Your source of adult education in the humanities for the past 30 years.
Welcome to the Summer 2008 term of the Newberry Library Seminars Program! Choose from more than 30 courses in the humanities, ranging from one-day workshops to ten-week seminars. The term starts Tuesday, June 3, and individual seminars begin on a rotating basis thereafter.
Listen to classical or swing music; read the works of 20th century modernists, Ivan Turgenev, and Gabriel Garcia-Marquez; explore your theater interest with classes on Chicago playwrights, the "closet play," and the Theatre of the Absurd. Whether you want to craft a story, sonnet, or play, or just want to read a classic, the Newberry Library Seminars Program is a place for readers, writers, thinkers, and all those in-between.
Please click on the subject links below, or simply scroll down to view all the seminars offered this term.
Arts and Music
Philosophy and Religion
History and Genealogy
Literature and Theater
Writing Workshops
# Seeing the City: Envisioning the Metropolis from Ancient Times to the Present
Tuesdays, 6 - 7:30pm
June 3 - August 5
10 sessions, $180
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Throughout history, cities around the world have captured the imagination of visual artists, prompting a dazzling array of urban images. Who commissioned, created, and consumed these images? What purposes have they served? How have these representations influenced metropolitan experience of individuals and groups? Surveying a variety of cities, from Ancient Rome and Renaissance-era Venice to postmodern metropolises such as Las Vegas and Dubai, we will explore the history of urban representations through paintings, photographs, prints, drawings, maps and plans, paying special attention to examples in the Newberry's collections.
Diane Dillon is Assistant Director of Research and Education at the Newberry Library. She holds a Ph.D. in the history of art from Yale University.
*# The Big Bands of the Swing Era
Thursdays, 2 - 4 pm
June 5 - July 31 (class will not meet July 3)
8 sessions, $160
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For a brief period between the mid-1930s and the end of World War II, American popular music was dominated by the so-called big bands. They were ensembles of about 10-15 brass, wind, percussion players, and vocalists that played dance music, swing, and jazz. We will hear recordings made by many of the renowned bands, and consider the societal and musical contexts in which they thrived and suddenly fell from popularity.
Guy A. Marco (Ph.D., humanities/music, University of Chicago) has taught in eleven universities and given Newberry seminars, including several on the swing era, since 1996. He is a collector of recordings from the big band era, and is author of Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound in the United States (1993).
* Chamber Music 101: An Introduction in Symphonic Context
Tuesdays, 2 - 4 pm
June 10 - July 15
6 sessions, $140
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This seminar will expand the ears of chamber music devotees and serve as a primer for an encounter of the most intimate kind representing the eighteenth and nineteenth century symphonic tradition. By exploring works in various instrumental combinations (quartets, trios, quintets, etc.) from the Classic and Romantic periods - Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Brahms and Dvorak - you will experience some of the richest repertoire in classical music.
Stephanie Ettelson, well known for her pre-concert lectures and classes in all areas of classical music over three decades, brings a unique perspective to "the Art of Listening" as both an orchestral and chamber music violinist. She is a former music critic and arts writer who holds a B.A. in history and English from the University of Michigan.
* Masterpieces: Piano Concerti of the Romantic Age
Wednesdays, 10 am - Noon
June 11 - July 9
5 sessions, $120
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Explore the piano concerti born of the romantic age. Develop the skill of "focused listening" through direction and application of simple analysis. Move from the sensuous level of listening to music to the perceptual and ultimately to the creative. Experience the joy and richness of a deeper understanding of these masterpieces. Reading music is not essential.
Renée Lubell holds an M.S. in music education, taught piano for many years, and is an active member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Women's Association.
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* indicates the class is offered during the day on a weekday
# indicates CPDU credit available for Illinois teachers seeking recertification
An Introduction to Plato's Socrates
Thursdays, 6 - 7:30 pm
June 5 - July 24 (class will not meet July 3)
7 sessions, $150
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This discussion-based course looks at four of Plato's early dialogues featuring the figure of Socrates: the Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, and Phaedo. We will focus on Socrates as both a literary character and as a starting point for our own philosophical reflections. We will read these texts with two main goals: 1) To understand the core aspects of Socrates' conception of philosophy and his distinctive method of philosophic inquiry, and 2) To engage with Socrates' substantive views on issues of enduring interest, such as religion and morality, and the authority of the state.
