Welcome to Brilliant Minds

A companion site for courses by Peter Arcese on classics, contemporary literature, and the arts ... Here you will find items related to our readings and discussions ... Ideas, images, background information, suggested readings, bibliographies, and notes on related performances, all find a presence here ... Enjoy your reading and check back regularly for new posts!


Brilliant Minds - Spring 2025 - Book list

The editions are in! Here are my recommendations:
 

Clouds, by Aristophanes 

Trans. Alan Sommerstein (Penguin Classics)

[Note: I also recommend Jeffrey Henderson's translation. Henderson gets closer to the "raw" language that Aristophanes employed.]

 

Reynard the Fox, by William Caxton

Trans. James Simpson (Liveright)

 

Twelfth Night, by William Shakespeare

Eds. Mowat & Werstine (Folger Library/Simon & Schuster)

 

The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde

Ed. Michael Patrick Gillespie (Norton Critical Edition/W. W. Norton)

 

Pedro Páramo, by Juan Rulfo

Trans. Douglas J. Weatherford (Grove Press)

 

Convenience Store Woman, by Sayaka Murata 

Trans. Ginny Tapley Takemori (Grove Press)

 

These editions can be found and purchased through Bookshop.org to support independent bookstores, or Amazon. We receive a small commission on purchases made through our lists and affiliate links.

 

 


Brilliant Minds - Fall 2024 - Book List

Here are the recommended editions for the Fall 2024 Brilliant Minds readings:

Enuma Elish, in Myths from Mesopotamia, trans. Stephanie Dalley (Oxford Classics)

Euripides, The Bacchae, trans. John Davie (Penguin Classics)

Shakespeare, Timon of Athens, eds. Mowat & Werstine (Folger Shakespeare Library)

Voltaire, Candide, ed. Cronk (Norton Critical Edition)

Faulkner, Absalom, Absalom! (Vintage)

Danticat, The Dew Breaker (Vintage) 

These editions can be found and purchased through Bookshop.org to support independent bookstores, or Amazon. We receive a small commission on purchases made through our lists and affiliate links.


Brilliant Minds - Book List - Spring 2024

Enheduana, The Complete Poems, trans. Helle,  (Yale)

Euripides, Helen, in: Ion, Helen, Orestes, trans. Svarlien, UK ed. (Hackett)

Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, eds. Mowat & Werstine (Folger)

Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, ed. Dobr’ee (Oxford) 

Clarice Lispector, The Besieged City, trans. Lorenz (New Directions)

Jon Fosse, The Other Name: Septology I-II, trans. Searls (Transit)

These editions can be found and purchased through Bookshop.org to support independent bookstores, or Amazon on the sidebar. We receive a small commission on purchases made through our lists and affiliate links.


Brilliant Minds - Book list - Fall 2023

Here is the book list for the upcoming Brilliant Minds - Fall 2023 semester:

Cicero, The Nature of the Gods, trans. P.G. Walsh (Oxford)

ISBN: 9780199540068

Plutarch, A Selection of Eight Roman Lives, trans. Robin Waterfield (Oxford)

ISBN: 9780199537389

Margery Kempe, The Book of Margery Kempe, trans. Anthony Bale (Oxford) 

ISBN: 9780199686643

Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, eds. Mowat & Wresting (Folger) 

ISBN: 9780743482745

George Sand, Indiana, trans. Sylvia Raphael (Oxford) 

ISBN: 9780199540488

Robert Glück, Margery Kempe, intro. Colm Toibin (NYRB Classics)

ISBN: 9781681374314

Jokha Alharthi, Celestial Bodies, trans. Marilyn Booth (Catapult)

ISBN: 9781948226943 

These editions can be found and purchased through Bookshop.org to support independent bookstores, or Amazon on the sidebar. We receive a small commission on purchases made through our lists and affiliate links.