June Paris Salons–Alice Munro Short Stories

PARIS SALONS JUNE 6-7th– use the links to register
June 6th 7-10 PM– Short story Salon: the final four stories from Alice Munro’s most recent collection: Dear Life

Last chance to register– three spaces remaining

From Opening notes for Dear Life Salon

I am always a bit astonished by how casually Munro uses her artistry to illuminate the everyday—the superficially banal experience of life in small-town Canada in the middle years of the 20^th ct. (I know, spoken like an arrogant urbanite)—while gesturing towards the open veins of unspoken truths & sudden transcendence.  One minute you are reading about a silver fox farm used to produce skins and next, you are examining the quiet mental violence of gender education. This is, for me, the most succinct response to the subtle art of the short story. If I am drifting through a short story and interested in the What Happens, the story is a lovely flavor that becomes difficult to describe the day after—even though I feel something has shifted in my awareness from the time in the story’s world. It is in Munro’s work that I am quickly aware that although I am right there with her narrators, registering the quiet shocks and frustrations of growing up and coming to awareness, I am also travelling much more profoundly below the surface of the complicated maps of human relationships and self-knowledge.

June 7th 5:30-10 PM– Thomas Mann’s Magic Mountain the final assault –SALON FULL

Heading into summer–the days are stretching out, schedules shifting and a different mood–one of possibilities and bursts of warmth are invigorating my soul. Although these studies are right around the corner  the only one open to subscription is the Alice Munro Short Story study– which offers a manageable read in preparation. I hope to offer the Fall Salon schedule by mid-June– I welcome all suggestions and requests (both works to study and preferred weekends)…See you in the pages…

A few weeks ago, a lively group gathered in Paris to explore an early work of Alice Munro’s along with her literary mentor, Eudora Welty. We were so taken with the intricacy and subtleties, the beauty and richness of her language that we decided to consider her most recent works. She describes the last four stories in  Dear Life as 

…not quite stories. They form a separate unit, one that is autobiographical in feeling, though not, sometimes, entirely so in fact. I believe they are the first and last–and the closest–things I have to say about my own life.