Micah Lott is a graduate student in philosophy at the University of Chicago. His interests in philosophy include ethics, ancient philosophy, and the philosophy of religion.
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* indicates the class is offered during the day on a weekday
# indicates CPDU credit available for Illinois teachers seeking recertification
# The Republic in Crisis: France from 1875 to the Present
Saturdays, 10 am - Noon
June 7 - August 2 (class will not meet July 5)
8 sessions, $160
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In considering the history of France from 1875 to the present, this course will focus on periods of crisis that severely tested the political institutions and social solidarity of the French Republic. These will include the Dreyfus case, the First World War, the interwar malaise, the Second World War and the Vichy regime, the Algerian war for independence, May 1968, and current unrest among immigrant communities.
Frank A. Biletz received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Chicago, with a primary specialization in British and Irish history and a secondary field in modern German history. He is currently Lecturer in History at Loyola University Chicago, and has taught Newberry seminars on various topics in European history since 1994.
Mesoamerican Painted Manuscripts
Saturdays, 10 am - Noon
June 14 - July 26 (class will not meet July 5)
6 sessions, $140
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Before the Spaniards "discovered" Mesoamerica (Belize, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador), the people who lived there independently developed complex societies. Throughout this "Culture Area," ethnic groups such as the Maya, Aztec, and Mixtec, shared many practices, including the writing of books, or codices, which continued into the colonial era. This seminar will introduce students to these painted manuscripts from prehistoric and colonial Mesoamerica.
Ronald Faulseit is a Mesoamerican archaeologist and holds an M.A. in anthropology from Tulane University. He is currently conducting research for his Ph.D. dissertation.
Polish and Polish American Genealogy: Using American and European Sources
Saturdays, 1 - 3 pm
June 14 - June 21
2 sessions, $85
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Benefiting anyone interested in researching their Polish ancestors, this course will outline resources and materials available for Polish and Polish American genealogical research. We will address how to find and use microfilmed records, military records, languages, maps, jubilee books, and Polish research websites, in addition to several helpful institutions in North America and Europe. We will cover basic resources as well as less familiar auxiliary source material. Genealogists of all levels welcome.
Paul S. Valasek is co-founder of the PolishRoots website, past-President of Polish Genealogical Society of America, and past Board member of the Polish Museum of America, Chicago.
Digging Up the Dead: The Cemetery for the Genealogist
Saturday, 10 am - Noon
June 28
One session, $35
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Cemeteries generate many different kinds of records for genealogists. We can discover basic biographical information about the dead as well as more obscure descriptions of legal rights concerning burial, burial locations and relocations, and changes in cemetery populations. Explore the questions a genealogist should ask when visiting cemeteries.
Helen A. Sclair, also known as the "cemetery lady," has lectured and published on the history of Chicago's cemeteries.
60 Minutes to Better Genealogy
Saturdays, 9:30 am - 3:30 pm
July 12 - July 19
8 one-hour sessions, $15 per session; $100 for both days; $50 for July 12 or July 19.
For Associates of the Newberry and seniors, $12 per session; $90 for both days; $45 for July 12 or July 19.
Sometimes 60 minutes of instruction on a focused topic can help you push through a particular question or task in your research project. This seminar series is designed with genealogy researchers in mind. You can take all nine sessions, or simply choose those that most appeal to you.
