Frances Presents Don Quixote

 Jacquie's Email Hello Literary Ladies! Just a reminder, next up on our syllabus is Lori Walsh's presentation on Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. We will be meeting this coming Wednesday, October 8, at Frances Greenberg's tranquil home. Luncheon will begin at noon, and our meeting will follow promptly at 1 PM.

I often find my thoughts wandering to the past, but this year's theme, as well as my high school yearbook which has found its way next to me at my desk, has been putting me into time sucking reveries. My senior year was the first time AP English was offered in my high school. It was a fantastic class, and next to typing, was the class that most prepared me for college. There were only eight of us in AP English, all girls. Seven of us were already friends. The eighth was Marcie McMahon, who was A CHEERLEADER and REALLY popular! Crossing the social divide as she did was a very unusual thing to do in Roy C. Ketcham High School in Wappingers Falls, New York, but, to our collective biased surprise, she was terrific and funny and SMART. And she liked us too! She not only accepted us, but she helped raise our social status in the school. I'll forever love Marcie and be grateful for her bravery and her friendship, and the seemingly impenetrable barriers she broke down. Her behavior was the most memorable lesson of all.

And I distinctly remember sitting and taking the AP English Lit exam, and one moment in particular. After finishing explicating a poem and realizing I knew what I was doing and feeling really good about myself, I looked up from my desk to where my friend Maria was sitting diagonally across from me and becoming completely distracted by how pretty her hair looked that day. A perfect example of how erratic my thinking process was and still is. And it's SO high school. Sigh.

I can't wait to see you all on Wednesday! x Jacquie

Christine's Minutes On the seventeenth of September, 2025, while the world-as-we-knew-it appeared to be crumbling, disintegrating and/or deteriorating all around us, it was with enormous pleasure and a great sense of healthy camaraderie, trust, and the love of great literature, that fourteen members and two associates of the Hastings Literature Club gathered in Joanna’s balmy backyard for our first meeting of the 2025-2026 season, “High School Reading Re-visited.” Unlike our lunch fare back in high school, we dined on refreshing gazpacho and a scrumptious plum tart.

By way of demonstrating that we are not slaves to tradition, Madame President rang the bell at 1:10 PM.

Our treasurer, Lori, reported that we are flush with $488.66. Of that amount, $99.50 will be given to the Friends of the Library for books. Joanna suggested that as our gift this year, we give them $100 for board books.

Fresh from all that leisurely summertime reading, several members had books to recommend:

Endling Maria Reva
The Accompanist Nina Berberova
The Emperor of Gladness Ocean Veong
Autobiography of Red, Anne Carson
Isola Allegra Goodman
The Cara Black Mystery series with investigator Aimée Leduc
Kristin Lavransdatter Sigrit Undset
Your Steps on the Stairs Antonio Muñoz Molina
It Can’t Happen Here Sinclair Lewis
Mansfield Park Jane Austen
Memory Piece Lisa Coe

Linda shared with us the syllabus of her daughter’s AP English class at the Williamstown High School in Massachusetts. The reading list was exceptionally well-chosen and wide-ranging and there was general agreement that we would all have enjoyed, and learned much from, the class.

Vocabulary-wise, we had the dubious pleasure of learning the definition of kakistocracy: government by the least suitable or competent citizens of a state. The word was coined in the 17th century and comes from the Greek words: kákistos and kratos.

To begin our year of filling in the lacunae of our early years’ reading, what better way to start than with Don Quixote, the masterpiece of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra? Frances began her presentation by pointing out that while one may not have actually read Don Quixote, most everyone feels that they know him, his sidekick Sancho Panza, the valiant steed Rocinante, and their adventures “tilting at windmills.” Many of us could sing the songs from the Broadway musical, The Man of La Mancha. And we all use the eponymous adjective ‘quixotic.’

Frances happily discovered that in 1952, Vladimir Nabokov, while a visiting professor at Harvard, was compelled to teach Don Quixote. His first reaction to the book was quite negative, because of all the violence. Correctly so, as the novel is full of violence and cruel mockery. But over time and multiple readings, Nabokov came to admire the lively dialogue, and his collected lectures are now canonical.

Published in 1605, Don Quixote is considered to the first modern novel, and one of the longest. Though at 430,269 words, it does not approach the voluminous verbiage of Clarissa, with its 950,000 words. (Enough of such quibbling and braggadocio.) The novel was an immediate success. It was translated into English in 1612, and we know that Shakespeare read it.

Cervantes’ life was itself the stuff of adventure novels. He was born in 1547, to a moderately prosperous family. His father was a barber-surgeon, and his mother came from rural landowners. At some point the father gave up barbering and looked for other work. He spent time in debtors’ prison – as Cervantes himself would later do.

Cervantes was living in Madrid when, at 19, he published four poems. But as any poet can tell you, that did not pay the bills. Thus, he worked as a household manager for a Roman cardinal, enlisted in the Spanish Army, and in 1571 fought in the Battle of Lepanto, where he was wounded, and ultimately lost the use of his left hand. While sailing back home to Madrid, his ship was captured by Barbary pirates, and he was sold into slavery in Algiers. After five years in captivity, he was ransomed. Back in Spain, Cervantes continued to write and held various government positions. However, financial ‘irregularities’ landed him in debtors’ prison for a year. He wrote that it was during that year that he conceived of the idea of Don Quixote. (Recalling Dickens’ Micawber, I am wondering if there were a few delusional characters in that prison to provide inspiration.) He was 58 when he published Don Quixote. And 68 when he published the second part.

