Literature at Work: The Robert Braham Seminar

December 18| Held - Anne Michaels

December 4| Held - Anne Michaels

November 20| So Long, See You Tomorrow - William Maxwell

November 6| Train Dreams - Denis Johnson

October 16| When We Cease to Understand the World - Benjamín Labatut

October 2| When We Cease to Understand the World - Benjamín Labatut

September 4| The Lady with the Little Dog - Anton Chekhov 

August 21| Puppy - George Saunders

August 7| A Swim in the Pond in the Rain  - George Saunders

July 17| A Swim in the Pond in the Rain  - George Saunders

July 3 | Walk the Blue Fields  - Claire Keegan 

June 19 | Walk the Blue Fields  - Claire Keegan 

June 5 | Percival Everett - James

May 15 | Toni Morrison - The Bluest Eye

May 1 | Leslie Marmon Silko - Ceremony 

April 17 | Leslie Marmon Silko - Ceremony 

April 3 | Willa Cather - Death Comes for the ArchBishop 

March 20 | Willa Cather - Death Comes for the ArchBishop

March 6 | Susan Sontag - Regarding the Pain of Others

February 21 | Hernan Diaz - Trust

February 7 | Dante (Author) Robert & Jean Hollander (Translators) - The Inferno. Cantos XXXI-XXXIV, Circle IX (Treachery)

January 17 | Dante (Author) Robert & Jean Hollander (Translators) - The Inferno. Cantos XVIII-XXX, Circle VIII (Fraud)

January 3 | Dante (Author) Robert & Jean Hollander (Translators) - The Inferno. Cantos X-XVII, Circles VI-VII (Heresy, Violence)

December 20 | Dante (Author) Robert & Jean Hollander (Translators) - The Inferno. Cantos IV-IX, Circles I-V (Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Wrath)

December 6 | Dante (Author) Robert & Jean Hollander (Translators) - The Inferno. Cantos I-III, (Introduction to Inferno’s structure and geography)

November 1 | George Saunders - Lincoln in the Bardo (second half)

October 18 | George Saunders - Lincoln in the Bardo (first half)

October 4 | Paul Harding - This Other Eden

September 20 | Paul Harding - This Other Eden

September 6 |  James Agee and Walker Evans - Let Us Now Praise Famous Men    

August 16 |  James Agee and Walker Evans - Let Us Now Praise Famous Men

August 2 |  James Agee - A Death in the Family 

July 19 |  James Agee - A Death in the Family 

July 5 | Claire Keegan - Small Things Like These

June 21 | Claire Keegan - Foster and Small Things Like These

June 7 | A Presentation by Lynn Lawrence

May 17 | Saidya Hartman - Wayward Lives: Beautiful Experiments

May 3 | Saidya Hartman - Wayward Lives: Beautiful Experiments

April 19 | Octavia Butler - Kindred

April 5 | Isaac Asimov - Nightfall and It’s Such a Beautiful Day

March 15 | Jean Rhys - The Wide Sargasso Sea

March 1 | Edith Pearlman - Stone and Hat Trick

February 15 | Marguerite Duras - The Lover

February 1 | Virginia Woolf - The Waves

January 18 | Virginia Woolf - The Waves

January 4 | Virginia Woolf - The Waves

• December 21 | Annie Ernaux - The Years
• December 7 | Annie Ernaux - The Years
• November 16 | Annie Ernaux - Happening
• November 2 | Annie Ernaux - Happening
• October 19 | Charles Dickens - David Copperfield
• October 5 | Charles Dickens - David Copperfield
• September 21 | Charles Dickens - David Copperfield
• September 7 | Charles Dickens - David Copperfield
• August 17 | Charles Dickens - David Copperfield
• August 3 | Charlotte Perkins Gilman - The Yellow Wallpaper AND Haruki Murakami - Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey
• July 20 | Jorge Luis Borges - Shakespeare's Memory and Funes the Memorious
• July 6 | Jorge Luis Borges - Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote AND Haruki Murakami - The Wind Cave
• June 15 | David Grossman - More Than I Love My Life
• June 1 | David Grossman - More Than I Love My Life
• May 18 | Primo Levi - "A Tranquil Star"
• May 4 | Maylis de Kerangal - The Heart
• April 20 | Maylis de Kerangal - The Heart
• April 6 | Arthur Koestler - Darkness at Noon
• March 16 | Arthur Koestler - Darkness at Noon
• March 2 | W.G. Sebold - The Emigrants 
• February 16 | W.G. Sebold - The Emigrants 
• February 2 | James Joyce - Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man 
• January 19 | James Joyce - Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man 
• January 5 | Rachel Kadish - The Weight of Ink

