Sharon Presents Bernadine Evaristo

Jacquie's Email Hello Ladies! I hope you all had a lovely start to the holiday season. And now we have our singular meeting in December of the Literature Club of Hastings-on-Hudson to further our celebration and gratitude for what is good.

B. Evaristo by Hamish Hamilton

Our meeting will be this Wednesday, December 6th at Dianaߴs home for Sharonߴs presentation on Bernadine Evaristo, inspired by her birth yearߴs theme, ‟The English Novel.”

A few weeks back I was so excited when Ann Patchett chose Bernadine Evaristo's book, Girl, Woman, Other as her choice for her weekly book recommendation she calls, "If You Haven't Read It, It's New to You." I loved this book, and, like Ann, was surprised it didnߴt get more attention, especially after winning the Booker. I can't wait to learn more about the author and her work from Sharon.

Carla's Minutes And then we were 12! All but VP/Program Chair Joanna, and Recording Secretary, Christine (down with COVID) gathered at Diana's cozy home for our only December meeting. With ample, delicious and varied snacks provided by our hostess, we began our business meeting at 1 PM. President Constance read the minutes of the previous meeting, followed by a discussion of a still-unresolved gift to the library in Helen Baroliniߴs honor. Her daughters have been asked for their suggestions.

Also to be decided is the format for our future 2023-24 meetings—to mask or not? To offer lunch or continue with generous snacks? Constance will poll members for their preferences. Jackie brought us news of the renamed library Children's Room in honor of recently deceased Ed Young, with plans for neon skylight to be designed by Antonia Young, one of Ed's daughters. Jackie also mentioned that in the future we will be meeting at noon to allow for more time for sharing before the presentation.

To punctuate or not to punctuate? That was one of the questions that arose in Sharon's introduction to her chosen author, Bernardine Evaristo. The first Black woman to win the prestigious Booker prize (in 2019 along with Margaret Atwood), Evaristo was the master of many formats, styles, punctuations and lack of. She wrote poetry, fiction, autobiography, plays, short stories, epistolary, often mixing genres experimentally. She drew on her own life story as one of 8 children, with a black Nigerian father and a white lrish-Catholic mother. She also plumbed African heritage—and her novel Blond Roots is a satire inverting a black-white universe where Blacks are the masters and whites, the slaves. She has eight novels and two books of non-fiction to her credit and has received 76 awards, nominations, fellowships and honors. When she was awarded the Booker Prize at age 60 for her novel, Girl, Woman, Other, Evaristo had been a working author and playwright for decades!

She was born in 1959 and grew up in Eltham, southeast London, always considering herself Black, in spite of a mixture of many roots in her DNA. Her mother was loving and encouraging in contrast to her authoritarian father, with whom she didn't have a good relationship till her 20ߴs. She and her siblings eagerly sought her mother's company and attention. Evaristo wrote that her mother was “calm, amazing, brave, honorable woman” with an “earth mother vibe.”

Evaristo was the only Black student at school, with not much racist backlash. An eager and early reader, Evaristoߴs love of books provided a buffer for sibling competition for the family's TV. We read from Manifesto, her autobiography, which she says is her “tribute to multicultural Britain,” and tells of her family's history and struggle to fit in.

In addition to her writing, theater plays an important role in her life. She got her first degree in drama from the Rose Buford School of Speech and Drama and subsequently a doctorate in creative writing from the University of London. In the 1980ߴs, she and two other women founded Theatre of Black Women, the first of its kind in Britain. And in the 1990's, she organized Britain's first Black British Theatre conference. She has also helped establish a number of awards for Black African poets.

Evaristo's unusual love life has been a source of interest, and in interviews she has detailed her 10 years as a lesbian, going clubbing, participating in marches, part of the Black feminist culture. Some of her relationships were abusive, others not. However, her life changed when she met the man she would marry—David Shannon, a white writer, who was, and is, very supportive of her and her work.

We read Hello Mum, a book Evaristo was asked to write for readers with little book experience, using simple language, presenting a young boyߴs viewpoint in a letter to his Mum, ending in his fatal encounter with a gang. Sad and powerful, it is another experiment of sorts—both language wise and subject wise. Finally, on a more upbeat note, w€ focused on Evaristoߴs Booker Award, Girl, Woman, Other. It draws on her parentsߴ foibles, on complicated feelings of inter-family relationships, on generations with mixed race backgrounds, on how people deal with enormous stresses they encounter. The language is vivid, the characters intimate and alive, there is humor, compassion, all thoroughly absorbing—and not a thought to punctuation for we, the readers!

