BMPC
625 Montgomery
Avenue
Bryn Mawr PA 19010
Welcome
PRESBYTERIAN WOMEN
At Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church
Dimensions in Literature
Spring, 2008
9.30 a.m., Witherspoon Parlor
Join us for a season of plays, poetry and an engrossing autobiography.
January 15- The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams
Discussant: Bob Wilkinson
We begin our exploration of plays this Spring with a haunting American classic, The Glass Menagerie. Partly autobiographical, it reflects the tensions in the author's own family circa 1937.
Abandoned by the husband/father many years earlier, Tom Wingfield, his mother Amanda, and his painfully shy and slightly disabled sister, Laura, live together in a small apartment in St. Louis. Tom is the breadwinner. Laura disappoints her mother by secretly dropping out of business school. Realizing then that Laura would never be able to support herself except through marriage, her mother begs Tom to bring a gentleman caller. The story reports the outcome, including a description of Laura's only passion, a collection of tiny glass animals that her mother calls a "menagerie". Soon after a painful end to the evening with the gentleman caller, Tom's ongoing quarrels with his mother reach a crescendo and he abandons the family for ever.
Emotionally powerful, beautifully written, and full of dramatic symbolism, the play is highly satisfying to read, and, happily, it will also be presented on stage by People's Light and Theatre, in February/March this Spring.
Dr. Wilkinson is a Villanova
University Emeritus Professor of Literature.
February 19 - The Occasions of Poetry
Discussant: Timothy O'Hara
Professor O'Hara who teaches literature at Rosemont College will
discuss an example of the works of each of three poets. He will distribute
copies of the poems on the day of the discussion. No advance reading needed.
March 18 - The Learned Ladies, Moliere
Discussant: Erlis Wickersham
Written in the seventeenth century, Moliere's comedies still seem fresh, insightful and so universally funny that their humor does not need to be explained to anyone.
In The Learned Ladies Moliere pokes fun at people with hypocritical literary and artistic pretensions. Although some complain that the play is anti-feminist because it lampoons several women characters, Moliere's barbs are also directed at his pretentious male characters. It is true, however, that his expectations of women conform to that of his time, when upper class women were expected to restrict themselves to household pursuits and husbands were their "bosses'.
The plot centers on a well-to-do family with an ineffectual father, a mother, her elder daughter and a sister ( the pedantic, pretentious "learned ladies"), and a younger "sensible" daughter. The mother tries to force her younger daughter to marry a conniving charlatan who frequents their house to have his verses admired and to further his financial future. The story describes the trick by which the charlatan's plot is foiled and her daughter is able to marry her true love. The play is full of wit, wisdom and satirical humor. It is a treat to read. We look forward to Dr. Erlis Wickersham's analysis of this comedy.
April 15 - Leap of faith: Memoirs of an Unexpected Life, Queen Noor
Discussant: Theodore (Dorie) Friend
Lisa Halaby, the eldest child in an eminent American-Arab family, was born and brought up in the United States. The family moved frequently between the east and west coast as her father followed a distinguished career in the field of aviation. After finishing school. Lisa was accepted into the first freshman coed class at Princeton University. On graduating in 1974, she took a position in Australia and then was transferred to Tehran. She had met King Hussein of Jordan much earlier, and now the recently widowed king and she began to meet frequently. A secret, whirlwind courtship led to marriage and she became Queen Noor of Jordan.
She gives a fascinating account of her life with her husband. It is a love story; a story of her acculturation into an exalted position in a new country; a family saga, and an account of her humanitarian activities in Jordan. Of great interest are the insights it gives into the values behind King Hussein's ongoing peace efforts and reasons for the gap of understanding between the United States and the Arab world.
Dr. Friend is a long time member
of BMPC,who has recently been writing a book on women in five middle
eastern countries. His presentation will be of special interest as he is
personally acquainted with the Halaby family.
May 20 - Peace Aristophanes
(in the Penguin entitled The Birds and other Plays)
Discussant: John Wickersham
This example of "old Greek comedy" is gloriously absurd, full of eccentricities, gross appetites and stupidities. It exposes the braggart, the pompous and the "simple". It is unabashedly bawdy. It is full of wit and poetry.
The play gives voice to the pressing desire of citizens on both sides of the ten year war between Athens and Sparta to escape its miseries and regain peace. It was first performed two weeks before a peace treaty was signed in 421 B.C.
It concerns the exploits of a patriot farmer, Trygaeus, who determines he must go to heaven to confront Zeus about the necessity for peace. Mounting the back of a giant beetle, he flies to Olympus where he finds most gods away from home. Hermes, however, tells him that Peace, is imprisoned in a pit, and Trygaeus calls on all the peoples of Greece to help rescue her. This achieved, all return to Earth in triumph and celebrate the marriage of the farmer to Harvest, one of Peace's handmaidens.
Dr. Wickersham has introduced our group to so many examples of ancient classical literature. We look forward to having him discuss this play with us as an example of "old Greek comedy".
May 20 Peace Aristophanes
(in the Penguin entitled The Birds and other Plays)
Discussant: John Wickersham
This
example of “old Greek comedy” is gloriously absurd, full of
eccentricities, gross appetites and stupidities. It exposes the braggart,
the pompous and the “simple”. It is unabashedly bawdy.
It is full of wit and poetry.
The play
gives voice to the pressing desire of citizens on both sides of the ten year
war between Athens and Sparta to escape its miseries and regain peace. It
was first performed two weeks before a peace treaty was signed in 421 B.C.
It concerns
the exploits of a patriot farmer, Trygaeus, who determines he must go to heaven
to confront Zeus about the necessity for peace. Mounting the back of a giant
beetle, he flies to Olympus where he finds most gods away from home. Hermes,
however, tells him that Peace, is imprisoned in a pit, and Trygaeus calls on
all the peoples of Greece to help rescue her. This achieved, all return to
Earth in triumph and celebrate the marriage of the farmer to Harvest, one of
Peace’s handmaidens.