December 15 | Rachel Kadish - The Weight of Ink

December 1 | Isaac Bashevis Singer - Yentl the Yeshiva Boy

November 17 | Nellie Larson - Passing

November 3 | Olga Tokarczuk - "Yente"

October 20 | William Maxwell - They Came Like Swallows

October 6 | William Maxwell - They Came Like Swallows

September 15 | Postponed for holiday

September 1 | Ayad Akhtar - Homeland Elegies

August 18 | Ayad Akhtar - Homeland Elegies

August 4 | William Shakespeare - Measure for Measure

July 21 | William Shakespeare - Hamlet

July 7 | William Shakespeare - Hamlet

June 16 | Maggie O'Farrell - Hamnet 

June 2 | Maggie O'Farrell - Hamnet 

May 19 | Vladimir Nabokov - Lolita

May 5 | Penelope Fitzgerald - The Bookshop

April 21 | Vladimir Nabokov - Lolita

April 7 | Edward P. Jones - Lost in the City

March 17 | Edward P. Jones - A Butterfly on F Street

February 17 | Robertson Davies - The Rebel Angels

February 3 | Pat Barker - Regeneration

January 20 | Canceled for Inauguration 

January 6 | Pat Barker - Regeneration

• December 16 | Shirley Hazzard - Collected Stories (first 3/4 stories)
• December 2 | Philip Roth - The Human Stain
• November 18 | Philip Roth - The Human Stain
• November 4 | Philip Roth - The Human Stain
• October 21 | Magda Szabo - The Door
• October 7 | Primo Levi - The Periodic Table
• September 16 | Toni Morrison - Home
• September 2 | Magda Szabo - The Door
• August 19 | Magda Szabo - The Door
• August 5 | Colin McCann - Apierogon
• July 15 | Colin McCann - Apierogon
• July 1 | Anton Chekhov - Ward 6
• June 17 | Dylan Thomas - Under Milkwood
• June 3 | Dylan Thomas - Under Milkwood
• May 20 | Elizabeth Strout - Olive Again
• May 6 | Elizabeth Strout - Olive Again
• April 15 | Delmore Schwartz - In Dreams Begin Responsibilities.
• April 1 | Richard Powers - The Overstory
• March 18 | Richard Powers - The Overstory (Group transitioned to online meetings via Zoom)
• March 4 | Richard Powers - The Overstory
• February 19 | Richard Powers – The Overstory 
• February 5 | Aminatta Forna – Happiness: A Novel
• January 15 | Aminatta Forna – Happiness: A Novel
• January 1 | Cancelled for New Year’s Day – see you January 15!

• December 18 | Zora Neale Hurston – Their Eyes Were Watching God
• December 4 | Zora Neale Hurston – Their Eyes Were Watching God
• November 20 | Zora Neale Hurston – Sweat andThe Gilded Six-Bits
• November 6 | Margaret Atwood – The Testaments
• October 16 | Margaret Atwood – The Testaments
• October 2 | Toni Morrison – Jazz
• September 18 | Toni Morrison – Jazz
• September 4 | Viet Thanh Ngugen – The Sympathizer
• August 21 | Viet Thanh Ngugen – The Sympathizer
• August 7 | NoViolet Bulawayo – We Need New Names
• July 17 | NoViolet Bulawayo – We Need New Names
• July 3 | NoViolet Bulawayo – “Shhh” from We Need New Names
• June 19 | Mavis Gallant – Across the Bridge
• June 5 | Mavis Gallant – Across the Bridge
• May 15 | Don DeLillo – White Noise
• May 1 | Don DeLillo – White Noise
• April 17 | Karen Russell – “Reeling for the Empire” and “The Seagull Army Descends on Strong Beach” from Vampires in the Lemon Grove
• April 3 | Karen Russell – “The New Veterans” from Vampires in the Lemon Grove
• March 20 | Anna Burns – Milkman
• March 6 | Anna Burns – Milkman
• February 20 | Louise Erdrich – Love Medicine and Alice Munroe – Floating Bridge
• February 6 | Louise Erdrich – Love Medicine
• January 16 | Tommy Orange – There, There

