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 ones fellow students in the context of being made to think hard about some difficult questions. Sounds like perhaps that wasnt the case for you? N From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Pamela McCorduck Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2011 12:52 PM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Cc: [email protected] 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 litry thing (12 best books, or something of the sort) for our seminar series. I couldnt 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 <http://www.cusf.org/> Summer Classics 2011 Seminar Schedule Week I <http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/outreach/SF/SC/week1.shtml> July 11 - 15 Morning Lawrence Durrell | <http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/outreach/SF/SC/week1.shtml#durrell> The Alexandria Quartet Eva Brann and Patricia Greer Joseph Conrad | <http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/outreach/SF/SC/week1.shtml#conrad> The Secret Agent Michael Peters and Steven Isenberg Flannery O <http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/outreach/SF/SC/week1.shtml#oconnor> Connor | Wise Blood, The Enduring Chill, and Parkers Back Eric Salem and Cary Stickney Sigmund Freud | <http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/outreach/SF/SC/week1.shtml#freud> Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis Jan Arsenault and Linda Wiener Afternoon Nathaniel Hawthorne on Science, Technology, and Progress <http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/outreach/SF/SC/week1.shtml#hawthorne> Topi Heikkerö and Michael Wolfe Søren Kierkegaard | <http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/outreach/SF/SC/week1.shtml#soren> Fear and Trembling Keri Ames and David Starr Week II <http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/outreach/SF/SC/week2.shtml> July 18 - 22 Morning Thomas Mann | <http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/outreach/SF/SC/week2.shtml#mann> The Magic Mountain Eva Brann and Janet Dougherty The Founding Documents of the United States | <http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/outreach/SF/SC/week2.shtml#founding> The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Federalist Papers Victoria Mora and Michael Peters The Wisdom of Solomon <http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/outreach/SF/SC/week2.shtml#solomon> Patricia Greer and Michael Wolfe William Faulkner | <http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/outreach/SF/SC/week2.shtml#faulkner> Go Down, Moses Andy Kingston and Frank Pagano Afternoon Henry James | <http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/outreach/SF/SC/week2.shtml#james> The Golden Bowl Victoria Mora and Peter Pesic Vivaldi | <http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/outreach/SF/SC/week2.shtml#vivaldi> Griselda and Puccini | La Bohème William Fulton and Andy Kingston Week III <http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/outreach/SF/SC/week3.shtml> July 25 - 29 William Shakespeare | <http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/outreach/SF/SC/week3.shtml#shakespeare> The Merchant of Venice Judith Adam and Warren Winiarski Homer | <http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/outreach/SF/SC/week3.shtml#homer> The Odyssey Michael Golluber and Susan Stickney Herman Melville | <http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/outreach/SF/SC/week3.shtml#melville> Moby Dick Arcelia Rodriguez and Greg Schneider Plato | <http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/outreach/SF/SC/week3.shtml#plato> Phaedrus John Cornell and Topi Heikkerö Afternoon Charles Dickens | <http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/outreach/SF/SC/week3.shtml#dickens> David Copperfield Guillermo Bleichmar and Richard McCombs Plutarch | <http://www.stjohnscollege.edu/outreach/SF/SC/week3.shtml#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
