USC series will feature international authors

"I must say that I find television very educational," comedian Groucho Marx once asserted. "The minute that somebody turns it on, I go to the library and read a good book." Marx was, of course, poking fun at a medium that paid his own bills in the final stage of his long career - he hosted a successful television quiz show titled "You Bet Your Life" from 1950 to 1961. Yet, despite its intentional levity, his memorable quote highlights an essential fact. If you want to spend your time more productively, particularly if you want to learn something about yourself and your place in the scheme of things, nothing beats reading a good book.

The celebration of reading is the focus of a new literary series sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. Hosted by Elise Blackwell, a novelist of some repute, the series, titled "The Open Book," runs from March 12 to April 11, and features five outstanding writers from this country and abroad.

Each author event is organized in two parts: a Blackwell-led discussion of one of the author's most important books followed, two days later, by a personal appearance by the author. For example, on Monday, March 12, at 6 p.m., there will be a discussion of Colum McCann's National Book Award-winning novel "Let the Great World Spin." On Wednesday, March 14, McCann will read from and talk about his book.

The central image of the novel is Phillipe Petit's death-defying tightrope walk between the Twin Towers in New York City in 1974, but the complex narrative focuses its primary attention on 11 imaginatively realized characters whose lives are interwoven on what one reviewer calls a "vast canvas."

McCann used a similar compositional method, combining fact and fiction, in the first book of his with which I am familiar, his biographical novel "Dancer," published in 2004 and based on the extraordinary life of ballet star Rudolf Nureyev. In that book as well, McCann combined the real and imaginary to reveal some deeper truth.

Born in Dublin in 1965, Colum McCann began his professional life as a reporter in Ireland, but for the last 20 years, he has called this country his home. Similarly bi-cultural is the second writer in the series Luis Alberto Urrea, who was born in Mexico but has lived in the United States most of his life.

On March 19, there will be a discussion of Urrea's national best-seller, "Into the Beautiful North," a novel which follows a group of Mexican women as they leave their native village to venture across the border into the United States to convince their men to come home. The author will read from and talk about his novel on March 21.

Ann Patchett's "State of Wonder" is the focus of "The Open Book" discussion on March 26; set in the Amazonian jungle, the novel features a female protagonist who travels to Brazil to unravel the mystery behind the sudden death of an American scientist. Patchett will talk about her work on March 28. A California native, the author has lived in Nashville, Tenn., since she was 6. To date, Ann Patchett has six novels to her credit; the most celebrated is her fourth, titled "Bel Canto."

Over the holidays, I read the latest novel by the fourth writer in the series, Jeffrey Eugenides, whose earlier books "The Virgin Suicides" and "Middlesex" garnered considerable popular and critical attention. His new book, titled "The Marriage Plot," was one of the most anticipated novels of this past fall. According to the author, the "marriage plot" is the central focus of the great love stories of the 19th century, particularly the works of Jane Austen. Eugenides himself states that in writing "The Marriage Plot" he wanted to find out whether the dream of finding the perfect mate still had resonance in a world marked by "sexual freedom, prenuptial agreements and no-fault divorce." The novel is the subject of a group discussion on April 2; Eugenides makes an appearance on April 4.

The last book featured in the series is Ian McEwan's "Atonement," which was, of course, adapted into a film in 2007. The tale of a young girl and aspiring writer whose misinterpretation, accidental or intentional, of a single act changes the lives of most of the people around her, the novel has been heralded as one of the finest works of British fiction in the last half century.

Born in 1948, McEwan starting writing fiction in his late 20s, and he has garnered major awards since then. "Atonement" will be discussed on April 9; the author will make a personal appearance on April 11.

For more information about "The Open Book," series visit www.cas.sc.edu/theopenbook/. Housed at the new Ernest F. Hollings Library on the USC-Columbia campus, all events are free and open to the public. However, online registration is recommended for those who want to be guaranteed a seat. The series host, Elise Blackwell, was a featured writer at USCA two years ago as part of the Oswald Distinguished Writers Series.

A Carolina Trustee Professor, Dr. Mack holds the first G.L. Toole Chair at the University of South Carolina Aiken.