Chekhov, "The Cherry Orchard" April 10, 2007

Cambridge Public Library Great Books Reading & Discussion Group

Reading Interests: This group reads primarily from anthologies that emphasize ancient and modern classics of literature, drama, philosophy, and social thought. Some of these anthologies are published by the Great Books Foundation; two Norton anthologies have also been used, and two short-story collections. In recent years the group has read selections from Genesis, Sophocles, Petronius, Chekhov, Hugo, Heine, Chopin, Wharton, and DeLillo; these may run from 20 to more than 100 pages. Additional books, chosen by the group, tend to be more contemporary. Those read in the last three years include Saramago's Blindness, Feynman's Six Easy Pieces, Faulkner's Absalom!, Absalom!, Eliot's The Waste Land, Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov and Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil. A Shakespeare play is read every year.

There are only two requirements of participants: read the scheduled work and participate in the discussion. These requirements are waived for those attending their first meeting. Preregistration is not required but is encouraged, since the library will provide, in advance and at no charge, a copy of the reading for anyone planning to attend.

Contact: Hugh Crane, group leader (hcrane@cambridgema.gov), or Martha Hamilton. (617-349-4044).

2006/2007 Schedule

October 17: Cervantes, Don Quixote (trans. by Grossman)
October 31: Primo Levi, The Periodic Table
November 14: Plato, The Republic*
November 28: Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France*
December 12: Machiavelli, The Prince* Seamus Heaney (translator)
January 16: Trollope, The Warden
January 30: Darwin, "The Moral Sense of Man & the Lower Animals"
February 13: Swift, "A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms"
February 27: Beowulf (trans. by Heaney)
March 13: Goethe, "Faust, Part One"*
March 27: Poe, "The Fall of the House of Usher"
April 10: Chekhov, "The Cherry Orchard"
April 24: Shakespeare, "Pericles"
May 8: Chekhov, "At Home" and "Rothschild's Fiddle"
May 22: Chekhov, "Sleepy" and "A Journey by Cart",

Official Website: http://boston.zebratickets.com/event/5150/chekhov-the-cherry-orchard