Tues, Jan 4 @ 7:30 PM [MT] via Zoom + Schedule

Please join us to discuss The Thing About Cassandra.

Find it on page 13 of Trigger Warning: Short Fictions & Disturbances by Neil Gaiman.

Contact me (Mike Levin) for the Zoom link.

Tues, Dec 21 @ 7:30 PM [MT] via Zoom

Please join us to discuss The Economic Basis of the Withering Away of the State by Vladimir Lenin.

Find it on page 297 of Imperfect Ideal: Utopian and Dystopian Vision – Great Books Foundation.

Read it online at 
https://wikirouge.net/texts/en/The_State_and_Revolution/05/V._The_Economic_Basis_of_the_Withering_Away_of_the_State

Contact me for the Zoom link.

Tues, Dec 7 @ 7:30 PM [MT] via Zoom

Please join us to discuss Pity and Shame by Ursula K. Le Guin.

Find it on page154  of Best American Short Stories - 2019.

Read it online at: https://tinhouse.com/pity-and-shame/

Contact me for the Zoom link.

Mike Levin

Zoom - Tues, Nov 23 @ 7:30 PM [MT]

Please join us to discuss The Soul of Man under Socialism by Oscar Wilde.  

Find it on page 261 of Imperfect Ideal: Utopian and Dystopian Vision – Great Books Foundation.  

Find it on line at: https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/wilde-oscar/soul-man/

Contact me (Mike Levin) for the Zoom link.

Latest Schedule:

Tues Nov 9 @ 7:30 PM (MT) via Zoom

Please join us to discuss Making a Chair & Lunar Labyrinth, the first two selections in Neil Gaiman's Trigger Warning: Short Fictions & Disturbances.

Contact Mike Levin for the Zoom link.

Tues, Oct 26 @ 7:30 PM [MT] via Zoom

 Join us to discuss Seeing Ershadi by Nicole Krauss.

 Find it on page 140 of The Best American Short Stories – 2019.

 Read it on line (or listen to the author reading it) at https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/03/05/seeing-ershadi

Contact me (Mike Levin) for the zoom link.

The story references the star of the the film Taste of Cherry: Homayoun Ershadi.

Schedule + Zoom Oct 12 @ 7:30 PM [MT]

Please join us to discuss New View of Society (selections) by Robert Owen.

Find it on page 229 of Imperfect Ideal: Utopian & Dystopian Vision -- Great Books Foundation.

Read his third essay via PDF from this link found near the bottom of the page.

https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/history-art/robert-owen-and-new-lanark/content-section-1

Contact me for the Zoom link.

 

Tues, Sept 28 @ 7:30 PM (MT) via Zoom

Please join us to discuss Protozoa by Ella Martinsen Gorham.  

Find it on page 124 of The Best American Short Stories – 2019  

Read it on line at: https://www.nereview.com/protozoa/ 

Contact me for the Zoom link.

Tues, Sept 14 @ 7:30 PM (MT) via Zoom

Please join us to discuss The Case of Death and Honey by Neil Gaiman.

Find it on page 115 of Trigger Warning: Short Fictions & Disturbances – Neil Gaiman

Contact me for the Zoom link.

Tues, Aug 31 @ 7:30 PM (MT) via Zoom

Join us to discuss The Jewish State (excerpts) by Herzl.

Find it on page 215 of Imperfect Ideal: Utopian and Dystopian Vision – Great Books Foundation

Watch a short video about Herzl at https://unpacked.education/video/herzl-the-zionist-dream-of-a-jewish-state/

Contact me (Mike Levin) for the Zoom link.

Tues, Aug 17 @ 7:30 PM (MT) via Zoom

 Join us to discuss Bronze By Jeffrey Eugenides.

Find it on page 101 in The Best American Short Stories – 2019 

Read it or listen to the author read it at https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/02/05/bronze.

Contact me (Mike Levin) for the Zoom link.

Tues Aus 3 @ 7:30 PM (MT) via Zoom

 Please join us to discuss selections from The City of God by St. Augustine.  
Find it on page 179 of Imperfect Ideal: Utopian and Dystopian Vision – Great Books Foundation.

