He Said/She Said: Three Masterpieces

About this experience

Wednesdays, 10:30 am – 12:00 pm 
February 12 – March 19 
Online via Zoom 

Huckleberry Finn, The Scarlet Letter, and The Odyssey are three of the best-loved and most-taught works in all of literature, each of them with such a vivid character that years after reading we still know Huck and Hester and Odysseus. Or we think we do. 

In this course, we read different versions of the stories we know, told by the friends and lovers of those figures. These alternative tales might be seen as correctives to the old stories, reimagined by the enslaved Jim, the aggrieved Chillingworth and the abandoned Penelope. But they do more than argue: they bring new relevance and depth to the enduring themes of love and loss explored in the originals. As we read and talk about each tale, we’ll see the old classics take a different shape and become new again. 

Here are the books we’ll be reading: James by Percival Everett, Roger’s Version by John Updike, The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood, plus a few essays and reviews. 

(Note: you don’t need to reread the classics! We’ll do a summary of each, with short excerpts). 

1. Life and times in the Old slaveholding South, Puritan New England and ancient Greece.
2. Huckleberry Finn and the beginning of James.
3. Criticism, Racism and James.
4. The Scarlet Letter and the beginning of Roger’s Version.
5. Criticism, Feminism and Roger’s Version.
6. The Odyssey, marriage and The Penelopiad. 

Refund Policy

To receive a refund, a written request must be received 3 business days before the first class. A $25 processing fee will be deducted from the refund. Cancellation requests received less than 3 business days before the first class but before the second meeting will receive a 50% refund.  ALL written requests should be emailed to emeritus@spartanstrategiesinc.org or mailed to the address below.

Spartan Strategies, Inc.
Attn: Emeritus Society
5900 Summit Avenue, #201
Browns Summit, NC  27214