At times we may think that we know the truth about our desires, identity, or character—only to discover that we were blind and mistaken. Frequently, such self-knowledge requires a crisis or an intervention from something or someone outside us. Without that, we would live with a false conception of ourselves and our place in the world. Can we distinguish between our true identity and our false conceptions? How do we come to know ourselves? This summer, join Morningside as we explore these topics in the short stories of Leo Tolstoy and Flannery O’Connor.

Leo Tolstoy is acclaimed as the greatest novelist of all time, but his short stories are remarkable, detailed, and introspective. Flannery O’Connor is today remembered as one of the great American writers, especially for her short stories. We will use this edition of Tolstoy’s short stories, but feel free to use another.