Monday, June 25, 2018, 7 to 9 p.m.
“The Gentile Jewesses” by Muriel Spark

All her life, Muriel Spark sought to make sense of how life blends people, traditions, things. She was born in Scotland to Bernard Camberg, a Lithuanian Jew, who blended with Sarah Uezzell, a Scottish Presbyterian [or perhaps not?]. At age 19, Muriel married Sidney Spark who took his bride to Zimbabwe where she gave birth to their/her only child, son Robin. The marriage fell apart after three years, Muriel abandoned her son to be raised by his Camberg grandparents. Mother and son were estranged all their lives — he becoming devoted to his grandparents’ Judaism and she drifting toward Roman Catholic practice. He became a late-blooming visual artist; she an award winning writer.

In “The Gentile Jewesses” there are autobiographical traces of Spark’s personal life but the author is shielded by statements that the protagonist has only heard stories from third parties. Grandmother and mother had Jewish ancestors and lived at the intersection of their Jewish and Christian heritages [with appearances by Buddha and Greek goddesses on occasion]. When it suited them, these women touted one identity… or claimed a different heritage. Their years were enlivened with marches in support of suffrage; women beginning to master their own lives; and by that delicate question of how the world’s highly divergent monotheistic religions could all be reflecting the one true God.

Discussion Leader: Alan Liebman

Hosts: Carol and Norman Subotky welcome Club members to their north Carson City home this month. Address and travel directions plus a copy of this month’s story will be provided with your reservation confirmation. Ride sharing can be arranged from south Reno. You won’t want to miss the beautiful Subotky rose garden this Spring.

RSVP Required: To reserve your seat(s), receive a PDF copy of this month’s story and travel directions, please e-mail your name(s) to RenoJewishStory@AmericanSuperior.ORG before sundown, Friday, June 22nd.

For this meeting the Club can accommodate 25 attendees, please remember [especially if you failed to use your seat recently] your reservation is your PLEDGE to attend the Reno Jewish Story Club meeting

Social time after the discussion. Refreshments served.

NEXT Club Meeting [mark your calendar!]: Monday, July 23, 2018, 7 to 9 p.m.