The Cary Library will be hosting a reading and discussion series this fall entitled, “Making a Difference: How Love and Duty Change Lives.” Registrations are required for this monthly series, which runs through January of 2014.
The programs will take place in the Children’s Library’s at 10 a.m. on Nov. 1, Nov. 22, Dec. 13 and Jan. 3. The series facilitator is Jan Grieco, who has spent the better part of her life immersed in literature and writing. Award-winning journalist, published writer and presently teaching at Northern Maine Community College, Grieco has been working as a Maine Humanities Scholar for more than three years.
This series was developed by Margery Irvine, lecturer, in the English Department University of Maine, to illustrate how different people — both real and imaginary — have demonstrated compassion in difficult situations. Each has found himself or herself expected to serve, in some capacity, a group either small or large, ranging from one other person to multitudes. Each has felt called to “make a difference” — and although each has tried, not all have succeeded. They provide others with a way to examine the most pressing issues of the times through compelling narratives that open and engage the listener.
These programs were made possible by a grant from the Maine Humanities Council.
The following are the titles and explanations of the discussion series of “Making a Difference: How Love and Duty Change Lives.” The series started on Friday, Oct. 11.
Mountains Beyond Mountains: “The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, the Man Who Would Cure the World” by Tracy Kidder. Farmer is a physician who has devoted his life to bringing quality medical care to remote areas of the world. He began in Haiti, treating this hemisphere’s most impoverished and gradually extended his philosophy and practice to places as distant as Peru and the prisons of Moscow.
Kidder’s book, written after observing Farmer at work, traveling with him and interviewing him extensively, provides a model for those who serve selflessly and effectively. Farmer has not only transformed health care in many parts of the world, but he has also forced the question of the entire system of health care delivery.
“The Death of Vishnu” by Manil Suri: Vishnu is a homeless Indian man, living on the steps of an apartment building in Bombay. Suri’s novel alternates between Vishnu’s dreams and visions as he lays dying and the tenants’ lives that happen around him. In many ways, the apartment house is a very small community, housing families, a widower, Muslims and Hindus. Their experiences, their conflicts, their relationships with one another and with Vishnu form an unsentimental, but enlightening picture of how a different culture answers the question “What is my duty to others?”
“The Late George Apley”: “The Late George Apley” is written by J.P. Marquand, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 1937. Marquand’s novel develops a portrait of a way of life now gone — but one that offers both a contrast to modern times and an interesting perspective on the way we live now.
George Apley is a Boston Brahmin. Upon his death, his son asks the friend who delivered his eulogy to write a more complete and unsparing biography, using Apley’s letters and diaries. Although Apley is in many ways privileged by his wealth and social standing, he also has a deep sense of indebtedness and duty, as well as how that sense will probably not be shared by those coming after him.
Truth and Beauty: “A Friendship” by Ann Patchett. When Patchett was a student at Sarah Lawrence College, she met Lucy Grealy — and both their lives were changed by the close friendship that followed. This work of non-fiction follows that friendship and details how Patchett sought to support and rescue her friend, a victim of disfiguring cancer, many surgeries and various drug addictions. Patchett makes us wonder: when are the demands of friendship overwhelming? How much can we really do to save those destroyed by circumstance and forces beyond their control?
“Lying Awake”: “Lying Awake” by Mark Salzman. Sister John of the Cross is a Carmelite nun who devotes her life to prayer and to mystical poetry. When she discovers that her visions have been caused by a form of epilepsy, she has to decide whether to be “cured,” or whether to maintain her vivid spiritual life. Salzman’s character confronts a striking dilemma: how can we best serve God? How can we best use our talents? And, ultimately, should we sacrifice our health in service to others?
