What we’re about
This group started in May 2011, and we've read novels by Joyce, Malraux, Kafka, Wright, Mishima, Faulkner, Nabokov, Unamuno, Ellison, Hamsun, Woolf, Biely, Gide, and many others. We try to have a good time discussing the books without descending to small talk, think critically without descending to pedantry, etc.
Also, as the title shows, we've expanded our reading list since the group started. We don't really want to title the group something as vague as "Chicago Literature Group," etc., and modernist fiction and poetry still make up most of the reading list. But if some group members are excited about reading something else, be it Goethe or Ovid, Wallace or Perec, we're interested in that too. Feel free to make suggestions.
Upcoming events (4+)
See all- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: “The American Embassy” (2002) — Short Story DiscussionLink visible for attendees
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (born 15 September 1977) is a Nigerian author regarded as a leading voice in contemporary African and postcolonial literature. Her works explore the complexities of the Nigerian and African experience, including dimensions of religion, culture, race, class, and gender, often interwoven with historical and political contexts. Her breakthrough second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun (2006), gained international acclaim for its depiction of the devastation caused by the Nigerian Civil War.
Adichie writes in English and Igbo, mixing both languages in her works, which have been translated into over thirty other languages. Citing Chinua Achebe and Buchi Emecheta as inspirations, her style juxtaposes Western and African influences, particularly the Igbo culture. Adichie has received numerous awards and accolades for her writing, including the Orange Prize for Fiction, the MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant, and the National Book Critics Circle Award.
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This is a series of occasional meetups hosted by the Toronto Philosophy Meetup to discuss short stories by various authors. We started in the fall of 2023 and currently meet on Sunday evenings.
This time we will discuss "The American Embassy" (2002) by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a story about a woman applying for asylum at the U.S. embassy in Nigeria. The story explores themes of political repression, grief, and the moral dilemmas of migration. It's the eighth story in her 2009 collection The Thing Around Your Neck and originally published in PRISM International in 2002.
Please read the story in advance (~16 pages) and bring your thoughts, queries, and favourite passages to share with us at the discussion. A free pdf copy will be posted on the main event page. We'll be joined by many participants from other groups.
Stories by Adichie we've previously discussed in this group:
- Cell One (2007)
- Imitation (2003)
- A Private Experience (2004)
- Ghosts (2004)
- On Monday of Last Week (2007)
- Jumping Monkey Hill (2006)
- My Mother, The Crazy African (2000)
- The Thing Around Your Neck (2004)
🔥 BONUS: Adichie's 2009 TED talk “The danger of a single story” is the 14th most viewed TED Talk of all time with more than 50 million views. 🔥
