Pynchon is known for his expansive, over-the-top encyclopedic works, such as Gravity’s Rainbow, Mason & Dixon, and Against the Day. But his shorter novels, The Crying of Lot 49, Vineland,...
Upcoming Literature and Theater Seminars
This list is of upcoming seminars only. Since most seminars meet more than once in a term, if a class has already met at least once, it will no longer show up on this list.
Starting: Thursday, March 15, 2012
Starting: Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Gertrude Stein once said, “It is not what France gave you but what it did not take away from you that was important.” We will read and discuss fictional and autobiographical writings of American writers in Paris. We will consider...
Starting: Tuesday, February 28, 2012
In this interactive workshop exploring one of Shakespeare’s greatest plays, King Lear, participants will examine the work’s historical and literary setting and will experience it as a play by reading it aloud. Selected...
Starting: Thursday, March 1, 2012
The writers of the Beat Generation didn’t just blow through Chicago on their way to New York or San Francisco. In fact, much of the movement’s radical, outspoken, and spiritual edge was honed in Chicago. We will explore the Beat...
Starting: Saturday, March 17, 2012
Why does Tolstoy’s presentation of childhood have such a profound hold on the Russian imagination? How did it become the point of departure for other writers? We will immerse ourselves in the world of childhood recollections found in...
Starting: Saturday, March 3, 2012
The trauma of the First World War, combined with the influence of Freudian ideas and other cultural upheavals, dramatically shaped French writers, as well as other European literary voices. We will examine the work of three French authors that...
Starting: Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Middlemarch addresses the most fundamental human questions: what do we need in a relationship? Is great ambition unfulfilled worth more than modest goals achieved? How much of life do we control and how much is a product of chance? In...
Starting: Wednesday, February 22, 2012
We will explore personal and political dimensions of “the American century” as described by some of the nation’s best writers: James Baldwin, Joan Didion, Annie Dillard, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Joyce Carol Oates, Alice Walker, Tom...
Starting: Wednesday, February 22, 2012
We will read Julio Cortázar’s celebrated novel 62: A Model Kit with the aid of his short stories. Each class session will begin with a different story that will guide our discussion toward a unique set of questions as we explore...
Starting: Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Explore the highlights of medieval British history—including the Norman Conquest, the Anarchy, the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland, and the Conquest of Wales—through quality historical fiction. Novels by Morgan Llywelyn, Georgette Heyer, Sharon...
Starting: Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Through a combination of lecture and discussion we will examine the rich period of European theatre from the mid-twentieth century to the present. From the existentialism of No Exit and Endgame, to the innovations of ...
Starting: Wednesday, February 22, 2012
How does one approach James Joyce’s Ulysses? Reading this masterpiece is both like and unlike reading other novels. Through close reading and discussion of the text we will explore its major themes and concepts, navigate its calm...
Starting: Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Shakespeare’s histories deal with fascinating problems: the nature of kingship, violent personal and political conflict, the use and misuse of power. While raising these profound issues, Shakespeare enriches the plays with a gallery of...
Starting: Thursday, February 23, 2012
Willa Cather moved to Nebraska at age 9, hated it, and only grew to value the West once she relocated to a big city and began to write. We will survey her great novels, from My Ántonia to Death Comes for the Archbishop. Cather...