You can observe a lot by watching.
That’s a famous quote from Yogi Berra, New York Yankees legend. It’s also the underlying theme of the Fall, 2011 Let’s Talk About It, Oklahoma (LTAIO) reading and discussion series at McAlester Public Library, scheduled to begin in late September.
Books are now available for sign-out for the series “Writing Worlds: The Art of Seeing in Anthropology, Fiction and Autobiography.” The five-book series asks if anthropologists are objective observers of culture, and if writers are imaginative inventors, and whether observers of every stripe invent their own realities.
By exploring how we observe and participate in our own cultures, the season-long series of books, films and lectures asks participants to consider whether they see only through the constraints of our own particular life contexts, and how the act of watching affects both the observer and observed.
At each book discussion, a Humanities scholar will make a scholarly presentation on the readings. Small-group discussion will follow. At the end, everyone comes together for a brief wrap-up. Books, services and other materials for this series are provided by LTAIO, a project of the Oklahoma Humanities Council, with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Funding for this series was provided by a grant from the Inasmuch Foundation, and local funding was provided by Friends of the Library.
Anyone interested in participating is encouraged to register and borrow the reading selections at the library, 401 N. 2nd. Brochures describing the series theme and the local schedule are also available. Participants may attend any or all of the sessions, and agree to return the books at the end of the series. All films and book discussions are held at 6 p.m. (unless otherwise noted) in the Whiteacre Room. Free popcorn is offered at each movie screening, and free refreshments and a door prize are offered at each book discussion.
The Fall schedule includes:
*Thursday, Sept. 29—A PG-13 film set in the Amazon rain forest, starring Sean Connery and Lorraine Bracco.
*Thursday, Oct. 6–Kenneth Good’s Into the Heart: One Man’s Pursuit of Love and Knowledge Among the Yanomami. Called the most vivid account of a rain forest people by a Westerner, the story follows Good as he travels deep into the heart of the Amazon to study one of the last Stone Age tribes on earth. Challenging the conflict at the heart of contemporary anthropology, he “goes native” and becomes a participant within the culture he is supposed to observe. Dr. Lewis Parkhill of Tishomingo, professor emeritus from East Central University, will present the program.
*Thursday, Oct. 13—A PG-13 film based on the Mario Vargas Llosa novel Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter. The film stars Barbara Hershey, Keanu Reeves and Peter Falk, and features actor Paul Austin, familiar to local residents as the spouse of author Rilla Askew.
*Thursday, Oct. 20–Mario Vargas Llosa’s The Storyteller. This mysterious novel by the acclaimed Peruvian writer provides a perfect companion piece for Kenneth Good’s book. Saul Zuratas, a marginal individual in Lima’s intellectual society, journeys into the world of an Amazonian culture. Can a novelist who weaves together myth and history capture the essence of reality? Dr. Rex Morrell of Tishomingo, also recently retired from ECU, will present the program. Dr. Morrell is an expert on Latin American literature and magical realism.
*Thursday, Oct. 27—A G-rated Southern Gothic tale based on the Carson McCullars novel The Heart is Lonely Hunter, starring Alan Arkin and Sondra Locke.
*Thursday, Nov. 3–Flannery O’Connor’s Everything that Rises Must Converge. In these unforgettable stories, O’Connor–one of America’s greatest 20th Century writers–captures the folklore, texture, and soul of the South as few writers in any form ever have. With the eye of an anthropologist, she renders her region as an “indigenous” observer. Dr. Trisha Yarbrough, director of the honors program at ECU, will be the presenter.
*Thursday, Nov. 10—A PG-13 film from director Anh Hung Tran examines family issues from a Vietnamese perspective in a lushly-photographed tale.
*Thursday, Nov. 17–Robert Olen Butler’s A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain. Winner of the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Butler renders the world of Louisiana, the Vietnamese refugee’s perspective of it, and the world left behind in Southeast Asia. In these poignant, humorous, and serious stories, readers are challenged to consider whether or not an individual can transcend his own culture. Dr. Douglas Watson of Oklahoma Baptist University will make a scholarly presentation.
*Monday, Nov. 21, 5:45 p.m.—A PG-rated film examines the life of writer Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, author of The Yearling. Mary Steenburgen stars.
*Thursday, Dec. 1–Annie Dillard’s An American Childhood. In this autobiography of her childhood and adolescence, Dillard creates a hybrid between the fieldwork techniques of an anthropologist and the poetic prose of a lyrical novelist. She not only renders the world of Pittsburgh in the 1950’s but also describes her “other”–the child that she was–and how that child grew up like an anthropologist, trying to figure out the implicit assumptions about what life is and how it is to be lived. Dr. Kenneth Hada of ECU will be the presenter.
Books in this series were selected by Harbour Winn, director of the Center for the Study of Childhood and Family through Literature and Film at Oklahoma City University. Films were selected by local Project Director Kathy McGilberry, Assistant Librarian. For more information about this or any other library program, call 918-426-0930.
McBook 