Americans Abroad

The Evergreen Forum

AMERICANS ABROAD:

THE LURE OF FRANCE BETWEEN THE WARS

A view almost universally shared by chroniclers of the decades in the twentieth century sometimes called "entre deux guerres," is that Paris in the twenties and thirties was the cultural center of the Western world. Numerous artists, writers, and musicians who would later achieve international prominence lived and worked there, among them many Americans who sought in France the artistic and personal freedom, as well as the rich stimulation to creativity, that they could not find in the America of these decades.

This fall, after an introduction, in our first session, to the Parisian scene and to the modernist movement in the arts, we will read and discuss the works of three expatriate American writers that are about Americans living abroad in France in this period:

"The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas" by Gertrude Stein; "The Sun Also Rises" by Ernest Hemingway; and

"Tender Is the Night" by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

If time permits, we will conclude with a collection of short stories by Kay Boyle - "Life Being the Best and Other Stories." Boyle was an American writer who lived abroad for two decades and often wrote of the expatriate experience.

The course will consist of brief lectures - biographies of the authors we will be reading - and much class discussion. Some xeroxed material will be handed out to supplement the reading.

Paperback texts for the course:

THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ALICE B. TOKLAS by Gertrude Stein. Vintage Books Edition 1990

THE SUN ALSO RISES by Ernest Hemingway. Scribner

TENDER IS THE NIGHT by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Scribner

LIFE BEING THE BEST AND OTHER STORIES by Kay Boyle. A New Directions Book

Tentative Schedule of Assignments:

Sept.26 Introduction to the course. No reading required.

Oct. 3 Chapters 1-6 (pp.3-192) of "Autobiography"

Oct. 10 Finish "Autobiography" and read Book I of "Sun Also Rises" (Chapters 1-6)

Oct. 17 Finish "Sun Also Rises"

Oct. 24 Introduction and Book I of "Tender Is the Night"

Oct. 31 Book II of "Tender Is the Night"

Nov. 7 Finish "Tender Is the Night" and read Introduction and first 2 stories of "Life Being the Best"

Nov. 14 Finish stories in "Life Being the Best"

Leader: Mary Laity did graduate studies in English at Rutgers University where she was an instructor of literature and writing courses.

Wednesday: 9.45 to 11.45 a.m.,

Eight weeks beginning September 26.