On the enduring fame and relevance of Don Quixote, Frances’ pointed to Quixote’s desire to ‘do good.’ Living in a time of a morally and ethically corrupt government as we do, readers find his idealism is a beacon. It may be that our own idealism could be described as quixotic.

What exactly was the nature of Don Quixote’s madness? With the pure intentions of a (fictive) knight errant, he manages to cause a lot of grief and trouble for others. Having read the romances of knight errantry, Quixote polishes his great grandfather’s suit of armor, saddles up Rocinante and departs pleasant La Mancha in search of occasions to do good. Along the way he hires Sancho Panza, as he realizes that all knights errant need a loyal squire.

Like his squire, Don Quixote, Sancho Pancho is a comic creation of genius. Faithful, realistic, and unencumbered by fantasies of knight errantry, he remains loyal to the end. He can see clearly that the helmet of Mambrino is in fact a barber’s basin, and that the fierce giants are windmills, but Quixote is immune to such naysaying.

Quixote also decides that, as a knight, he must be devoted to a noble and pure woman, and he fixates on Dulcinea. She is a woman from his village whom he does not know, and so finds it possible to imagine her very imaginary beauty and virtue.

For readers, it is a sad comeuppance when, after many bungled adventures, Quixote goes home, and there his niece and housekeeper, along with the village priest and barber, pull all the culpable volumes of knightly adventure from his library, and burn them. Then they completely wall off his library, so that upon waking, Quixote is shocked to find that his library has disappeared.

Members read aloud from Guy Davenport’s introduction to Nabokov’s Lectures on Don Quixote, from Nabokov’s lecture, and from the novel itself: classic scenes of the windmills, of Mambrino’s helmet, of the blanket-tossing and more. The combination of humor and pathos was powerful. Frances chose to use the much-praised 2003 Edith Grossman translation, which we all appreciated.

It was an afternoon to remember, especially when we need an antidote to our so-called reality.

Respectfully submitted,
Christine Lehner, substituting for Frances Greenberg

Carla Presents Letters of MFK Fisher

Jacquie's Email Hello Literary Ladies! A gentle reminder that the Literature Club of Hastings-on-Hudson will be holding their final meeting of the 2024-2025 thematic year this coming Wednesday, May 21st at Christine's spectacular home. Unfortunately, it is a little early in the season for a dip, but that will hardly put a damper on the gathering.
    As usual, luncheon will begin at noon. Joanna will ring the bell at 1PM for our

meeting, after which, in what has become a beloved Lit Club tradition, Carla Potash will be giving the final presentation of the season, this time on the “Letters of MFK Fisher.”

    Members, please let Christine know if you will not be attending, and associates, please let her know if you will.

    Since we won't be meeting again for a while, I've included the link to Frances' blog below so you can re-live some of the highlights from the club's past and not feel too forlorn. Unfortunately for me, I will not be able to join you all, as I am currently in Oklahoma City with my sister, preparing for our first bookstore presentation of our new book, Flower Girls: A Story of Sisters. I'll be in Chicago on the 21st, before heading on to Salt Lake City, and then home next Sunday. We have four store presentations and 11 school talks throughout the week, so it should be a blast, but I am sorry to miss Carla's presentation and all of you.

    But I hope to see many of you at the Friends of the Hastings-on-Hudson Library Annual June Gala on June 8th. I'm sure Joanna will give you all the details on Wednesday. It's going to be a wonderful evening.

    Have a terrific meeting! It's been quite a banner year for Lit Club. Now to start thinking about next year...x Jacquie

Frances' Minutes Twelve members and one associate met for the last presentation of our 2024-25 season of “Letters, Journals and Diaries” in Christine’s gracious mid-19th century home. We have fully emerged from pandemic mode of not-lunch. Outstanding in Christine’s delicious lunch was a blueberry soup, made from her homegrown blueberries, harvested at full ripeness last summer, aged to perfection in the freezer. Several of us copied down the recipe, aware that sourcing the blueberries may be our biggest challenge to duplicating the soup.

President Joanna rung the bell at 1 PM

Treasurer’s Report: from Lori $548.26

Joanna announced the Friends of the Hastings Library would hold its Annual Gala on June 8 at 5:30 PM. Supporting the Hastings Library is one of the Lit Club’s objectives; many of us will attend. We will donate $150 to the Hastings Library for the purchase of books. We will contribute $150 towards to purchase of children’s books from the Barkin Bookstore, to be donated to the reading program of the Family Service of Yonkers.

Book and film suggestions: Laura suggested Peter Hessler’s books on his time in China, as a teacher, and a parent of children attending Chinese schools: Other Rivers: A Chinese Education. After attending a tribute to Martin Amis at the 92ndSt Y, Christine was inspired to read The War Against Clichés, a collection of his book reviews. Thinking of food, as we were while having a good lunch and looking forward to an afternoon discussing a food writer, we thought of our two favorite food films: Babette’s Feast and The Taste of Things.

