Story Discussion
Ted Chiang's "Hell Is the Absence of God"
1 September 2021 at 19:00 (MSK)
Venue: The adult library on the 3rd floor of ZIL Cultural Centre
Our next story is "Hell Is the Absence of God" by Ted Chiang. Chiang is an American science fiction writer who has won numerous awards for his short stories and we have discussed at least one of them, "Division by Zero", before. Whether or not our next story qualifies as science fiction is debatable, so we’ll let you decide.
For those of you who are interested, we are also including a “response” to Chiang by Ken Liu — we discussed Liu’s "Simulacrum" a few weeks ago.
Our main discussion will focus ONLY on Chiang’s story, not Liu’s. That said, we may briefly touch upon the latter if we have time.
Enjoy!
P.S. Please don't forget to bring masks with you.
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Лучшие посты
Story Discussion
"Midnight in Dostoevsky" by Donald Richard DeLillo
21 April 2021 at 19:00 (MSK)
Venue: The adult library on the 3rd floor of ZIL Cultural Centre.
Dear All,
This coming Wednesday, we are going to discuss "Midnight in Dostoevsky" by Donald Richard DeLillo. DeLillo is an American novelist, short story writer, playwright, screenwriter and essayist. His works have covered subjects as diverse as television, nuclear war, sports, the complexities of language, performance art, the Cold War, mathematics, the advent of the digital age, politics, economics, and global terrorism. Initially a well-regarded cult writer, he gained widespread recognition for his novel "White Noise", which won the National Book Award in 1985.
Without giving any spoilers, one of the reasons the story was chosen was because the blockhead posting this message simply failed to understand (or at the very least appreciate) it and he wanted someone to explain it to him.
We hope you enjoy the story and look forward to seeing you on Wednesday!
"Midnight in Dostoevsky" by Donald Richard DeLillo
21 April 2021 at 19:00 (MSK)
Venue: The adult library on the 3rd floor of ZIL Cultural Centre.
Dear All,
This coming Wednesday, we are going to discuss "Midnight in Dostoevsky" by Donald Richard DeLillo. DeLillo is an American novelist, short story writer, playwright, screenwriter and essayist. His works have covered subjects as diverse as television, nuclear war, sports, the complexities of language, performance art, the Cold War, mathematics, the advent of the digital age, politics, economics, and global terrorism. Initially a well-regarded cult writer, he gained widespread recognition for his novel "White Noise", which won the National Book Award in 1985.
Without giving any spoilers, one of the reasons the story was chosen was because the blockhead posting this message simply failed to understand (or at the very least appreciate) it and he wanted someone to explain it to him.
We hope you enjoy the story and look forward to seeing you on Wednesday!
Story Discussion
After the Funeral by Tessa Hadley
27 April 2022 at 19:00 (MSK)
Venue: The adult library on the 3rd floor of ZIL Cultural Centre, Moscow.
Next Wednesday we are discussing a short story After the Funeral by Tessa Hadley.
Tessa Jane Hadley (born 28 February 1956; née Nichols) is a British author, who writes novels, short stories and nonfiction. Her writing is realistic and often focuses on family relationships.
Hadley has published eleven books of fiction, including the story collection “Bad Dreams and Other Stories, ” and the novel “Free Love,” which came out this (2022) year. She is a winner of the 2016 Windham-Campbell Literature Prize.
The story After the Funeral is from the March 28, 2022, issue of the magazine The New Yorker.
If you wish to join the discussion, please read the story at home. Full text is attached below.
After the Funeral by Tessa Hadley
27 April 2022 at 19:00 (MSK)
Venue: The adult library on the 3rd floor of ZIL Cultural Centre, Moscow.
Next Wednesday we are discussing a short story After the Funeral by Tessa Hadley.
Tessa Jane Hadley (born 28 February 1956; née Nichols) is a British author, who writes novels, short stories and nonfiction. Her writing is realistic and often focuses on family relationships.
Hadley has published eleven books of fiction, including the story collection “Bad Dreams and Other Stories, ” and the novel “Free Love,” which came out this (2022) year. She is a winner of the 2016 Windham-Campbell Literature Prize.
The story After the Funeral is from the March 28, 2022, issue of the magazine The New Yorker.
If you wish to join the discussion, please read the story at home. Full text is attached below.
Offline Story Discussion
“The Night of the Storm” by Dean R. Koontz
30th June 2021 at 19:00 (MSK)
Place: Adult’s library on the 3rd floor of ZIL Cultural Centre.
