Reading of the short story Nemesis and the Candy Man by the J.C. Elkins O. Henry Literary Discussion Group at the O. Henry Museum.
The J.C. Elkins O. Henry Literary Discussion Group is back at the O. Henry Museum on Friday, August 7, for a reading of Nemesis and the Candy Man. It's part of their monthly series, which is dedicated to the short stories of William Sydney Porter—better known by his pen name, O. Henry.
The story itself is a classic O. Henry setup. It follows Walter Ives, who buys motto kisses from a candy man for his sweetheart, Honoria. Things shift when he becomes infatuated with a dancer, Mlle. Adele, and starts neglecting Honoria. She, in turn, charms the candy man, who lays his heart at her feet—only to receive a note from Walter saying he's reconciled with Honoria and they're to be married immediately. It's the kind of tidy, ironic twist the author built his reputation on.
The reading group is named after docent emeritus J.C. Elkins, and they meet once a month to work through Porter's short stories one by one. The museum itself focuses on Porter's Austin years, before the prison term that led him to adopt his pen name and write the stories most of us recognize, like The Gift of the Magi, The Ransom of Red Chief, and The Cop and the Anthem.
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It runs from 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM at the O. Henry Museum, 409 East 5th Street in Austin, and it's free to attend. One thing to keep in mind: if the museum gets too full, the session might move next door to the Susana Dickinson Museum, so just be ready for that possibility.
