SOUTHEAST TO OFFER GREAT BOOKS PROGRAM

"The Writing Life: Families" will be the theme of the fall section of The Great Books Program when it resumes at Southeast Missouri State University in September.

The fall program will begin with an organizational meeting Sept. 1, during which books will be distributed and registration will be held.

Participants in the program read targeted books, discuss them with faculty members, and take part in a two-hour group discussion in which meaningful points of the books are evaluated. The purpose of the program is to bring great books and great readers together.

Frank Nickell, associate professor of history at Southeast and coordinator of the Great Books Program, said that people seldom have the opportunity to participate in intellectually formatted discussions. He said the program has been popular, and Southeast faculty have been supportive of it.

This is the fifth year for the Great Books Program to be offered at Southeast. Participants pay only for their books, which they may keep. Total cost of the books will be about $26.

Faculty donate their time in leading discussions on the books.

"The Writing Life: Families" is presented by the Missouri Humanities Council and the Missouri Center for the Book in partnership with Southeast Missouri State University. "The Writing Life: Families," a program sponsored by the National Book Foundation, is made possible by a grant from the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund.

Books to be discussed this semester include:

-- Sept. 8, "Housekeeping" by Leo Harris. The instructor will be Leo Harris, Southeast professor of English.

-- Sept. 22, "Rabbit Is Rich" by John Updike. Nickell will be the instructor.

-- Oct. 6, "The Women of Brewster Place" by Gloria Naylor. The instructor will be Benjamin Bates, Southeast instructor of English.

-- Oct. 20, Common Ground by J. Anthony Lukas. The instructor will be Charles Sharp, Southeast professor of history.

-- Nov. 3, "Wartime Lies" by Louis Begley. The instructor will be Harvey Hecht, Southeast professor of English.

Nov. 17, "The Homeplace" by Marilyn Nelson Waniek. The instructor will be Dale Haskell, Southeast associate professor of English.

All sessions will be held from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Program Lounge on the third floor of the University Center. Parking is available in the visitor's parking lot at Henderson and Normal streets.