Joanna suggested we consider, as a topic, books about New York City. She was inspired by The NY Times Book Review’s interview of writers on their favorite books about NYC. See:
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/01/30/books/new-york-city-books.html

In what has become a tradition, but not part of our constitution, Carla gave the last presentation of 2024-2025, on M F K Fisher.

Carla discovered that Fisher did not keep a diary; however, she had an enormous circle of friends and close relations with her family. Her letters were kept, treasured, and ultimately published. She revealed her intimate feelings more in those letters than in the work published during her lifetime. Her literary gift was describing her experiences and her observations, looked at through the prism of food and wine.

In an interview in 1990, she said, “people ask me ‘Why do you write about food and eating and drinking? Why don’t you write about the struggle for power…security… about love…’ They ask me accusingly as if I were somehow gross, unfaithful to the honor of my craft. The easiest answer is to say that, like most humans, I am hungry. But there is more than that. It seems to me that our three basic needs, for food, security and love are so mixed and entwined that we cannot think of one without the other. So it happens when I write about hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it, and warmth and the love and hunger for it.”

M F K Fisher was born Mary Frances Kennedy, in 1908, in Michigan. She grew up in Whittier, California; her father was the owner and editor of the Whittier News. She said she was a reader and “scribbler” from an early age. After college, in 1929 she married Al Fisher, a doctoral student. They went to Dijon, France where he could complete his studies.

One can’t help but wonder what Fisher would have written if not for the formative experience of living in a French boarding house. Her landlady was stingy, the furnishings shabby. Her landlady produced meals from market cast-offs, but no matter, they were superb. Living in France was the start of her true education.

In the The Art of Eating, Fisher and husband ordered trout in a French restaurant. There was a large fish tank in the middle of the dining room. The waitress netted a suitable trout and killed it by smashing it against a counter. Fisher wrote that the cooked trout was as “fresh as clover.”

She also delighted in describing “ghastly” meals. On a cruise, she noted a fellow passenger who, when handed the menu by the waiter, would hand it back, with one word: yes. The woman was served everything on the menu and ate it all. On another cruise, in Mexico, Fisher discovered there were two kitchens. One for the American tourists; another, a country kitchen, for the crew. She asked her waiter for food from that kitchen. What she got, she said, was “the first thing that fed me.”

Fisher divorced the man with whom she discovered French food and wine, and whose last name she kept. She married two more times, divorced again and was widowed once. She died at 83 in Glen Ellen, California, in a home where she recreated the sensuous warmth of her written words.

Respectfully submitted,
Frances Greenberg, secretary

Gita Presents the Letters of Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Jacquie's Email 

“The weather has changed—twice—since I wrote you so gloomily. First to cool, sunny and dry and now to damp again—fog-horn going, humidity 95 percent. But in the meantime, it has been a better week. I think the weather has a lot to do with one’s spirits if one is on the edge.” — Anne Morrow Lindbergh to her sister Constance Morrow, July 16, 1955

Hello Literary Ladies! The sun is shining as I am writing this, lifting my spirits as I feel on edge, but unfortunately, I believe rain is forecast for the day of the penultimate meeting of The Literature Club of Hastings-on-Hudson on Wednesday, May 7th. But the day is always bright when we can be together, and it is always warm and cozy in Barbaraʼs beautiful yellow living room where we will be meeting. Yes! A change of location from our program book. Please take note! Barbara has graciously offered to host, while I will be providing lunch, which will begin at noon, as per usual.

   Joanna is once again in possession of the bell, which she will ring at 1 PM for our meeting. The sign-up sheet for next year will be available for those of you who haven't had the chance to pick a date or need to swap dates.

   And then to the main event: Gita will be presenting on the “Letters of Anne Morrow Lindbergh.” I did a tiny bit of advanced reading about the Lindberghs because I knew so little, and their story is a doozy! Anne herself seems to have been quite complex and sheʼs a very evocative writer, so Iʼm sure this is going to be a fun and interesting afternoon.

   Members, please let me know if you are unable to attend, and associates, please let me know if you will. I will forward that information to Barbara, so she knows how many chairs to put out. I will take no heed to the numbers and will probably make too much food.

   I look forward to seeing and feeding you all on Wednesday! x Jacquie

Frances' Minutes Twelve members and 2 associates met in Barbara’s sunny living room; most cheerful after 3 rainy days. We have unofficially resumed lunches, our not-lunches having grown robustly. President Joanna rang the bell at 1:05 PM. We began by considering our topic for 2025-2026, “High School Classics Reread or Classics You Wish You Had Read.” Joanna had sent us, from The New Yorker, how the New Criticism had changed high school English teachers’ concept of a classic. Did we think it true? Lori had asked the teens she works with what they read in class. Report: nothing like what we had read—except Shakespeare. Make of that what you will.

To our business:
    Lori’s treasurer’s report: $528.06

    We need to allot $175.00 to cover printing cost of our brochure. Joanna proposed we donate $150 to the Hastings Library to purchase books for the Yong Room (the renamed Children’s Library). We could purchase up to $150 of children’s books from the Barkin Bookstore to be donated to the Family Service Society of Yonkers’ literacy programs in Westchester summer camps. TBD.

