Although the organizer and director of the Mary E. Rolling Reading Series already had the opportunity to hear writer Ann Pancake read at a literary festival two years ago, Robin Becker wanted give those at Penn State the same opportunity.
Pancake may read prose from her short stories, some of her novel or portions of not-yet-released fiction this evening at the Palmer Museum of Art. She's published a collection of short stories, Given Ground, and a more recent novel, Strange As This Weather Has Been.
Mindy Boffemmyer, the undergraduate director of women's studies, said one of her classes has been reading Strange As This Weather Has Been.
The novel concerns a West Virginian mining family affected by mountaintop removal mining, and Boffemmyer's class has been studying it from an environmental justice perspective.
She said her students have been responding positively to the text and its humanistic elements, despite the upfront way the novel deals with more unknown costs of industry.
"One thing they've really been able to wrap their minds around is how quickly the younger characters have to grow up," Boffemmyer said. "One character, the oldest child and the only daughter, must give up her childhood."
Becker said this reading will not just intrigue students of literature, but also students interested in women's studies, labor studies and rural sociology. Pancake has a writing style similar to that of William Faulkner, she said, and uses internal monologue to produce thoughts with a "marvelous voracity."
"She's very observant and able to comment in a valuable way about poverty, and there's so much related to poverty that she focuses on in her novel," she said.
Sheila Squillante, the associate director of the Master of Fine Arts program in the Department of English, said Pancake's reputation precedes her.
"She's a name that writers will know, certainly very successful, and has been reviewed in the New York Times," she said.
Pancake will visit Boffemmyer's class during her sojourn in State College.
"It's a great opportunity for students to actually meet the author of a book they're reading in class," she said.