ALL 8 SESSIONS -- savings of $20
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(To register for individual sessions or individual days click on the Register Online link)
Saturday, July 12
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9:30 - 10:30 am A Tutorial of Family Tree Maker 2008
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11 am - Noon Examining Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Mills
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1 - 2 pm Timelines: A Must for Every Genealogist
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2:30 - 3:30 pm Non-Population Census Schedules
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Saturday, July 19
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9:30 - 10:30 am An In-Depth Exploration of Genealogical Proof Standards, Summaries, and Arguments
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11 am - Noon An Interactive Review of Finding Anyone Anywhere Anywhen by Noel M. Elliot
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1 - 2 pm The Latest Internet Techniques for Genealogists
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2:30 - 3:30 pm Adoption Searches
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Marsha Peterson-Maass is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists and has taught numerous genealogy seminars at the Newberry. Matt Rutherford, M.L.S., is a reference librarian in Local and Family History at the Newberry Library and has worked on his own family history for over fifteen years.
Pullman Car Works: The Factory
Saturday, 1 - 4 pm
July 19
One session, $60
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This seminar will look at the factory on Chicago's South Side where thousands of sleeping cars were built from 1881 to 1981. The layout, description, and changes of the major building will be examined. These changes occurred during three distinct construction periods: wood, steel, and lightweight cars. We will look briefly at the corporate structure of other Pullman plants and maintenance facilities around the country and the short European Pullman period.
Theodore Shrady worked for the New York Central System, and is the author and co-author of four railroad books and numerous passenger train articles. He currently researches for other railroad authors and is re-indexing a portion of the Newberry Library's Pullman Archive Collection.
Mexican Genealogy
Saturdays, 10 am - Noon in English
Saturdays, 1 - 3 pm en español
August 9 - August 16
$35 per session; $60 for both sessions
$35 por session; $60 por dos sesiones
Sign up for a single course or for both Mexican genealogy courses, offered in both English and Spanish.
Both sessions in English
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Dos sesiones en español
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Introduction to Mexican Genealogy Sources
Saturday, August 9
10 am - Noon
One session, $35
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Designed for beginning genealogists, this seminar offers an introduction to the research methods and resources used in Mexican genealogical research. Participants will have an opportunity to work directly with different library materials from Newberry collections as an introduction to genealogical information sources like birth, marriage, death and census records as well as maps, passenger ship lists, and other resources reaching back to Mexico's viceregal period. Come and learn how the Newberry works and how its resources can help you trace your family history.
Introducción a la Genealogía Mexicana
Sabado 9 de Agosto
1 - 3 pm
$35 por una clase
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Este curso esta diseñado para aquellas personas que son nuevas a la genealogía. El seminario ofrece una introducción a los métodos y fuentes utilizados en la investigación de genealogía mexicana. Los participantes tendrán la oportunidad de trabajar directamente con distintos materiales de los fondos de la Biblioteca Newberry como base de la introducción a las fuentes de información genealógica como son los certificados de nacimiento, matrimonio, defunción y censo. También veremos mapas, listas de pasajeros a México de los siglos XVI y XVII y otros fuentes que remontan a la época virreinal. Venga y aprenda como funciona la Biblioteca Newberry y como sus colecciones pueden ayudarle a trazar la historia de su familia.
Working with Mexican Genealogical Records
Saturday, August 16
10 am - Noon
One session, $35
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Working with primary source materials such as birth, marriage, death and census records is an essential part of family history research. This seminar discusses the different types of original records that are used for Mexican family history research, how to locate them, and the problems involved in their use. Participants will be introduced to the strategies involved in extracting genealogical information from original sources by looking carefully at real examples of Mexican records. Get a glimpse of the various primary source materials that are available within the Library's own collections and learn how to request copies of Mexican parish records at the Newberry.
Documentos Genealógicos Mexicanos
Sabado 16 de Agosto
1 - 3 pm
$35 por una clase
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Las fuentes documentales mexicana como las actas de nacimiento, matrimonio, defunción y los registros del censo mexicano conforman una parte fundamental en la investigación de genealogía mexicana. Este seminario trata con los diferentes tipos de documentos originales que se utilizan para este tipo de investigación, explica donde localizarlos y habla sobre las dificultades que pueden nos podemos encontrar al utilizarlos. Utilizaremos ejemplos de documentos reales para presentar las diferentes estrategias aplicadas a la interpretación de la informacion que contienen. Le invitamos a echar un vistazo a los materiales disponibles dentro de las colecciones de la Biblioteca y a aprender como puede solicitar copias de registros parroquiales mexicanos sin tener que salir de Chicago.
