St John's College 2018 Summer Classics brochure

Page 1

ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE IN SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO

A TIME OF CONTRASTS Summer CLASSICS

2018


“When the truth is known, all descriptions cease, and silence alone remains.” —Yogavasistha ..


AN UNRIVALED INTELLECTUAL RETREAT Spend a week at Summer Classics in Santa Fe, New Mexico THREE WEEKS OF SEMINARS JULY 1-6 | JULY 8-13 | JULY 15-20 Register Online

Summer Classics

sjc.edu/summer-classics For questions or assistance email santafe.classics@sjc.edu or call 505-984-6105. TABLE OF CONTENTS Summer Classics Overview: Thematic Connections

2-3

Seminar Schedule

6-7

Seminar Descriptions

8-19

Registration, Fees, Policies

22

Accommodations and Travel

23

Science, Film, and Leadership series

24-26

CONTRASTS 1

1


THEMATIC Connections:

T

CONTRASTS

he Summer Classics program at St. John’s College presents the opportunity to examine timeless literary, scientific, and artistic works through rigorous intellectual conversation. Princeton Review rated our faculty the second finest in the nation, and these weeklong seminars follow the lauded St. John’s seminar approach, with two tutors acting as guides—not experts—for groups of 18 or fewer participants. While specialized knowledge of any given work or topic is not required, a passion for learning is.

This summer, view enduring works of art through the lens of contrast. Whether we’re considering thematic contrasts in Tolstoy’s War and Peace or Dante’s Purgatory, or aesthetic contrasts that bring drama to film noir or Georgia O’Keeffe’s art, the process of juxtaposition illuminates our world, revealing fundamental questions about human nature. Because the backgrounds of your fellow Summer Classics attendees span regions, cultures, interests, and ages, each seminar— regardless of individual focus—incorporates contrasting points of view. We are all, however, united by a collective commitment to the texts and a respect for the value of conversation. 2


“The whole world is divided for me into two parts: one is she, and there is all happiness, hope, light; the other is where she is not, and there is dejection and darkness...” — Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace

Fittingly, our campus is located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, itself a city of contrasts. Here a rugged landscape coexists with world-renowned culture, and magnificent light casts bold shadows onto the high desert and its architecture. Take one seminar and spend your free time exploring Santa Fe and its Sangre de Cristo mountains. Or enroll in two seminars and spend both mornings and afternoons in class. Science Institute and Lessons in Leadership: East Meets West attendees are automatically enrolled in morning and afternoon seminars, and, as in the past, all participants are given the opportunity to purchase group-rate tickets for the Santa Fe Opera, with transportation available from campus. Whatever your choice, the St. John’s Summer Classics program offers an unrivaled intellectual retreat.

3

3

weeks of seminars July 1-6 July 8-13 July 15-20

The first challenge you’ll have is choosing: n

One seminar?

n

Multiple weeks?

n

Morning?

n

Afternoon?

n

Both?

n

A specialty series?


4


SUMMER CLASSICS WEEKLY

Schedule of Events

Registration Sunday, 2-4 p.m. Peterson Student Center

Music on the Hill Wednesday, July 11 and 18, 6-8 p.m. Athletic Field

Opening Reception Sunday, 4-5:30 p.m. Peterson Student Center

Closing Lunch Friday, 12-1:30 p.m. Coffee Shop

Seminars Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-noon, 2-4 p.m. St. John’s College classrooms

Opera Wednesday and Friday, 8:30 p.m. Santa Fe Opera House

Morning Mingle Monday and Thursday, 9-10 a.m. Schepps Garden Open House Thursday, 4-5 p.m. Graduate Institute, Levan Hall

5


SUMMER CLASSICS SEMINAR SCHEDULE WEEK 1 / JULY 1-6 Morning EPICTETUS’S DISCOURSES Ken Wolfe and Alan Zeitlin RALPH ELLISON’S INVISIBLE MAN Andy Kingston and Maggie McGuinness MELVILLE’S SHORT FICTION: “BILLY BUDD,” “BENITO CERENO,” “BARTLEBY THE SCRIVENER” Robert Abbott and Raoni Padui JANE AUSTEN’S EMMA Ron Haflidson and Krishnan Venkatesh

Afternoon THE BOOK OF EXODUS Ron Haflidson and Marsaura Shukla Film at Summer Classics THE ORIGINS OF FILM NOIR IN THE 1940s David Townsend and Krishnan Venkatesh Morning and Afternoon The Science Institute THE ORIGINS OF CALCULUS Phil Bartok and Guillermo Bleichmar Lessons in Leadership from the Classics EAST MEETS WEST Charles Bergman and David Carl

“I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.”

