James: A Book Group (Hybrid)

Uncover the remnants of a forgotten, hidden time, and discuss how these remnants linger and influence the present. Can re-imagining the past change how we experience our present? In his latest novel James, Percival Everett – author, educator, and presenter at The Jung Center’s upcoming spring benefit – takes an imaginal step back into the world of Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. As Everett walks back around this classic work of American literature, we journey into a world that Twain’s innocent and optimistic protagonist could not have imagined. While both are runaways, James – called “Jim” by Huck Finn – flees a life of slavery. Following James’ path, Everett explores universal human experiences and invites us to reflect on how we’ve lived through or come into contact with these experiences ourselves: How and why do we change the ways we express ourselves to others, and what happens when we do so because our survival is at stake? How might the deep meaning of a story change if our perspective changes? What happens when we hear a story that fundamentally alters the sense we’ve made of our world?