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Reading Group

Seminar: James Kraft, Some Singular Women (11:00 AM section, session 2 of 4) - Fully Registered

Wednesday, October 19, 2016 - 11:00 AM | For Members Only | Whitridge Room | $50 for all four sessions (recommended); $15 per session

From antiquity to the present, women have struggled to document their lives and independent voices. In the 19th century Margaret Fuller (shown in sidebar) epitomized the New England bluestocking as a journalist, editor, and freedom fighter. Kate Chopin, wife of a wealthy Louisiana plantation owner, wrote unusually frank stories before she was censored. Constance Fenimore Woolson was a highly popular 19th-century fiction writer, now lost to history. Charlotte Perkins Gilman, an artist in Hartford, wrote both sociological studies about women’s roles and the disturbing story of a woman confined to her room for being “outspoken.”

This seminar will survey a collection of women who found independence in various ways, including the pen. A reading list will be provided to registrants, and the books for discussion are available for purchase from the Library.


This seminar takes place Wednesdays
September 21
October 19
November 16, and
December 14.

PLEASE NOTE: The previously advertised 2 PM section of the Some Singular Women seminar has been canceled. The 11 AM section will meet as scheduled. Please contact the Katie Fricas, kfricas@nysoclib.org, in the Events Office, with questions. 

Click here for registration instructions.