Greetings, all -- At the risk of weighing in too heavily on all of this (SJC graduate), allow me to second Pamela's endorsement of Eva Brann. She's worth the price of admission, even if you were only discussing the phone book.
Pamela's point about the Seminar and life's experiences is well put. I see the Summer Classics curriculum as a chance to relive/revisit some of those questions with a different set of people at a different time in my life. I suppose it's a bit self-indulgent, in that I often have a point of comparison from my undergraduate days, but I've always gotten something out of it - Claiborne - On Apr 19, 2011, at 15:24, "Nicholas Thompson" <nickthomp...@earthlink.net> wrote: > Pamela, > > > > On the other hand, who but a bunch of 70 year olds has the experience to > speculate on what (is?)(might have been?!) the good life. > > > > And then, when I had written the above, I got to wondering: I had always > assumed that a large a part of the wisdom of participating in such a summer > program is the wisdom gained from one’s fellow students in the context of > being made to think hard about some difficult questions. Sounds like perhaps > that wasn’t the case for you? > > > > > > > > N > > > > From: friam-boun...@redfish.com [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf > Of Pamela McCorduck > Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2011 12:52 PM > To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group > Cc: wedt...@redfish.com > Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Cult-cha > > > > Commentary on content and instructors, fwiw: > > > > Though I don't know all the books, or instructors, I've taken courses from > both Eva Brann and Patricia Greer, and both of them are superb--Brann is > legendary. I re-read the Alexandria Quartet a few years ago (it came out in > the late fifties) and it seemed to me to hold up very well, even though > Durrell wrote the last couple of volumes at lightning speed, desperate to get > it finished and published. My guess is that this course is already closed, > based on the fact that Brann is one of the instructors. Worth trying to get > into if it isn't. > > > > Brann is also co-teaching Mann's "Magic Mountain" later in the term. Another > book I re-read recently, and seminal to 20th century thought. Brann would be > a superb guide through it. > > > > Some of us in this group went through "Moby Dick" together last summer with > great pleasure; I know nothing about these instructors. > > > > I've re-read "David Copperfield" in the last decade, and was agog at how very > good Dickens is (I speak as writer as well as reader). Know nothing about the > instructors. > > > > Plutarch's "Lives" was not well-served by the course I took at St. John's > (not these instructors). In the first place, they insisted on the Dryden > translation. Dryden was a wonderful stylist and surely knew his Greek, but > (a) this meant the translation's English prose was slightly archaic, and (b) > since Dryden farmed out a lot of the translation to others, more than > slightly uneven. > > > > In the second place, they taught it as if they were teaching > undergraduates--a moment to ask what constitutes the good life. As a > 70-year-old fellow student said to me, if I don't know by now, Dryden and > Plutarch ain't gonna teach me. (He happens to be an example of a very good > life well-lived, so I understood his annoyance at this lost opportunity for > another approach.) > > > > > > On Apr 19, 2011, at 12:26 PM, Nicholas Thompson wrote: > > > > > Dear all, > > > > Last fall, some of you encouraged me to try and organize a lit’ry thing (12 > best books, or something of the sort) for our “seminar” series. I couldn’t > pull it off ,but, for the summer, St Johns is offering seminars that might > fill the bill. Please See, > http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/outreach/SF/SC/seminar_schedule.shtml > > > > Also, I will copy in the info below: > > > > Nick > > > > Nicholas S. Thompson > > Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology > > Clark University > > http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/ > > http://www.cusf.org > > > > Summer Classics 2011 > > Seminar Schedule > > Week I > July 11 - 15 > > Morning > > Lawrence Durrell | The Alexandria Quartet > Eva Brann and Patricia Greer > > Joseph Conrad | The Secret Agent > Michael Peters and Steven Isenberg > > Flannery O’Connor | Wise Blood, “The Enduring Chill,” and “Parker’s Back” > Eric Salem and Cary Stickney > > Sigmund Freud | Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis > Jan Arsenault and Linda Wiener > > Afternoon > > Nathaniel Hawthorne on Science, Technology, and Progress > Topi Heikkerö and Michael Wolfe > > Søren Kierkegaard | Fear and Trembling > Keri Ames and David Starr > > Week II > July 18 - 22 > > Morning > > Thomas Mann | The Magic Mountain > Eva Brann and Janet Dougherty > > The Founding Documents of the United States | The Declaration of > Independence, the Constitution, and the Federalist Papers > Victoria Mora and Michael Peters > > The Wisdom of Solomon > Patricia Greer and Michael Wolfe > > William Faulkner | Go Down, Moses > Andy Kingston and Frank Pagano > > Afternoon > > Henry James | The Golden Bowl > Victoria Mora and Peter Pesic > > Vivaldi | Griselda > and Puccini | La Bohème > William Fulton and Andy Kingston > > Week III > July 25 - 29 > > William Shakespeare | The Merchant of Venice > Judith Adam and Warren Winiarski > > Homer | The Odyssey > Michael Golluber and Susan Stickney > > Herman Melville | Moby Dick > Arcelia Rodriguez and Greg Schneider > > Plato | Phaedrus > John Cornell and Topi Heikkerö > > Afternoon > > Charles Dickens | David Copperfield > Guillermo Bleichmar and Richard McCombs > > Plutarch | Lives > Susan Stickney and Margaret Kirby > > > > > > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > > > > "There's nothing serious about a plan that claims to reduce the deficit by > spending a trillion dollars on tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires. > There's nothing courageous about asking for sacrifice from those who can > least afford it and don't have any clout in Capitol Hill." > > President Barack > Obama > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
