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Institute for Retired Professionals, New School University,
New York
FROM INNOCENCE TO EXPERIENCE, AN ONGOING DISCOVERY (0327)
10:00 Limited to 20
Coordinators: Harding Lemay, Gloria Plesent
Novelists are products of their culture and the historical era in which
they live. The writer's observing eye creates the setting, and his visionary
imagination illuminates the hero's journey on a perilous but necessary
search for self-awareness. As we explore the ongoing conflict between
self and society in five novels, we gain insight into our own mutable
and chaotic world. Volunteers present reports on authors' lives. Reading
averages 100 pages per week.
Texts: Trollope, Anthony, Orley Farm (Oxford, 2001, ISBN: 0-1928-38563,
$11.95); West, Rebecca, The Judge (Virago Modern Classics, 1980, ISBN:
0-8606-8136X, $11.98); Forster, E.M., Where Angels Fear to Tread (Kessinger
Publishing, 2004, ISBN: 1-4191-93775, $20.95); Wharton, Edith, Summer
(Bantam Classics, 1993, ISBN: 0-5532-14225, $4.95); Colette, Cheri and
The Last of Cheri (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2001, ISBN: 0-37452-8012,
$15.00).
Harding (Pete) Lemay has written 12 produced plays, two published memoirs,
and thousands of daytime television drama scripts. He has taught literature,
drama, and television serial writing at New York University, Hunter
College, and The New School. Gloria Plesent has a masters degree in
comparative literature from Columbia University. She believes literature
helps us keep the long view and reminds us what's really at stake in
life.
THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN (0328)
10:00 Limited to 25
Coordinator: Joann Lassen
Haydn was an enlightenment composer who began his career much like today's
subway musicians do; he was self-taught and self-employed. He lived,
however, to be among the most beloved and successful professionals of
his age. For people interested in exploring chamber music, an acquaintance
with Haydn is a must. We address what life was like for him and his
peers, and how he came to be the Father of the String Quartet. In addition
to the historical and biographical perspective, we focus attention in
class on critical listening to selected portions of this extraordinary
body of work.
Text: Geiringer, Karl, Haydn: A Creative Life in Music (University of
California Press, 1983, ISBN: 0-5200-43170, $24.96).
Joann Lassen has a long-standing fascination with serious music.
LITERATURE AND MEDICINE: SHORT STORIES BY DOCTOR WRITERS (0329)
10:00 Limited to 22
Coordinators: Frederic L. Gannon, Bernard Pasternack, Joan Sobel
Why do doctors write? Medicine and literature may seem to exist in distinct
realms, but they have much to offer each other: new worlds of thought,
emotion, and experience, and new ways of examining universal concerns
of health, illness, and healing. When the doctor in a story is examined
as the subject, what insights do we gain about medicine, about the type
of person who becomes a doctor, about ourselves? We read short stories
by doctor writers Anton Chekhov, William Carlos Williams, and Richard
Selzer that may help answer these questions. Discussion is supplemented
with brief reports on topics in literature and medicine. Readings average
about 40-50 pages a week.
Texts: Coulehan, Jack, ed., Chekhov's Doctors: A Collection of Chekhov's
Medical Tales (Kent State University Press, 2003, ISBN: 0-87338-780,
$18.00); Williams, William Carlos, The Doctor Stories (New Directions,
1984, ISBN: 0-8112-0926-1, $11.95); Selzer, Richard, The Doctor Stories
(Picador, 1999, ISBN: 0-312-20405-5, $15.00).
Frederic L. Gannon, Bernard Pasternack, and Joan Sobel are all "doctors,"
but only two of them are physicians. Joan and Ted are psychiatrists
and Bernie is a practitioner of the "numerate sciences" in
medicine. All share a common interest in literature and medicine and
why physicians write.
MASTERS OF MODERN PHOTOGRAPHY (0330)
10:00 Limited to 35
Coordinators: Victor Goldin, Charles Morse
"Photography is a tool for dealing with things everybody knows
but isn't attending to" (Emmet Gowin). Why are photographs effective?
Is photography art? These and related questions are explored, viewing
the works of 11 masters of photography: Berenice Abbott, Ansel Adams,
Eugène Atget, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Walker Evans, Man Ray, August
Sander, Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand, Weegee, and Edward Weston. We
also survey the field of photojournalism, particularly LIFE magazine.
Our goal is to determine how these photographers have influenced our
ways of looking at our world. If we are our memories, how has photography
shaped our sense of self? We seek connections to other arts. The coordinators
provide visual and photographic material. Participants should be prepared
to "adopt" one photographer and comment on his/her work.
Text: Coursepack materials will be distributed.
Victor Goldin, as a child, learned much about his world devouring each
issue of LIFE and has looked at life through the lens of various cameras
for the past 40 years. Chuck Morse has been a presenter for the Current
Museum Exhibition Class for several years. Photography has been a special
interest, and taking pictures has always been a pleasure for him.
SPEAKING OF FAITH (0331)
12:20 Limited to 18
Coordinator: Jan Adler
This course explores the variety of ways in which people from a range
of religious/spiritual backgrounds actively engage with the world. We
read transcripts of hour-long interviews on WNPR's Speaking of Faith
program posted on the program's website and discuss the ideas expressed
and the values that motivate the interviewee. Each study group member
is required to choose an interview and lead a class discussion. Internet
access is necessary.
Texts: Transcripts and required background readings from WN
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August 29, 2008
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