• December 19 | Patrick Modiano – Missing Person
• December 5 | Rachel Cusk – Kudos!
• November 21 | Cancelled for Thanksgiving Holiday – see you December 5!
• September 19 | Cancelled for Holiday – see you October 3!
• September 5 | Albert Camus – The Stranger
• August 15 | Ivan Turgenev – First Love Read it online
• July 18 & August 1 | Fyodor Dostoevsky – White Nights Read it online
• June 20 | Nikolai Gogol – The Nose PDF of the story
• June 6 | Alexander Pushkin – The Queen of Spades PDF of short story
• May 16 | Julio Cortázar – The Night Face Up a short story Link to PDF of short story
• May 2 | Julio Cortázar – Axolotl a short story Link to PDF of short story
• April 18 | Jorge Luis Borges – The Garden of Forking Paths Link toPDF of short story, also author Mohsin Hamid reads from and discusses Jorge Luis Borges’ The Book of Sand Link to Podcast online
• April 4 | John Banville – Mrs. Osmond: A novel
• March 7 & 21 | John Banville – Mrs. Osmond: A novel
• February 21 | John Banville – Mrs. Osmond: A novel
• February 7 | Mohsin Hamid – Exit West
• January 3 & 24 | Ruth Ozeki – A Tale for the Time Being

• December 20 | Ruth Ozeki – A Tale for the Time Being Part I, pages 1-109
• December 6 | James Baldwin – Sonny’s Blues
• November 15 | Poem by Emily Dickinson to be provided in the session. There are no pre-readings.
• November 1 | Yaa Gyasi – Homegoing (first 100 pages for November 1)
• October 17 | D. H. Lawrence – Odour of Chrysanthemums and if time allows, also The Rocking Horse Winner
• September 20 & October 4 | Rachel Cusk – Outline
• August 16 & September 6 | Rachel Cusk – Transit
• July 19 & August 2 | Michel Houellebecq – The Map and the Territory
• June 21 & July 5 | Elif Şafak – The Architect’s Apprentice
• June 7 | Elizabeth Strout – Anything Is Possible
• May 17 | Henrik Ibsen’s – A Doll’s House
• April 19, May 3 | Nathaniel Hawthorne – The Scarlet Letter
• March 1 & 15 | Colin Toibin – The Master
• February 1 & 15 | Honore de Balzac – Pere Goriot
• December 21, 2016, January 4 & 18, 2017 | Michael Chabon – Moonglow

• December 7 | Helen Oyeyemi – Boy Snow Bird
• October 5 – November 16 | Septimania, by Jonathan Levi, with a visit by Jonathon Levi on November 16th
• September 21 | Colette – Blue Lantern
• September 7 | William Faulkner – The Bear | Link to story online
• August 17 | Honoré de Balzac – The Unknown Masterpiece | Link to PDF of story online
• August 3 | Henry James – The Madonna of the Future | Link to PDF of story online
• July 20 | Two short stories from The New Yorker (June 6 & 13): Langston Hughes – Seven People Dancing (Link to story online) & Jonathan Safran Foer – Maybe it Was the Distance (Link to story online)
• July 6 | Short story from The New Yorker (June 6 & 13): Ben Lerner – The Polish Rider | Link to story online
• June 15 | Short story from The New Yorker (June 6 & 13): Zadie Smith – Two Men Arrive in a Village | Link to story online
• June 1 | D.H. Lawrence – The Odour of Chrysanthemums | Link to story online
• May 18 | Ann Burack-Weiss – The Lioness in Winter
• April 20 & May 4 | Murasaki Shikibu – Tales of Genji (Royall Tylor translation)
• March 16 & April 6 | Haruki Murakami – Kafka on the Shore
• February 3 & 17 | Colum McCann – 13 Ways of Looking