YOGAVASISTHA .. Patricia Greer and David Townsend

—Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man 6


WEEK 2 / JULY 8-13 Morning ARISTOTLE’S NICOMACHEAN ETHICS Judith Adam and Warren Winiarski

MURASAKI SHIKIBU’S THE TALE OF GENJI Natalie Elliot and Patricia Locke Morning and Afternoon The Science Institute QUANTUM THEORY Grant Franks and Peter Pesic

Afternoon INTO AFRICA WITH JOSEPH CONRAD AND CHINUA ACHEBE Michael Golluber and Tom May

WILLIAM FAULKNER’S THE SOUND AND THE FURY James Carey and Frank Pagano

WEEK 3 / JULY 15-20 Morning HANNAH ARENDT’S THE HUMAN CONDITION Rebecca Goldner and Raoni Padui

Film at Summer Classics FROM NOIR TO NEO-NOIR David Carl and Lise van Boxel

TOLSTOY’S WAR AND PEACE Litzi Engel and David Townsend

DANTE’S PURGATORY Eric Salem and Cary Stickney

THE WINE OF THE BELOVED: HIDDEN WOMEN IN THE DIWANS OF GOETHE AND HAFIZ Mary Di Lucia and Julie Reahard

FLANNERY O’CONNOR’S WISE BLOOD AND THE VIOLENT BEAR IT AWAY Claudia Hauer and Krishnan Venkatesh

Afternoon LUCRETIUS’S "ON THE NATURE OF THINGS" Seth Appelbaum and Andrew Romiti

THOMAS MANN’S SHORT FICTION John Cornell and Susan Stickney

ORWELL’S BURMESE DAYS AND KIPLING’S KIM Steve Isenberg and Mike Peters CERVANTES’S DON QUIXOTE Guillermo Bleichmar and Rebecca Goldner

Film at Summer Classics THE ORIGINS OF FILM NOIR IN THE 1950s David Carl and Marsaura Shukla

GEORGIA O’KEEFFE’S ART AND LETTERS David Carl and Maggie McGuinness

7

Morning and Afternoon The Science Institute OBSERVING ANTS: MIND, COMPLEXITY, AND SOCIETY Phil Bartok and Linda Wiener


Week 1 | July 1–6 MORNING 10 AM TO NOON

Epictetus’s Discourses Ken Wolfe and Alan Zeitlin A former slave in the Roman Empire, Epictetus became a Stoic philosopher and teacher with many prominent students, one of whom, Arrian, wrote down the Discourses of his master and preserved them for posterity. These lectures and discussions deal with how to find happiness, freedom, and peace of mind amidst life’s ongoing questions, challenges, and disturbances, such as death and disease, injustice and oppression, war and strife.

Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man Andy Kingston and Maggie McGuinness A groundbreaking work of the Harlem Renaissance and one of the seeds of 20th-century African-American literature, Invisible Man is also a deeply personal and stylistically radical novel about a young man coming of age alongside his country and his culture. It is an examination of how individuals and society confront and shape one another. It stands as one of the great American novels: a story about drugs and music, communism and capitalism, race and identity, food, fashion, passion, ambition, desire, social responsibility, and social betrayal. It is beautifully written, philosophically provocative, funny, critical, insightful, and illuminating— and, like all great works of fiction, it is as piercingly relevant to the issues and concerns of American society today as it was in the era in which it was written. 8


Melville’s Short Fiction: “Billy Budd,” “Benito Cereno,” “Bartleby the Scrivener” Robert Abbott and Raoni Padui Although he is universally known as the author of Moby Dick, Melville was also one of the masters of short fiction. Among his greatest short works are these three stories. Each depicts an apparently unremarkable but actually uncanny relationship—between sailor and officer, servant and master, clerk and employer. Billy Budd is bound to his envious superior by a hidden desire. The real relationship of Cereno to his servant is only revealed in the final pages of the story. Bartleby’s maniacally persistent reply, “I would prefer not to,” nearly drives his employer mad. How does our understanding of someone’s place in society change how we see them? What does it mean to depend on someone for your identity?

Yogavasistha .. Patricia Greer and David Townsend The Yogavasistha, . . composed in Kashmir between the 9th and 13th centuries CE, is one of Hinduism’s most important Sanskrit texts. It contains stories and - mystical teachings given by the ancient sage Vasistha . . to young Prince Rama (of the Ramayana) while he is in the depths of spiritual despair and doubt. Traces of all the major schools of Indian philosophy, including Buddhism, can be found here, yet it is not a work of philosophy as such. Indeed, the - . . is rather beyond classification, bending as it does time, reality, Yogavasistha the self, illusion, and dream into a kind of cosmic knot. We read five stories from an abridged version of this massive work.

Jane Austen’s Emma Ron Haflidson and Krishnan Venkatesh The title character and heroine of Emma is an intelligent young woman who is confident in her skills at matchmaking. The novel follows her as she meddles in the lives of others—always, she justifies to herself and others, with the best of intentions. Participants in this seminar, whether long-time Austen fans or first-time readers, are sure to enjoy her singular ability to illuminate our human condition in such a way that provokes both insight and laughter. 9

WEEK

JUXTAPOSITION

1


Week 1 | July 1–6 AFTERNOON 2 PM TO 4 PM

The Book of Exodus Ron Haflidson and Marsaura Shukla What does it mean to be free? How are freedom and obedience related? The Book of Exodus, the second book of the Bible, tells the story of how God liberates the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and gives them a new moral code, the Ten Commandments. Given Exodus’s remarkable influence, many of us are likely familiar with at least one or two of its vivid moments or iconic images, such as Moses and the burning bush and the parting of the Red Sea. In this seminar we have the rare opportunity to read and discuss Exodus from beginning to end, seeking to understand how these remarkable stories fit together and what they may have to say to us today about divinity and humanity, liberation and oppression, right and wrong. FILM AT SUMMER CLASSICS The Origins of Film Noir in the 1940s David Townsend and Krishnan Venkatesh In The Origins of Film Noir in the 1940s, we examine five of the most influential examples of early film noir, from five of its greatest directors. We begin with three films that focus on powerful female characters who helped define and challenge the filmic trope of the femme fatale, from Otto Preminger’s Laura and Michael Curtiz’s Mildred Pierce to Charles Vidor’s Gilda. We end the week with a careful study of two films often referred to as the greatest examples of film noir: Jacques Tourneur’s Out of the Past and Carol Reed’s The Third Man. See page 25 for more information about Film at Summer Classics. 10


