive St., 539- Non-Profit Org. 0396. U.S. Postage Authors @ St. Louis Public Library and Read St. Louis invite PAID you to join Frank Fuerst, author of Alzheimer’s Care With Dig- The Center for the Humanities St. Louis, MO nity. 6pm, SLPL-Buder Branch, 4401 Hampton Ave., 352-2900. Campus Box 1071 Permit No. 2535 Books will be available for purchase. Old McMillan Hall, Rm S101 St. Louis Public Library Book Discussion Group invites you One Brookings Drive to join the discussion about The Secret Scripture by Sebastian St. Louis, MO 63130-4899 Barry. 7pm, SLPL-Schlafly Branch, 225 North Euclid, 367-4120. Phone: (314) 935-5576 email: [email protected] St. Charles Community College hosts the SCC Coffeehouse, http://cenhum.artsci.wustl.edu an open-mic evening. 7pm, Daniel J. Conoyer Social Sciences Auditorium, 4601 Mid Rivers Mall Dr., 636-922-8407. Friday, September 25 Join Let’s Chat at the Asian Center to discuss the fast-paced adventure in The Secret Cardinal by Tom Grace. 2pm, SLCL- Daniel Boone Branch, 300 Clarkson Rd., 994-3300. Sunday, September 27 The BookClub’s 404th discussion is on Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose. For more information, venue and time, email [email protected] or call 636-451-3232. Tuesday, September 29 Left Bank Books and the Ethical Society of St. Louis are 922-8233. Special guests include novelists Carolyn Hart, Kent Krueger, and pleased to present Sara Paretsky, author of Hardball. 7pm, pub- Esther Luttrell. Attendance is limited; advance registration must be received lic event at the Ethical Society of St. Louis, 9001 Clayton Rd. Con- by Sept. 17, 2009. For registration information please call 401-8029 or email tact [email protected] for information on a private reading [email protected]. group luncheon with the author at Left Bank Books Downtown. St. Louis Writers Guild, a cutting edge literary organization, has a lecture Join us on the last Tuesday of the month for our Adult Book every other month starting in January, on the third Thursday from 7-8pm at Club. Call or stop by the branch to find out the title for the month. Barnes & Noble Book Store, 8871 Ladue Road, Ladue, MO. Lectures are 6pm, SLCL-Lewis & Clark Branch, 9909 Lewis-Clark Blvd., 994- free. For more information, contact the Guild President, Rebecca Carron, at 3300. 974-2395 or at [email protected]. Also, check the St. Louis Writ- ers Guild website at www.stlwritersguild.org. The Westfall Favorite Author Series presents business and education author William G. Ouchi, who will discuss his latest St. Louis Writers Guild has a monthly workshop on the first Saturday from ground-breaking book The Secret of TSL: The Revolutionary Dis- 10am-12noon at the Kirkwood Community Center, 111 S. Geyer, Kirkwood, covery That Raises School Performance. 7pm, SLCL- Headquar- MO. Workshop Fee is $5 unless you are a member. If you become a member ters Branch, 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd., 994-3300. at the workshop, $5 will be deducted from your membership cost. For more information, contact the Guild President, Rebecca Carron, at 974-2395 or at Notices [email protected]. Also, check the St. Louis Writers Guild web- The A.E. Hotchner Playwriting Festival. Four playwrights will site at www.stlwritersguild.org. receive World Premiere staged readings of their work under the guidance of professional dramaturg Liz Engelman. 7pm, Fri., Abbreviations Sept. 25, Razor Love by Max Rissman (One-act), Steps by Mar- STL: Saint Louis; B&N: Barnes & Noble; LBB: Left Bank Books; SLCL: St. garet Stamell (One act). 7pm, Sat., Sept. 26, Match or Kasparov Louis County Library; SLPL: St. Louis Public Library; SCCCL: St. Charles Never Played Black by Jonathan Baude (Ten-minute play), What City County Library; UCPL: University City Public Library; UMSL: University Will You Tell Your Children? by Jessica Atkin, (Full-length play). of Missouri-St. Louis; WU: Washington University; WGPL: Webster Groves A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre, WU Danforth Campus, 935-5429. Public Library. Sisters in Crime, Greater St. Louis Chapter, will present “Mid- Check the online calendar at cenhum.artsci.wustl.edu for more events and ad- west Mystery Fest 2009” on Fri., Sept. 25, and Sat., Sept. 26, ditional details. To advertise, send event details to [email protected], 2009, at St. Charles Community College, Cottleville, MO, 636- fax 935-4889, or call 935-5576.