Respectfully submitted,
Carla, Interim Secretary, again

Christine Presents Flannery O'Conner

Jacquie's Email: Hello Literary Ladies! The next meeting of the Literature Club of Hastings-on-Hudson will be this November 8th when Christine will be presenting on the theme from 1951/1952, Genius of Eve. For this she has chosen Flannery O'Connor.

We will be meeting in Sharon DeLevie's art-filled home at 12:30 pm. Our meeting will begin promptly at 1 pm. For those who would like time for extra chat, Sharon will be opening her doors at noon.

To my disappointment I will be in California next week so will be unable to attend. My dismay is two-fold. Not only will I be missing what will surely be a wonderful presentation (and being with all of you,) but I also know nothing about Flannery O'Connor, nor have I ever read her, so this is a lost opportunity. I've just done a little Googling and realize that is not nearly enough to get a grasp of this seemingly complex writer or to make any sort of light quip or thoughtful reflection on her work.

I did find this quote, though, which jumped out at me. Isn't it amazing how literature can always somehow speak to the moment?

“The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it.”
                    — Flannery O'Connor

I wish you all a lovely meeting and a delightful Thanksgiving holiday. x Jacquie

Christine's Minutes: On November 8, 2023, the Literature Club met in the spacious living room of Sharon DeLevie. All members were delighted to be meeting again inside a member’s home. Our hostess, Sharon, was dressed in homage to Flannery O’Connor, in a fifty’s “fit and flare” black and white dress, completed with red bow. Additionally, she had bedecked the house with peacock feathers in honor of our subject’s inordinate fondness for peafowl. Ten members attended.

President Constance rang the bell, and then Vice-President Joanna passed out the very elegantly designed booklets, along with inserts to accommodate the most recent changes, and noted an additional change.

Christine read the minutes for the October 3 meeting, and Carla read the minutes for the October 18 meeting. Both were accepted as read. The treasury still contains $170, none of it in crypto, lest you were concerned. There was no new business. As for old business, Constance said that at our December meeting, we will discuss the eternal question: to dine in company, or to dine alone at home. Then Constance thanked our hostess for her hospitality, and the delicious brownies, and announced the day’s speaker, Christine (your secretary).

Flannery O'Connor

While unable to convincingly garb herself as a southern woman of the mid-twentieth century, Christine did bring Flannery’s favorite dessert, the Peppermint Chiffon Pie, served daily at the Sanford House in Milledgeville. Given that Christine was born on May 15, 1952, and given that Flannery O’Connor’s first book, Wise Blood, was published on May 15, 1952, and given that the Literature Club topic for 1951-1951 was “The Genius of Eve, Woman Writers,” it was inevitable that Christine would give her program on Flannery O’Connor.

Mary Flannery O’Connor was born on March 25, 1925 in Savannah, Georgia, into a Southern “old Catholic” family, with roots in Ireland. The only child of Regina (Cline) and Edward O’Connor, Mary Flannery grew up surrounded by a large extended and matriarchal, family. She attended Catholic schools in Savannah. Edward Cline suffered from ill health for several years, and in 1940, the family moved to the Cline Mansion in Milledgeville, now known as the Gordon-Porter-
Ward-Beall-Cline-O’Connor-Florencourt House. Edward O’Connor died in 1941 from complications of lupus. His daughter was deeply affected by the loss, but spoke of it rarely. O’Connor remained living with her mother while attending GSCW – Georgia State College for Women. She did not yet consider herself as a writer. In fact, through her years at GSCW she was seen as a burgeoning cartoonist, and her pictures illustrated most issues of the school paper. Her fascination with birds was well-established by then, and while at college, she kept a black crow along with a rooster, and many other creatures. Upon graduating in 1945, O’Connor received a scholarship to study journalism at the University of Iowa. Yet she quickly realized that she wanted to write stories, not journalism. She spoke with the Director of the Writers Workshop, Paul Engle, gave him a writing sample, and was enrolled. From then on, she was to be called simply Flannery, dropping the initial Mary.

 Even while being homesick, and with her thick Georgia accent, Flannery flourished in grad school. She read widely, and her writing began to receive attention. A fellowship from Rinehart allowed her to stay in Iowa for an additional year, and work on her novel. She became friends with Robert Lowell, and came to know many other writers. In 1948 Flannery went to Yaddo, the writers’ colony in upstate New York. Then, as now, Yaddo was hotbed of literary activity and intrigue. She moved briefly to New York City to be near the center of the publishing world, but was pleased when her new friends, Robert and Sally Fitzgerald, invited her to come live with them and their numerous children in Ridgefield, Connecticut. Like Flannery, the Fitzgeralds were devout Catholics.

