Mark Twain, as portrayed by Weber State University professor Brad Roghaar, kicks off this year's Weber Reads program in a mock interview with Standard-Examiner reporter Charles Trentelman. The event is at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Pleasant Valley Branch of the Weber County Library, 5568 S. Adams Ave.
"The interview is asking questions about contemporary events," said Roghaar.
Questions cover everything from the U.S. role in the Middle East to how to write a novel. The answers are quotes from books, letters and the autobiography of Twain.
"All I have to do is put in 'Afghanistan' and 'Bush' and, you know, it's the same thing as when he's talking about the Philippines," said Roghaar. "Like so many great writers, you can pick up what they said and make it very contemporary, very quickly."
Roghaar will be costumed as Twain, but looks aren't the most important thing.
"What you're trying to do is capture an attitude, basically," Roghaar said. "I can imagine his devilish little looks.
"He had something to say just about everything, and with humor, and with wit, and with that high seriousness which he's so good at -- making something funny, but having a real edge to it as well."
Other Weber Reads events in January:
SBlt Jan. 12 -- "Mark Twain and His Times: The Gilded Age," Susan Matt of the WSU history department, 12:30 p.m., Hetzel-Hoellein Room, Stewart Library, WSU, 3848 Harrison Blvd., Ogden
SBlt Jan. 21 --"Absent Fathers/Dangerous Fathers," Colin Inglefield of the WSU physics department, 7 p.m., Weber County Main Library's auditorium, 2464 Jefferson Ave., Ogden.
SBlt Jan. 26 -- "The Life and Times of Huckleberry Finn," Russ Burrows, WSU English department, 12:30 p.m., Hetzel-Hoellein Room, Stewart Library, WSU.
SBlt Jan. 28 -- "Mark Twain for Children," bilingual story time for children with Carlos Camacho, 6 p.m., Weber County Main Library auditorium.
Future events, from February to April, range from presentations on Twain's literary treatment of American Indians to a comparison of adolescence in the 19th and 21st centuries, to musical selections from the play "Big River."
For information and a complete schedule, call the Weber County Library, (801) 337-2632.
Read more on Mark Twain by Standard-Examiner staff:
'Adventures of Huckleberry Finn' subject of Weber Reads program
Comments