Meg Wolitzer
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
Our third story about nature and its elements comes from writer Alice Miller.
Her work includes the collections Sweet Love, Water, and The Nature of Longing.
This whimsical piece has one obvious theme, which is right in its title, flying.
But it also touches on aging and dreams.
And here's the versatile Kirsten Vangsness back to try her hand at flying instead of gardening.
That was Kirsten Vangsness reading Alice Miller's Flying.
To complete this quartet of stories about forces of nature and how they shape us, we're bringing back a favorite from our archives.
Writer Kate Chopin lived from 1850 to 1904 and is considered a bellwether of early feminism for her devastating novel The Awakening.
but she's also able to advance her agenda in subtler ways.
In The Storm, the upheaval in nature finds its analog in the emotions and acts of the characters.
Reader Jane Curtin is known for work in iconic television shows like Saturday Night Live and Kate and Allie, and has had a rich theatrical career as well.
But for us, she's an icon unto herself, veteran of many selected shorts readings.
And here she is in one of her best, Kate Chopin's The Storm.
Jane Curtin read Kate Chopin's The Storm.
The story really brings that stormy weather to us, and we can also hear hints of Chopin's bilingual heritage.
She grew up speaking both English and French.
What's lovely about this playful story is how everything is just suggested, and how beautifully Curtin conveys an almost cat-like sense of pleasure in transgression, without ever crossing the line of propriety.