Reading Groups

In Short: A Group Discussion of Mary Gaitskill's This Is Pleasure led by Sam Rutter

Free

Thursday, 7:00 pm EDT April 2, 2020

In times of social distancing, join us at The Center for Fiction via Zoom from the comfort of your own home to discuss this thought-provoking, highly relevant story from one of America’s greatest contemporary writers.

Join our first session of In Short, an online short story discussion group series led by our experienced reading group instructors. Sam Rutter will lead a discussion of Mary Gaitskill’s This is Pleasure.

Published in its entirety by the New Yorker in July 2019, This Is Pleasure is Mary Gaitskill’s enthralling foray into the #MeToo Moment and the aftermath of the Shitty Men in Media List.

The effervescent, well-dressed Quin, a successful book editor and fixture on the New York arts scene, has been accused of repeated unforgivable transgressions toward women in his orbit. But are they unforgivable? And who has the right to forgive him? To Quin’s friend Margot, the wrongdoing is less clear. Alternating Quin’s and Margot’s voices and perspectives, Gaitskill creates a nuanced tragicomedy, one that reveals her characters as whole persons—hurtful and hurting, infuriating and touching, and always deeply recognizable.

Click here for access to this story or email Allison Escoto [email protected] to have a copy of the story emailed to you.

You may also order a hardcover copy of this from our bookstore by emailing Riley at [email protected]. Please include your phone number and shipping address.

Led by

Sam Rutter

Sam Rutter

Samuel Rutter is a writer and translator from Melbourne, Australia with an extensive research background in contemporary literature from Latin America. He has translated novels, stories, screenplays and comics from French, Spanish and Catalan, and was awarded a PEN Translates Prize in 2016. In 2020 his translations of Carlos Busqued’s Magnetized and Sònia Hernàndez’ Prosopagnosia will be published. A recent graduate of the MFA in fiction at Vanderbilt University, his work has appeared in journals including Meanjin, Overland, the White Review, and Gulf Coast. He is currently writing his first novel.

About this series

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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.

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