My New Book!

My New Book!
My New Book!

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

December 24, 2014: AmericanWishing: Chesnutt’s “Wife”

[As I’ve done each of the last few years, I wanted to spend this holiday week sharing some wishes for the AmericanStudies Elves. For this year’s, I’ll be sharing five texts I wish all Americans had the chance to read. I’d love to hear about your wishlists as well!]
As Charles Dickens captured so perfectly, the holidays are often a time for reflection and introspection, for measuring our hopes and ideals against our choices and realities. As Scrooge illustrates, those reflections tend to connect not only to ourselves, but to others in our lives, and perhaps especially those we have lost or hurt. Yet Scrooge’s story also reminds us that it’s never too late to make things right, or at least make them better—and so too does one of my favorite short stories by one of my favorite authors, Charles Chesnutt’s “The Wife of His Youth.” A good Christmas Eve read!
Next wish tomorrow,
Ben

PS. What would you wish for?

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