An aside - from June 20, a report from Constance on the donation of children's books:

So you know, today the books we are purchasing from the Barkin bookstore were picked up, and will be taken to summer literacy programs in Ossining and Tarrytown run by the Family Service Society of Yonkers.  This year we donated 199 books to the program.   It is very gratifying to put those books to such a good purpose, and I always like to think that some of them may go to the children and grandchildren of the many hardworking people who wash cars, do yard work, and clean homes in our town and the surrounding areas.   

Thanks to everyone for your support, and especially to Mary, Carol, and Jacquie.  I really couldn’t have organized it without them!

Members’ recommendations: lots of plays. Carol loved The United States Versus Ulysses (at the Irish Arts Center). Christine and Sharon were floored by Sarah Snook playing 26 parts in Portrait of Dorian Gray (at the Music Box). Carol also recommends: Pirates! The Penzance Musical and The Mistake (about the development of the A-bomb). Books: Christine recommended The Tobaccionist by Robert Seethaler; Jacquie recommended The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt (note, do not confuse this with the film) and Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. Lori recommended Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

Gita began her presentation on “The Letters and Diaries of Anne Morrow Lindbergh” by passing around a photo of the young and beautiful writer. Anne Morrow Lindbergh was born in 1906 in Englewood, New Jersey. Her father, Dwight Morrow, a partner of J. P. Morgan, was immensely wealthy; the $1 M estate taxes paid upon his death moved the budget of the state of New Jersey out of the red. Her mother, Elizabeth Cutter Morrow, was a poet, a women’s education activist and a president of Smith College.

Anne was a student at Smith College when she met Charles Lindbergh in 1927; they were introduced at a Christmas party held in the American Embassy in Mexico City. Earlier that year, he had made his famous cross Atlantic solo flight. For her, it was love and hero worship at first sight.

(FYI – minutes will refer to him as Lindbergh, her as Anne)

Her life, first as Lindbergh’s fiancé, then his wife, changed completely. She had been bookish and shy; at his side, she stepped into the glare of celebrity. She learned to handle that, as well as to become an aviator and radio operator. She adored him, she adored the adventure of flying. She was 7 months pregnant when she and Lindbergh set a transcontinental flight speed record. Under constant scrutiny by the press, she learned to keep up a polite conversation without saying anything revealing; in addition to her other skills, she learned to be a savvy public figure. In her letters to her family, she said what she could not say publicly.

She and Lindbergh flew around the Pacific, starting in Long Island, going to Washington state, hugging the shoreline, landing in small towns from Alaska to Siberia to the Aleutian Islands to Japan and finally, China – where they crashed in the Yangtze River during a take-off. She rarely complained except for noting that after months of brushing her teeth with boiled water, she swallowed gallons of muddy Yangtze River water during the crash.

After the birth of the Lindbergh’s first child, they bought a house in NJ, near Anne’s parents. That house was where they became the victims of what the newspapers of 1932 called “the crime of the century.” Anne and Charles’ 20-month-old son, Charles Jr., was kidnapped. Waiting for news of their baby, pregnant with her second child, Anne wrote a letter every day to her mother-in-law. She tried to remain hopeful and to pass the hope on, by doing what had become her way of being: writing.

When the child was found, dead, she wrote that it was a finality, and that finalities can be accepted.

She may have found her special voice in the letters to her mother-in-law that she wrote during the terrible period between the kidnapping and the discovery of the child’s body. She re-read those letters years afterwards, noting how she tried to keep hope alive for herself and for her mother-in-law. The book of her essays, Gift from the Sea, is filled with hope fighting despair. It was received enthusiastically when it was published in 1955, resonating strongly with her readership. It remains in print.

Her style is confessional but never self-pitying. Writing from her heart, she revealed commonalities with women of her own generation and generations that followed. She wrote of certain “springs that are tapped when we are alone” and of the need to find “the still axis within the revolving wheel of relationships.” She acknowledged the “inevitability of change in love and marriage, devotion and companionship.”

The Lindberghs never divorced although the marriage was deeply troubled. They were no longer living together when Lindbergh died in 1974. Anne died in 2001.

Respectfully submitted,
Frances Greenberg, Recording Secretary

Kathy Presents Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz

Jacquie’s Email Hello Literary Ladies! Happy Easter, to those who are celebrating, and happy gorgeous it’s-finally-spring to you all!

    It’s field trip time again as the next meeting of the Literature Club of Hastings-on-Hudson will be held on Wednesday, April 23rd at Laura’s beautiful Ossining aerie. We will begin with lunch and a view at noon, and then Joanna will ring the bell at 1 PM to begin our meeting. Rumor has it we might even learn the results of our vote for next year's topic!

    Kathy will then present “Letters of Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz,” which is sure to enthrall. Members, please let our hostess know if you will not be able to attend, and associate members, please let her know if you will. 

     As parking is tight, car-pooling is recommended. Joanna still has one empty space in her car and Sharon has two spots, “if people don't mind two in the back.”

    I've also included the link to our blog, so wonderfully kept up by our new recording secretary, Frances. I, for one, am most thankful for this wonderful record of our meetings. It's a rabbit hole I go down happily and often.

    I look forward to being with many of you on Wednesday and to bask in the company of Georgia OʼKeeffe and Alfred Stieglitz. It looks like the weather will be quite fine to do just that! x Jacquie

Carla’s Minutes Our caravans to the north country arrived safely at Laura’s lovely Ossining aerie where 10 of us were treated to a bird’s eye view? Eye view of birds? and a delicious picnic lunch on the terrace.

