The Proust Society of America San Francisco Chapter at the Mechanics' Institute Library

Beginning Wednesday evening, October 8, 2003, the Mechanics' Institute Library will proudly offer two Proust reading groups, presented in affiliation with The Proust Society of America. The Proust Society of America was established in 1997 by the Mercantile Library of New York and its Center for World Literature.

Both groups will meet on the second Wednesday of each month at the Mechanics' Institute Library. Each group will read approximately 75 pages per month (in English), and both will begin with Lydia Davis's new translation of "Swann's Way," published by Penguin (although members are welcome to work with any available translation). The First-time Readers' Group will meet from 6:00pm-7:30pm and the Veteran Readers' Group will meet from 7:45pm-9:00pm. Both groups will be facilitated by Dr. Mark Calkins, webmaster and editor-in-chief of TempsPerdu.com. Dr. Calkins is a lecturer at San Jose and San Francisco State universities, holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature, and regularly teaches a course on Proust at the UC Berkeley Extension.

Book groups are open to members of the Mechanics' Institute and to the public. Fees for the book groups are $40 per semester for members and $65 for the public. Book group members are eligible to attend the Proust Society of America's annual lecture and dinner held in New York to commemorate Proust's birthday.

For more information or to enroll in one of the book groups, please e-mail Dr. Calkins at mark@tempsperdu.com.