Come join Nadine in our Library for our monthly book clubs. We read and discuss a variety of French books, from the classic to the modern pieces. It's a perfect opportunity to refresh or enrich your knowledge of French literature and to practice your language skills. Feel free to express yoursfelf even if your French is not perfect! We value all your inputs.
Tuesday, February 21 at 12.00pm & Thursday, February 23 at 6.00pm
L'Amant de la Chine du Nord (The North China Lover) by Marguerite Duras
The North China Lover is a fascinating retelling of the dramatic experiences of Duras's adolescence that shaped her most famous work. Initially conceived as notes toward a screenplay for The Lover, this later novel, written toward the end of her life, emphasizes the tougher aspects of her youth in Indochina and possesses the intimate feel of a documentary.
Both shocking and enthralling, the story Duras tells is "so powerfully imagined (or remembered) that it...lingers like a strong perfume" (Publishers Weekly). Hailed by the French critics as a return to "the Duras of the great books and the great days," it is a mature and complex rendering of a formative period in the author's life
Books can be purchased at the Alliance : $15.00 each.
RSVP to admin@afdela.org
Tuesday, March 20 at 12.00pm & Thursday, March 22 at 6.00pm
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
Madame Bovary (1856) is Gustave Flaubert's first published novel and is considered his masterpiece. The story focuses on a doctor's wife, Emma Bovary, who has adulterous affairs and lives beyond her means in order to escape the banalities and emptiness of provincial life. Though the basic plot is rather simple, even archetypal, the novel's true art lies in its details and hidden patterns. Flaubert was a notorious perfectionist and claimed always to be searching for le mot juste ("the right word").
The novel was attacked for obscenity by public prosecutors when it was first serialized in La Revue de Paris between 1 October 1856 and 15 December 1856, resulting in a trial in January 1857 that made the story notorious. After the acquittal on 7 February 1857, it became a bestseller when it was published as a book in April 1857, and now stands virtually unchallenged not only as a seminal work of Realism, but as one of the most influential novels ever written.
RSVP to admin@afdela.org
Intermediate level of French is required. Books are available for purchase at the Alliance. Open to students and members only. Suggested Donation: $5.00.
