FREEING MINDS A Campaign for St. John's College
Seminars meet from 10 a.m. to noon, and 2 to 4 p.m. on Saturday; and 10 a.m. to noon on Sunday. Lunch on Saturday is included.
All seminars are held in the Hodson Room in Mellon Hall.
Register for Spring 2019 Weekend Classics
David Townsend January 12–13 (FULL) $160
An exquisite craftsman whose poems explore the depths of the heart and the power of love, Auden is also a careful observer of particulars in the ordinary quotidian. His poems about art and politics blend two apparently divergent worlds. We will read a collection of his best poems.
Recommended edition: Selected Poems of W. H. Auden, expanded edition ed. Edward Mendelson. Vintage International paperback.
David Townsend January 26–27 (FULL) $160
Louis Petrich February 2–3 $160
This work (1887) is Nietzsche’s principal investigation into, and attempt to redirect, ethics. It consists of three essays: master and slave morality and the different meanings each of them assigns to “good” and “bad”; guilt and bad conscience; and ascetic ideals in religion and academic life.
Recommended Edition/Translation: translated by Maudemarie Clark & Alan J Swensen, Hacket Publishing. ISBN 978-0872202832
Session 1 Preface and First Treatise: “Good and Evil,” “Good and Bad,” pp. 1–33.
Session 2 Second Treatise: “Built,” “Bad Conscience,” and Related Matters, pp. 35–66.
Session 3 Third Treatise: “What Do Ascetic Ideals Mean?” pp. 67–118.
Lijun Gu February 9–10 $160 This seminar is FULL
We will read the grand but often tragic stories in the Creation, and explore the relations not only between God and human beings, but also among human beings themselves, such as those between man and woman, father and son, and brother and brother. Ultimately, the seminar aims at reading the Bible as a great book.
Recommended Edition/Translation: The Bible with the King James version slightly preferred.
Session 1 Genesis, 1–11
Session 2 Genesis, 12–25
Session 3 Genesis, 26–50
Michael Dink February 16–17 $160 This seminar is FULL
In perhaps her finest novel, Nobel laureate Toni Morrison tells the story of Sethe, an escaped slave living in Cincinnati after the Civil War, and living through the consequences of a radical decision she had made when faced with the prospect of re-enslavement for herself and her children.
Recommended Edition/Translation: first Vintage International Edition, 2004. Vintage ISBN: 1-4000-3341-1
Session 1 pp. 5–124
Session 2 pp. 125–195
Session 3 pp. 199–324
William Pastille February 23–24 $160 This seminar is FULL
In 1831 and 1832, the 26-year-old Alexis de Tocqueville traveled to every corner of the still young United States of America, interviewing its inhabitants. The result of his reflections on his travels was Democracy in America, published in 1835 and 1840, a groundbreaking study of the American way of democracy. Even after 180 years, Tocqueville’s insights into the American spirit remain remarkably accurate, and continue to reveal us Americans to ourselves. We will read and discuss selections from the text that cover a wide range of topics, including America’s social attitudes, intellectual propensities, political structures, and prospects for the future.
Recommended Edition/Translation: Any of the three main editions, Vintage, Harper or Chicago is acceptable.
Session 1 (Vintage) Volume I: Author’s Introduction; chapter 3, chapter 5 (omitting 68 bottom–85 bottom third), chapter 6 (to 103 middle), chapters 15–16, chapter 17 (beginning at 326 top), chapter 18 (from 421 bottom–429 top third; and 434, final 2 paragraphs)
(Harper Perennial) Volume I: Author’s Introduction; Part I, chapter 3, chapter 5 (omitting 70 bottom–86), chapter 6 (to 104 top); Part II, chapter 7–8, chapter 9 (beginning at 311 bottom), chapter 10 (400–407 and 412 middle–413)
(University of Chicago Press) Volume I: Part I: Author’s Introduction; chapter 3, chapter 5 (omitting page 65 bottom–82 top), chapter 6 (to page 98 top); Part II, chapters 7–8, chapter 9 (beginning at page 298 bottom), chapter 10 (pages 384–390; and 395 [beginning “There are two great peoples”]–396)
Session 2 (Vintage) Volume II: Book I, chapters 1–3, 5, 8–11; Book II, chapters 1–7
(Harper Perennial) Volume II: Part I, chapters 1–3, 5, 8–11: Part II, chapters 1–7
(University of Chicago Press) Volume II: Part I, chapters 1–3, 5, 8–11; Part II, chapters 1–7
Session 3 (Vintage) Volume II: Book II, chapters 8–15; Book III, chapters. 19, 21; Book IV, chapters 6–8
(Harper Perennial) Volume II: Part II, chapters 8–15, Part III, chapters 19, 21; Part IV, chapters 6–8
(University of Chicago Press) Volume II: Part II, chapters 8–15, Part III, chapters 19, 21; Part IV, chapters 6–8
Louis Petrich March 2–3 $160
Participants will discuss Franz Kafka’s five greatest tales: “The Metamorphosis,” “In the Penal Colony,” “Before the Law,” “The Judgment,” and “A Hunger Artist.” Their themes—mad bureaucracy, labyrinthine law, paranoia, anxiety, shame, transformations—go by his name, “Kafkaesque.” They constitute one of the bravest and purest exercises of imagination in European letters.
