The Language of Beauty: F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse

Lecture series with Professor Theo Theoharis

Both The Great Gatsby and To the Lighthouse transform the language, structure and emotional resonance of the novel, literature's most popular genre. Both have been, since their first appearance, continually popular with audiences, critics and scholars. Largely, the beauty of their prose accounts for that enduring admiration and success. In four conversations, two for each book, we will discuss what the elements of that beauty are, how the innovations in style--the kinds of metaphors, descriptions, presentations of action and thought, and their vernacular and more formal language--create the artistic power and pleasure of the books.

Attendance is free but registration is required, as space is limited. Books to borrow will be available at the Public Services Desk starting the week of September 9.

The class will be discussing The Great Gatsby and then To the Lighthouse.