Thus began a lifelong friendship, that continued past Flannery’s early death, when Sally Fitzgerald acted as her literary executor and editor. Flannery was working on the novel that would become Wise Blood, while also experiencing ill health, joint pain, and fevers. In 1950, at age 25, she was diagnosed with lupus. Recognizing the health difficulties that awaited her, Flannery decided to move back to Milledgeville. With her mother, Regina, she moved just outside of town to a family farm they called Andalusia. Regina ran the farm, and Flannery wrote daily and finished Wise Blood, which was published in 1952. Though she rarely wrote about Catholics, Flannery O’Connor’s deeply held religious beliefs, and her illness, were the defining aspects of her writing life.

At Andalusia, Flannery raised numerous fowl, a wide variety of fowl. Once she acquired her first peafowl pair, she never looked back. She and her mother had lunch daily at the Sanford House, where her favorite dessert was that bright pink Peppermint Chiffon Pie (though it is unlikely that the real thing in Milledgeville was made with an Oreo cookie crust, as was Christine’s). She also had a wide-ranging correspondence with other writers, with priests, and friends.

In 1958, Flannery and her mother traveled to Lourdes, at the insistence of a wealthier female relative. Flannery did not expect, nor did she receive, a miracle. She had already said that she regarded her illness as “more instructive than a long trip to Europe.” Within the US, she traveled to colleges and to see friends and publishers, and she often lectured, even as her health deteriorated. The story collection, A Good Man is Hard to Find, was published in 1955. Her second novel, The Violent Bear It Away, came out in 1960.

In August 1964, she died of kidney failure, due to the lupus, at the age of 39. Her
posthumous collection of stories, Everything that Rises Must Converge, as well as collections of her letters and essays, were all edited by her friend, Sally Fitzgerald, with her lifelong publisher Robert Giroux. In her short life, Flannery O’Connor may not have written voluminous pages, but every page she wrote was exquisitely crafted and deeply felt. Her writing, uniquely southern, Gothic, and religious, was also universal in its depiction of the human psyche.

Along with letters to Sally Fitzgerald, and an excerpt from King of the Birds, about peacocks, members read in its (almost) entirely, the story Good Country People.

Respectfully submitted,
Recording Secretary, Christine Lehner

Jacquie Presents Helene Hanff

Jacquie's Email Hello Flexible Literary Ladies! Since the weather looks promising, we will be gathering in Joanna's front garden for our meeting this coming Wednesday, October 18th. The space has both full sun as well as some shade, so please come with your sun hats and extra warm layers. Although we are scheduled to meet at 12:30 pm, Joanna and I will be there already at noon for those who would like an extra-long time for chat. Our business meeting will begin promptly at 1 pm after which I will finally present on Letters in Literature and Helene Hanff's 84 Charing Cross Road, despite, as that brilliant wordsmith Lauren Casper so brilliantly said “it seems to come from another world.”

How quickly life can change from one moment to the next, with world events overrunning our thoughts and our peaceful day-to-day. Yet our Literature Club has soldiered on through many historic events (i.e., the last few years alone!) and we find solace and community and humanity in our coming together, marveling at the wonder of great literature and its power to salve and inspire.

Please let me know that you received this email to ensure everyone has the latest info on time and place. Joanna will be handing out our booklets on Wednesday. Hopefully there will be fewer changes to our schedule going forward.

I look forward to being with you on Wednesday. x Jacquie

Carla's Minutes (substituting for Christine) Eleven members gathered in Joanna Reisman’s front garden, with its perfect balance of sun and shade, refreshments provided by hostess and Linda Tucker, hostess-manque. At 1 pm sharp, VP/Program Chair Joanna called the meeting to order, followed by the Treasurer’s report—$170. There was another discussion of possible book purchase in honor and memory of Helen Barolini—the author Barbara Grizutti Harrison mentioned. Diana will talk to Helen’s daughter Niki for guidance. All admired the Lit Club’s new program design, and Joanna noted the addition of a February 14, 2024 meeting to replace our canceled October meeting. Also noted was a missing month—no March—and Joanna will see to program correction.

On to presenter Jacquie Weitzman, whose overall 1964/5 topic was “Letters in Literature” and her specific subject, Helene Hanff. If ever there were an example of Anglo-American bonhomie, entente, generosity, it was surely found in the correspondence between American author, Helene Hanff, and the staff of the London antiquarian bookstore, Marks & Co, which is the heart of Jacquie’s presentation, letting Helene speak for herself and enchanting us as we read the letters, all of them, aloud.

Philadelphia-born Helene, a child of the depression, born April 15, 1916, grew up in a theater loving family, where her father, a shirt salesman, traded shirts at the box office for theater tickets for the Hanffs. She’s said to aways have wanted to be a playwright and wrote 20 plays in the 1940’s—none ever produced. She did write screenplays for TV, including “Playhouse 90”, “The Adventures of Ellery Queen” and “Hallmark Hall of Fame,” her main sources of income—often precarious.