Gabriel Angulo holds an M.L.I.S. from the University of Wisconsin and has worked extensively with the Newberry's Mexican genealogy resources.
Gabriel Angulo es licenciado en archivística por la Universidad de Wisconsin-Madison y a trabajado extensivamente con la fuentes genealógicas de la Biblioteca Newberry.
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* indicates the class is offered during the day on a weekday
# indicates CPDU credit available for Illinois teachers seeking recertification
Beach Reading for Victorians: Sensation Novels by Wilkie Collins and Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Tuesdays, 5:45 - 7:45 pm
June 3 - July 8
6 sessions, $140
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After a long day of empire making, Victorians just wanted to have fun. This seminar explores one of their guilty pleasures: "the sensation novel," works of suspense, scandal, and sex that inherited gothic conventions and influenced detective fiction. Reading novels by Braddon and Collins (the genre's best-known practitioners), we will discuss how these authors blend explorations of vital social topics (including gender, imperialism, class, and religion) with thrills and chills.
Jennifer Sampson holds a Ph.D. in English from the University of Chicago and likes to pretend sensation novels are still shocking.
# The Modernist War Zone
Tuesdays, 6 - 7:30 pm
June 3 - July 29
9 sessions, $170
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Modernism is often considered one of the most innovative periods of literary production. In this course we will ask to what degree modernism is indebted to the wars and historical violence of the early twentieth century. Our discussions will take us to three kinds of war zones: the colony, the front, and the war metropolis. Writers include T.S. Eliot, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Christopher Isherwood, Elizabeth Bowen, and Louis MacNeice.
Thomas Davis is completing his Ph.D. in English at the University of Notre Dame and will join The Ohio State University as an Assistant Professor of English in October 2008.
Private Dramas: The Politics and Power of Closet Plays
Tuesdays, 5:45 - 7:45 pm
June 3 - July 8
6 sessions, $140
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Closet dramas were intended to be read rather than performed, raising questions about private and public art. Participants will discuss the individual plays as well as history and questions of performance, politics, gender, and dialogue that arise from these texts. Authors include: John Milton, Elizabeth Cary, Margaret Cavendish, Percy Shelley, Robert Browning, and Virginia Woolf. Please read Milton's "Samson Agonistes" for the first class.
Maren Robinson is a freelance dramaturg with an M.A. in humanities from the University of Chicago.
Chicago Playwrights and Their Plays
Wednesdays, 6 - 7:30 pm
June 4 - July 23
8 sessions, $160
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Each week a different Chicago-based playwright will discuss one of their plays with the class. Ranging from established plays to scripts still in the development process, this seminar will give participants an intimate glimpse into the creative process and a unique opportunity to engage in an in-depth dialogue with the playwright. Such playwrights as Margaret Lewis, David Barr, Alice Austen, and Jonathan Abarbanel will participate.
Todd Bauer holds an M.A. in liberal studies from Northwestern University, is a freelance writer, and an instructor with Visible Theatre Company in New York.
* T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets
Wednesdays, 2 - 4 pm
June 4 - June 25
4 sessions, $100
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How do you read a modern poem? Reading the Four Quartets asks us to wrestle with that question. Written at the end of his career and after a religious conversion, Four Quartets (like Eliot's earlier, less reconciled epic, The Waste Land) challenges us to read without the aid of the traditional unities of time, place, and narrator. Eliot's musicality, imagery, and allusions guide us through the poem, as we become adept at reading the modern idiom. We will explore his themes of time, pattern, movement, and reconciliation, referencing the influence of religion (both Eastern and Western) and science on his vision. To prepare for the first class, please begin to read the first quartet, Burnt Norton. Optionally, you may read the essay "The Life of the Poet" in the Cambridge Companion.
