Asheville School’s campus is closed until Wednesday, October 16, due to the weather impacts from Hurricane Helene. Prospective families and students can still connect with us—our Admission Team is offering virtual tours and information sessions to introduce you to everything Asheville School has to offer.

Register for Virtual Events
Skip to Main Content
March 10, 2022

Practical Hearts: The Shorter Fiction of Allan Gurganus

The goal of this course, taught by former John William Pope Foundation Distinguished Humanities Teacher and current Senior Teacher and Ambassador for Constituent Outreach Jay Bonner, is to enjoy and to examine the shorter fiction of Allan Gurganus. 

Texts will include:

  • White People
  • The Practical Heart
  • Decoy
  • The Uncollected Stories of Allan Gurganus
     

This course will meet via Zoom for three to four sessions, beginning the week of April 11 and ending no later than the week of May 2. Classes will run approximately 60-75 minutes, depending on the material. We will meet Thursday (and Wednesday, if enrollment requires two sections) evenings from 7:00 p.m. to roughly 8:00 p.m. or 8:15 p.m., depending on the session.

If interested, please contact Jay Bonner ([email protected]) by Friday, April 1, and indicate your preference for either Wednesday or Thursday (if no preference, please let Jay know as well). Final determination of the schedule will be sent to those interested by April 5—unless demands necessitates more than two evenings of classes, in which case we will contact you by April 4 asking for your evening preference(s). The final schedule, in this event, would be emailed April 8, along with the initial reading assignment.

This course is offered free of charge; your only expense is your time commitment and the purchase of the necessary reading materials. All of the books are found in the usual online venues. Thornwell Books, a bookstore in Morganton, North Carolina, operated by past parent Jean VanNoppen (PP ’07, ’08, ’11, ’12) and Ellen VanNoppen ’08, would be happy to aid your purchase of the books, though only The Uncollected Stories is carried by their regular warehouse. Please feel free to contact Thornwell Books at (828) 434-1122 for a copy of the books or use the store’s online portal.