With only one year of college, all she could afford, Helene was an enthusiastic, self-taught student in love with books. Both the physical books and their often esoteric contents were things she rhapsodizes about, which brings us back to 84 Charing Cross Rd. As an upper east side New Yorker, Helene wrote letters spanning the years 1949 to 1969. Her choice of dealing with a London bookshop reflected disdain for the Barnes and Noble’s “grimy, marked-up schoolboy copies.”

In both the letter salutations and content, we see a gradual thawing on both sides of the ocean. Her introductory letter of inquiry, October 5, 1949, is addressed “Gentlemen” signed “Very truly yours, Helene Hanff (Miss)” and the reply, “Yours faithfully, FPD for Marks and Co.”  And an irate11/18 letter has no salutation—just “WHAT KIND OF A BLACK PROTESTANT BIBLE IS THIS?” On receiving a copy she disliked: “Kindly inform the Church of England they have loused up the most beautiful prose ever written, whoever told them to tinker with the Vulgate Latin?” By December 8, the letter is addressed to “Sir” (“It seems a witless token writing Gentlemen” when the same solitary soul is taking care of everything for me) and signed “Helene Hanff.”  It also details a first gift—a small Christmas present to Marks & Co., referring to the food rationing and scarcity in post-war England: “I’m sending it c/o of you, FPD, whoever you are.” In a follow-up note—the package had included a ham—“FPD? Crisis” she mentions the names on the invoice—“B. Marks, M. Cohen. Props.”  And asks, “ARE THEY KOSHER? I could rush a tongue over.” The note of thanks is addressed to “Dear Miss Hanff ” and signed “Yours Faithfully, Frank Doel for MARKS & CO.”  It’s “Dear Frank” when she’s been offered “an Oxford Book of English Verse, printed on India paper, original blue cloth binding and a first edition of Newman’s Idea of a University.” On its receipt, she answered, October 15, 1950, “I never saw a book so beautiful. I feel vaguely guilty about owning it. All that gleaming leather and gold stamping and beautiful type.”

While Frank is her main Marks correspondent, Helene also writes to and hears from other staff members. Cecily shares a requested Yorkshire pudding recipe. Megan sends thanks for Easter “parcels.” And Frank arranges for a beautiful, hand embroidered linen cloth sent by the staff to Helene, made by an 80-year-old neighbor of his. The intimacy, the humor, grow and glow. Even Frank’s wife and daughters become part of the picture, holiday fare sent and prized, and rare nylons brought to them through Helene’s visiting friend. By February 14, 1952, it’s “Dear Helene “and “With best wishes from us all, Frank Doel.” And May 11, 1952, she writes “Dear Frank, Meant to write you the day The Angler arrived, just to thank you, the woodcuts alone are worth 10 times the price of the book. What a weird world we live in when so beautiful a thing can be owned for life—for the price of a ticket to a Broadway movie palace, or 1/50 the cost of a having one tooth capped.”

In May 1953, she writes triumphantly about a successful TV script, a life of a famous person. “Frankie, you’ll DIE when I tell you... And whaddya think I dramatized? JOHN DONNE ELOPING WITH THE BOSS’S DAUGHTER out of Walton’s Lives. ... So that’s how John Donne made the Hallmark Hall of Fame and paid for all the books you ever sent me and five teeth.... Cheers, hh”. Walton’s Lives was a book she’d ordered from Marks & Co. that had included that “story.”

While Helene hoped to get to London to meet all at Marks & Co, and the staff members were equally eager, it didn’t happen till after the sad death of Frank from a ruptured appendix in December, 1968. At that time, his widow, Nora, wrote to thank Helene for her “kind letter. I only wished you had met Frank and known him personally, he was the most well-adjusted person with a marvelous sense of humor. ... At times I don’t mind telling you I was very jealous of you, as Frank so enjoyed your letters...” With the financial rewards of her published correspondence, Helene finally did get to visit London and the now closed and boarded up bookstore and met Nora when she finally got there.

Helene published the correspondence, 84 Charing Cross Road, in a memorial to Frank Doel. The book was a great success in Britain, adapted for the London stage by James Roose-Evans, although less successful in its 1982 Broadway run with Ellen Burstyn and Joseph Maher. It was made into a movie in 1987, starring Anne Bancroft and Anthony Hopkins. (Mel Brooks had bought the rights to the film as an anniversary gift to Anne. Anne Jackson had starred in the 1975 BBC TV adaptation and she and Helene became friends.)

In addition to her TV scripts, Helene also wrote other books including: The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street (1973), Q’s Legacy (1986), Apple of My Eye (1977) and the children's books Movers and Shakers (1969) and Terrible Thomas (1964). She marveled at the many fans worldwide who thought of her as a friend. She died at age 80, living on royalties and social security, and financial help from the Authors League Fund. “The one drawback about being a writer is that you never know in any month where the rent is coming from six months from then,” she told Publishers’ Weekly.