THE SCIENCE INSTITUTE The Origins of Calculus Phil Bartok and Guillermo Bleichmar Developed by Newton and Leibniz in the 17th century, the branch of mathematics known as calculus has played a critical role in modern science and engineering. But what is calculus, and how was it developed? We begin with Newton’s forays into differential and integral calculus in his Principia Mathematica, then turn to Leibniz’s more abstract treatment of the same ideas. We examine the fundamental theorem of calculus, which asserts a surprisingly deep connection between the basic concepts of the derivative and the integral. Finally, we consider Bishop Berkeley’s famous critique of infinitesimals. Along the way, we study fascinating applications of calculus to real-world problems in science and economics. No prior knowledge is required, as we build our understanding from the ground up.

LESSONS IN LEADERSHIP FROM THE CLASSICS East Meets West Charles Bergman and David Carl What do Western and Eastern classical traditions have to teach us about leadership? Can principles that have endured over the centuries be applied to our own present moment? In Lessons in Leadership from the Classics: East Meets West, participants delve into texts by four authors from distinctive cultural and historic traditions: Plutarch, Confucius, Sun Tzu, and Machiavelli. We consider the range of practical leadership tactics and techniques as applied by the four authors, surveying military and political strategies for building consensus, motivating allies, combatting opposition, bolstering tradition, and innovating in the face of changing circumstances. By placing these texts in dialogue with each other, we both deepen our understanding of them and discover how to connect them to today’s world, examining leadership lessons from the past in the context of the present.

See page 24 for more information about the Science Institute.

“One half of the world cannot understand the pleasures of the other.” —Jane Austen's Emma

See page 26 for more information about Lessons in Leadership from the Classics: East Meets West.

11

WEEK

TIMELESS

MORNING and AFTERNOON 10 AM TO NOON 2 PM TO 4 PM

1


Week 2 | July 8–13 MORNING 10 AM TO NOON

Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics Judith Adam and Warren Winiarski Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics presents us with the question of the human good and the nature of our happiness. It then leads the reader through an exploration of those characteristics that we call virtues. Some that are familiar: courage, moderation, and justice. Others that are more surprising: magnificence, greatness of soul—and wittiness! In the seminar, we focus on Aristotle’s treatment of these virtues, along with the vices relative to each. We give particular attention to his robust and penetrating account of friendship, which seems to be a culmination of the good life. Orwell’s Burmese Days and Kipling’s Kim Steve Isenberg and Mike Peters Rudyard Kipling and George Orwell were both born in India and spent considerable time in the East. Their writing illuminates the colonial experience, its exotic settings, and ancient cultures at times of tension with outside forces of ambition and authority. Kipling’s Kim (1901) takes place during the 19th-century clash of British and Russian aspirations in Afghanistan. The novel centers on a boy whose mixed identity, ability, and insight make him a valuable British asset in “the Great Game.” Orwell’s Burmese Days (1934) focuses on British colonial bureaucrats, centering on their club and the one member who stands as an outsider. It is a story of seething emotions and the abrasions that come with petty corruption, misunderstanding, and condescension. No one, British or Burmese, comes out unscarred. 12


2

WEEK Tolstoy’s War and Peace Litzi Engel and David Townsend War and Peace may be the greatest novel yet written—a titanic mosaic of fiction, history, psychology, and philosophy. How, Tolstoy asks, are we to remain whole as we struggle with dialectics of both love and rage, poverty and abundance? While questioning the meaning of the individual in family, society, love, war, sickness, and death, Tolstoy makes us feel every scene deeply, intimately, and essentially: the startling white bodies of soldiers swimming in a muddy cattle pond, the calm glow of a crescent moon shining through the smoke of a bombardment, or the wrenching struggles of a tyrannized young woman waiting for her lover or her father. Throughout, Tolstoy boldly asks why. Why do we do what we do? Are our choices actually our own? How do individuals affect historical events? Finally, Tolstoy addresses the questions of history, freedom, and necessity in two stunning epilogues.

Cervantes’s Don Quixote Guillermo Bleichmar and Rebecca Goldner In Don Quixote, first published in 1605, Cervantes gave birth to the modern novel and produced one of the most unforgettable figures in world literature: the “knight of the sorrowful figure,” a man whose strange and noble madness leaves in its wake a reimagined, possibly a recreated world. All that Cervantes—who had been a soldier, a captive of Barbary pirates, a down-and-out man of letters—had seen of life went into the book and into its uncommon hero, whose encounters with windmills, giants, shepherds, galley slaves, actors, and death itself subject reality to the high test of the imagination William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury James Carey and Frank Pagano William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, following the Shakespearean quotation in the title, begins as a tale told by an idiot. Benji, the youngest son of the Compson family, is the narrator of the first tale and the putative idiot of the novel. This is a brilliant beginning even by Faulkner’s standards. The tales in the novel are told by members of an aristocratic family in wholesale decline. All the tales focus on Candace Compson and her revolt against the social expectations defining the Southern woman. It is through the reaction of her brothers to Caddy’s rebellion that the novel maps the fall of the Southern family. The South becomes a land that has lost its last justification.

