An Education for Life: Book Discussions with Jay Bonner & Clay Smith ’90
We are delighted to announce the Spring online book discussion opportunities with Jay Bonner and Clay Smith ’90. All Asheville School alumni and friends are invited to partake in these stimulating educational experiences. If you are interested in participating in an online session, please contact Jay Bonner via email at [email protected]. Pay special attention to the enrollment deadlines below to secure spot.
2023 Spring Schedule
January and February 2023: Isn’t Pasta Pasta?: Experiencing Italy
Join Jay and Clay in a discussion of Luigi Barzini’s classic cultural study The Italians, Barry Unsworth’s engaging novel After Hannibal, and Rachel Cusk’s memoir/travelogue The Last Supper as we immerse ourselves in the culture of Italy and, more specifically, the Umbrian landscape in preparation for the inaugural Asheville School alumni trip to Spoleto Italy in April 2023.
Class Schedule: Classes meet weekly on Wednesday evenings (7:00 – 8:00 p.m.); they begin January 25 and end no later than February 22. Learn more about the April 2023 Italian travel experience here.
Enrollment Deadline: Contact Jay Bonner via email by Thursday, January 19.
March 2023: Isn’t It Pretty To Think So?: Readings in Hemingway
Join Jay and Clay in a discussion of three classic Hemingway works that focus on the 1920s: the story collection In Our Time, the novel The Sun Also Rises, and the memoir A Moveable Feast. We’ll explore Hemingway’s writing in three formats and compare his style and tone with other classic lost generation writers (especially against F. Scott Fitzgerald’s writing).
Class Schedule: Classes meet weekly on Wednesday evenings (7:00 – 8:00 p.m.); they begin March 8 and end no later than March 29.
Enrollment Deadline: Contact Jay Bonner via email by Thursday, March 2.
May 2023: Can You Really Retell a Classic Tale? Reimagining Dickens
Join Jay and Clay in a discussion of the Dickens classic novel, David Copperfield, and its reimagining by best-selling author Barbara Kingsolver in her critically acclaimed Demon Copperhead.
Class Schedule: Classes meet weekly on Wednesday evenings (7:00 – 8:00 p.m.); they begin May 3 and end no later than May 31.
Enrollment Deadline: Contact Jay Bonner via email by Wednesday, April 26.
2023 Fall Course Preview
Looking ahead to Fall 2023, we plan to offer the following classes: the first on Proust’s Swann’s Way, another Italian literature class to coincide with a Fall 2023 trip to Italy, a third class on the contemporary writers of today who will be the classics of tomorrow (Rick Moody’s Hotels of North America, Jorge Comensal’s The Mutations, and Joanna Scott’s Follow Me or Various Antidotes), and we will end our fall Zoom classes with a discussion of either Hawthorne’s American classic, The Scarlet Letter, or Twain’s Huck Finn.