The Hat game on the 4th floor
Dear friends!
Next week we are planning to discuss another piece of literature by famous American writer Dean R. Koontz. We hope you’ll find this story entertaining and refreshing during these hot summer days.
Enjoy reading!
And don’t forget your face masks!
“The Night of the Storm” by Dean R. Koontz
30th June 2021 at 19:00 (MSK)
Place: Adult’s library on the 3rd floor of ZIL Cultural Centre.
The Hat game on the 4th floor
Dear friends!
Next week we are planning to discuss another piece of literature by famous American writer Dean R. Koontz. We hope you’ll find this story entertaining and refreshing during these hot summer days.
Enjoy reading!
And don’t forget your face masks!
Story Discussion
What we talk about when we talk about love by Raymond Carver
06 July 2022 at 19:00 (MSK)
Venue: The adult library on the 3rd floor of ZIL Cultural Centre, Moscow.
Next Wednesday we will discuss a short story What we talk about when we talk about love by Raymond Carver.
Raymond Clevie Carver Jr. (May 25, 1938 – August 2, 1988) was an American short story writer and poet. He contributed to the revitalization of the American short story during the 1980s.
Carver’s first short story collection, Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?, was published in 1976. The collection itself was shortlisted for the National Book Award, though it sold fewer than 5,000 copies that year.
If you wish to join the discussion, please read the story at home. Full text is attached below.
You can also take part in the game HAT (guess a word).
What we talk about when we talk about love by Raymond Carver
06 July 2022 at 19:00 (MSK)
Venue: The adult library on the 3rd floor of ZIL Cultural Centre, Moscow.
Next Wednesday we will discuss a short story What we talk about when we talk about love by Raymond Carver.
Raymond Clevie Carver Jr. (May 25, 1938 – August 2, 1988) was an American short story writer and poet. He contributed to the revitalization of the American short story during the 1980s.
Carver’s first short story collection, Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?, was published in 1976. The collection itself was shortlisted for the National Book Award, though it sold fewer than 5,000 copies that year.
If you wish to join the discussion, please read the story at home. Full text is attached below.
You can also take part in the game HAT (guess a word).
Story Discussion
“Two Wrongs” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
01 December 2021 at 19:00
Venue: will be announced later.
This coming Wednesday, we are discussing “Two Wrongs” by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, short story writer and screenwriter. He was best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age — a term he popularized. During his lifetime, he published four novels, four story collections, and 164 short stories. Although he achieved temporary popular success and fortune in the 1920s, Fitzgerald received critical acclaim only after his death and is now widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century.
If you wish to join the discussion, please read the story at home. Full text is attached below.
Please don't forget to bring masks with you.
“Two Wrongs” by F. Scott Fitzgerald
01 December 2021 at 19:00
Venue: will be announced later.
This coming Wednesday, we are discussing “Two Wrongs” by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, short story writer and screenwriter. He was best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age — a term he popularized. During his lifetime, he published four novels, four story collections, and 164 short stories. Although he achieved temporary popular success and fortune in the 1920s, Fitzgerald received critical acclaim only after his death and is now widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century.
If you wish to join the discussion, please read the story at home. Full text is attached below.
Please don't forget to bring masks with you.
Hello, English language admirers! We’d like to share a piece of information from our friends, that may be interesting to you. Here it is:
Hi, everyone!
If you love boardgames and have a couple of free hours on weekday morning, join us at the Library № 129 (м. Братиславская, ул. Перерва, 56/2) on Thursdays, at 11.00.
We play Cosmic Encounter, Codenames, Imaginarium and others boardgames while speaking English, for practice in the language; business and pleasure hand in hand, as it were.
Fluent-ish spoken English required. If you can read this, you’re probably fine.
If you have any questions, contact the organizer Ilya Semyonov via Telegram: @UristMcDorf
Hi, everyone!
If you love boardgames and have a couple of free hours on weekday morning, join us at the Library № 129 (м. Братиславская, ул. Перерва, 56/2) on Thursdays, at 11.00.
We play Cosmic Encounter, Codenames, Imaginarium and others boardgames while speaking English, for practice in the language; business and pleasure hand in hand, as it were.
Fluent-ish spoken English required. If you can read this, you’re probably fine.
If you have any questions, contact the organizer Ilya Semyonov via Telegram: @UristMcDorf
Story Discussion
The Would-be Father by Charles Baxter
20 April 2022 at 19:00 (MSK)
Venue: The adult library on the 3rd floor of ZIL Cultural Centre, Moscow.
