Tutor: David Townsend
Dates: October 3 & 4

Details coming soon

Vladimir Nabokov fled Bolshevik Russia at the age of 20 and settled in America at age 41. Lolita is the most famous work of this fine prose writer and translator. An unreliable professor, who claims to be Humbert Humbert, recounts his obsession with twelve-year old Lolita. We will try to separate truth from erotic madness in this finely written classic, made into film by Stanley Kubrick (1962) and Adrian Lyne (1997). Lolita is on Time’s list of 100 best novels and Le Monde’s list of 100 best books of the twentieth century.

Recommended edition: Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita. 2d Vintage Pb. ISBN 679-72316-1.

Reading assignments for the weekend:

1. First third
2. Second third
3. Whole book​​​

Tutor: Tom May
Dates: October 17 & 18

Details coming soon

What do we expect and hope as we set out on a first voyage? What happens to our ideals in the face of disappointment and disaster? What enables us to trust others and ourselves? These are among the questions that arise for Conrad’s unforgettable and elusive figure Charles Marlow as he recounts his catastrophic first voyage to the East in Youth and his later voyage up the Congo River in Heart of Darkness. We might well learn much from these two contrasting narratives of youth and experience.

Recommended edition: Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness and Other Tales. Oxford World Classics. ISBN 978-0-19-953601-6.

Reading assignments for the weekend:

1. Youth
2. Heart of Darkness I & II
3. Heart of Darkness III

Tutor: Erica Beall
Dates: October 24 & 25

Details coming soon

Lush prose meets profound metaphysical questions in these three short works by Jorge Luis Borges. Drawing from classical mythology, modern mathematical ideas, and fundamental human experiences, Borges is one of the great masters of the craft of short fiction and arguably the greatest Spanish-language writer of the modern era.

Recommended edition: Jorge Luis Borges, Labyrinths (a collection of stories) contains all of the readings, but any translation is acceptable. ISBN: 978-0811216999.

Reading assignments for the weekend:

1. The Library of Babel
2. The Garden of Forking Paths
3. The House of Asterion

Tutor: Louis Petrich
Dates: November 14 & 15

Details coming soon

The synoptic Gospels of Matthew and Luke will be read, freshly as narrative and dramatic literature. The questions any intelligent, curious reader might ask will be entertained. Thus, the Socratic-minded reader meets (as if for the first time) the Nazarene, Jesus.

Recommended edition: any edition is acceptable.

Reading assignments for the weekend:

1. Matthew, Ch. 1–17
2. Matthew, Ch. 17–28; Luke, Ch. 1–6
3. Luke, Ch. 7–24

Tutor: David Townsend
Dates: December 5 & 6

Details coming soon

Vladimir Nabokov fled Bolshevik Russia at the age of 20 and settled in America at age 41. Lolita is the most famous work of this fine prose writer and translator. An unreliable professor, who claims to be Humbert Humbert, recounts his obsession with twelve-year old Lolita. We will try to separate truth from erotic madness in this finely written classic, made into film by Stanley Kubrick (1962) and Adrian Lyne (1997). Lolita is on Time’s list of 100 best novels and Le Monde’s list of 100 best books of the twentieth century.

Recommended edition: Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita. 2d Vintage Pb. ISBN 679-72316-1.

Reading assignments for the weekend:

1. First third
2. Second third
3. Whole book​​​