Brilliant Minds

Coat Switch

We've uncovered the coat switch! Send me a note at pvarcese@athanata.com and I'll put you both in touch!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

NYQ Matching Gift

The venerable, often irreverent, and seminal poetry journal, The New York Quarterly, has received a matching gift opportunity of $5000. If you have been thinking of donating to NYQ, now is certainly the time. More info can be found and donations made through the following links:

For NY residents: http://www.nyqfoundation.org/donateny.htm

Outside NY: http://www.nyqfoundation.org/donateus.htm

Aristotle Selections

Happy New Year!

For those who wish to get a head start on reading Aristotle, we will focus on the Ethics, Politics, Rhetoric, and Poetics. Below are my suggested selections from those sections, referenced by Book and Chapter numbers which should work with any edition:

(Nichomachean) Ethics
i, 1-10, 13
ii, 1-7
iii, 1-7
v, 1-2, 7, 10
vi, 1-3, 5-8, 12-13
vii, 1-3
viii, 1-3, 9
ix, 4, 7-9, 12
x, 4-9

Politics
i, 1-6
ii, 1, 2, 3-5
iii, 1, 4, 6-12
iv, 1, 3, 11
v, 1, 8, 9
vii, 1-3, 8-9, 13, 15

Rhetoric
i, 1-2, 5-6, 13
ii, 1, 4, 22

Poetics
4, 6-11, 13-15

I also recommend Aristotle in Outline by Timothy A. Robinson (Hackett 1995) for a concise, yet thorough overview of Aristotle's work.

Atwood & Speculative Fiction

Atwood's work is often categorized as "speculative fiction". Take a look at how the term is used, especially by those in the "business":

What is Speculative Fiction? from Green Tentacles

What is Speculative Fiction? from Lost Books

From Atwood herself at Wired

You'll find Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale on this historical list-in-progress of dystopian literature at Wikipedia.

Atwood interviewed on religion by Bill Moyers via YouTube.

Spring Book List

Our Spring 2010 Brilliant Minds book list is now available for download in printable PDF format:

Download BMSpring2010

For Aristotle, we will concentrate our reading on selections from the Ethics, Politics, Rhetoric, and Poetics.

December Classes on Close Reading

Brush up on your close reading skills between Thanksgiving and the Holidays!

Two Classes: December 9th & 16th. Register here (classes limited to 7 participants each).

Learn: The key to The Tempest in one line. The key to "Stopping By Woods" in one word.

Close reading allows you to discover the meaning of a text through precise attention to its structure and patterns. It is a method of reading that stimulates interest and knowledge in interpreting literature. We introduced the literary art of close reading over the Summer as part of the Literature as a Life Practice class. In these classes we will apply this method to these literary classics by Shakespeare and Frost.

Carver Selections

For our upcoming session on Raymond Carver's stories, you may concentrate your reading on the following stories, especially those followed by an asterisk: Bicylces, Muscles, Cigarettes; They're Not Your Husband; What Do You Do In San Francisco?*; What We Talk About When We Talk About Love*; The Third Thing That Killed My Father Off; Where I'm Calling From*; Fever; and Cathedral*.

Be sure to visit the carversite for rich material and links on his life and works.

Biographical documentary on Carver at YouTube.

The text of Beginners without the Lish edits from The New Yorker.

Hardy and Naturalism

For more background on Hardy and our discussion of Literary Naturalism, consider these links:

Literature at the Turn of the Century (1890 - 1918)
Realism and Naturalism
Definitions of Realism & Naturalism (downloads pdf)
The Thomas Hardy Society
Wikipedia entry for Hardy

Moby Dick Session 2

For our second class on Moby Dick, be sure to include these chapters in your reading:

47. The Mat-Maker

48. The First Lowering

68. The Blanket

82. The Honor & Glory of Whaling

83. Jonah Historically Regarded

94. A Squeeze of the Hand

106. Ahab' Leg

108. The Cabin - Ahab and Satrbuck

110. Queequeg in his Coffin

117. The Whale-Watch

129. The Cabin - Ahab and Pip

133. The Chase - First Day

134. The Chase - Second Day

135. The Chase - Third Day

Epilogue

Moby Dick Selections, 1

For our first class on Moby Dick, be sure to read the following selections/chapters:



Etymology

Extracts

1. Loomings

4. The Counterpane

9. The Sermon

10. A Bosom Friend

16. The Ship

17. The Ramadan

26. Knights & Squires (1)

27. Knights & Squires (2)

28. Ahab

32. Cetology

36. The Quarter-Deck

38. Dusk

41. Moby Dick

42. The Whiteness of the Whale



Although this represents about one-third of the book, it contains the key to its nature. More selections to follow for our second session!



Also, read Tony Tanner's superb introduction if you have the Oxford Classics text. It's the reason I chose this edition.