“Free”: A Reading by Professor Philip Weinstein

View the recording of this event:

https://vimeo.com/1113388331

The Vineyard Haven Library is pleased to welcome Professor Philip Weinstein for reading from his forthcoming book, “Time’s Bounty: Rethinking Aging” to be released on November 11, 2025. This event will be held at 6:00 PM on Tuesday, August 26th at the Katharine Cornell Theatre, located at 51 Spring Street in Vineyard Haven (above Tisbury Town Hall). Free and open to the public. No registration required.

Professor Weinstein will read from the final chapter of “Time’s Bounty,” entitled “Free,” in which he reflects on a peculiar kind of freedom that arises for the elderly—one in which commonplace daily rituals have the potential to be remarkable, perhaps even blessed. The idea for “Time’s Bounty” grew out of Weinstein’s realization that much of his experience of aging differed provocatively from stereotypes about old age. “But interesting things are going on in this wintry season: it is a dramatic time of life!” insists Weinstein.

Philip Weinstein earned his PhD in English from Harvard University, staying on to teach at Harvard for the next 3 years. He then accepted a position at Swarthmore, where he remained for over 40 years, becoming Alexander Griswold Cummins Professor of English. He has written several books of literary criticism, many focused on Faulkner, including “Becoming Faulkner: The Art and Life of William Faulkner,” which won the Hugh Holman Award for the best book of literary scholarship or literary criticism in the field of southern literature published in 2010. In 2015, Weinstein retired from Swarthmore and moved to Martha’s Vineyard full-time. Since then, he’s offered several series of literary lectures for adult learners through the Vineyard Haven Library, Swarthmore Lifelong Learning, and the 92nd Street Y, New York.  

For more information, please contact the library at vhpl_programs@clamsnet.org or (508) 696-4211.