The Wine of the Beloved: Hidden Women in the Diwans of Goethe and Hafiz Mary Di Lucia and Julie Reahard Many know Johann Wolfgang von Goethe as Germany’s greatest poet, his Faust unparalleled in style and depth of philosophical thought. But despite current American and European interest in the culture of the Middle East, few are aware of Goethe’s West-East Diwan, an inter-cultural poetic dialogue with the vital, sensual ghazals of the Persian poet Hafiz. We explore the intertwined lyrics of these two men, their mirrored visions born of love and poetic game. We also encounter, beneath this unique interaction of spirit, the voices of “hidden women,” real life companions to Goethe and Hafiz. Each poet’s diwan owes its existence to antiphonal resonance with the poetic voices of women.

“Beauty is meaningless until it is shared.” — George Orwell’s Burmese Days

13


Week 2 | July 8–13 AFTERNOON 2 PM TO 4 PM

INNOVATI

Lucretius’s “On the Nature of Things” Seth Appelbaum and Andrew Romiti In his philosophical poem “On the Nature of Things,” Lucretius claims “to set out the deepest workings of the heavens and the gods, and to reveal the first beginnings of things.” The account he gives is one of atoms and void, and in expounding that account he touches upon a wide range of subjects, such as the structure of the cosmos, the nature of the soul, the development of civilization, and whether one should fear death. An encounter with Lucretius’s dazzling array of explanations gives rise to many questions about the nature of his philosophical endeavor and provides an opportunity to explore the basis of a comprehensive, material account. FILM AT SUMMER CLASSICS The Origins of Film Noir in the 1950s David Carl and Marsaura Shukla In The Origins of Film Noir in the 1950s, we explore how film noir began challenging the themes of its early years, introducing a wider range of characters, conflicts, and psychological possibilities. From John Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle and Billy Wilder’s Sunset Blvd. to Fritz Lang’s The Big Heat and Orson Welles’s Touch of Evil, some of America’s greatest directors turned their attention to this well-established but still full-of-surprises genre. We end the week with a study of Charles Laughton’s The Night of the Hunter, featuring amazing performances by Robert Mitchum, Lillian Gish, and Shelley Winters. See page 25 for more information about Film at Summer Classics. 14


ON

WEEK

2

MORNING and AFTERNOON 10 AM TO NOON 2 PM TO 4 PM

THE SCIENCE INSTITUTE Quantum Theory Grant Franks and Peter Pesic Quantum theory is arguably the most radical and important innovation of 20th-century physics. We study its foundations by building small but faithful models of quantum states using simple devices with polarized light in order to present and discuss texts by Richard Feynman and Julian Schwinger, pioneers of modern quantum theory. Assuming no prior study of this material, all the needed mathematics is built up from the foundations.

“Every uncertainty is the result of a certainty.”

See page 24 for more information about the Science Institute.

—Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji

15


Week 3 | July 15–20 MORNING 10 AM TO NOON

Hannah Arendt’s The Human Condition Rebecca Goldner and Raoni Padui One of the most relevant and controversial political thinkers of the 20th century, Hannah Arendt wrote important books on totalitarianism, the nature of revolution, violence, and evil. Arguably her most wide-ranging and important work, The Human Condition examines the relationship among human labor, work, and political action both concretely and historically. Against what she saw as the philosophical tendency to begin with contemplation and theory, Arendt tries to explain human action from the ground up. In doing so she hopes to ask fundamental questions of how the activities in which we engage in everyday life illuminate what it means to be a human being.

Dante’s Purgatory Eric Salem and Cary Stickney Hell is easiest to like, but one needn’t begin there. All three parts of Dante’s Divine Comedy have their own logic and beauty—their own comic flavor, too—and all are, of course, for and about us, who live in the here and now. But that aspect is clearest in the Purgatorio, which transpires over a series of earthly days and nights on a mountain (perhaps in New Zealand?). Not, in other words, amid desperate wails and perpetual darkness or supernal harmonies and nearly blinding light, nor among people whose existent identities are somehow forever fixed. As we discuss the central canticum at the walking pace of six or seven cantos per day, we seek to understand if and how human beings can change. 16


WEEK

3

Flannery O’Connor’s Wise Blood and The Violent Bear It Away Claudia Hauer and Krishnan Venkatesh We address Flannery O’Connor’s only two novels, in order to encounter the full power of her literary artistry, along with the startling sophistication of her theological and philosophical thought. O’Connor’s novels are, as her friend William Sessions put it, “dense and violent texts” that illustrate O’Connor’s deep sense of mystery, her complex perspective on prophecy and choice, and her keen eye for the grotesque aspect of the human condition. Written in the 1950s, as American Catholics struggled to come to terms with the atomic age, O’Connor’s novels take up questions of technology, metaphysics, and faith, all of which help us understand more fully the contemporary predicaments that continue to plague American life today.

