Monday, September 30, 2013

Monday Muse: Literature on View

The fall season of museum shows is notable for several upcoming or continuing exhibitions of literary work. Among the writers who are subjects of exhibitions are:

Edgar Allan Poe ~ Fans of the influential storyteller will welcome "Edgar Allan Poe: Terror of the Soul" opening October 4 at The Morgan Library & Museum in New York City. Drawn from The Morgan's own holdings, the Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature at The New York Public Library, and several private collections, the exhibition will take a thematic look at Poe's fiction, poetry, and literary criticism. Among the more than 100 items that will be on view are manuscripts of short stories and poetry, correspondence, and early print editions of The Cask of Amontillado, Tamerlane, and The Raven. Visitors will be able to see The Bells and Annabel Lee in Poe's own hand. A part of the exhibition related to Poe's contemporaries will showcase Sir Arthur Conan Doyles's The Hound of the Baskervilles, Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray. The exhibition will continue through January 26, 2014.

Exhibition Press Release

The Morgan on FaceBook, Twitter, and YouTube


J. D. Salinger ~ The Morgan also is showing, through January 26, 2014, "'Lose not heart': J.D. Salinger's Letters to an Aspiring Writer". This is the first public showing of correspondence between Salinger and aspiring Canadian writer Marjorie Sheard. The Morgan acquired earlier this year Salinger's letters and postcards sent to Sheard between 1941 and 1943.

Exhibition Press Release

Dave Itzkoff, "The Young Salinger, Mordant Yet Hopeful", The New York Times, April 23, 2013


Homer ~ The epic poem The Odyssey by Homer was the inspiration for artist Romare Bearden's marvelous A Black Odyssey, a series of collages and watercolors on view through November 24 at The Chazen Museum of Art, Madison, Wisconsin. Produced by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES), the exhibition showcases approximately 50 works, including line drawings, that reveal Bearden's exploration of the classic literary narrative and how he interpreted it. Exhibition-related programming includes a symposium, "Romare Bearden's Black Odyssey and the Quest for Self-Definition", on November 2; an invitational reading on November 7 by Wisconsin poets of original work inspired by the exhibition; and, on November 14, dramatic readings involving students of the University of Wisconsin's Department of Theatre and Drama. Go here for additional information about the planned events.

The Chazen on FaceBook and Twitter


Children's Book Authors ~ Continuing through March 23, 2014, at The New York Public Library is "The ABC of It: Why Children's Books Matter". 

NYPL on FaceBook, Twitter, and YouTube

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow ~ You don't have to leave home to see "Public Poet, Private Man: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow at 200", Harvard College Library's Web version of an exhibition curated by Longfellow scholar Christopher Irmscher. The celebration of the poet's 200th birthday is long over but the material in this excellent online exhibition is new to any first-time viewer. 

Philadelphia Writers ~ Terminal A East at Philadelphia International Airport is the location of the year-long visual overview of the creativity of 50 authors, poets, and playwrights who were born in or have lived a period of their lives in the Philadelphia area. Organized by Leah Douglas, director of the airport's Exhibitions Program, "Philadelphia's Literacy Legacy" opened in early July. Douglas made her selections from lists of names submitted by librarians from the Free Library of Philadelphia. Among those represented in the exhibition are Benjamin Franklin, Louisa May Alcott, Pearl S. Buck, Sandra Boynton, and David Wiesner.

Current Exhibitions at Philadelphia International Airport

No comments: