Wednesdays

1:30 pm-3:00 pm

Online

1/27, 2/3, 2/10, 2/17, 2/24 & 3/3

Six Sessions

This course is offered online via the easy-to-use Zoom program.

Leslie is a paradox. Forty-three years old, never married, lonely, she is also highly intelligent, intensely sexual, and wickedly witty. At a dead end in her personal life and her job as a librarian in a small, decaying city, she takes a leave of absence to search for Martin, an old boyfriend she’d known twenty-five years ago. As teenagers they had worked together in an amusement park for one golden summer that Leslie has wrapped in myth and nostalgia for the past quarter-century. On a cross-country odyssey Leslie not only finds out more than she wanted to know about Martin, but more than she cared to admit about herself, and ultimately she must face a crucial dilemma: should she abandon her search so as to preserve her cherished memories intact, or meet the grown-up man who will likely shatter them forever? A dramatic reading of the complete novel by the author, Richard Matturro, in six installments with time at the end of each class for comments, questions, and discussion. 

“It is refreshing to encounter such a quirky, androgynous female heroine, a far cry from the stiletto-clad, diet-obsessed women who populate so much contemporary so-called ‘chick-lit.’ The character is smart, funny, and I love that she is having a kind of midlife crisis--something usually associated with men, but that in real life women certainly do experience--and a kind of existential alienation women in novels rarely grapple with. The writing is strong throughout, often quite witty and lively.”

                                     — Liza Featherstone, Contributing Editor to The Nation

“Nostalgia can be a cruel mistress. … Leslie is a story of cherished memories and the present that threatens to taint them. An entertaining tale all the way through. 5 out of 5 stars.”

                                         — Midwest Book Review

Richard Matturro, a native of Rye, New York, holds a doctorate in English with a specialization in Shakespeare and Greek Mythology. After sixteen years at the Albany Times Union, he taught literature at UAlbany for fourteen years. He is the author of numerous newspaper articles and six novels. Leslie was published by Livingston Press in 2008.

Course Outline: Leslie Contents.doc

Next