Taster #2: Poets in Recovery

Join this second of three bite-sized sample studies Professor Nancy Goldstein is offering during October as a way of introducing herself to the Salon. The only fee is a pay-what-you-want donation to José Andres’ World Central Kitchen, which feeds hungry people in war and emergency zones all over the world, from Gaza and Ukraine to Pakistan. It’s entirely up to you to decide where, or whether, or how much to give. Perhaps the price of your last flat white or pint?

Taster #2: Poets in Recovery – Raymond Carver & Kaveh Akbar

Raymond Carver, who was born into an impoverished family towards the end of the Depression (1938), is widely considered to be one of the greatest 20th-Century American short story writers. He was also one of its most notorious drunks, with multiple hospitalizations for his alcoholism, plus a doctor’s warning that he wouldn’t live past 40 if he didn’t stop. Carver finally got sober in 1977.

For this study, we will be comparing Carver’s criminally neglected poem Yesterday, Snow (from sometime in the early 80s and available only as a PDF that will be sent to all registrants) with Portrait of the Alcoholic Three Weeks Sober (2016) by Kaveh Akbar.

The young Iranian American poet’s debut novel, Martyr! – which also addresses addiction, grief and art – made waves last year as a National Book Award Finalist for Fiction and was named one of the best books of the year by The New York Times and The New Yorker. 

JOINING DETAILS:

• Single session live study on Zoom led by Professor Nancy Goldstein
• Monday 13 October, 2.30-4.00 pm (UK)
• Links to text (which we estimate will take less than an hour to read) will be supplied along with Zoom details

Nancy Goldstein’s first full-length Salon study: Education and its Discontents: the 21st-Century Bildungsroman begins on 9 November.