The English Lounge held a literary reading event with professor Horace Jeffery Hodges (English Program Office) on Nov. 26. Professor Hodges presented a free literary reading with slide illustrations from his recently published novella, The Bottomless Bottle of Beer.
The literary reading was conducted in a format in which professor Hodges read the first chapter of the novella and received questions from students who attended the event. The novella is based on Goethe’s Faust and other various stories. The basic storyline is about a naive young man who sells his soul for a bottomless bottle of beer. However, the man misunderstands the meaning of the “bottomless bottle” of beer, and the misunderstanding leads him to sign a conbtract in blood with the devil. Through this novella, professor Hodges tries to say nothing is earned effortlessly.
“A bottomless bottle of beer may seem like a good thing because you buy one bottle and never run out of beer,” said professor Hodges. “But there is always a catch, there is always a trick. Nothing really good comes from very little effort.”
Professor Hodges states that there is no special source of inspiration: He starts writing, continues to write, and once the writing is finished, he had a story.
“I find that I have a story to tell, and as I am writing, ideas come,” professor Hodges said. “There is always some rewriting to do, of course.”
Another interesting aspect of this novella is that it has peculiar illustrations by Terrance Lindall, a well-known artist and illustrator. Lindall is an acquaintance of professor Hodges, and when he read the novella, he volunteered to draw illustrations for the book.
The audience also enjoyed the event.
“The book reading by professor Hodges was a lot of fun,” professor Lee Soo-kyung (English Program Office) said. “I have read the book but hearing it live by the author and seeing the illustrations simultaneously was a different experience.”