Brilliant Minds

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.

Three links for Abelard & Heloise

Medieval Sourcebook
A brief discussion of authenticity questions about the Letters and a short bibliography.

Abelard as Philsopher
Entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

Abelard & Heloise in the Times
NY Times Essay by Cristina Nehring discussing recent books on the couple.

Nobel & Booker winners

The Nobel and Booker winners, as reported by the NY Times:

Herta Müller wins the Nobel Prize.

Hilary Mantel wins the Booker Prize.

Wednesday evening class cancellation

Wednesday evening's class is cancelled. We'll be making up the session at the end of the semester.

Ryder's translation of Sakuntala

For those of you who would like to compare translations of Sakuntala, Arthur Ryder's especially lyrical version is available at Project Gutenberg. You might find his Wikipedia biography of interest as well, especially the comment of his student, J. Robert Oppenheimer.

For an impression of the living practice of ancient Sanskrit theatre, look into the art of Kerala's Koodiyattam.

"Helen" - Concluding Comments

Concluding comments on our Tuesday discussion of Euripides' Helen. Click on the player bar, below (approx. 16 min):

Helen_Conclusion