Varieties of Mourning, Friendship and Love in Sigrid Nunez’s The Friend   

Discussion format: The focus of this class is a discussion of Nunez’s novel. An initial question is offered by the seminar leader, followed by comments and questions offered by other participants. Following the St. John’s College protocol, the leader avoids lecture and encourages participants to contribute to the discussion by their questions, comments, and responses to other participants’ ideas.  

About the novel:  The death of a writer who is also a professor of writing makes an impression on the narrator who is a former student and colleague.  Her comments on their profession, the lives of various students, his former wives and the dog the deceased writer’s third wife compels the narrator to care for, constitute this novel: “A penetrating, moving meditation on loss, comfort, memory, what it means to be a writer today, and various forms of love and friendship…. Nunez has a wry, withering wit.” --- NPR  

Materials: Nunez, Sigrid. The Friend: A Novel. Riverhead Books, 2018 or 2019. ISBN:9780735219458.(Since page numbers are referenced, it is important that you have this particular edition of the text.)