Recommended Edition/Translation: Franz Kafka: The Complete Stories, edited by Nahum N. Glazer. ISBN 978-0805210552
Session 1 “The Metamorphosis”
Session 2 “In the Penal Colony” and “Before the Law”
Session 3 “The Judgment” and “A Hunger Artist”
Jason Tipton March 9–10 $160 This seminar is FULL
The philosopher is often portrayed as being ridiculous. What is it about philosophy that makes it rife for comedy? This question will be explored in three great comedies: Aristophanes’ The Clouds, Molière’s The Misanthrope, and Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost.
Recommended Edition/Translation: Four Plays by Aristophanes: The Birds; The Clouds; The Frogs; Lysistrata, translated by William Arrowsmith. William Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost—Folger Shakespeare Library. Molière’s The Misanthrope and Tartuffe, translated by Richard Wilbur. ISBN 0-15-660517-1
Session 1 Aristophanes’ The Clouds
Session 2 Molière’s The Misanthropes
Session 3 Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost
Jason Tipton March 16–17 $160 This seminar is FULL
Participants will delve into Woolf’s short stories. Included in the examination will be stories such as “The Mark on the Wall” and “Kew Gardens.” The shorter fiction is an interesting way into the mind of this great author.
Recommended Edition/Translation: The Complete Shorter Fiction of Virginia Woolf, Harcourt. ISBN 0-15-621250-2
Session 1 pp. 17–111
Session 2 pp. 112–188
Session 3 pp. 189–292
William Pastille March 23–24 $160
Seneca, the Stoic philosopher and tutor to Emperor Nero, wrote a number of short treatises about common aspects of life—for example On Leisure, On Anger, On Firmness, and On Mercy. His thinking on how we deal with the vicissitudes of daily living continues to resonate today. We will read and discuss three of these short treatises: “On the Shortness of Life,” “On the Tranquility of the Mind,” and “On the Happy Life.”
Recommended Edition/Translation: Seneca, Dialogues and Essays, translated by John Davie, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008.
Session 1 On the Shortness of Life
Session 2 On the Tranquility of the Mind
Session 3 On the Happy Life
William Pastille March 30–31 $160 This seminar is FULL
The American Framers created the Constitution out of their profound knowledge of history and political thought. Of the many thinkers who influenced them, John Locke was one of the foremost. Locke’s Second Treatise on Civil Government discusses the fundamental problems of civil society, providing answers that still affect our lives today.
Recommended Edition/Translation: John Locke, Second Treatise of Civil Government (any edition is acceptable).
The entire work should be read before Saturday morning.
William Pastille April 6–7 $160
Sophocles’ Oedipus trilogy tells the ancient story of an intelligent but proud man who tries to outwit fate, gains fame and power, is brought low by his own cleverness, lives the life of an itinerant beggar leaning on the support of his daughter Antigone, becomes a sort of outcast saint at his death, and leaves a legacy of tragedy for his unfortunate children. The readings include: Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone.
Recommended Edition/Translation: The Oedipus Trilogy by Sophocles (any translation is acceptable).
Session 1 Oedipus the King
Session 2 Oedipus at Colonus
Session 3 Antigone
David Townsend April 13–14 $160 This session is FULL
Whitman worked as a nurse in an army hospital during the Civil War and this small book of poetry appeared in early 1865 giving us an account of his poignant and agonizing witness. Then in October, he published Sequel after the death of President Lincoln. In his own words, Whitman sought, “to express in a poem … the pending action of this Time & Land we swim in, with all their large conflicting fluctuation of despair and hope.”
Recommended Edition/Translation: Walt Whitman, Drum Taps, The Complete 1865 Edition, edited by Lawrence Kramer. Nyrb books. ISBN 978-1-5
Session 1 pp. 3–50
Session 2 pp. 51–97
Session 3 pp. 101–132 (Sequel)
David Townsend May 18–19 $160 This session is FULL
From the Greek Island of Lesbos, more than 2600 years ago, a hauntingly beautiful body of lyric poetry and song comes to us in the work of an iconic and heroic poet. Excellent poet and classicist Anne Carson provides a luminous, honest, and complete translation of Sappho’s surviving poems and fragments. Called the “tenth muse” and “the mortal muse” by the ancient compilers of the Palatine Anthology, Sappho has often been imitated but never surpassed. Join us as we read her complete work in Carson’s translation, If Not, Winter.
Recommended Edition/Translation: If Not, Winter: Fragments of Sappho, translated by Anne Carson.
Session 1 First third of book
Session 2 Second third of book
Session 3 Final third of book
Rebecca Goldner June 1–2 $160
From the sublime world of courtly love to talking to animals, Chaucer at once elevates and deflates human desires and inclinations. We will begin on a high note with “The Knight’s Tale” and then read the Miller’s bawdy retort (“Miller’s Prologue and Tale”), which he insists is also a noble tale. We will end with the “Nun’s Priest’s Tale” and the story of a well-read rooster who believes his dream to be a prophecy.
Recommended Edition/Translation: Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, Penguin Classics.
Session 1 The Knight’s Tale
Session 2 Miller’s Prologue and Tale
Session 3 Nun’s Priest Prologue and Tale (and Epilogue)
A full refund is provided should you cancel at least two weeks before the first seminar meets. No refunds are provided if you cancel less than two weeks before the seminar meets.
Should we need to cancel due to weather, you will be notified by email and the seminar will be rescheduled.
We reserve the right to cancel a seminar due to low enrollment.
Email | 410-626-2881
60 College Avenue
Annapolis, MD 21401