Joyce Goldenstern is a lecturer in the English department at Loyola University Chicago.
Theatre of the Absurd
Thursdays, 5:45 - 7:45 pm
June 5 - July 31 (class will not meet July 3)
8 sessions, $160
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Since critic Martin Esslin coined the term "Theatre of the Absurd" in 1962, it has been used to describe everything from the antics of Monty Python to the double-speak of Eastern Bloc bureaucracies. Starting with the origins of the Absurd in the anti-art performances of the Dadaists, the films of the Marx Brothers, and the philosophy of Albert Camus, this course ultimately focuses on the flowering of absurdity in the works of the great playwrights of the 1950s and '60s, including Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, and Tom Stoppard.
Scott Proudfit, a frequent lecturer at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, is finishing a Ph.D. in English at Northwestern University.
The Harlem Renaissance
Thursdays, 5:45 - 7:45 pm
June 5 - July 31 (class will not meet July 3)
8 sessions, $160
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From 1919 to 1929, Langston Hughes noted, "Harlem was in vogue." Black painters and sculptors joined writers and musicians in an artistic outpouring that established Harlem as the international capital of African American culture. We will study the evolution of the Harlem Renaissance through the music of Duke Ellington and Ethel Waters, the art of painter Archibald Motley and sculptor Augusta Savage, and the literary works of Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, and Jean Toomer, among others.
Muriel Cohen holds an M.A. in music history and modern art history, theory, and criticism. She currently teaches courses in the visual arts at Roosevelt University.
# A Fire in the Mind: Latin American Literature of the Sixties and After
Saturdays, 10 am - Noon
June 7 - August 2 (class will not meet July 5)
8 sessions, $160
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During the 1960s the world finally took notice of Latin America's literary production. The sudden acclaim these writers received was sometimes referred to as "el boom," with the subsequent coinage of the term "magical realism." We will read and discuss relevant examples, from authors such as Garcia Marquez and Julio Cortazar, that were produced in the 1960s as well as look at the 1990s, a period some call the "post-boom."
Beatriz Badikian-Gartler holds a Ph.D. in English from University of Illinois at Chicago and has taught literature and writing for over twenty years in the Chicago area.
Reading Ivan Turgenev
Saturdays, 10 am - Noon
June 7 - July 26 (class will not meet June 21 or July 5)
6 sessions, $140
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The purpose of the seminar is to help participants to understand and enjoy a variety of Ivan Turgenev's work: his best novels Fathers and Sons and A Nest of Gentry, novellas First Love and Spring Torrents, short stories, and non-fiction. We will focus on close textual analysis of Turgenev's work, supplemented by biographical, historical, and critical information introduced by the leader at each meeting. Several episodes will be shown from the movies A Nest of Gentry and Torrents of Spring.
Julia Kriventsova Denne studied literature at St. Petersburg University, Russia, and currently leads several groups on Russian literature, including the Classical Novel Study for the Arlington Heights Memorial Library.
The Latin Roots of the Romance Language Family Tree
Saturdays, 1 - 3 pm
June 7 - August 2 (class will not meet July 5)
8 sessions, $160
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Have you ever wondered why Italian, Spanish, French, or another Romance language is what it is? This course on the structure of Latin will introduce you to the fascinating questions of how all the languages of the Romance group basically work and of how modern ones arose from ancient Italic origins. Intended for students with no prior knowledge of Latin but with speaking knowledge or two semesters' study of a Romance language.
Susan Pezzino, a former United States Fulbright Scholar, holds an M.A. in applied linguistics and works as a professional language teacher and multimedia curriculum designer in Chicago.
# Crime and the Criminal in American Fiction
Wednesdays, 6 - 7:30 pm
June 11 - July 16
6 sessions, $140
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The figure of the criminal haunts American culture, but where does the criminal come from? Are criminals born or made? What inborn qualities create a criminal, and what outside qualities make one? In this course, we will discuss depictions of crime and criminals, law and punishment, in classic American literature and classic American crime fiction as well, to examine what American criminals can tell us about America.
