Kenneth A. McClane,

W.E.B. DuBois Professor of Literature Emeritus

Through historical accident, my family knew Dr. Martin Luther King and Duke Ellington, but the luminary we had the most cantankerous relationship with was the esteemed playwright Lillian Hellman, author of The Little Foxes and Pentimento (which became the movie Julia). Ms. Hellman was outsized in life—often intrepid, sometimes brassy, but always controversial. As a pioneer, a social activist, a survivor of the McCarthy hearings, and a dramatist of the first order, one shouldn’t underestimate her talents. Still, as a boy, I saw many faces of Hellman, some of them quite ugly. 

My talk will concern Hellman, Civil Rights, Martha’s Vineyard in the 1950s and 1960s, and the joys and dangers of memoir.

(Come any time after 10am for refreshments)