10. Sir Robert Chiltern’s end of Summer Party – An Ideal Husband
An extravagant series of tableaus depicting the Victorian/Edwardian era, this
party offers all the essential Wildean elements: wealth, high-stake political
scandal, hints of desired infidelity, and indulgent drunkenness.
9. Pre Hunger Games Capitol festivities – The Hunger Games
Abundant delicacies to contrast scarcity and lack of basic amenities. Mmmm –
pointed statements about society’s dark ironies never tasted so good.
8. That Party Where Darcy Refuses to Dance with Elizabeth – Pride and
Prejudice
Silly, drunk Austenian women, and everyone courting everyone. And, well…the
beginning of the Darcy and Elizabeth saga! Come on!
7. Faculty Party – Pnin
The back cover describes it as “a faculty party to end all faculty parties,” and
indeed, it is. Chalk-full of story telling, impersonations, and drunken Russians,
this faculty party will fill discourse at PTA meetings subtext for weeks.
6. Family Dinner Party – Titus Andronicus
The very first occurrence of human-flesh-infused-pie festivities in literature. Bon
Appetit!
5. Double Date – Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf
Two couples. Brutal honesty. An explicit catalogue of the human condition.
Cheers.
4. Frat Party Invite – I am Charlotte Simmons
The party that won Tom Wolfe the British Lit Review’s “Bad Sex Award.” A
destination party to Washington DC – and a showcase of modern elite Ivy League
Greek lyf3. Sick, bro.
3. Angela Vicario and Bayardo San Roman’s Wedding – Chronicle of a
Death Foretold
So exquisite that Santiago Nasar spends the whole eve of his death estimating
how much the cost is. All the young bachelors wind up at a brothel where they
engage in sinful activity all night, just in time to greet the bishop in the morning
and find out that Angela Vicario isn’t as innocent she looks. The wedding
catalyzes a blood-thirsty quest to redeem family honor, and – everyone’s favorite
– fateful death. #Rage
2. Gatsby’s Anti-Prohibition Parties – The Great Gatsby
Abundant with the ripest of lemons and oranges, equally fruitful women, a fancy
Rolls Royce telling of eliteness, a live orchestra, an elaborate pool, and the finest
dining in the 20’s – all of Gatsby’s indulgent parties lead up to a tragic and high-
stake death sequence. Gatsby makes it clear that there is no rager quite like an
Anti-Prohibition party. There might as well be glow sticks.
1. Drum roll, please…
Bilbo Baggins’ Eleventy-First Birthday! – The Fellowship of the Ring
As it is, Hobbits “do it big.” But Bilgo Baggins, the frattiest of all Hobbits in their
eleventies, throws an eleventy-first birthday of the millennium. Complete with
fireworks, presents for each guest, a feast that is even too much for Hobbits to
gobble down, and dark magic beyond comprehension – this is not an event to
miss! People won’t stop talking about it for at least 20 years, after all…
*disclaimer: all teasing is done out of love, respect, and just the slightest envy of
the characters and their rivieting social lives.
Who else deserves an invitation to this guest list?
About Panayiota Kuvetakis
Panayiota Kuvetakis is a student at UC Berkeley studying comparative literature and theater. Her interests include: dark comedy, aliens, venn diagrams, campfire songs, and wishing she was mufasa (premortem).