Writers Revealed has introduced you to today’s most buzzworthy writers. You heard Leslie Bennetts discuss choice feminism in The Feminist Mistake, you listed in on a roundtable of accomplished novelists discuss mothers in contemporary fiction, you met Joshua Ferris, author of the poignant novel, Then We Came to the End, you shared your online dating story pitfalls and successes, and you learned of a Chicago riddled with reformers, harlots and politicians. And while we will continue to chat with the finest authors of contemporary fiction and non fiction, we realized there is always room to celebrate the classics and world literature published before 1945.

We’re thrilled to announce the launch of Writers Revealed Classics - a monthly live chat where we’ll discuss our picks for great classic & world literature. And we invite you to join in on all the fun! Each month we’ll announce our classic selection for the month. Leading up to the day-long chat on the Writers Revealed website, your host will offer her view of the book, including what she loved and didn’t love about the work and themes worthy of discussion. There is no obligation to join, there are no sign-ups, just pop in on the day of the chat to share your view of the book and connect with other readers.

Meet Our Hosts!
Bethanne Patrick, Writers Revealed Classics Host
Bethanne Patrick is a journalist and literary critic whose favorite novel is Middlemarch. She has a master’s degree in English from The University of Virginia and has written for publications and sites including PAGES magazine, The Washington Post Book World, Bookreporter.com, and The Writer Magazine. She has interviewed scores of best-selling authors, including Sue Grafton, Alice Walker, Alexander McCall Smith, Luanne Rice, Brad Meltzer, and more. She is a Contributing Editor at Publishers Weekly, where she blogs as The Book Maven.

About Bethanne’s Picks: I won’t necessarily always choose classic books by women authors, but you can be sure I’ll choose a lot of classics from the comp lit shelf — world literature is one of my own deepest passions, and I think Americans ignore it too much. While you’ll definitely find a few American and British picks on my list (Henry James, Edith Wharton, even Kingsley Amis), you’ll also find Balzac, Tolstoy, and Hesse.

Jennifer Bassett is a literary magazine and book editor whose favorite novelists are–if she had to narrow it down– Dostoevsky, Nabokov, and Kawabata. She has a master’s degree from NYU and a BA from Columbia and has written for KGB Bar Lit and Small Spiral Notebook.

About Jennifer’s Picks: I attended Columbia University where I completed the required Literature Humanities and Contemporary Civilization classes (David Denby revisits both in his book Great Books). Although there were a few exceptions, for the most part, these were books that fit into the Western Canon (see Harold Bloom). Although the courses offered a great foundation, what about the vast number of books that don’t make it on the list? Some of the excluded books are very influential–and most importantly, entertaining. On my list you will see some familiar standbys (Flaubert, Joyce) but you will also see some less widely read works (Antonia White’s Frost in May), a great deal of Japanese and Chinese literature (Dream of The Red Chamber, Tale of Genji), some genre fiction (Wells, Huxley), and even some books that may have been too racy to read in high school or college (George Bataille’s Story of the Eye). I’m also interested in conversation–hopefully the books I pick will build on one another and even encourage you to read additional works.

August 21, 2007 - Virginia Woolf, author of To The Lighthouse - hosted by Bethanne Patrick

To the Lighthouse is one of the greatest literary achievements of the twentieth century and the author’s most popular novel. The serene and maternal Mrs. Ramsay, the tragic yet absurd Mr. Ramsay, and their children and assorted guests are on holiday on the Isle of Skye. From the seemingly trivial postponement of a visit to a nearby lighthouse,Virginia Woolf constructs a remarkable, moving examination of the complex tensions and allegiances of family life and the conflict between male and female principles.

Links
Buy the Book
Read an excerpt
Spark Notes
On Wikipedia

Why I Chose This Book: Full disclosure: To the Lighthouse is probably my favorite novel. OK, To the Lighthouse, or Middlemarch by George Eliot… but I digress. I think Woolf’s masterpiece chose me as much as I chose it. When I first read it during a graduate course (what can I say, I’m a slow learner…), the tension between Mrs. Ramsay’s as Ur-homemaker and Lily Briscoe as conflicted woman artist spoke to me, loud and clear. How do any of us reconcile our personal lives (whether or not we’re married or partnered) with our deepest passions? Hint: Even Mrs. Ramsay has trouble, there. I look forward to discussing the psychological level of this book with you — but what I hope to be able to show, too, is my own personal passion for this novel’s style and structure.

September 18, 2007 - Daphne Du Maurier, author of Rebecca - hosted by Jennifer Bassett

- rescheduled to November 18, 2007

So the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter remembered the chilling events that led her down the turning drive past ther beeches, white and naked, to the isolated gray stone manse on the windswept Cornish coast. With a husband she barely knew, the young bride arrived at this immense estate, only to be inexorably drawn into the life of the first Mrs. de Winter, the beautiful Rebecca, dead but never forgotten…her suite of rooms never touched, her clothes ready to be worn, her servant–the sinister Mrs. Danvers–still loyal. And as an eerie presentiment of evil tightened around her heart, the second Mrs. de Winter began her search for the real fate of Rebecca…for the secrets of Manderley.

Links
Buy the Book
Daphne Du Maurier website
Strand Magazine
Wikipedia

Why I Chose This Book I read Rebecca as a teenager and remember being thoroughly entertained from start to finish. The story of a new bride who recalls the events that led her to the isolated gray stone manor on the windswept Cornish coast was creepy, atmospheric and haunting. I couldn’t put it down. Evidently a lot of people felt the same way–Rebecca was a best seller in the UK and US when first published in 1938 and remained on the UK bestseller list for fifty years. The novel has similarities to gothic classics like Jane Eyre (some have even called Rebecca “Jane Eyre-lite”) and Wuthering Heights…as well as many Harlequin romances. But to dismiss this novel as “gothic chick-lit” or “potboiler” is too easy. Rebecca is a complex examination of marriage and a insightful (and often painful) study of obsession, jealousy and longing.