Event Description
Set during the pre-vaccine Covid-19 pandemic, Garth Greenwell’s novel Small Rain follows its protagonist through emergency hospitalization and recovery. It’s been described as a text that “unfurls internally, in the consciousness of a character." Much has already been said about the relationship among the protagonist’s precarious physical body, the medical infrastructure through which his body is treated, and his intellectual and emotional life. Far less attention has been paid to the way Greenwell introduces everyday creatures that live in close proximity to humans – a sparrow, an oak tree, a squirrel, a dogwood, to name a few – into his text as his protagonist begins to heal. These, too, figure within the poetic framework of the book. This conversation will reflect upon poetic, visual, metaphysical and ecological ways to think through the book, and how it engages our particular American moment and its version of nature.
Event Information
Free and open to the public; registration required. For more information, please visit the event webpage. Please visit the Heyman’s Center website for directions.
Hosted by the Society of Fellows and Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University.