• November 18 through January 20, 2016 | Henry James – The Ambassadors
• November 4, 2015 – Herman Melville – Billy Budd
• October 7 & 21, 2015 – Toni Morrison – Beloved
• September 2 & 16, 2015 – Edith Wharton – A Custom of the Country
• August 5 & 19, 2015 – Sinclair Lewis – Main Street
• July 1 & 15, 2015 – Dalia Sofer – The Septembers of Shiraz
• June 3 & 17, 2015 – Rabih Alamaddine – An Unnecessary Woman
• April 15, May 6 & May 20 2015 – Virginia Woolf – To the Lighthouse
• March 18 & April 1, 2015 – Anthony Doerr – All the Light we Cannot See
• February 18 & March 4, 2015 – Nellie Hermann – The Season of Migration Nellie Hermann was also our special guest on March 4th!
• January 21 & February 4, 2015 – Colm Toibin – Norah Webster
• January 7, 2015 – Penelope Fitzgerald – The Beginning of Spring

• December 3 & December 17, 2014 – Phil Klay – Redeployment
• October 15 – November 19, 2014 – Haruki Murakami – Colorless Tsukuru and His Years of Pilgramage. Also, please read on your own The Dead by James Joyce
• September 17 & October 1, 2014 – John Williams – Stoner
• September 3: John Patrick Stanley – Doubt
• July 16, August 6 & August 20: Angle of Repose, Wallace Stegner
• June 18 & July 2: Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
• June 4: Is there Life After Death, Henry James
• April 30: The Middle Years, Henry James
• April 16: A Round of Visits, Henry James
• April 2: Beast in the Jungle, Henry James
• March 19: What Maisie Knew, Henry James
• February 19, March 5, March 19: What Maisie Knew, Henry James
• January 15, February 5: The Goldfinch, Donna Tartt

• December 4: Vampires in Lemon Grove, Karen Russell
• November 8: The Trial, Franz Kafka
• September 18, October 2: East of Eden, John Steinbeck
• August 7, August 21: Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro
• July 17: Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro
• May 15, June 5: The Chemistry of Tears, Peter Carey
• May 1, April 17: Blackwater Lightship, Colin Toibin
• April 3, March 20: Dear Life: Stories, Alice Munro
• February 20, March 6: As I Lay Dying, William Faulkner
• December 19, 2012, January, 16, February 6: The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner

• October 3, October 17, November 7: Telegraph Avenue, Michael Chabon
• September 5 & 19: When Women were Birds, Terry Tempest Williams
• July 18: The Genesis Section of the Bible
• July 11: Home: A Novel, Marilynne Robinson
• June 20: Gilead, Marilynne Robinson
• May 16 & June 6: The Great Night: A Novel, Chris Adrian
• April 4 & 18: The Good Soldier, Ford Maddox Ford
• March 7: The Cat’s Table, Michael Ondaatje

• December 7 & 21, January 4: The Hare with Amber Eyes, Edmund De Waal
• November 2 & 16: The Spectator Bird, Wallace Stegner
• October 5 & 19: Crossing to Safety, Wallace Stegner
• September 7 & 21, October 5: The Love of My Youth, Mary Gordon
• July 7 and 21: Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann

• September 2 & 16: In Search of Lost Time, Volume 1: Swann’s Way, Marcel Proust (preferably the Lydia Davis translation)
• August 5 & 19: Scenes of Clerical Life, George Eliot (“Amos Barton,” “Mr. Gilfil’s Love Story” & “Janet’s Repentance”)
• June 17, July 1, July 15: The Mill on the Floss, George Eliot

• October 1 & 15: Divisadero, Michael Ondaatje
• September 3 & 17: Haroun and the Sea of Stories, Salman Rushdie
• August 6 & 20: The Echantress of Florence, Salman Rushdie
• July 2 & 16: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Junot Díaz
• June 4: Diary of a bad year, J.M. Coetzee
• May 7 & 21: The Sorrows of an American: A Novel, Siri Hustvedt
• April 16: The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje
• January 2 & 16, February 6: Tin Drum, Gunther Grass
• October 3 & 17, November 21: Daniel Deronda, George Eliot
• December 5 & 19: Peeling the Onion, Gunther Grass