    

Georgia O'Keeffe painting

During the business part of our meeting, the topic for 2025-2026 was announced: “Classics that We Haven’t Read (or Humiliation) or Books from Our High School Years.” Minutes of the last meeting were read. While new Recording Secretary, Frances Greenberg, wasn’t there in person, her minutes received applause and laughs—a fine beginning!

    On to the presentation, with Kathy telling us all about artist Georgia O’Keeffe and photographer Alfred Stieglitz, accompanied by visuals of their works. She introduced them as a “boy meets girl” story, except that it was the girl’s work at first. After her friend had shared some of O’Keeffe’s charcoal and pastel sketches with Stieglitz, the 23-year-old art student wrote to him. Her inquiry about her work was ingenuous and frank and his reply very positive—“surprise and joy” was his reaction. A promising beginning to what would become a long and complicated relationship.

    O’Keeffe was a Wisconsin-ite born in 1887 (d. 1986) to a large farming/business family. Talented at art, she took lessons starting at age eleven and won high praise and honors. Her parents both died in 1915, and she struggled to support herself, with some help and encouragement from her mother’s sisters. She attended classes at SAIC and the Arts Students League in NYC. O’Keefe became a teacher in 1911, taking courses at Columbia Teachers’ College, then taught in South Carolina, West Texas and New Mexico (1916,]

    

Alfred Stieglitz photo

Stieglitz was born 1864 (d.1946) in New Jersey into a German-Jewish family, the oldest of six children. After attending technical schools in Berlin, 1882‐1890, he became interested in the new photography. Returning to the U.S., he opened a gallery at 291 Fifth Avenue in 1892, which is where O’Keeffe’s work was first displayed—without her permission! While she was very pleased that Steichen liked her work, she was “appalled” at having her feelings exposed publicly. Her protestations were met with his reply that he had a “higher authority” to share her work. His 1907 photograph “Steerage” is considered a signature work, representing his first “modernist photograph.”

    Although Stieglitz had been married and had a daughter, O’Keeffe was attracted by his “energy and soul,” his good looks and his value of life. The correspondence between them over a two-year period reflected her view of “the terrible fineness and intensity of him” and his “value of life”. His was a combative personality. He believed that women had “spiritual superiority” but “intellectual inferiority.” After two years of correspondence, they moved in together, sharing work and living space (1918-1928). Kathy showed images of Stieglitz’s cloud photos and O’Keeffe’s abstract work of New Mexico from that period. She was his object of both adoration and control, noted Kathy.

    In 1905, the gallery (known as 291) was recognized for its role in legitimizing photography as a fine art, for bringing attention to unknown and talented photographers, and for introducing new artists including Matisse, Rousseau, Cezanne, Picasso. A 1921 exhibit of Stieglitz’s work was a great success. His work, which included innovative nude photos of O’Keeffe and drew acclaim for his “texture and shading” and notice of a “cult of personality.” It also brought comments of sensationalism. For O’Keeffe, it resulted in her distancing herself from critics and the public.

    Over their lifetime, they exchanged more than 5,000 letters, a sampling of which we read. Indeed, through the letters they started to fall in love before they had even met. O’Keeffe questioned whether using similar words really reflected similar feelings, experiences. Their letters were often rapturous and extravagant in mutual admiration. But life was to be lived on his terms. O’Keeffe made trips on her own, to Boston and to Maine, realizing she enjoyed her own company. They married in 1924, he not wanting children—she seeking new direction in art, both wanting “total devotion.”

    Their relationship changed in 1929 when Stieglitz began an adulterous affair with 21-year-old Dorothy Norman. O’Keeffe left for a 4 month stay in New Mexico which left Stieglitz “unhinged.” He wrote to her from Lake George, a family vacation home, decrying the situation, blaming himself for robbing her of her faith, but encouraging her to discover new things for herself. They did get back together but he had emotionally destroyed her. An incident involving murals she was to do for Radio City Music Hall ended badly and contributed to her hospitalization 1931-33.

    A new relationship developed with Jean King who became her lover, but Stieglitz was still in the picture. He was happy for her successes, including a show at the Museum of Modern Art. Deep and strong forces kept them together, concluded Kathy.

Respectfully submitted,
Carla Potash, Secretary for the day

Laura Presents Letters of Vincent and Theo Van Gogh plus Some Surprises

Jacquieʼs Email Hello Literary Ladies! When choosing my own subject to present this season, I ordered The Complete Letters of Vincent Van Gogh from the library. But daunted by the sheer heft of the volume and the 500+ densely packed pages, I made a lighter choice (both literally and literarily). But how happy I was to see that Laura Rice did not shy away, and our program booklet notes that she will be presenting “Dear Theo: Letters of Vincent Van Gogh to His Brother.”

    Then I received an email from Laura in which she warned that “...my presentation, supposed to be about Van Gogh, includes him, but is not exclusively on his letters. It is kind of Van Gogh and others. In fact, I am trying to think of a name for the hodge podge it will be...” So now I'm even MORE excited for her presentation!