Bill Savage earned his Ph.D. at Northwestern, where he is a Senior Lecturer in the English Department, and has led seminars at the Newberry since 1992.
Book Futures: Past and Present
Wednesdays, 5:45 - 7:45 pm
June 18 - July 23
6 sessions, $140
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From incunabula to electronic literature, the Newberry's rich collections will provide the background for an exploration of the history and future of the book. What can an understanding of early printed books and the literary avant-garde tell us about the book's future? By comparing the transition from manuscript to print with the current shift from print to digital texts, participants will gain insight into the varied history and an uncertain future of the book.
John Vincler studied book history at the University of London and the British Library, and is currently an instructor at Oakton Community College.
Hypnerotomachia Poliphili
Thursdays, 5:45 - 7:45 pm
June 19 - July 31 (class will not meet July 3)
6 sessions, $140
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Many scholars consider the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili the most beautiful book ever printed. Published in 1499 by Aldus Manutius in Venice, it was the subject of a recent, pseudo-historical bestseller, The Rule of Four. In fact, the original is still fascinating, especially for its 171 remarkable woodcuts. This seminar will focus on some of the numerous mysteries surrounding this work, from the controversy about its author, Francesco Colonna, to the identity of the talented engraver of the woodcuts.
Stefano Questioli, former researcher at the Istituto Nazionale di Archeologia e Storia dell'Arte in Rome, is currently an artistic consultant at the Italian Cultural Institute in Chicago.
Proust on Reading (and on Reading Proust)
Saturday, 9:30 am - 1:30 pm
July 12
One session, $65
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"Reading," the narrator of In Search of Lost Time observes, "teaches us to take a more exalted view of the value of life, which we didn't know how to appreciate and of whose magnitude we've only become aware through the book." This seminar explores Marcel Proust's insight into the experience of reading books, including his own. No prior familiarity with Proust is required. Following the seminar, participants are invited to gather for a prix fixe lunch in celebration of Proust's one hundred and thirty-seventh birthday at Bistrot Zinc. Seminar materials and a traditional petit dejeuner are included in tuition; lunch is not.
Joel Rich teaches an ongoing series on Proust's writings at the Newberry and created and maintains the web site, proustian.com. This is his fifth annual Proust's Birthday Seminar.
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* indicates the class is offered during the day on a weekday
# indicates CPDU credit available for Illinois teachers seeking recertification
The Write Place: A Facilitated Children's Book Writers Group
Wednesdays, 5:45 - 7:45 pm
June 4 - July 9
6 sessions, $140
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Writers will have the opportunity to share their stories in a supportive, focused, and enlightening environment. Facilitated discussions of participants' manuscripts will highlight the writing process, story components, elements of narrative, craft, revision and a story's marketability within today's children's book publishing world. Writers of all levels will be offered a variety of writing exercises, suggested readings, and current marketing information.
Esther Hershenhorn authors picture books and middle grade fiction, coaches children's book writers, and serves on the Board of Directors of The Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.
Writing Poetry: A New Way of Seeing
Tuesdays, 5:45 - 7:45 pm
June 10 - July 15
6 sessions, $140
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In this poetry writing workshop, we will explore new ways of seeing and writing about what we see. Each week, we will discuss a specific concept or idea, and write new poems based on writing exercises. In a supportive, encouraging atmosphere, we will discuss and share our work. The exercises will include "The Visual and the Poetic," "Collaboration," and "Mapping Our Way," where we will write about historic maps from the Newberry Library's collection.
Kate Ingold is a 2007 Poetry Society of America National Chapbook Fellow and a visual artist.
# Saturday Sonnet: A One-Day Workshop on Reading and Writing Sonnets
Saturday, 10 am - 4 pm
June 14
One session, $85
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The sonnet has not only endured for eight centuries, it has prospered. Virtually every great poet in the English language, from William Shakespeare to John Ashbery, has written at least one. This one-day workshop, for readers, writers, and would-be writers of sonnets, will show you how the form evolved and how it works at the most obvious and subtle levels. We will read and discuss some of the best-known sonnets-as well as some you may never have heard of. Most important, you will write a sonnet yourself and have the chance to share it with the class.
