We welcome retired UT librarian and assistant professor Linda Behrend, who has published a book that promises to change the way we think about one of Knoxville’s liveliest eras. Of Time and Knoxville is the sometimes very personal memoir of sometime novelist Anne Armstrong (1872-1958), who moved from Michigan to Knoxville as a teenager in the mid-1880s, lived here for several years, and found the place fascinating. As an adult, she eloquently recalled the Knoxville of her youth. Over the years, we’ve encountered short and quotable fragments of her memoir, but suddenly here it is, in its entirety, constituting what probably the most personal and vivid description of Knoxville before the 20th century. Included are very personal and not always complimentary descriptions of legendary Knoxvillians, as well as previously elusive descriptions of food, theater, architecture, and neighborhoods, especially downtown and Fort Sanders, which she knew as West End. At Maple Hall, Linda will sit with our Jack Neely and discuss the novel, which we think will make a perfect Valentine’s date night.
Free program. Bar food and drinks are available for purchase.