    With that in mind, this is a reminder that the next meeting of the Literature Club of Hastings-on-Hudson will be held this Wednesday, April 9th, once again at the spacious and gracious home of our president, Joanna. We will gather at noon for luncheon and chat, which is sure to include comparing notes on our various experiences at the empowering Saturday, April 5th “Hands Off” rallies many Lit Club members attended. (I saw Mary Lemons, Barbara Morrow, and Joanna in the huge and very polite crowd at the rally at the VFW in town before heading over to the Rivertowns Thrift at the Rec Center...) Joanna will then ring the bell to begin our meeting at 1 PM, after which we will finally learn what name Laura decided upon for her hodge podge presentation. It is sure to delight.

    Members, please let our host know if you are unable to attend, and associates, please let her know that you will be attending. 
    Stay warm and dry (and solvent??!!) and I hope to see many of you on Wednesday. x Jacquie

Francesʼ Minutes At noon, twelve members and two associates met at Joanna’s home. She had just returned the night before from a 36-hour round trip to Martha’s Vineyard. At the previous meeting she had warned us that lunch would be simple but I thought it was pretty substantial. Before leaving for the Vineyard, she made chicken soup & froze it; time in the freezer had only improved its flavor.

Laura, our presenter, and I, about to be nominated as Recording Secretary, arrived early.

Accepting the position of Recording Secretary was intimidating. I wish I had nabbed a spot on the nominating committee, which would have made me ineligible for the position. I was absent the day it was formed. If you’ve been reading this blog, you’ll understand my fear about following Christine and Barbara, our previous secretaries. Their minutes were really, really good.

Laura was getting out of her car when we met up. She wore a T-shirt with Van Gogh’s self-portrait. Adding interest to her talk was something you might expect of Laura, a retired, a beloved Hastings High English teacher. She had two heavy bags of books which I offered to help her with. Yes, I could, she said, but she also needed a favor. Sometimes I think I was born on April Fool’s Day for a reason.

bathing suit with paintings

Laura had bought a men’s swimsuit set printed with Van Gogh’s iconic paintings – including the self-portrait – and would I wear it? I had to put it on in secret, it would fit over my clothes, I should do it under cover, like in the bathroom. I should come out (dressed like a clueless, tasteless beach goer) just before she started her talk.

Readers, I did it.

 But after Joanna called the meeting to order at 1 PM.

 First, the nominating committee presented their candidates.
Treasurer: Lori (to continue another 2-year term)
Corresponding Secretary: Jacquie (to continue another 2-year term)
Recording Secretary: Frances (starting a 2-year term, replacing Christine)

The candidates were unanimously approved. Joanna thanked Christine for the wonderful minutes she’d taken during the years (2021-2025) she served as Recording Secretary.

 Second, Lori gave the treasurer’s report: $508.06. We noted that it was time to consider our annual gift to the Hastings Library. One possibility: replacing the board books in the Children’s Library, which are worn and battered. Joanna will contact Debbie Quinn for her suggestions. We will also buy children’s books from the Barkin Bookstore to donate to a summer reading program.

 Third: next year’s topic. Five topics made the cut; members are now to choose three and rank them in order of preference. Laura will reveal the final selection at the next meeting.

bathing suit detail

 We made recommendations about books and films. Christine suggested Vera by Elizabeth von Arnim, a novel about a complicated marriage, unlike von Arnim’s other work. Frances suggested “The Penguin Lessons” a film directed by Peter Cattaneo. Both Steve Coogan, the star, and the penguin deserve Oscars.

 Laura began her presentation on Vincent Van Gogh by confessing that she had difficulties approaching him. (Aside – is that the reason she asked me to wear that silly bathing suit?)

 We started by reading quotes from his letters, example: “There is nothing in the earth as interesting as people. You can not study them enough.” And “to paint nature one must live in it a long time…”

 Van Gogh was born in the Netherlands March 30, 1853, into a cultured, well-educated family with a degree of prosperity. His father was a Dutch Reformed minister; his grandfather as well as three uncles were art dealers. Growing up, Van Gogh was described as “dreamy.” He drew a lot; he disliked the boarding schools where he was sent. At 16, he started working at an uncle’s art gallery. Failure marked the next decade of his life. He was no good at, nor did he like, the business of art. He fell deeply in love and was rejected. He wanted to be a minister, but failed the university entrance exam; that was followed by another failure at a 3-month missionary course.

 He had become passionately religious. A missionary post was found for him in a coal mining district in Belgium. He permitted himself nothing more than what the miners had; the mission had supplied him with a simple dwelling which he gave up to a homeless man. He lived in a hut, like the miners; like the miners, he lived on a diet of potatoes. Living at a level perhaps even below that of the miners, religious almost to the point of martyrdom, he was still not accepted by the community. He was dismissed by the church authorities. 

 At 27, he returned to live with his parents. His father, troubled by his eccentric behavior, wanted to commit him to a lunatic asylum; a decade later, Van Gogh would be in an asylum. His younger brother Theo suggested Van Gogh go to art school. Theo gave Van Gogh the next decade of his life.

another detail of suit

Theo was his brother’s hero. He worked as an art dealer in Paris, he had a wife and a son. He supported his brother financially, although his own career was not lucrative. He tried to sell his brother’s paintings, without success. The two brothers had an extensive correspondence. Theo died 6 months after his brother’ suicide. Theo’s letters to Van Gogh have disappeared.

