Oneida Public Library news
(Oneida, NY – Sept. 2014) To mark the start of the World War I Centenary, Oneida Public Library is hosting a six-session, weekly reading and discussion group entitled “Our World Remade: World War I,” sponsored by the New York Council for the Humanities, starting at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 30.
The discussion series, to be held Tuesdays at 7 p.m. through Nov. 4, will delve into the literature and history of the time to discover the horrific and long-term effects of the “War To End All Wars” on combatants and the people on the home front who supported them.
Discussions will be guided by Tom Murray, Ph.D., who led a reading and discussion group on Abraham Lincoln in 2013 and one on the U.S. Civil War in 2012 at the OPL.
The Humanities Council has provided participants with the literary and historical texts that form the basis of the discussions: “All Quiet on the Western Front” by Erich Maria Remarque, “Verdun: The Longest Battle of the Great War” by Paul Jankowski, and an anthology of selected short stories and poems.
As a bonus, the OPL will give a special showing of the 1931 film “All Quiet on the Western Front” on Armistice Day (now known as Veterans Day), Tuesday, Nov. 11, at 7 p.m. Directed by Lewis Milestone, the film features Lew Ayres as the young German recruit Paul Baumer, the narrator of Remarque’s novel.
The film, like the novel, is a searing indictment of the war and provides a startling recreation of the trench warfare that killed hundreds of thousands of soldiers on the Western Front from 1914 to 1918. The film won Academy Awards for best picture and best director.
Since the group is limited to 15 participants, those interested in participating should sign up as soon as possible either at the library desk or by calling 315.363.3050.