Respectfully submitted,
Carla Potash (Interim Secy.)

Barbara Presents Rebecca West

Jacquie's Email I awoke with a start early this morning.
My first thought, “OMG! My Lit Club presentation is in two and a half weeks, and I haven't begun to write!”

After some deep breathing to calm my rapidly beating heart and the realization that it was not yet morning, I attempted to get back to sleep, but my mind began to race with thoughts both existential and mundane. I won't bore you with the specifics, but luckily one of those thoughts included calculating what day it was and remembering I had to send out my reminder about this week's upcoming meeting. (And not to worry - I'm all set with the menu for my Yom Kippur evening meal...)

It is, somehow, mid-September and the inaugural meeting of the 2023-2024 Literature Club of Hastings-on-Hudson's season is set for this Wednesday, September 20th. Our theme this year: Literature Club Topics from the Years We Were Born (or topics inspired by the year a member was born.) *

Our first presenter is Barbara Morrow who will bring us back to 1944/45 and the World at War: Rebecca West. We will be meeting at 12:30pm, hopefully in Frances' lovely back garden. Our meeting will officially begin at 1pm.

The weather forecast currently calls for a sunny 74 degrees, so bring your hats and blankets! If the forecast should change, we will be meeting inside.

Unfortunately, we will not be Zooming or recording the meeting, but, as always, if you are unable to attend, Chirstine's meeting minutes are certain to be a delight in and of themselves.

I look forward to seeing you all soon! x Jacquie

Christine's Minutes For the first meeting of this 2023- 2024 season, in which we board the Wayback Machine to the Literature Club programs from the years of our birth, thirteen members gathered around the pool at Christine’s house. Perhaps for a last taste of summer, but not necessarily. Our esteemed presenter, Barbara Morrow, came accompanied by her spousal and most distinguished Sherpa, George, always ready to help the cause of Literature.

President Constance rang the bell a little after 1 pm.

Christine read the not-really-minutes from our summer gathering. Laura read her minutes from the last meeting of last year, in which Carla presented on Kurt Weill. All approved.

In the absence of our treasurer, Constance reported that we have $170 in the treasury, and told us of the very satisfying–if logistically challenging–delivery of 50 books to Yonkers.

Since the Hastings Library seems to already have copies of all Helen Barolini’s books, we continue to contemplate an appropriate gift in her honor. We will check if the library has a copy of her excellent cookbook, Festa.

Revisiting a topic we had all hoped was dead and gone, and given the current unfortunate resurgence of COVID, we have decided that for the rest of this year, we will have our meetings outdoors whenever possible, or else inside, masking optional.

Several books were recommended by members:

My Struggle, by Karl Ove Knausgaard

Short Stories, by Kate Atkinson

The Covenant of Water, by Abraham Verghese

Visitation, by Jenny Erpenbeck

The Girl with Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

Our presenter, Barbara Morrow, started our year with a fascinating program about Rebecca West. She explained her not-entirely-usual reason for this choice: on her shelf was a venerable 1943 edition of West’s famous (though often unread) tome about the Balkans, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon. Barbara admitted that she, too, had found it not quite necessary to finish the book, though she read sections with great interest, and shared them with us.

In 1947, Rebecca West was pictured on the cover of Time magazine, and declared to be the world’s “Number One Woman Writer.” Yet who reads her now? It is question we will keep asking.

In 1892, the writer we know as Rebecca West was born as Cicely Isabel Fairfield, in London, into an intellectual and liberal household. Though her journalist father left the family when Cicely was only 8, she surely acquired from him an early passion for abstract ideas, though her feminist vision would diverge from his. Her mother, Isabella, was a pianist, and West grew up surrounded by music, literature and good conversation. But not much money.

West studied to be an actress, though that was not to be her métier. But she loved the theater. She was 18 when she wrote her first theatrical review, of a play by Gorky. Her reviews were not mealy-mouthed or anodyne, as she quickly made manifest. The strength of her opinions was such, that in order to allay her mother’s fears for notoriety, at 19 Cicely Fairfield began using the name Rebecca West, a character drawn from Romersholm, by Ibsen. She later claimed that she chose the name in haste and liked neither Ibsen nor the character.

As Rebecca West, she continued reviewing and writing on a multitude of social issues. She was well-informed, funny, and unrelenting.

In 1912, H.G. Wells was 46 years old and one of the most famous writers in the world. He was both a supporter of women’s rights, and a well-known libertine. Rebecca West was 20. A snide-ish comment in her review of his novel, Marriage, provoked Wells to invite the young reviewer to lunch with his wife and himself. Thus it began. She found him ‘most interesting’; they talked for hours. He later said he was struck by her “curious mixture of maturity and infantilism”.

