Cost and Registration Information

Early Registration Price (August 7 at 10 am – August 31 at 4 pm): $240
Regular Registration Price (August 31 at 4 pm – first day of class): $264

Members, seniors, and students get a 10% discount.

This seminar is full. Please call (312) 255-3700 to be added to the wait list.

Mark your Calendar!

The Newberry Bookstore will re-open on August 14, and you will once again be able to find most of your assigned books for sale there.

Seminar Description

The experience of war has inspired artists across human history to record its pains and glories and puzzle out its meaning. As we approach November 11, the 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended World War I, we will read masterpieces by people who lived through that war, as well as two superb, modern novels – Exit West, by Mohsin Hamid, and The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen – that probe struggles closer to our own time. In particular, we will ask whether the ideas that propel these works are universal to the human experience or particular to given conflicts.

Seven sessions. E - $240, L - $264

Susanne Dumbleton earned her PhD in medieval literature at the University at Albany (SUNY). She is a Professor and Dean Emeritus at DePaul University.

Materials List

Required:

• Vera Brittain, Testament of Youth, Penguin Books, 2005. ISBN: 978-0143039235
• Mohsin Hamid, Exit West, Rivera Books, 2018. ISBN: 978-0-5253-506-5
• Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Sympathizer, Grove Press, 2015. ISBN: 978-0-8021-2494-4
• Jon Silken, Penguin Book of First World War Poetry, First Edition, Penguin, 2007. ISBN: 978-0141181905

First Reading:

• For the first class, please read the following poems from the Penguin Book of First World War Poetry: "The Soldier," by Rupert Brooke; "Into Battle," by Julian Grenfell; and "Rendezvous" by Alan Seeger.

This class is part of the Newberry’s Adult Education Seminars Program. Learn more about our registration procedures.