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Upcoming Delve Seminar- Jennifer Egan: Manhattan Beach

Danielle Frandina is an educator, writer, and editor who earned her MFA at Vermont College of Fine Arts and taught at the Jewish Community High School of the Bay, where she chaired the school’s humanities department. Danielle is founder, curator and host of the Portland reading series Tell It Slant. Her stories and essays can be found in Numero Cinq, Avalon Magazine, Conceptions Southwest and 1001.

This winter, Danielle will be leading  Jennifer Egan: Manhattan Beach. Here is what Danielle has to say about the seminar!

Q: What interests/excites you about the author your Delve is focused on?
A: In Manhattan Beach, Egan chooses a heavily mined setting–1940s New York–but unearths fresh topics and characters within it–the city’s port culture during the wars and a protagonist who becomes the first female diver. Although Egan tells the intertwining stories of the novel’s main characters in a more conventional style than her past works, the masterful detail and gorgeous prose with which she molds her characters and their situations transcend the more traditional style.

Q: What can participants expect to happen in your Delve seminar?
A: Participants can expect to share their responses to the text and be actively listened to; they can expect a spirited discussion of the text where honesty, humor and authenticity are encouraged; they can expect to explore not only the “what” of the novel, but also the “how”–how Egan’s technique and stylistic choices inform the story.

Q: What do you think is the best way to have a good Delve experience in your seminar?
A: Think of a Delve seminar as a gift to yourself, a time each week to engage in the intellectually rewarding activity of critically analyzing a text with other smart, enthusiastic people who love talking about books.

Q: What do you like most about being a Delve guide?
A: I love the way participants shape the seminar when they take responsibility for its success; when they feel heard and encouraged, they become owners of the discussion each week. I also love watching Delve members bond over the course of a seminar out of respect for each other’s ideas and enjoyment of the many personalities that make up a lively seminar.

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