Georgia O’Keeffe’s Art and Letters David Carl and Maggie McGuinness Here in Georgia O’Keeffe’s chosen home, we have the opportunity for a particularly rich encounter with her work. The seminar addresses paintings, drawings, and watercolors spanning the course of O’Keeffe’s career. We read her letters for insight into how O’Keeffe regarded her own endeavor, paying particular attention to the work that arose out of her affinity for the New Mexico landscape. We also visit the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum. By paying close attention to the particularities of individual works, we not only hope to articulate a clearer understanding of O’Keeffe’s artistic vision but to allow that vision to help us newly see the subjects—from blossoms to high-rises to the mountains we see out our windows—she found so compelling.

Thomas Mann’s Short Fiction John Cornell and Susan Stickney Is the artist ever an integral member of society, or does he always stand apart, observing? Is his type of sensuality the cause or the effect of his ambiguous place in the world? Can his deeper knowledge of human things save him from becoming a charlatan or a monster? These are a few of the questions that Thomas Mann’s stories raise, though his irony challenges any comfortable answers. In this seminar we read and discuss several short masterpieces from the span of Mann’s long creative life, beginning with his early novella Tonio Kröger, followed by the highly acclaimed Death in Venice, and concluding with Mario and the Magician, which was written in the shadow of fascism.

Murasaki Shikibu’s The Tale of Genji Natalie Elliot and Patricia Locke Murasaki Shikibu’s magnificent novel is set in the Japanese imperial court, full of political intrigue and erotic passion. The Shining Prince, Genji, experiences the transitory nature of love and life, and his story challenges each reader with nuanced aesthetic and ethical ideals. Where do we go when we follow Genji’s exploits, whether tender and brutal, tawdry or grand? What happens when we have a second hero give us an alternate perspective? Does Genji lead us to withdrawal or to some new engagement with the world? We immerse ourselves in what is arguably the world’s first novel, written early in the 11th century CE. Given the length of the unabridged text, participants are asked to read the book in its entirety before the seminar begins.

17

HUMAN NATURE


Week 3 | July 15–20 AFTERNOON 2 PM TO 4 PM

Into Africa with Joseph Conrad and Chinua Achebe Michael Golluber and Tom May Joseph Conrad and Chinua Achebe provide deeply contrasting perspectives on Africa—the former from a European viewpoint of explorers coming into this rich and mysterious continent, the latter as a native African, illuminating its people and their rich life from within. Both authors tell unforgettable stories of flawed heroism and tragedy. Reading Heart of Darkness and Things Fall Apart side by side affords us the opportunity to learn new and strange things not only about Europeans and Africans, colonialists and natives, but also about ourselves. We conclude our reading with Achebe’s assessment of Conrad in his controversial essay “An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness,” using it as both inspiration and foil in our own efforts to assess the very different effects of these two haunting novels. FILM AT SUMMER CLASSICS From Noir to Neo-Noir David Carl and Lise van Boxel From Noir to Neo-Noir explores how the Cold War sensibility of Robert Aldrich’s Kiss Me Deadly inspired a new generation of filmmakers to further develop the themes, tropes, and styles of film noir to create a new—and uniquely American (and Californian)—form of filmic storytelling. We examine Roman Polanski’s Chinatown, featuring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway, and Curtis Hanson’s L.A. Confidential, and we end the week with the 18


Coen brothers' inversion and explosion of noir conventions in the cult classic The Big Lebowski and look at the further evolution of noir into the 21st century in Rian Johnson’s Brick. In these movies, we begin to see how the place where a movie is made itself becomes a character, as Los Angeles takes center stage as an essential element in many works of noir and neonoir filmmaking. See page 25 for more information about Film at Summer Classics.

MORNING and AFTERNOON 10 AM TO NOON 2 PM TO 4 PM

complexity, and social organization. But while they have much to teach us about organisms and their “minds,” Marais and Gordon also show us how to be careful observers of the natural world. Inspired by their studies, we use the morning sessions to undertake our own field work, both as a class and individually, and return to their texts in the afternoons. Participants need to be able to walk at least one half mile and be prepared for working outdoors.

THE SCIENCE INSTITUTE Observing Ants: Mind, Complexity, and Society Phil Bartok and Linda Wiener Careful observation of ant and termite colonies reveals astonishingly complex and coordinated behaviors, so much so that one might think that some higher order intelligence must be at work. Eugene Marais’s The Soul of the White Ant and Deborah Gordon’s Ants at Work offer deep insights, based on decades of systematic and creative fieldwork, into the nature of instinct, learning,

See page 24 for more information about the Science Institute.

19

WEEK

ILLUMINATION

3


GENERAL INFORMATION Santa Fe, the nation’s oldest state capital and its second-largest art market, is a vibrant city that consistently ranks as one of the best places to live in the United States. An amalgam of the three cultures present and celebrated in New Mexico—Native American, Hispanic, and Anglo—the city is a magnet for those engaged in creative arts, for intellectuals, and for lovers of outdoor recreation. July offers such events as the International Folk Art Market, the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and the world-renowned Santa Fe Opera. Additionally, Santa Fe’s best outdoor music happens right on campus Wednesday nights, when the concert series Music on the Hill presents live jazz and world music in a family-friendly, relaxed atmosphere with gorgeous sunset views. St. John’s is located only three miles from Santa Fe’s historic downtown plaza and within walking distance of four major museums and the famous Canyon Road art galleries.