Next Wednesday we are discussing a short story The Would-be Father by Charles Baxter.
Charles Baxter is an American author of fiction, nonfiction and poetry.
He was born 13 May 1947 in Minneapolis and graduated from Macalester College, in Saint Paul. After completing graduate work in English at the State University of New York at Buffalo, he taught for several years at Wayne State University in Detroit.
Charles Baxter lives in Minneapolis and teaches at the University of Minnesota and in the Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.
The Would-be Father is one of his first published short stories.
If you wish to join the discussion, please read the story at home. Full text is attached below.
The Would-be Father by Charles Baxter
20 April 2022 at 19:00 (MSK)
Venue: The adult library on the 3rd floor of ZIL Cultural Centre, Moscow.
Next Wednesday we are discussing a short story The Would-be Father by Charles Baxter.
Charles Baxter is an American author of fiction, nonfiction and poetry.
He was born 13 May 1947 in Minneapolis and graduated from Macalester College, in Saint Paul. After completing graduate work in English at the State University of New York at Buffalo, he taught for several years at Wayne State University in Detroit.
Charles Baxter lives in Minneapolis and teaches at the University of Minnesota and in the Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.
The Would-be Father is one of his first published short stories.
If you wish to join the discussion, please read the story at home. Full text is attached below.
Story Discussion
Meet the President! by Zadie Smith
22 June 2022 at 19:00 (MSK)
Venue: The adult library on the 3rd floor of ZIL Cultural Centre, Moscow.
Next Wednesday we will discuss a short story Meet the President! by Zadie Smith.
Zadie Smith was born on 25 October 1975 in Willesden to a Jamaican mother, Yvonne Bailey, and an English father, Harvey Smith. She is an English novelist, essayist, and short-story writer. Her debut novel, White Teeth (2000), immediately became a best-seller and won a number of awards. She has been a tenured professor in the Creative Writing faculty of New York University since September 2010.
In 2010, The Guardian newspaper asked Smith for her "10 rules for writing fiction". Among them she declared: "Tell the truth through whichever veil comes to hand – but tell it. Resign yourself to the lifelong sadness that comes from never being satisfied."
A short story Meet the president! was published in 2013 in the New Yorker.
If you wish to join the discussion, please read the story at home. Full text is attached below.
Meet the President! by Zadie Smith
22 June 2022 at 19:00 (MSK)
Venue: The adult library on the 3rd floor of ZIL Cultural Centre, Moscow.
Next Wednesday we will discuss a short story Meet the President! by Zadie Smith.
Zadie Smith was born on 25 October 1975 in Willesden to a Jamaican mother, Yvonne Bailey, and an English father, Harvey Smith. She is an English novelist, essayist, and short-story writer. Her debut novel, White Teeth (2000), immediately became a best-seller and won a number of awards. She has been a tenured professor in the Creative Writing faculty of New York University since September 2010.
In 2010, The Guardian newspaper asked Smith for her "10 rules for writing fiction". Among them she declared: "Tell the truth through whichever veil comes to hand – but tell it. Resign yourself to the lifelong sadness that comes from never being satisfied."
A short story Meet the president! was published in 2013 in the New Yorker.
If you wish to join the discussion, please read the story at home. Full text is attached below.
Story Discussion
Who can replace a man? By BRIAN W. ALDISS
5 January 2022 at 19:00 (MSK)
Venue: ON-LINE
At the first meeting in the NEW YEAR we will discuss a science-fiction story about robots Who can replace a man by Brian Aldiss.
Brian Wilson Aldiss, Order of the British Empire (18 August 1925 – 19 August 2017) was an English writer and anthology editor, best known for science fiction novels and short stories.
He was (with Harry Harrison) co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group. Aldiss was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America in 2000 and inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2004. He received two Hugo Awards, one Nebula Award. Aldiss was associated with the British New Wave of science fiction.
Who can replace a man? By BRIAN W. ALDISS
5 January 2022 at 19:00 (MSK)
Venue: ON-LINE
At the first meeting in the NEW YEAR we will discuss a science-fiction story about robots Who can replace a man by Brian Aldiss.
Brian Wilson Aldiss, Order of the British Empire (18 August 1925 – 19 August 2017) was an English writer and anthology editor, best known for science fiction novels and short stories.
He was (with Harry Harrison) co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group. Aldiss was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America in 2000 and inducted by the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2004. He received two Hugo Awards, one Nebula Award. Aldiss was associated with the British New Wave of science fiction.
