Flying fish fresco from late Bronze Age Melos
Upcoming Events last updated March 4, 2010
April 2010 a class on Russian Literature: Pushkin and Gogol
(offered through the Experimental College)
April 13 – May 25, on Tuesdays 6:45 pm – 8:15 pm
In this class we will focus on works by two of the early and possibly greatest writers of the “Silver” Age of Russian literature. We’ll start with Alexander Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin. This narrative poem has spawned operas and movies, and in the 1960s sparked a lively debate about good and bad translations. We’ll also read Nikolai Gogol’s novel Dead Souls, “an epic poem in prose” as Gogol called it, both hilarious and absurd. Discussion, lectures, handouts, and multi-media presentations.
We’ll read the translation and commentary of Eugene Onegin by Vladimir Nabokov. This 2 volume edition of Pushkin’s novel in verse is possibly, no probably, the greatest work of scholarship on any subject in English. Nabokov’s translation is exact and his commentary lively and enchanting. I will be able to provide a photocopied portion of this work. Much better to own it. New and used copies are available on on amazon.com and abebooks.com.
On the U. Washington (Seattle) campus.
Cost: $?? [$74?] ($10 discount for Northwest Classics Society members. Become a member); UW Students: $??
Register through the ASUW Experimental College in the Winter of 2010. Go to Experimental College catalog and find the class in “Literature.”
Please write Alan Rawn if you have questions or comments: arawn@northwestclassics.org.
CURRENT AND PAST CLASSES:
Class: FRANZ KAFKA
Winter 2010
In this class we’ll review the life, times and writings of Franz Kafka. We’ll look at him in his familial, social and historical setting, review his bibliography, discuss translations, and read a selection of his famous and infamous writings. We’ll see what sort of influence he had on later writers, and take a stab at defining what it means to be “Kafkaesque.” Copious handouts. Lively literary discussion. All are welcome, the enthusiasts and the merely curious. On Campus.
Class: NABOKOV BEYOND LOLITA
Fall 2009
We’ll begin with Vladimir Nabokov’s startlingly amusing masterpiece, Lolita, the English language novel in which the Russian-born author reveals America to itself. Then we’ll read and discuss a selection of Nabokov’s other great novels, short stories and writings about literature and translation. Along with Proust and Joyce, Nabokov has been called the greatest modern writer who never received a Nobel Prize for literature, he’s that good. Discussion, lectures, handouts, lively literary conversation!! For beginners and experienced readers alike.
Class: IRISH LITERATURE
Summer 2009
What do James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, W. B. Yeats, and Samuel Beckett have in common? They are all part of the oldest and arguably greatest literature since ancient times. In this class we’ll read selections from many Irish authors, look at Irish history from St Patrick’s arrival on the island in 432 to the modern day, discuss the revival of the Gaelic language, but most of all, we’ll read poetry and selected shorter works from Ireland’s greatest authors. For beginners and experienced readers.