No other record of the development of an artistic vision exists like Van Gogh’s to his brother, nor of a man who created paintings despite debilitating mental illness, often completely isolated, with no income except the small sums Theo provided. 

 In the last two years of his life, Van Gogh suffered intense depressions; had seizures, hallucinations, delusions of being poisoned and was in and out asylums. Many of his paintings from this time are heartbreakingly beautiful.

 With the consultation of our psychologist member, Lori, we speculated on what his illness might have been: schizophrenia? bi-polar disorder? manic depression?

 Van Gogh shot himself in the chest in 1890 and died a day later of the infected wound. In his pocket was a letter to Theo. It said  “…my own work, I am risking my life for it and my reason has half foundered because of it–that’s all right…”

 Respectively submitted,
Frances Greenberg, Recording Secretary

Linda Presents the Letters of Emily Dickinson

Jacquie's Email Hello Literary Ladies! That our greatest artists have the ability to express universal truths that feel so timely always astonishes and moves me. And I can never say too many times what a gift it is to explore their artistry and insights with you all. The thrill I feel when I look at my calendar on a Sunday morning and see that I have a Lit Club meeting to look forward to that week... heaven! (Hopefully with the fewest mentions of buffoons as is possible in these troubled times.)

Did Emily write all her letters and
poems at this tiny desk?

That said, this is to remind you all that The Literature Club of Hastings-on-Hudson will be meeting this Wednesday, March 26th, in Constance's lovely home, beginning at noon for lunch and a chat. Our fearless leader will ring the bell at 1 PM to begin our meeting, after which Linda will be presenting on “The Letters of Emily Dickinson.” I read that there are approximately 1,304 extant letters, so luckily Linda had a little something to work with! Happy Spring! x Jacquie

Christine’s Minutes Eleven members, two associates and one guest, Susan Meigs, gathered at Constance’s house. There was much delight and relief when we saw that yet again we would enjoy Connie’s famous poached salmon.

President Joanna rang the bell at 1:02 PM and thanked the host for our last meeting (herself) and then thanked today’s host.

Several of us were intrigued to learn that rocks will fragment at high altitudes, hence the need to carry heavy rock samples in one’s carry-on luggage.

The following books were recommended: Bear Claw, (in Crow Killer Series?), by Alfred Dennis; Anna Pigeon Mystery Series by Nevada Barr – all set in National Parks; Stone Yard Devotional by Charlotte Wood; Jesus Wept by Philip Shenon; Orbital by Samantha Harvey; Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism and the Making of Modern America by Clay Risen; Wild Dark Shore by Charlotte McConaghy; Mothers and Sons by Adam Haslett; Saint and Liars: Story of Americans Who Saved Refugees from Nazis by Deborah Dwork.

Laura passed out sheets with a list of all the possible topics for next year. Members were asked to indicate their top five choices, in no specific order. This first step in our two-pronged voting will allow her to narrow down the list, for our final vote with three weighted choices.

Jacquie announced that the Hillside Book Fair occurs this weekend, and there are many thousands of books. At the end of the Fair, on Saturday afternoon, some members will gather to choose and collect books for several destinations, including the Barkin Bookstore and boxes to Africa.

Lori, our treasurer collected dues from many members, a hefty $20 per annum.

The minutes of the February 26 (Connie’s program on Paula Modersohn-Becker) were read and accepted. In the interest of having more time for our program, the minutes for March 12, our annual meeting, were not read. Christine will email them to the members.

And throughout all this, being a truly sensitive and literary dog, poor Bosley suffered mightily from the vibrations of thunder and lightning.

At last, we arrive at the reason we are all gathered, to hear Linda discourse on the “Letters of Emily Dickinson.”

Emily Dickinson was born on December 10, 1830 at The Homestead in Amherst, Massachusetts. She died on May 15 (my birthday!), 1886, also at the Homestead. Emily was the middle child, between her older brother Austin, and her sister Lavinia (Vinnie). Her grandfather was one of the founders of Amherst college. Her father, Edward Dickinson, was a lawyer, treasurer for Amherst College, and one-term representative in Congress. Her mother, Emily Norcross was from a leading family in a neighboring town. Except for a brief period on North Pleasant Street during some financial difficulties, the family always lived at The Homestead. Neither Emily nor Lavinia married, and they lived there all their lives. When Austen married Susan Gilbert, he built himself a house next door.

Our first reading was from Dickinson’s obituary, written by her sister-in-law, Susan Gilbert Dickinson. In exquisite language she extolled the life and works of her sister-in-law and dear friend.

Emily attended Amherst Academy, where she studied Latin, composition, and botany. She was interested in botany all her life and made an herbarium with pressed flowers.

Her first letter was written to Abiah Root, a classmate at Amherst Academy, when Emily was 16. She enclosed a geranium leaf.

For one year, Emily went away to school at the South Hadley Seminary, now Mount Holyoke College. Initially she was quite homesick, but then settled in, and wrote home about her exams, her daily schedule, and of course, the school food. She also wrote many letters to Austen who was away at law school.

From a young age, Emily had many questions about life and death. While the rest of her family were Calvinists, she was not. We would call her a Transcendentalist. While she needed solitude in order to write, she could also be sociable, within her circle of family and friends.

In 1856 Austen married Emily’s dear friend Susan Gilbert, and they lived next door to The Homestead. But theirs was not a happy marriage. Austen had a long-term relationship with Mabel Loomis Todd, who was married to an astronomer.