Contact me for the Zoom link.

The selection from the early Christian philosopher Saint Augustine of Hippo (354–430), taken from Books XIV and XIX of his magisterial work The City of God (413–427), investigates a fundamental problem that arises when a utopian vision is informed by teachings believed to carry divine authority. Since such a vision is generally intended to take hold and lead to the establishment of a political community in the world, the challenge for such proposals is to account for how the religious foundations of such a community can coexist with the harsh realities of governance and remain solid and stable. For Augustine, this was not merely a theoretical problem, but a living reality in the waning days of the Roman Empire as the Christian church struggled to maintain its central place in the political life of an increasingly fragmented world. Augustine asks us to consider the complex and often ambivalent relationship between what he terms the divine City of God and the secular City of Man and to think about what it means to simultaneously be a citizen of both.

Zoom, Tues, July 20 @ 7:30 PM (MT)

Join us to discuss A Calendar of Tales.

Find it on page  86 of Trigger Warning: Short Fictions & Disturbances – Neil Gaiman

Or read it via: http://margreetdeheer.com/eng/calendar.html

Contact me for the Zoom link.

Zoom: Tues, July 6 @ 7:30 OM (MT)

Join us to discuss Hellion by Julia Elliott.  Find it on page 83 of The Best American Short Stories - 2019

Zoom link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89726732176?pwd=d2lsMHhTRU9VcjZNVHBzZXlRSkRRQT09#success

Meeting ID: 897 2673 2176
Password: books

Zoom Tues, June 22, 2021 @ 7:30 PM (MT)

 Join us, please, to discuss A Framework for Utopia by Robert Nozick.  Find it on page 173 of Imperfect Ideal: Utopian and Dystopian Vision – Great Books Foundation.

Zoom info

Meeting ID: 897 2673 2176

Password: books

Zoom: Tues June 8 @ 7:30 PM (MT)

Please join us Tues June 8 @ 7:30 PM (MT) to discuss The Third Tower by Deborah Eisenberg.  

Find it on page 67 of The Best American Short Stores - 2019.  

Read it on line if you have a free (or paid for) JSTOR account.

Our story is included in Eisenberg's collection: Your Duck is My Duck.  Here is a link to an interview:

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/27/magazine/deborah-eisenberg-chronicler-of-american-insanity.html

Zoom link:

Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting

Meeting ID: 897 2673 2176
Password: books

Zoom: Tues May 25 @ 7:30 PM (MT)

 Please join us to discuss
The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains by Neil Gaiman.  Find it on pate 37 of Trigger Warning - Short Fictions and Disturbances.

Find it online at http://www.fiftytwostories.com/?p=1338.

Description:

Here is the Zoom link:

Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting

Meeting ID: 897 2673 2176
Password: books

Zoom: Tues May 11 @ 7:30 PM (MT) [Schedule Update]

Please join us to discuss some selections from Aristotle's Politics.  Find it on page 153 of Imperfect Ideal: Utopian and Dystopian Vision – Great Books Foundation.

Lets see what Aristotle meant by pursuit of happiness. 

Zoom link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89726732176?pwd=d2lsMHhTRU9VcjZNVHBzZXlRSkRRQT09#success

Meeting ID: 897 2673 2176
Password: books

Here is an updated schedule:

Zoom: Tues April 27 @ 7:30 PM (MT)

Join us to discuss No More Than a Bubble by Jamel Brinkley.

Find it on page 47 of  The Best American Short Stories – 2019

Zoom Link

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89726732176?pwd=d2lsMHhTRU9VcjZNVHBzZXlRSkRRQT09#success

Meeting ID: 897 2673 2176

Password: books

Schedule update

 

Tues April 13 @ 7:30 PM (MT) via Zoom

Join us to discuss Best Life Possible beginning with The Works of Mencius, Book I.

Find it on page 137 of Imperfect Ideal: Utopian and Dystopian Vision – Great Books Foundation.

