900 Northwest Mount Washington Drive #110\, Bend\, OR 97703 \;
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=900 Northwest Mount Washington Drive #110\, Bend\, OR 97703 \;
;X-APPLE-RADIUS=10;X-TITLE=Downtown Bend Library:g eo:44.0572068,-121.3165935 GEO:44.0572068;-121.3165935 DESCRIPTION:Who gets to decide what's sane? Explore the metaphor in moder n literary asylums..\nhttps://dpl.libnet.info/event/15850047 X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:Registration is required.
\nWho decides what's sane&mdash\;and who benefits from that decisio n? Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Han Kang's Th e Vegetarian. Literature's mental asylums are rarely just hospitals&m dash\;they're stages where our culture's deepest conflicts play out: Who h as power over whom? What separates sanity from madness? And what happens w hen the price of freedom is being labeled insane?
\nThe mental asylu m has long served as a powerful metaphor for our deepest fears&mdash\;help lessness\, corrupt authority\, and losing our grip on reality itself. In t his presentation\, we&rsquo\;ll explore how writers transform the institut ion into a mirror\, using mental asylums to ask dangerous questions about conformity and control. From the electroshock therapy of The Bell Jar< /em> to the colonial gaslighting of Wide Sargasso Sea\, from the wartime bureaucracy of Catch-22 \;to the contemporary memoir Girl\, Interrupted\, these literary asylums still speak to our mo ment\, when questions about institutional power\, diagnostic labels\, and the right to define our own reality feel more urgent than ever.
\nCh eck out a list of modern fiction exploring mental asylum metaphor or lived experience in the Library catalog: https://dpl.bibliocommons.com/v2/li st/display/431104870/2984281227 \;
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Joel Clements is a local writer and teacher. He has taught literature and writing for Bend LaPine schools\, COCC\, and OSU-Cascades\, and presented multiple De schutes Library and Novel Idea seminars over the years. As a writer/perfor mer\, he has contributed to multiple regional and national publications\, and his most recent short film appeared in festivals in the US and Europe. &ldquo\;The Times&rdquo\; once identified him as a humor writer of note. He worked professionally as a storyteller and comedian for several years. He lives in Bend with his wife\, Michele\, and kids\, Zoe\, Oscar\, and Ph oebe.
\nRoundabout Books \;"is committed to cre ating a destination of discovery for our customers by promoting the value of and pleasure in reading\, by supporting efforts that enrich life in our community\, by nurturing the next generation of readers\, by curating inv entory that includes diverse voices\, debut authors\, and independent publ ishers\, and by creating a safe space that welcomes everyone and embraces the free exchange of ideas." Learn more at https://roundaboutbookshop.com/ \; \;
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Supersonic \;<
/em>charts the rise of a boomtown city in the American West where ambition
outpaces memory. In the present day\, PTA president Sami Hasegawa-Stalwor
th is determined to rename her daughter&rsquo\;s elementary school after h
er late grandmother&mdash\;a beloved music teacher and Japanese internment
survivor. What begins as a symbolic family gesture spirals into a kaleido
scopic\, multi-generational story of struggle&mdash\;for and against chang
e\, and over who gets to define the future. \;
\;
Throu
gh interwoven lives&mdash\;an opioid-addicted 19th-century conman\, a disg
raced Navy seaman building a jet that will fly faster than sound\, a stay-
at-home dad turned weed entrepreneur\, and a family haunted by the ghosts
of progress&mdash\;Supersonic reveals how each era tries to remak
e the same ground beneath its feet. At once intimate and panoramic\, the s
tory channels the restless energy that propels the West. \;
\;
About the Author: \;
Thomas \;Kohnst
amm \;was born and raised in Seattle. He still lives in the same house
he grew up in&mdash\;now with his wife and two children. \;A freelanc
e writer for over twenty years\, \;he&rsquo\;s \;been a Spanish &a
mp\; Portuguese translator\, travel writer\, video &\; animation produc
er and has covered subjects ranging from rainforest conservation to quantu
m computing to backcountry skiing. \;Supersonic \;is his
third book. \;
Learn more about \;A Novel Idea
\nQuestions? Contact \;laurelh@desch uteslibrary.org \; \; \; \;
\nhttps://dpl.libnet .info/event/15850047 URL;VALUE=URI:https://dpl.libnet.info/event/15850047 ATTACH:https://static.libnet.info/images/events/dpl/Mental_Asylums_in_Fict ion.jpg END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR