The Fraud Reading Group (Spring 2024)

To kick off the new semester, the C19 group will be reading and discussing Zadie Smith’s The Fraud (2023). The Fraud was named one of the New York Times 10 Best Books of the Year and on the list of NPR’s Best Books of the Year. As stated on the publisher’s website, The Fraud is a “kaleidoscopic work of historical fiction set against the legal trial that divided Victorian England, about who gets to tell their story—and who gets to be believed.” Smith’s novel provides insights  “about truth and fiction, Jamaica and Britain, fraudulence and authenticity and the mystery of other people.” The C19 group looks forward to discussing Smith’s representations of Victorian England in The Fraud. 

Demon Copperhead Reading Group (Fall 2023)

During the fall 2023 semester, members of the C19 group read and discussed Barbara Kingsolver’s Demon Copperhead. Demon Copperhead (2022) is a reimagining of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield (1850). As stated on Kingsolver’s website, “Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can’t imagine leaving behind.”  Kingsolver’s novel takes place in Appalachia; a setting she is familiar with as she grew up in eastern Kentucky. In an interview with Slate, Kingsolver expressed how part of her motive in writing the novel was “to counter those stereotypes (about Appalachians) and show the world a portrait of us with some subtlety.” The representations of and commentary on Appalachia were a major discussion point for our group. Our group further analyzed the impact of reading David Copperfield before Demon Copperhead, as Kingsolver has explicitly stated that Dickens is “not a prerequisite” for her novel. All members of the discussions enjoyed Demon Copperhead and many felt prompted to go back and revisit David Copperfield.