Thursday, April 1, 2004

Leads: Ellen N., Catlyn O.

Reading

• Franzen, The Corrections (339–459)

Notes

• You’ve only briefly met Denise up to this point. What do you think of her now?
• Has Chip’s stay in Lithuania changed him?
• How does Franzen elaborate on relationships in this section?

I’ve mentioned family systems theory in class a few times; it’s a field primarily related to psychology. One of the field’s big names is Harriet Lerner, and some key books by her follow:

• The Dance of Anger: A Woman’s Guide to Changing the Patterns of Intimate Relationships
• The Dance of Deception: Pretending and Truth-Telling in Women’s Lives
• The Dance of Intimacy: A Woman’s Guide to Courageous Acts of Change in Key Relationships

Family systems theory suggests that one of the biggest threats to family/relational stability is the secret. How do secrets play out in The Corrections?

(A somewhat unrelated book, but one that may be helpful in figuring out some of the issues in The Corrections is Gregg Easterbrook’s The Progress Paradox, which is on course reserve.)