America's Literary
Heroines spotlight May's
free adult Muses Seminar
ONEIDA - Led by Professor Roxanna Pisiak of Morrisville State College, the first offering of the free 2008 adult-enrichment seminars at the Oneida Public Library focuses on “Heroines of American Literature, 1890-1940,” starting Tuesday, May 13, at 6:30 p.m.
The six-session seminar, running on Tuesdays at the same time until June 17, will discuss novellas and short stories by notable American authors, both male and female. Authors include Willa Cather, Kate Chopin, Stephen Crane and Edith Wharton.
Pisiak will also explore this pivotal time in 20th-century American history and discuss how the literary heroines reflect society and how, in turn, they influenced it.
Pisiak, who has recently been promoted to full professorship at Morrisville, earned her B.A. at Boston University, her M.A. at Columbia University and her Ph.D. in English Literature and American Studies at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Pisiak has taught literature, film, writing and the visual arts at Morrisville State College since 1993. She has delivered numerous papers on American rural life, children in literature and women at work.
“Heroines of American Literature” is the first of four free adult-enrichments mini-courses at the Oneida Public Library called the Muses Seminars 2008. The others are “History of the Vietnam War” with Dr. J. Thomas Hogle, starting Saturday, June 21 at 10 a.m.; “Roots of American Music: Blues, Jazz, Swing and Rock 1920s-1950s” with Tom Townsley, starting Saturday, September 20, at 10 a.m.; and “Changing Times and Presidential Politics” with Brian Myatt, starting Thursday, October 2, at 6:30 p.m.
The seminars are made possible by the support of the New York Council for the Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
The Muses Seminars are free and open to all adults, but because of limited seating, those who are interested should sign up within three weeks of each opening session at the Oneida Public Library, 220 Broad St. in Oneida, or by calling 363-3050.
Check out over 300 audio-books from Mid-York Library System’s online service, MYaudio2go, simply with your tried-and-true Mid-York library card at midyork.lib.overdrive.com.
