Shelley Fisher Fishkin
Writing America:
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24th 2015
AT THE GENERAL SOCIETY LIBRARY
The lecture starts at 6:30p.m. – RECEPTION and BOOK-SIGNING TO FOLLOW
Literary scholar and cultural historian Shelley Fisher Fishkin will discuss her acclaimed new book Writing America: Literary Landmarks from Walden Pond to Wounded Knee. Published on the eve of the 50th anniversary of the Historic Preservation Act, Writing America is a unique, passionate, and eclectic series of meditations on literature and history, covering over 150 important National Register historic sites, all pivotal to the stories that make up America, from chapels to battlefields; from plantations to immigration stations; and from theaters to internment camps.
Shelley Fisher Fishkin in her talk will examine not only the traditional sites for literary tourism, such as Mark Twain’s sumptuous Connecticut home and the peaceful woods surrounding Walden Pond, but also locations that highlight the diversity of American literature. She will describe how key sites bore witness to the struggles of American writers and inspired their dreams, leading listeners on an enticing journey across the borders of physical places and imaginative terrains. Featured writers include: Raymond Chandler, Frederick Douglass, William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Allen Ginsberg, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Erica Jong, Maxine Hong Kingston, , John Steinbeck, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Henry David Thoreau, Mark Twain, Yoshiko Uchida, Nathanael West, Walt Whitman and Richard Wright.
SHELLEY FISHER FISHKIN is the Joseph S. Atha Professor of Humanities, professor of English, and director of American studies at Stanford University. She is also the award-winning author, editor or co-editor of over forty books and over one hundred articles, essays, columns, and reviews. She holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from Yale University and is a former president of the American Studies Association.
“Using the National Register of Historic Places as her guide, the author sparks interesting questions regarding how writers influence, and are influenced by, place … Fishkin’s book offers a diverse look at our nation’s literary landscape and history.”
—Publisher’s Weekly
“Writing America is a triumph of scholarship and passion, a profound exploration of the many worlds which comprise our national canon . . . a book that redraws the literary map of the United States.”
—Junot Díaz, author of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
20 WEST 44th Street (BETWEEN 5TH AND 6th AVENUES), MANHATTAN
$15 General Admission, $10 General Society Members, New York Landmark Conservancy Members and Senior Citizens, $5 Students
To register please contact The General Society at 212 840 1840, ext. 2 or email: Karin.taylor@generalsociety.org.
Advance registration is recommended.
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.