20


OPERA WEEK 1 / July 1-6 Wednesday, July 4 Leonard Bernstein, Candide, 8:30 p.m. Friday, July 6 Giacomo Puccini, Madame Butterfly, 8:30 p.m. WEEK 2 / July 8-13 Wednesday, July 11 Giacomo Puccini, Madame Butterfly, 8:30 p.m. Friday, July 13 Leonard Bernstein, Candide, 8:30 p.m.

Group-rate orchestra section tickets are available at the time of seminar registration or until sold out at sjc.edu/summer-classics. For more information about the Santa Fe Opera, visit santafeopera.org. Van transportation is $10 per person per opera. To attend pre-opera talks, you must arrange your own transportation.

WEEK 3 / July 15-20 Wednesday, July 18 John Adams, Doctor Atomic, 8:30 p.m. Friday, July 20 Giacomo Puccini, Madame Butterfly, 8:30 p.m.

21


seminars. When applying online, please provide the name and address of your place of employment and contact information of someone who is authorized to verify your employment. For additional questions about this discount, please contact: santafe.classics@sjc.edu.

2018 SUMMER CLASSICS

Registration, Fees, Policies, and Accommodations

College Counselor Scholarships St. John’s College offers a limited number of college counselor scholarships to introduce St. John’s College to professionals who inform young people about college opportunities. The program offers counselors a personal experience with a St. John’s College seminar. College counselors are eligible to enroll in any seminar, including the Science Institute and Lessons in Leadership. College counselors interested in attending a Summer Classics week should not register online but instead contact Carolyn Kingston in Community Programs, at 505-984-6105 or santafe.classics@sjc.edu, to learn more about the program and request an application.

Seminar Tuition Tuition for Summer Classics is $1,300 per individual seminar. Tuition includes registration, books and other course materials, weekday lunches, special events, and library and gym access. A $300 non-refundable deposit for each seminar is required to hold your space and to receive seminar materials. Balances must be paid in full by June 1, 2018. Those registering after June 1 must pay in full at the time of registration. Science Institute and Lessons in Leadership Tuition Tuition for the Science Institute and Lessons in Leadership is $1,900 per week or $950 per week for full-time licensed teachers (K-12), with proof of employment under the Teacher Tuition Assistance program. The Science Institute and the Lessons in Leadership sessions meet twice daily. Tuition includes registration, books, other course materials, and weekday lunches.

Minors Participants under the age of 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian and must notify the Summer Classics office that he or she is a minor at the time of registration. Persons under the age of 18 may find our Summer Academy more appropriate for their participation. See page 27 for information on the Summer Academy.

Multiple Seminar Discount Individuals registering for two seminars receive a $100 discount, and those registering for three or more seminars receive a $250 discount on the total cost.

Cancellations Cancellations made prior to June 1, 2018, result in a full refund, minus the $300 non-refundable deposit; cancellations thereafter forfeit the full payment. If you need to cancel your registration, please contact in writing:

Teacher Tuition Assistance St. John’s College offers tuition assistance to full-time licensed teachers (K-12). With proof of current employment as an educator, participants receive a 50-percent discount on tuition. Discounts are available to the first 30 teacher registrants. No additional discounts are offered for multiple

Summer Classics, St. John’s College 1160 Camino Cruz Blanca, Santa Fe, NM 87505 Email: santafe.classics@sjc.edu 22


Accommodations The college offers housing in a limited number of suites on campus. Accommodations are simple yet comfortable, with five single-occupancy bedrooms arranged around a shared living room. Suites share a double bathroom. Housing is located about a five-minute walk from the classrooms and dining area. Due to the cool summer evenings, our accommodations are not fitted with air conditioners. An ethernet port is provided in every room, as well as a telephone for local or calling-card calls. Wireless service is available in most areas throughout campus. Cell phone service can be unreliable in some parts of campus. Room and board fees include accommodations, linens, and meals from Sunday dinner through breakfast on Saturday. A linen exchange is offered to individuals staying more than one week. All rooms are single-occupancy. Housing is available on a first-come, first-served basis. If suite housing is no longer available, the college is happy to place you on a wait list, or dormitory-style space may be available. Use of the college gymnasium is available during your stay. The college gymnasium offers exercise equipment, racquetball and basketball courts, showers, and locker rooms. Room and board fees are $525 per week per person. Payment for housing is due at the time of registration.

REGISTER ONLINE sjc.edu/summer-classics QUESTIONS AND ASSISTANCE santafe.classics@sjc.edu 505-984-6105

If you anticipate having any special needs during your stay on campus, please inform the Summer Classics office at the time of registration. Due to limited space on campus, we cannot accommodate early arrivals or late departures. Room keys are available at registration on Sunday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Checkout time is 10 a.m. on Saturday. Please make travel arrangements to accommodate this schedule.

FEES AT A GLANCE Seminar $1,300

General tourist information is available from the Santa Fe Convention and Visitors Bureau at santafe.org or by calling 800-777-2489.

Science Institute $1,900

Transportation to Santa Fe The closest major airport is in Albuquerque, a one-hour drive from Santa Fe. Travel reservations from the airport to Santa Fe may be made with an airport shuttle service or by visiting santafe.com/getting-here. The Santa Fe airport also operates a limited number of commercial flights. Limited public transportation is available within Santa Fe by bus. For greater flexibility, a rental car is recommended.

