Reading Groups

Landscape and Dreamscape: The Short Fiction of Aimee Bender with Jacqueline Ahl

6 Sessions Thursdays, 7:00 pm EDT - 8:30 pm EDT March 27 to May 1, 2025

Online via Zoom

featured-images.reading-groups.2025-spring-b150

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

Meeting Dates:
3/27, 4/3, 4/10, 4/17, 4/24, 5/1
Online via Zoom

Aimee Bender’s short fiction blends aspects of magical realism, fabulism, surrealism, the absurd, and the grotesque, creating landscapes that are at once recognizable and intimate, yet defy logic as they morph into off-kilter dreamscapes. In some stories, there is a fine line between the world of the real and the realm of the fantastic or surreal; in others, there is a clear division—a world of story—that we immediately recognize as not quite our own. We might recognize our marriages, our children, our siblings, ourselves; we might not recognize the altered laws of physics or logic. Even if not literally true, the story might feel (figuratively) true.

Are these modern fairy tales, psychoanalytic confessions, feminist allegories, or something else entirely? Bender’s work also invites discussion about process as much as product: decisions that run contrary to convention (anti-character, anti-plot, anti-logic), the idea of writing without a plan, writing into uncertainty, or saying “yes” to everything and seeing where it leads. Bender sometimes breaks “the rules,” as do her characters. To what effect? Does her reliance on the weird come at the expense of development—emotional depth or fully realized characters? Is the reliance on fantastical scenarios a gimmick or an effective tool for advancing narrative? Is a rejection of realism an effective means of defying social contract and dismantling grand narratives? In this series, we’ll look at a curated selection of Bender’s best—layered, symbolic, unsettling, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny—serving as cartographers of both landscape and dreamscape.

What to read in advance of the first meeting: “Tiger Mending” from The Color Master: Stories (Pages 27-36)

What to expect from this reading group: This course is largely conversational and participant-driven, though guided and facilitated by the instructor. Introductory material (providing background and context on the author and/or related literary movements) will be provided by the instructor based on participant interest.

Reading List:

Supplemental reading: If participants desire, we can explore further selections from these 3 collections.

Capacity: 20

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

Led by

Jacqueline Ahl

Jacqueline Ahl

Jacqueline Ahl is a writer, presenter, and educator. At SUNY New Paltz, she served as visiting poet for Understanding Poetry (2007-2015), Founder/Director of the Creative Writing Mentoring Program (2000-2005), and member of the William Vasse Poetry Board (2000-2006). She also hosted Plath and the Public Eye (a two-day celebration of the work of Sylvia Plath) and served as guest speaker for Major Authors: Sylvia Plath (2009) and Writing for Publishing (2008). Jacqueline also served as an instructor for the Summer Institute for the Gifted (SIG) at Vassar College (2005-2015), teaching courses in philosophy, psychology, symbols and iconography, scriptwriting, fantasy fiction, and improvisation. Jacqueline’s publications include A Slant of Light: Contemporary Women Writers of the Hudson Valley (2013) and Riverine: An Anthology of Hudson Valley Writers (2007) and her poetry features include Albany Wordfest and The Woodstock Roundtable on WDST. Jacqueline’s plays have been produced in NY, NC, and MO, receiving national and international awards.

About this series

Reading Groups

Whether you’re looking to catch up on great novels or you’re interested in exploring a new writer or literary period, our reading groups offer high-level literary discussion led by experts in the field.

Groups+Workshops

More Groups+Workshops

Groups+Workshops