Their son, Anthony West, was born in 1914. Until his teens he believed that Rebecca West was his aunt, and H.G. Wells, called Wellsie, was a family friend. (Note: this fiction did not end well.) Anthony’s relationship with his mother went from cool to terrible.

Enough gossip. (As if there is ever enough.) It is her work which will last. Her first novel, The Return of the Soldier, about a returning shell-shocked soldier, came out in 1917. In 1981 it was made into a film starring Alan Bates, Glenda Jackson and Julie Christy.

Meanwhile, the stress of her relationship with Wells, her two residences and binary existences, caused West to suffer from various ailments, including skin problems.

Her second novel, The Judge, came out in 1922. In 1923, she visited the US for a lecture tour, and met numerous literary luminaries, including Glenway Wescott and Alexander Wolcott.

West met Henry Andrews in 1928, at a party given by Vera Brittain - who would later write Testament of Youth. West and Andrews married in 1930. Having lost his job in banking, but then inheriting significant money, Henry Andrews became a scholar, and ‘something of a pedant’. West regarded Andrews as being, like herself, a perennially ‘displaced person.’

In 1936, while lecturing for the British Council in the Balkans, West fell in love with the region, and with the Serbs in particular. She returned again and again. Her ginormous tome, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (which I have variously called Black Falcon and Black Lamb, Grey Lamb and Black Falcon, and so on.) was published in 1941. The New Yorker called it “as astounding as it was brilliant.”

During WWII, West started writing for The New Yorker, particularly about criminals and traitors. Harold Ross later assigned her to cover the Nuremberg Trials. It was an intense time. Her best-loved novel, The Fountain Overflows, quite obviously autobiographical, came out in 1957 and was a best-seller. Understandably so. The Christmas scene we read aloud should be a classic of the genre. The fifties should have been a glorious time for her. But that was not to be the case. Her son, Anthony, with whom she had always had a fraught relationship, published his novel, Heritage, in 1955. The novel was a thinly disguised autobiography in which the mother is vilified. West succeeded in stopping it from being published in Britain until after her death. Despite occasional reconciliations, her relations with her son continued to pain her, and he was not with her when she died in 1983.

In 1959, she was created a Dame of the British Empire. West continued writing and traveling extensively, and being active socially, with such friends as Martha Gellhorn, Doris Lessing and Warren Beatty. Her health began failing in the seventies, and Dame Cicely Fairfield died, bedridden in 1983.

Members read from Victoria Glendenning’s biography; from Black Lamb and Grey Facon; from West’s essay, “Greenhouse with Cyclamens,” about the Nuremburg trials, collected in A Train of Powder (she was underwhelmed by the efficiency of the so-called security); from Andrea Barrett’s introduction to The Fountain Overflows; from the critic Elizabeth Janeway’s review in the New York Times. All the readings were much enjoyed.

Respectfully submitted,

Christine Lehner
Recording Secretary

Summer Picnic

Jacquie's Email: Hello Literary Ladies! Although it is pouring rain at the moment, it looks like the weather gods are smiling on us - at least at this moment - and we will have clear skies for our summer meeting this Wednesday around Christine's beautiful pool. We will be gathering at noon - please feel free to bring a bag lunch, your suit, and a towel.
    I look forward to discussing Umbertina, Helen Barolini's literary masterwork, with you all. How I wish we had thought to read it together while we still had a chance of having Helen lead our discussion. What a legacy she has left us.
     I know many of you are away. You will be missed! As we say in my family when someone is missing out on a get-together, "We'll try not to have too much fun!" xJacquie

No Minutes, Just Photos

Carla Presents Kurt Weill

Jacquie's Email Hello Literary Ladies! Our final performance of the magnificent 2022-2023 season of the Hastings-on-Hudson Literature Club will feature Carla Potash in the starring role as Presenter on Kurt Weill. This will take place, weather permitting, in the outdoor performance space of Carol's backyard. Lighting by God.*

Seating will begin at 12:30pm with pre-performance remarks beginning at 1pm. Live streaming will be available. Again, please inform our technical director if you would like to Zoom. 

And since I never pass up the opportunity to watch Raul Julia in performance, or in anything, here is a link to a filmed version of him singing and dancing Tango Ballad (with the gorgeous Julie Migenes) from Weill's Threepenny Opera.

Laura Rice's Minutes (substituting for Christine Lehner)  

Constance called the meeting to order in Carol Barkin’s lovely garden. The stunning irises were a perfect distraction from Constance reading the minutes of the previous Noh Theater presentation by Laura Rice.

