Classics and the Western Canon discussion

Some of us are still wandering among the mirrors and labyrinths of Borges’ Ficciones, but it’s time to think about the group’s next reading selection, which will start November 6. The choices include two high vote getters from the last poll and four random/moderator selections:

Four Major Plays: A Doll's House / Ghosts / Hedda Gabler / The Master Builder by Henrik Ibsen

The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James

The Trial by Franz Kafka

Doctor Faustus by Thomas Mann

The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton

Native Son by Richard Wright

This week is open for the group to check out and discuss the six options. You may want to lobby for your top choice, too. The poll will open for voting next week.

Here’s the schedule for selecting the next read:

10/02 - Borges Week 6 & Next read member discussion
10/09 - Borges Week 7 & Next read poll
10/16 - Borges Week 8 & Run-off poll if needed
10/23 - Interim Week 1
10/30 - Interim Week 2
11/06 - Begin 5th Read 2024

All modern stuff.

It depends on your definition of modern ;). We have a mix of late nineteenth century and early to mid-twentieth century titles this time.

Here are the first publication/staging dates —
Portrait of a Lady (1881)
Four Ibsen Plays (1879-1892)
House of Mirth (1905)
The Trial (1925)
Native Son (1940)
Doctor Faustus (1947)

Voting for our next read is now open. Here’s the poll: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/3...

Just a reminder — there’s still time to vote for our next read. The poll will be open through Tuesday, Oct 15. The poll is here: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/1...

Susan wrote: "Just a reminder — there’s still time to vote for our next read. The poll will be open through Tuesday, Oct 15. The poll is here: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/1......"

Not getting notifications from Goodreads anymore.

Chris wrote: "Not getting notifications from Goodreads anymore..."

Yes, Goodreads discontinued some email notifications rather quietly. They also made other changes to how notifications work. Maybe as a result, the Goodreads “bell” notifications don’t always appear. I’ve also gotten notifications from discussions I never participated in. The problems have been reported, but my understanding is there hasn’t been much of a response.

ICYMI, here’s the latest info Goodreads provided on the change: https://help.goodreads.com/s/announce.... And here are their directions for how to change your notification settings: https://help.goodreads.com/s/article/... . From the directions, it appears that some notifications will still be via email and others will be only in Goodreads.

Because of the problems with Goodreads notifications, the closing date of the poll for the next group read has been extended to Friday, October 18 to give as many members as possible a chance to participate. The poll is here: https://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/1...

The votes are counted, and the next major read will be The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James. Here’s a summary of the raw and weighted votes:

The Portrait of a Lady, 9 raw votes, 20 weighted votes
Doctor Faustus, 6 raw votes, 11 weighted votes
The House of Mirth, 3 raw votes, 3 weighted votes
Four Major Ibsen Plays, 2 raw votes, 4 weighted votes
The Trial, 2 raw votes, 3 weighted votes
Native Son, 1 raw vote, 3 weighted votes

As a top vote getter, Doctor Faustus will carry over to the next poll.

The discussion of The Portrait of a Lady will begin after the interim read. Here’s the latest schedule:

10/16 Last week of “Ficciones”
10/23. Interim Week 1
10/30. Interim Week 2
11/06. Interim Week 3
11/13. Begin “The Portrait of a Lady”

Which edition of “A Portrait of a Lady” should you read? There is an earlier 1881 edition and the revised “New York” edition of 1908. Most publishers use the “New York” edition these days, although the Library of America chose to print the 1881 edition. I would recommend the “New York” edition, but if you’re curious, this article does a good job of laying out the differences: https://www.loa.org/news-and-views/74... and either one will work for our discussions.

Do we have a schedule for Portrait of a Lady yet?

Chris wrote: "Do we have a schedule for Portrait of a Lady yet?"

Yes, I just posted the schedule here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/....

Apologies for the delay in posting — I’ve had internet/computer problems, which are hopefully resolved now.