The years 1858 to 1865 were an intense period of writing for Emily. She was writing poems and then binding or sewing them together in “fascicles.” By the time she was 35, she had written over 1000 poems, some of which she shared with Susan, and some she sent to Thomas Wentworth Higgins. Upon seeing his “Letter to a Young Contributor” she sent four poems to Higgins, inquiring whether they were worthy.

Between 1864 and 1865, Emily spent time in Boston while being treated for an eye condition. After returning home, she stopped making her fascicles, and she never left Amherst again. Emily Dickinson’s father died in 1874, and then her mother had a stroke, so that Emily and Vinnie took over management of the house. Then Mrs. Dickinson died in 1882, and in 1883 her beloved nephew Gib died of typhus. After years of ill health, Emily died in 1886, at the age of 55.

While many of us have read her poetry for years, and in some way feel we “know” Emily Dickinson, in fact, as Linda made clear, there are lingering mysteries about her life, regarding her relationships with Thomas Higginson and with Susan Dickinson. Then there is awkward fact of Mabel Todd Loomis, her brother’s mistress, who was disliked by Emily, yet ended up deciding the fate of the poems.

In her will, Emily requested that Vinnie burn her letters. Only then did Vinnie discover the drawer full of poems she had not known existed. She showed them to Susan, who already had many poems that Emily had been sending her. Then Vinnie gave the poems she’d found to Mabel. No one seems to know why. Mabel Loomis connected with Higginson, and he went on to publish her poems, with altered words, altered meter, and added titles. It sounds like Emily Dickinson Lite™. Loomis and Higginson did not like the friendship (romance??) between Emily and Susan, and they may have pushed the image of the poet as a slightly crazy recluse scribbling away in solitude. There is much we shall never really know. One member, Jacquie, pointed out that there were “a lot of exclamation points for a recluse!”

A 2016 collection of Dickinson’s poems, edited by Cristanne Miller, is purported to be the most accurate version of her poems, as she wrote them.

While the mysteries remain, Linda left us with two irrefutable facts: at the artist Judy Chicago’s Dinner Party (permanently installed at the Brooklyn Museum) there is a place setting for Emily. Also, Taylor Swift is distantly related to the poet.

It was a revelatory afternoon.

Respectfully Submitted,
Christine Lehner, outgoing Recording Secretary

Annual Meeting

Jacquieʼs Email Hello Literary Ladies! Just a quick reminder that we will be meeting this Wednesday, March 12th, in Joanna's beautiful, now finished living room, for the annual meeting of the Literature Club of Hastings-on-Hudson. Please come equipped with book/play/TV/movie recommendations to share, or just helpful hints on how you are getting through your days. In addition, if so desired, please brown bag your lunch, though Joanna will be providing a hot soup, beverages hot and cold, and I'll bring something sweet to share. (Not lunch???!!!)

Besides general chat, we will be brainstorming new possible themes for next year, as well as reviewing the old. For inspiration, above I've attached the list of past themes from 1909 to the present which I've taken the liberty of updating (see sidebar, important documents).

Christineʼs Minutes On March 12, 2025, ten members and one associate gathered at Joanna’s historic house, where the ceiling was no longer falling down. We gathered initially in the kitchen and enjoyed a delicious soup, which was not meant to be our lunch. Following that came the pièce de résistance: for Joanna’s 60th birthday, Jacquie made her famous gateau au chocolat fra diablo. This is where words fail me.

Joanna rang the bell at 1:05 PM. Given that this was our annual meeting, it was posited: what exactly do we do now? Many suggestions followed. The minutes of the previous meeting were not read, because they were unfinished. However, the minutes for January 22 were read and accepted. Our treasurer was in Rome, but it was stated with confidence that our treasury remains the same. Dues are generally due at this time, and they can be submitted via check, cash or Venmo. A nominating committee was created of Linda, Carol and Constance. They are tasked with coming up with a slate for Recording Secretary and Corresponding Secretary. It appears entirely likely that Lori will remain treasurer, but about this your current recording secretary is unsure. In determining who will fill the soon-to-be vacant offices, Joanna asked the salient question: who is not here today?

Then Laura, our hard-working vice, passed out a list of possible topics for the coming season. A rollicking discussion followed. Certain topics were jettisoned for obvious reasons, and new possibilities were suggested, including, but not limited to: how-to books, as a cultural marker; books about movies; investigative journalism; and just picking a topic from a hat. Laura will type up the list, and Jacquie will put it into a Google doc. Laura also told us about a bookstore in Ossining called Hudson Valley Books for Humanity. It sounds excellent. There is also a rumor that a bookstore will soon be opening in Hastings.

The club then played a short round of the game “Humiliation” in which one names a classic book she NOT read and then gets points for the number of people in the group who have read it. (Or maybe who have not.) Books unread by members braving such humiliation included: One Hundred Years of Solitude; War and Peace; Hamlet; Moby Dick; Paradise Lost; and even Pride and Prejudice. But having been sufficiently bribed, your secretary will not name names.

Finally, in an egregious breach of Literature Club protocol, members were requested to leave by 2:30, as our president and hostess had a compelling appointment in Brooklyn.

Respectfully submitted,
Christine Lehner, Recording Secretary