Dr. Natalie, professor emeritus, Hofstra University. The Community Club Of Garden City and Hempstead is pleased to announce that Dr. Natalie Naylor, professor emeritus Hofstra University, will be guest speaker at its monthly general program to be held on Wednesday, February 4, 2009 at 1:30 p.m. at the Garden City Casino. Dr. Naylor's lecture, entitled "Gatsby's West Egg and the slender riotous island in the 1920's, will focus on both the historical reality of Long Island as depicted in Fitzgerald's :"The Great Gatsby" as well as examine the mythology of history and memory existing in the novel.

F. Scott Fitzgerald began to write "The Great Gatsby" when he lived in Great Neck ("West Egg" in the novel). His description of what his narrator, Nick Carraway called "that slender riotous Island" is an enduring literary description of Long Island in the Roaring Twenties. In the book. Fitzgerald immortalized the Gold Coast mansions on the north shore, the old money in Sands Point (East Egg), and the Valley of Ashes in Corona. If you are a fan of F. Scott Fitzgerald, you won't want to miss this program. Refreshments will be served at the tea hour following Dr. Naylor's lecture and she will be available for questions and answers.

Dr. Naylor taught Long Island and social history for more than thirty years at Hosftra University, and was director of its Long Island Studies Institute from its founding in 1985 until she retired in 2000. Dr. Naylor edited or co-edited several institute publications most recently, "Journey's on Old Long Island," and has published many articles on Long Island. She has been editor of the Nassau County Historical Society Journal since 1995.

This program, which is free and open to the public, is made possible through the New York Council for the Humanities, a state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

To learn more about the Community Club, its variety of interesting and educational programs, trips and fine arts classes, and how you may become a member please call our office at 516 748-0488 between the hours of 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.