Rock Island, IL: In a fitting topic for Halloween week, the next Frieze Lecture at the Rock Island Library will consider Franz Kafka's 1915 novella about a man mysteriously transformed overnight into a giant insect.
Dr. Lisa Seidlitz, Augustana College associate professor of world languages, will speak at 2:00 pm on Tuesday, October 27 at the Rock Island Main Library on the literary impact of The Metamorphosis. which was first published in a literary magazine in October 1915. Though largely unknown during his lifetime, Kafka is regarded as one of the influential authors of the 20th century.
The annual Frieze Lecture partnership features free public library talks by Augustana College professors (without tests or grades) and discussions afterward over coffee and cookies. The series is named after the decorative architectural frieze on the exterior of the Main Library.
All presentations begin at 2:00 pm, in the Rock Island Main Library Community Room, 401 19th Street. Additional presentations in this year's "1915: A Landmark Year" series include a Nov. 3 talk by Dr. Christopher Whitt on the 1915 release of DW Griffith's controversial film Birth of a Nation, and a Nov. 10 talk by Farah Marklevits on the legacy of two 1915 poems: Robert Frost's Road Not Taken and TS Eliot's Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.
Events are free and open to the public. For more free programs, visit www.rockislandlibrary.org, call 309-732-READ or pick up a fall events brochure at the Rock Island Main Library, 30/31 or Southwest Branches.
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