A Study Guide for Z. Z. Packer's "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere"

By Gale and Cengage

A Study Guide for Z. Z. Packer's "Drinking Coffee Elsewhere," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Short Stories for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Short Stories for Students for all of your research needs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cengage Learning - Gale
• Release date: Jul 27, 2016
• ISBN: 9781535822220

Book preview

12

Drinking Coffee Elsewhere

ZZ Packer

2000

Introduction

Drinking Coffee Elsewhere is a short story by ZZ Packer that draws heavily upon the author's own experiences as an African American female at Yale University. It is a reflection of Packer's unique vision of the broader African American experience and, like her other work, is hailed as representative of a new voice in the literature of the disenfranchised. It explores themes of race, gender, and sexual identity with frankness and heartbreaking clarity. Students should be cautioned that although early in the story the two main characters lewdly discuss oral sex, the story as a whole treats confusion surrounding sexuality with sensitivity and a shy sort of innocence. Despite the occasional vulgarity of the dialogue, the characters themselves never act in a vulgar manner, allowing Packer to delicately portray the stark contrast between what people say and how they actually feel. Published in the New Yorker's Debut Fiction section in 2000, it shone a national spotlight on Packer and established her as a legitimate literary force in contemporary American literature. The story can be found in Packer's 2003 debut short-story collection of the same name. Drinking Coffee Elsewhere is a beautifully crafted story of the search for identity in a sometimes confusing society.

Author Biography

Packer was born on January 12, 1973, in Chicago, Illinois. ZZ is a nickname from childhood; her given first name is Zuwena. Packer spent the majority of her childhood and adolescence in the South. She moved to Atlanta, Georgia, at the age of five. Her parents divorced, and shortly thereafter she moved to Louisville, Kentucky, at the age of twelve. Packer was initially interested in a career in engineering and thought that writing would be more of a hobby. However, in her senior year of high school, she received encouragement from a teacher for her short stories, and shortly after entering Yale University, she decided on a career in writing. She published her first story in Seventeen magazine at the age of nineteen. In 1994, Packer received a bachelor of arts degree from Yale University. She went on to pursue postgraduate education, earning a master of arts from Johns Hopkins University and a master of fine arts from the prestigious Iowa Writers' Workshop at the University of Iowa. Packer spent some time living in Japan, and she worked as a tutor and teacher and also wrote copy for an Internet