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Read an interview with Dr. Mark Calkins, facilitator of the Proust Society of America’s San Francisco Chapter.

The Proust Society of America’s San Francisco Chapter operates two separate reading groups.

Registration for both Proust discussion groups is closed for this semester. Watch for registration information in August for the new semester that begins on September 11, 2013.

Proust: In Search of Lost Time - Dr. Mark Calkins introduces Proust to new and experienced readers of this classic work. Volumes 3, The Guermantes Way, and 4, Sodom and Gomorrah, will be read in the 2012-2013 year. The Penguin editions are recommended, but not required. The group meets twice a month in two half-year sessions (September through mid-February and mid-February through July).

Proust Society of America: World Literature Group - Mark Calkins continues the reading of pre-and post-Proustian novels, works that have been influenced, directly or indirectly, by Proust's redefinition of the genre of the novel, and by Proust's examination of memory, time, bearing witness, and the self. The year will begin with some Flaubert and Zola, and then move to a series of Russian novels, ranging from Gogol’s Dead Souls through Sorokin’s Ice Trilogy.

The groups are open to members of the Mechanics' Institute and guests. Fees for each group are $65 for members and $95 for non-members per semester (ten meetings). Participants in the groups are also eligible to attend meetings and events held at the New York and Boston chapters of the Proust Society of America.

The groups are facilitated by Dr. Mark Calkins (Ph.D. in Comparative Literature, UC Irvine) lecturer the Dept. of English and Dept. of Comparative Literature at San Francisco State University. He is also webmaster and editor-in-chief of TempsPerdu.com.

If you have any questions, you may contact Dr. Calkins by email.