The books for Literature for the 21st Century, Summer 2009, and Brilliant Minds, Fall 2009, are now listed with links in the left hand column of this page. Just scroll down. Download a printable pdf version of the Summer reading list here: Lit 21 Cent SU09. Happy reading!

Reading these selections of Muriel Rukeyser's poems, affords us a double opportunity. We can look at each poem individually as Rukeyser's assertion on or expression of a particular moment, experience, issue, or circumstance. We can also read selected poems in relation to each other and trace threads of Rukeyser's "preoccupations." One way to approach this particular volume is to read her poems which allude to or adapt historical/mythological figures. These poems constitute distinct, complete entities. But they also stand in relation to each other through the common context of myth. Try these:

"Judith"
"The Minotaur"
"The Poem as Mask: Orpheus"
"Myth"
"Ms. Lot"
"Waiting for Icarus"

Then complement your reading with a reading from an extended cycle of poems, such as those selected from: Letter to the Front.

Then, if you are interested, here is a link to the FBI's file on Muriel Rukeyser.

For a listing of the 2009 Pulitzer prizes for literature, see this list at the NewYork Times.
Note that Louise Erdrich's The Plague of Doves, a book on our Summer list, was a finalist for the prize in fiction.

Start here with a look around this electronic archive site dedicated to O'Neill: eOneill.com. You might check out the study companion there for The Iceman Cometh. Our class member Bill pointed out this particular essay: Mannheim On O'Neill. Thanks, Bill! More to follow.

Photo credit: Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Carl Van Vechten Collection, [reproduction number, e.g., LC-USZ62-54231]

The Guardian's "re-reading" of Alain-Fournier's novel is by Tobias Hill and worth a look! 

This web site contains some wonderful images of Alain-Fournier, his world, and one of the woman named Yvonne, who may have inspired, well, you know ....

If you'd like to put together your own map, seeking out "the lost estate" you could start here.

Otherwise, the red box gives you an indication of the region.

Click on the image for a larger version in a new window.

And in case you're interested in film adaptations of this imagistic, poetic novel, here is Vincent Canby's 1969 NY Times review.