Thomas Bonner Jr., PhD, Professor Emeritus of English at Xavier University, will discuss “Poe, Hawthorne and the Gothic Tradition” at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 29, at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon, Metairie.

This event is free of charge and is open to the public. There is no registration.

Dr. Bonner says the talk is perfect for Halloween week. “Hawthorne's story Young Goodman Brown is set on Halloween (All Hallows Eve),” he says “and Poe has several stories of terror and horror that fit, including The Masque of the Red Death and The Cask of Amontillado.”

Dr. Bonner’s specialty is American Literature – Poe, Kate Chopin and William Faulkner. He earned his undergraduate degree from Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond, and his master’s and doctoral degrees at Tulane University.

Since 2008, Dr. Bonner has been Professor Emeritus, generally teaching one course each semester in American literature and related fields. Formerly, he was editor of Xavier Review and its press. Twice he has served as Distinguished Visiting Professor at the United States Air Force Academy. He has written studies of William Faulkner and Kate Chopin and other writers as well as poetry and fiction. He says he still finds inspiration in Chaucer’s country parson, who practices what he preaches, and like writer Booth Tarkington, he says he takes his work seriously but not himself.

For more information regarding this presentation, contact Chris Smith, Manager of Adult Programming for the library, at 504-889-8143 or wcsmith@jefferson.lib.la.us.