The treasurer’s report would have to wait in the absence of our treasurer, Lori Walsh. Discussion of expenses ensued. Our usual library contribution hovers around $130; the cost of printing our annual program about $125.

Constance was delighted to announce she had found an organization eager for the oversupply of children’s books in the Hastings Library's used book shop: the Family Service Society of Yonkers. They run a summer camp program in Ossining and would like 50 books for levels from kindergarten to fifth grade. July 7 is the first day of camp. At the end of the camp season, each child will take home one of the books.

In Helen Barolini's memory we decided to read one of her books. We wondered if  the Hastings Library hzx all of her books. To be checked out.

About our summer picnic. We decided that any Wednesday in July or the first two weeks of August would work. Christine, who has volunteered to host, will choose the date.

Carla’s presentation on Kurt Weill:

We learned that the Weill family records date back to the 14th century, when they took the name of the town in Germany where they lived. Kurt’s father became a cantor, breaking a long succession of rabbis in the Weill family. Kurt was born in 1900, the third of four children. His musical gifts showed at a young age and were encouraged by his parents. He attended school at the synagogue, but also took piano and organ lessons, and began composing at 10 years of age! He and his siblings put on plays and musical events at the synagogue, with Kurt playing the piano and directing the enterprises. By the early 1920’s he was recognized as one of the leading young classical composers in Germany.

In 1924 he met Lotte Lenya. Life was never the same! We heard selections from their letters to each other, beginning with the passionate and ardent, and moving through a cooler tone, when their relationship was strained. They married, the separated, they divorced, and finally, they remarried.

Weill’s work includes music for cantatas, operas, requiems, plays with music and music for radio and movies. He collaborated with Berthold Brecht, Maxwell Anderson, Alan Jay Lerner, Ira Gershwin and others. Several of his songs live on outside of the theater: ‟September Song,” ‟ My Foolish Heart,” ‟My Ship” and ‟Mac the Knife.”

In addition to writing the music, Weill cast, directed, produced, and generally ran the show. Stress gave him heart incidents. He died at 50 years of age in 1950. Lenya married several times after his death, but she made it her mission to perform his works and burnish his memory.

After this introduction, we were ready to stage The Threepenny Opera, perhaps Weill’s most famous work. Carla’s summary explained the turf war between the two rival parties. The daughter (Polly) on one side is marrying the biggest crook on the other (Mac). Polly’s father, Beggar Boss Peachum plans to capture and hang Mac, but amid lots of complications, no hanging, but yes, that famous song. Oh, and lots of satire about poverty and crime.

We heard songs leading to the scenes we performed with aplomb! And no gallows.

The second play we explored was Lost in the Stars, from the novel Cry the Beloved Country, by Alan Paton. Maxwell Anderson and Kurt Weill adapted it for the stage, with Weill writing the songs. Set in South Africa, it was produced in 1949. The main character, an African minister, seeks his son, who has gone off to Johannesburg. Sadly, in Johannesburg, the young man kills a man during the course of a robbery. His victim turns out to be the son of the white man who has befriended his father and the congregation in the village. After a trial, the minister’s son is to be hanged.

The two fathers, who each have lost a son, speak together, conveying hope for the future.

Two very different theater pieces, yet each brings social conditions of the times to the audience.

I forgot to mention that between the two plays, we adjourned to Carol’s living room, as the driveway project next door clattered so loudly!

And here endeth our season of drama on the Hudson. Thank you, Carla.

Respectfully submitted,
Laura Rice

Laura Presents Noh Theater

Jacquie's Email: Hello Literary Ladies! If there's any meeting where masks are appropriate to wear, it is for this Wednesday's presentation by Laura Rice on Noh Theater! We will be meeting at Christine's house.

I'm so sorry I will not be with you on Wednesday for what I'm sure will be another wonderful presentation, but while you are meeting, I will be in my sister's back garden in Jerusalem for my niece's rehearsal dinner before celebrating her wedding on Friday in Jaffa. Good things always seem to happen at the same time. Shalom! Jacquie

Christine's Minutes: Your secretary feels confident in writing that the meeting of May 3rd began unlike any other meeting in the history of the Literature Club. Our presenter, Laura Rice, arrived with a suitcase full of kimonos and a portable folding coatrack which she installed on the front porch of Christine’s house. Each arriving member was encouraged to choose a kimono to wear for the meeting, which would involve dramatic enactments of selections from NOH repertoire. Following their costuming, members gathered in Christine’s living room.

President Constance rang the bell. The minutes were read and accepted. The treasurer reported that, having spent $139 on flowers for Helen Barolini’s funeral, we are still quite flush with $270.20.

Diana suggested that we invite Helen’s daughters, Niki and Linda, to our summer meeting when we will discuss Helen’s novel, Umbertina. All agreed this was an excellent plan.