Zoom link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89726732176?pwd=d2lsMHhTRU9VcjZNVHBzZXlRSkRRQT09#success

Meeting ID: 897 2673 2176
Password: books

Tues, March 30 @ 7:30 PM [MT] via Zoom

Join us to discuss The Great Interruption: The Story of a Famous Story of Old Port William and How It Ceased To Be Told (1935–1978) by  Wendell Berry.

Find it on page 36 of The Best American Short Stories - 2019.

This quote from the story reminds me of extensive lists in Ulysses by James Joyce.

"What followed Billy had seen enacted by cattle, horses, sheep, goats, hogs, dogs, housecats, chickens, turkeys, guineas, ducks, geese, pigeons, sparrows, and, by great good fortune he was sure, a pair of snakes."

 Zoom Link

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89726732176?pwd=d2lsMHhTRU9VcjZNVHBzZXlRSkRRQT09#success

Meeting ID: 897 2673 2176
Password: books

Tues, Mar 16 @ 7:30 PM (MT) via Zoom

 Join us to discuss The Dream of a Ridiculous Man – by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Find it on page 113 of Imperfect Ideal: Utopian and Dystopian Vision – Great Books Foundation

Listen to it being read:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNMhnRfG_uM

Zoom link;

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89726732176?pwd=d2lsMHhTRU9VcjZNVHBzZXlRSkRRQT09#success

Meeting ID: 897 2673 2176
Password: books

Tues, Mar 2 @ 7:30 PM (MT)

 Please join us to discuss Natural Light by Kathleen Alcott (pictured below).

Find it on page 19 of The Best American Short Stories – 2019.

Zoom Link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89726732176?pwd=d2lsMHhTRU9VcjZNVHBzZXlRSkRRQT09#success

Meeting ID: 897 2673 2176

Password: books 

Tues Feb 16 @ 7:30 PM (Mountain) via Zoom

 Join us to discuss On The Cannibals by Michel de Montaigne.  

Find it on page 97 of Imperfect Ideal: Utopian and Dystopian Vision – Great Books Foundation.

This link gets you to a PDF: Montaigne

Zoom link:

Join our Cloud HD Video Meeting

Meeting ID: 897 2673 2176
Password: books

Schedule Update

 

Tues, Feb 2 @7:30 PM (Mountain) via Zoom

 

Join us to discuss The Era by Nana Adjei-Brenyah.

Find it on page 1 of The Best American Short Stories – 2019 Editor: Anthony Doerr.

On line: https://www.guernicamag.com/the-era/

Zoom link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89726732176?pwd=d2lsMHhTRU9VcjZNVHBzZXlRSkRRQT09 Meeting ID: 897 2673 2176 Password: books

Tues, Jan 19 @7:30 PM (Mountain) via Zoom

 Join us to discuss Time by Riichi Yokomitsu.

Find it on page 79 of Imperfect Ideal: Utopian and Dystopian Vision – Great Books Foundation.

Zoom link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89726732176?pwd=d2lsMHhTRU9VcjZNVHBzZXlRSkRRQT09 Meeting ID: 897 2673 2176 Password: books

Riichi Yokomitsu

Japanese writer

Description

Description

Riichi Yokomitsu was an experimental, modernist Japanese writer. Yokomitsu began publishing in dōjinshi such as Machi and Tō after entering Waseda University in 1916. In 1923, he published Nichirin, Hae and more in the magazine Bungeishunjū, which made his name popular. Wikipedia

Born: March 17, 1898, Aizuwakamatsu, Fukushima, Japan

Died: December 30, 1947, Setagaya City, Tokyo, Japan

Nationality: Japanese

Place of burial: Tama Cemetery, Tokyo, Japan

Books: Shanghai, Machine, Love and Other Stories of Yokomitsu Riichi

Tues, Jan 5 @ 7:30 PM (Denver) + Schedule Update

Join us to discuss Famous Actor by Jess Walter.  Find it as the last story (page 267) in Best American Short Stories - 2017.

Zoom link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89726732176?pwd=d2lsMHhTRU9VcjZNVHBzZXlRSkRRQT09 Meeting ID: 897 2673 2176 Password: books