Brooke Bergan holds a Ph.D. in English with a specialty in poetry and has taught creative writing for almost twenty years. She has published three books of poetry, as well as fiction, translations, essays, and poetry, including sonnets, in numerous journals.
Food Writing 101 and Beyond
Saturdays, 12:30 - 4:30 pm
June 14 - June 21
2 sessions, $110 (includes $10 materials fee)
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"Friday I tasted life. It was a vast morsel," Emily Dickinson said. Enter the fascinating world of food writing and learn how to explore the life of food, culture, and the human condition with lectures, sensory exercises, and the chance to do a Chicago restaurant review. This seminar is for anyone with an interest in food writing, from those who want to publish professional reviews to those who aim to write for themselves or friends in a journal or blog. A $10 fee is included to cover the cost of small food samples we will use for in-class writing exercises to explore the language of taste, texture, sight, sound, and smell.
Ethel Hammer, Ph.D., is a nationally published food writer who specializes in celebrity chef interviews, restaurant reviews, and social analysis of the food world. She is also a published cartoonist.
Finding Your Voice, Telling Your Stories
Now with two sections to choose from!
Saturday, 10 am - 4 pm
June 14 (section 1)
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Or,
July 19 (section 2)
One session, $85
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This workshop is designed for writers, journal writers, and family historians who want to record their life stories-those significant tales of childhood, transition, adventure, loss, and triumph. We will use creative writing exercises to retrieve and record the important people, places, and events in our lives. We will also talk about how in telling our stories we come to better understand the meaning they have for us. Open to all writers at all levels, from those who want to keep a more interesting personal journal to people who would like to publish their work.
Carol LaChapelle, M.A., is a writer and writing consultant who specializes in helping people write their personal stories, whether as family histories or for publication. She is the author of the recently published book, Finding Your Voice, Telling Your Stories.
New Techniques for Keeping a Writer's Journal
Saturdays, 12:30 - 4:30 pm
June 21 - June 28
2 sessions, $100
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Learn about new types of journal entries and observations that can inspire essays and works of fiction. Writing exercises will give participants an opportunity to practice techniques for extending and deepening their initial ideas and entries and maximizing their potential for finished narrative forms. Please bring a personal photograph to the workshop. It may depict a scene, a person, a group, or whatever engaged your attention.
Enid Powell has led numerous writing workshops in Chicago over the past twenty years and has published fiction, creative-non-fiction, personal essays, and poetry. She holds an M.A. in English with a creative writing specialty from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Activate Your Writing Ambitions
Saturday, 1 - 4 pm
July 12
One session, $60
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Learning to be a writer is about owning the title writer, making space in your life for creativity, giving yourself permission to activate your creative energy, and harnessing your creative imagination. This one-day workshop, using writing exercises to help participants transition from dreaming to doing, will empower people who would like to write but don't know how to begin. This workshop includes inspiration and ideas appropriate for writers in all genres.
Lisa Rosenthal is a resident playwright at Chicago Dramatists and affiliated artist at American Theater Company. She was an editor at Chicago Review Press for more than 11 years, and is author of A Dog's Best Friend and editor of The Writing Group Book.
The Instant Play Seminar
Saturday, 10 am - 3 pm
July 12 and 26
2 session, $100
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In just two days, learn the fundamentals of dramatic writing, experience fun, hands-on writing and editing activities and theatre games, and write a complete short play which will be performed by professional actors. A great introduction to theater, a way to jumpstart your creativity, or just a fun way to spend a couple of days. Appropriate for students of all levels of writing experience.
Margaret Lewis is the award-winning playwright of Burying the Bones and Fellow Travellers.
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Registration Information
* indicates the class is offered during the day on a weekday
# indicates CPDU credit available for Illinois teachers seeking recertification