Constance said that she will speak to Debbie at the Library about getting Helen’s books for the library.

The venue for our next meeting on May 17th , originally scheduled for Jacquie’s, remains up in the air. Laura has volunteered to take the minutes in Christine’s absence.

A question about the interpretation of the theme for the upcoming season was quickly resolved. As ever, it was suggested that the theme could be variously interpreted according to whatever you would like to do.

In another first for the Literature Club, Laura then introduced us to Noh Theatre with a start with a YouTube excerpt from the Noh play Kuroduka.  It was indeed very helpful to see - and hear – real Noh actors; otherwise, it might have been difficult to imagine just how slow are their movements, and just how loud are their words.

Then Laura took us back in time to the 1990s when, thanks to a well-spent grant from the NEA, Laura and another teacher at Hastings High School went to Japan to study Noh drama.

So, to begin our education. No, Noh is not realistic theatre. Yes, Noh does lend itself to occasional sophomoric wordplay.

Upon entering the theatre, the audience sees the porch of a small house. There are four columns on the stage, supporting a tile roof. Stage left there is a walkway onto the stage for the actors. Stage right there sits the chorus. Upstage are musicians, and behind them a painting of a pine tree, a symbol of longevity.

The play opens with a character walking, very slowly, on to the stage and explaining who he is and where he is going.

Noh theatre developed in the 1200s, influenced by Buddhism coming from China as well as traditional Yamato dances. During the Muromachi period, 1336 to 1573, Noh theatre took shape. In particular, the Shogun Yoshimitsu and two actors, father and son Zen priests, reworked the form into the Noh theatre we still see. Their texts and rules established Noh as a refined art for the nobility, a reflection of the culture.

There are five types of Noh drama:
1 the god play
2 the warrior play
3 play with a female protagonist
4 the miscellaneous and madwoman play
5 the demon play
A typical presentation includes three Noh plays, each separated by a kyogen, a lighthearted comedy sketch. Spectators will often bring scripts with them so that they can follow along with the play. All roles are played by men, Noh kidding, and they speak in their natural voices when playing men or women. However, they wear masks when playing women, demons and spirits. The masks are smaller than the actors’ faces.

The first play members performed was Atsumori, by Seami. Properly kimono’d, aand standing in a semi-circle in front of the fireplace, standing in for the pine tree, they read the parts of the Priest, the Reapers, a Young Reaper, and Atsumori – our hero. When staged in true Noh style, everything happens very very slowly; which gives the audience time to consider the wisdom of some great lines, such as the chorus telling us: “Put away from you wicked friends; summon to your side a virtuous enemy.”

After acquainting us with our first Noh play, Laura then presented the remarkable Nine Levels: A Pedagogical Guide for Teachers of Acting. We read aloud the last three: Level Nine, The Marks of Coarseness and Leadenness, as embodied by the abilities of the tree squirrel. Level Eight, The Marks of Strength and Coarseness, explained with this, “A tiger three days after birth is all eager to eat an ox.” Level Seven: The Marks of Strength and [Regard for] Details, referred to the contrast between the metal hammer’s flashing, while the “precious sword’s gleam is cold.”

Then three more members clad in kimonos ascended to the stage and read from a Poem Play, Haku Rakuten, also by Seami, in which a Chinese poet arrives at the Japanese seashore, and is found by fishermen. Members acted the parts of Haku, the Two Fishermen, the Old Fisherman and the Chorus. The fishermen engage with Haku on the subject on poetry; then one of the fishermen is revealed as the god of Japanese poetry, and a great wind blows from their billowing sleeves and sends the Chinese poet and his ship back to China.

Returning to the pedagogy, still working backwards, we read Level Six: The Mark of Surface Design, encapsulated by “the Path of paths is not the usual path.” Skipping Level Five (Versatility and Precision), we moved on to Level Four: The Mark of the Genuine Flower. This level is rendered thus: “In the luminous mist the sun sinks; the myriad mountains are crimson.” Level Three: The Mark of the Tranquil Flower has a wonderfully elegant saying, “In a silver bowl, he piles snow.” With the last levels, actors approach the pinnacle of perfect acting. Level Two: The Mark of the Profoundly Brilliant Flower, is symbolized again with snow. “The snow covers a thousand mountains; how come a lone peak is not white?” And finally, to Level One: The Mark of the Miraculous Flower, about which we read: “In Silla at midnight, the sun is bright.”

With reluctance, we returned to our pedestrian, Western, and quicker lives, grateful for an afternoon spent with the glacially slow Noh drama, and of course, for the opportunity to wear lovely kimonos.

Respectfully submitted,
Christine Lehner, Recording Secretary