‘Mrs. Dalloway’ is FF Book Club selection for July 14
Fri, Jul 14 2023, 2pm
The next meeting of UMRA’s Fourth Friday Book Club will be from 2 to 3:30 p.m. CDT on Friday, July 14. This is a departure from the customary fourth Friday meeting, due to several scheduling issues.
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, published in May 1925, is the selection for July.
Mrs. Dalloway appears to be nothing more than an account of externally insignificant events. Clarissa Dalloway, the main character, is a mother of eight and is preparing for a dinner party at her summer home in Scotland.
Literary critic Edward Mendelson, writing in the December 22, 2022, New York Review of Books, said, “In its unobtrusive way, Mrs. Dalloway has the encyclopedic scope of a great national epic … in such matters of statecraft, medicine, crime, technology and religion.” And this is the short list in numerous citations—proof that Virginia Woolf is one of the giants in English literature.
So, what is the dynamic that elevates the ordinary to the exceptional?
Woolf wrote in her diary about Mrs. Dalloway, “I want to criticize the social system, and to show it at work, at its most intense: the disturbing events of tragedy and triumph; the social and moral dilemmas that are everywhere.”
It will be a great read.
The group will resume its regular meeting schedule on August 25 with a discussion of the epic poem Beowulf. It is as if we could not get enough of Gilgamesh.
Email Dorothy Marden if you have questions or for the link to join the discussion via Zoom on Friday, July 14. All UMRA members are welcome!
Upcoming Events
Silk Parachute, an anthology of essays and the 40th of 44 published books by author John McPhee, will be the topic of discussion when UMRA’s Fourth Friday Book Club meets via Zoom from 2 to 3:30 p.m. CDT on April 26.
We are fortunate to have UMRA member and former Minnesota Landscape Arboretum director Peter Moe to lead this approximately 3.7-mile hike at the Arboretum on Monday, May 6. Plan to have lunch together after the hike at the Eatery café inside the Oswald Visitor Center.
This session will continue the discussion begun in the May 8, 2023 session. See that article for details.
If you currently live in your own home or apartment, have you looked ahead to when you might want to consider a senior living option? Do you have any idea what those options might be? How much they cost? What they provide? UMRA’s May 14 workshop will provide an overview of the world of senior living and the basic information you need.
You’re invited to join the final Family History Interest Group meeting for 2023–24. This will be an opportunity to ask questions related to family history, share insights, talk about recent projects, and suggest topics for next year.
Stephanie Daily will lead the discussion of Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by best-selling author Mary Roach when the UMRA Book Club meets via Zoom at 2 p.m. on Friday, May 17.
The May 20 hike will start at the Historic Lift Bridge in Stillwater and go along the river to the new bridge, cross over and then back on the Wisconsin side, a total of approximately 5 miles. Most of the route is paved. We will eat lunch after at Brian's Bar and Grill in Stillwater. Car pooling will be available.
Climatologist and meteorologist Mark Seeley joined the U of M faculty in 1978 and has been a weekly commentator on Minnesota Public Radio since 1992. We are honored to welcome him as our guest speaker for UMRA’s May Luncheon Forum and 2024 Annual Meeting. He is always entertaining and informative.
UMRA’s Fourth Friday Book Club welcomes back, for the second time, author Julie Schumacher, U of M Regents professor of creative writing and English, for a conversation about her novel The Shakespeare Requirement.
We are in for a treat on June 3! Lynn Anderson, will lead us on trails at two parks near her Monticello home. Bring a bag lunch and we will gather in Lynn's yard along the Mississippi River for eating and socializing after the hike.
Get out to the ballpark with fellow UMRA members for the annual U of M Day at Target Field as the Minnesota Twins take on the Oakland Athletics on June 14 at 7:10 p.m.
Please join us at 9:30 on June 17, 2024 for a walk around Lake Como in St. Paul before attending the UMRA Summer Social and Picnic starting at 11 at the Como Pavilion. A perfect opportunity to get in a walk before we gather to celebrate summer.
Picnic under the covered, open-air Como pavilion, gaze at the water, spy some birds, catch up with friends and former colleagues, and meet new members. We’ll have lunch with plenty of time for visiting and then compete in teams as we are challenged by our Quiz master(s)!
Healthy aging, mindfulness, fighting ageism, and more will be the focus of the third annual Age-Friendly University Day to be held on the U of M Twin Cities campus.