“Huck, Jim, James, and Frederick Douglass” –

a new course offered this fall by Coastal Senior College

This fall, Coastal Senior College (CSC) introduces “Huck, Jim, James, and Frederick Douglass,” taught by Ann Nesslage, who has led several innovative literature classes for Senior College. Registration is now open for this and the thirteen other courses in the fall catalog.

Her class will read Mark Twain’s classic “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” which Nesslage describes as “rich, ironic, and often funny as well as painful.”  They’ll also read Percival Everett’s “James,” published in 2024, which gives a different voice to Jim, the runaway slave in the Huck Finn story. As a non-fiction account of a runaway slave, they’ll study “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,” written by Douglass.

The class will meet at Bremen Library from 1:30 to 3:30 on Fridays, Sept. 18 through Nov. 6.

For more information about this course and the others, to join Coastal Senior College, and to register for classes, visit coastalseniorcollege.org.

Ann Nesslage is a graduate of Vassar College and holds a master’s degree in British literature from Bryn Mawr College. She retired from Choate Rosemary Hall, where she taught different levels of literature and created electives in fantasy literature, satire, Early Irish and Welsh literature, and other topics.

CSC, which serves Lincoln and Knox Counties, currently offers classes in literature, history, writing, math, science, and human behavior. Eight classes meet in person, four on Zoom, and one is a hybrid class.

The organization is among a statewide network of 17 volunteer-run Senior Colleges that offer daytime classes and other educational activities primarily for people 50 and over. They provide an opportunity to learn in a congenial, informal atmosphere and to meet fellow learners. Members of one College may take courses in any of the others.