Rainbow Lifelong Learning Institute

Short Stories by 20th Century Women

Instructors: Various

Course description. The course will feature stories by five women writers of the 20th century. Each class session will be led by a different Rainbow community member and be devoted to one or more short stories by the selected author. The theme of all the stories is family relationships.

The five sessions will be:

4/22 - Carole Friedman. “Love is not a Pie” by Amy Bloom.

4/29 - Leah Ziph. “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor.

5/6 - Bonnie Hallisey. “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker.

5/13 - Alison Morgan. “The Day They Burned the Books” by Jean Rhys. 

5/20 - Margaret Kelner. “Recitatif” by Toni Morrison.  

We ask students to read the stories at least once prior to class. Class discussion will focus on literary value, social/class/race, and historical perspectives on family relationships. We will also discuss the author and her contributions.

Required Materials. All stories will be sent to the course participants as PDF documents. 

Prep for first class. Read the first story - “Love is not a pie” by Amy Bloom.