Reading Groups

Anatomy of Desire: Part Deux with Lila Azam Zanganeh

6 Sessions Sundays, 12:00 pm EDT - 1:30 pm EDT January 5 to June 1, 2025

Online via Zoom

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The ‘With Books’ option includes the titles required for this group at a 10% discount from our Bookstore.

Meeting Dates:
1/5, 2/2, 3/2, 4/6, 5/4, 6/1
Held Online via Zoom

In this second installment of our exploration of French desire through literature, our focus remains on desire as the engine of the novel, both as psychic energy and pure libido.

Perceval; or, The Story of the Grail: The medieval masterpiece by Chrétien de Troyes defines the arrow of desire as a primal quest for knowledge and the divine mysteries, thwarted only by terrestrial love.
Justine, or the Misfortunes of Virtue: This seminal and explosive book by the Marquis de Sade lays out the libertine choreography and mathematics of desire as a political affront to the staid morals of religion and society at large.
The North-China Lover: This second (and far more beautiful) iteration of Duras’s world-famous novel, The Lover, offers a rawer and more true-to-life experience of desire as a radical form of liberation through dread and transgression.
My Life as a Russian Novel: This haunting nonfiction “Russian novel” by Emmanuel Carrère draws out the very notion of desire as a dangerous thirst for self-knowledge, however exacting and violent the price.
Simple Passion: Annie Ernaux, the Nobel laureate of 2022, delineates the passionate underpinnings of a love affair, with unyielding, surgical honesty about the gaping lack at the heart of all human passions.
Three Strong Women: Marie Ndiaye’s magnificent, award-winning novel talks about the essential desire for metamorphosis and power, and the control of narratives in our own lives.

What to read before the first meeting: Perceval; or, The Story of the Grail by Chrétien de Troyes

What to expect from this reading group: This course will be both instructor- and participant- driven.

Reading List:

Perceval; or, The Story of the Grail by Chrétien de Troyes
Justine, or the Misfortunes of Virtue by The Marquis de Sade
The North China Lover by Marguerite Duras
My Life as a Russian Novel by Emmanuel Carrère
Simple Passion by Annie Ernaux
Three Strong Women by Marie NDiaye

Capacity: 20

Please note: All virtual classes are recorded. Please click here for information about our recording policy.

Led by

Lila Azam Zanganeh

Lila Azam Zanganeh

Lila Azam Zanganeh is a French-Iranian writer. She is the author of The Enchanter, published internationally, and the forthcoming novel, Exit Paradise. She has taught literature and cinema at Harvard University. She speaks seven languages.

About this series

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