WARREN Lecturer to discuss 'Gone With the Wind' author

Although rarely studied in college courses, the classic novel still draws attention, the speaker says.
By LAURIE M. FISHER
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
Margaret Mitchell's novel "Gone with the Wind" is an autobiography, according to Elliot Engel, author and lecturer. "She took the most fascinating events of her life and put them in the Civil War era."
Engel will present "Scarlett Fever: The Greatness of Gone with the Wind" at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at W.D. Packard Music Hall in Warren. He is the third speaker in the current Trumbull Town Hall Lecture Series.
"I will show exactly how Margaret Mitchell made the book appealing," he said in a telephone interview. The lecture will discuss why the author wrote this type of novel as well as provide biographical information.
The literature expert said that although "Gone With the Wind" is rarely studied in colleges, it continues to draw attention some 65 years after it was first published. Many women who attend Town Hall-type lectures grew up with this novel, he explained.
"Talking about the book brings back an era when they first read it," he said.
Background: Engel earned a bachelor's degree at Indiana University and master's and doctorate degrees as a Woodrow Wilson Fellow at UCLA. He has published books in the United States and Britain, and his articles have appeared in Newsweek. He has lectured throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand.
Each year Engel gives more than 250 lectures on literature. Typically, he addresses several junior high school and high school assemblies a day, he said.
He said he particularly likes Town Hall-style lectures because "this audience doesn't have to be there or worry what's going to be included on the final exam," he said.
XA fashion show and luncheon at the Avalon Inn will follow the lecture. Tickets for the lecture are $25 and $11 for the luncheon. On April 18, Washington journalist Helen Thomas will be the final speaker in the series. For more information call (330) 373-1010.