Room and Board $525

23

Film at Summer Classics $1,300 Lessons in Leadership $1,900 Discounts available for multiple seminars & K-12 teachers


THE SCIENCE INSTITUTE The Science Institute draws on St. John’s College’s long tradition of studying science through the discussion of original texts, emphasizing hands-on involvement and experiments. Each weeklong session is an intensive immersion in landmark topics and texts, with twice-daily seminars centered on discussion among participants. Rather than viewing science as an edifice of facts, we encounter it through the living questions it poses and, in so doing, reenact the experience of scientific discovery. By encouraging each other to express and engage with those questions, we open ourselves to the wonder of inquiry into the mysteries of nature. Join us this summer to explore the paradoxical ideas at the origins of calculus, the startling experiments and concepts of quantum theory, and the secret life of the ant. The Science Institute is open to those who want to delve more deeply into the questions raised by science and mathematics and requires only an acquaintance with high-school mathematics. Mr. Pesic, tutor emeritus and musician-in-residence, is the director of the Science Institute at St. John’s College, Santa Fe.

WEEK 1 / July 1-6 THE ORIGINS OF CALCULUS Phil Bartok and Guillermo Bleichmar WEEK 2 / July 8-13 QUANTUM THEORY Grant Franks and Peter Pesic WEEK 3 / July 15-20 OBSERVING ANTS: MIND, COMPLEXITY, AND SOCIETY Phil Bartok and Linda Wiener

Three weeks of seminar offerings run concurrently with Summer Classics. Two sessions daily: 10 a.m.- noon | 2- 4 p.m.

24


FILM AT SUMMER CLASSICS Their characters lived in a world gone wrong, a world in which, long before the atom bomb, civilization had created the machinery for its own destruction, and was learning to use it with all the moronic delight of a gangster trying out his first machine gun. The law was something to be manipulated for profit and power. The streets were dark with something more than night. The mystery story grew hard and cynical about motive and character, but it was not cynical about the effects it tried to produce nor about its technique of producing them. —Raymond Chandler, Introduction to Trouble Is My Business

WEEK 1 / July 1-6 THE ORIGINS OF FILM NOIR IN THE 1940s David Townsend and Krishnan Venkatesh WEEK 2 / July 8-13 THE ORIGINS OF FILM NOIR IN THE 1950s David Carl and Marsaura Shukla WEEK 3 / July 15-20 FROM NOIR TO NEO-NOIR David Carl and Lise van Boxel

“The streets were dark with something more than night.” That’s how Raymond Chandler typified the pulp fiction of the 1940s and 1950s, and his pithy one-liner could apply equally to film noir, the cinematic genre inspired by those literary works. Film noir refers not only to the films’ stylistic and technical uses of camera, lighting, editing, and acting, but also to their themes, characters, and social commentary. Surveying film noir over a 60-year period, we study and discuss this influential and uniquely American film style, charting its evolution from its beginnings in the 1940s and 1950s to the neo-noir style it engendered in the 1970s, 1990s, and into the 21st century. In doing so, we develop a technical understanding of the style and vocabulary of the genre as a whole, while simultaneously learning to see each film as a distinctive work of art. Along the way, we become better viewers of film and deeper thinkers about the cinematic art form. Students may enroll in any one, two, or all three of the seminar weeks. Each week presents a self-contained, individualized curriculum, and all three weeks taken together offer a survey of the film noir genre. Participants should view all movies before arriving on campus; copies of the films and a suitable viewing area are also provided by the college for students' use before each class. If you need assistance viewing the films prior to arrival on campus, please contact Summer Classics at santafe.classics@sjc.edu. Tuition for a Film at Summer Classics seminar is the same as other Summer Classics seminars. 25


LESSONS IN LEADERSHIP FROM THE CLASSICS:

East Meets West

Week 1 | July 1–6

CHARLES BERGMAN AND DAVID CARL Lessons in Leadership from the Classics: East Meets West offers participants a rare opportunity to examine leadership lessons from the past in the context of the present. Together we delve into four texts from distinctive cultural and historic traditions and, by placing them in dialogue with one another, deepen our understanding of them as we connect their principles to today’s world. Each morning, we examine leadership from the points of view of Plutarch (The Life of Alexander the Great), Confucius (Analects), Sun Tzu (The Art of War), and Machiavelli (The Prince). These sessions are “great books” discussions structured in the traditional St. John’s seminar method: we read and discuss the works closely, with the intention of learning from—rather than about—our authors. To that end, we consider the range of practical leadership tactics and techniques as applied by the four authors, surveying military and political strategies for building consensus, motivating allies, combatting opposition, bolstering tradition, and innovating in the face of changing circumstances. During our afternoon sessions, we apply lessons in leadership to real-world situations through a variety of exercises and activities, utilizing video clips, contemporary case studies, writing exercises, brief debates, and the

application of psychometric tools. Throughout, we consider the historical and critical contexts that shaped the life and thought of our four authors. Join us for an intensive examination of Western and Eastern classical traditions, one that illuminates the enduring principles of leadership and the ways in which they relate to our own moment in time.

26


SUMMER ACADEMY:

A Pre-College, Residential Program for High School Students Ages 15-18

The Summer Academy at St. John’s College offers 15- to 18-year-olds the opportunity to experience the college through an immersive, weeklong course of study based on a specific theme. Students read primary texts and engage in stimulating discussions that highlight questions central to the human mind and spirit. With exciting classroom activities and off-campus excursions, the Summer Academy program provides opportunities to build friendships both in and out of the classroom.

SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO June 24-30 Courage and the Soul July 1-7 Contemplation and Love July 8-14 Suffering and Music ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND July 15-21 Equality and Inequality July 22-28 Poets and Perception

Summer Academy seminars are led by St. John’s College faculty and employ the college’s discussion-driven, collaborative method of learning. Participants are encouraged to express their opinions, to listen, and to discuss openly what they do and don’t understand. Through this process, students’ minds are sharpened, and their views on education are transformed. Tuition for each session is $1,100. Tuition includes room and board, books, and activity fees. Students may participate in multiple sessions and financial aid is available. For more information visit: sjc.edu/summeracademy or contact Anne Young at SantaFe.Academy@sjc.edu, 800-331-5232.

27


GRADUATE INSTITUTE Many who have enjoyed Summer Classics choose to continue their St. John’s experience by completing the Master of Arts in Liberal Arts program (MALA). In discussion-focused classes, students of the MALA dive deeper into Western literature, religion, philosophy, science, and history. Over the course of four semesters, the MALA provides the opportunity to explore enduring, fundamental questions through engaging discussion, careful reading, and thoughtful writing. As with Summer Classics, we read only original texts, and our classes are entirely devoted to deepening our understanding of these works—no lectures, no exams, just the earnest exploration of ideas and our own thinking about these ideas.

Get your master's degree in two years, or in four summers.

In order to accommodate a wide range of students, a number of options provide flexibility: students may begin the program in the fall, spring, or summer semester, take the segments in a number of different sequences—such as four summer semesters—take time off between segments, and transfer between the Santa Fe and Annapolis campuses at the start of any segment.

Focus on the Western classics or the Eastern classics.

The Santa Fe campus also offers the Master of Arts in Eastern Classics (MAEC). In this three-semester program, students immerse themselves in the thought of India, China, and Japan while studying classical Chinese or Sanskrit. The program introduces students to the breadth and richness of these traditions and how the conversation among them lends insight into the fundamental and enduring questions of humankind.

Receive generous student aid: a rarity in graduate programs.

For more information, contact santafe.giadmissions@sjc.edu or 505-984-6083.

Discover the magic of our renowned discussion-based seminars.

28


IMAGE CREDITS Cover: War and Peace. Pablo Picasso, 1951, pen and India ink, © 2018 Estate of Pablo Picasso/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York Inside cover: Dark Mountain, Paul Landacre, ca. 1934, wood engraving on gold laid Japanese paper, Art © Estate of Paul Landacre/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY, The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, Gift of Mrs. Homer D. Crotty Page 4: The Circle of the Lustful: Paolo and Francesca, from Dante’s Inferno, Canto V, William Blake, Illustrates Dante Alighieri (Italian, Florence ca. 1265-1321 Ravenna), ca. 1825-27, engraving, Rogers Fund, 1917 Page 8: Faust: Part 1. Last Scene, Relates to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (German, Frankfurt am Main, 1749-1832 Weimar, Saxe-Weimar), Dante Gabriel Rossetti, ca. 1846-48, pen and brown ink and brown wash over graphite, on tan paper, Gift of Etheleen and Allen Staley, 2013 Page 9: Heart amulet with human head, New Kingdom or Dynasty 21-22, ca. 1550-710 B.C., Probably from Egypt, jasper, carnelian, chlorite, Gift of Miss A. M. Hegemann, 1938

Page 10: “Dancing Dervishes,” Folio from a Divan of Hafiz, painting attributed to Bihzad, ca. 1480, Attributed to present-day Afghanistan, Herat, opaque watercolor and gold on paper, Rogers Fund, 1917 Page 12: An allegory of Peace; Peace personified as a woman standing in a landscape holding the left hand of a winged genius, Marcantonio Raimondi, ca. 1517-20, engraving, The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1962 Page 14: Dante Meditating on the “Divine Comedy,” Jean-Jacques Feuchère, ca. 1843, pen and brown ink with brown wash and watercolor over graphite, heightened with white gouache, on three joined sheets of laid paper, Gift of the Christian Humann Foundation Page 15: Disparate ridiculo (Ridiculous Folly), Francisco de Goya, in or after 1816, etching, aquatint, and drypoint, Rosenwald Collection Page 16: Study for “War and Peace,” Robert W. Weir, ca. 1836, pen and brown ink with wash on wove paper mounted to paperboard, Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase, Membership Association Fund)

Page 17: Peace and War, Emil Fuchs (American, Vienna 18661929, New York), 1913, bronze, Gift of Pierre C. Cartier, 1920 Page 18: War Mask, 12th-14th century, Mongolian or Tibetan, iron, copper alloy, Purchase, Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Gift, 2007 Page 19: Hooke, Robert, 1635-1703/Micrographia: or some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses Page 21: Top photo by Douglas Maahs Page 25: Photograph of Gene Tierney as “Laura,” 1944 Page 26: Life of Confucius, probably late Qing dynasty (16441911), China, Four volumes of woodblock printed books; ink on paper, illustrated book


What past participants are saying about Summer Classics... “An extraordinary opportunity to explore and discuss a subject. Deep and intense. Invigorating! The experience reinforces what your mind is capable of doing when circumstances allow.” “Summer Classics is absolutely a wonderful and fulfilling experience! Topics, level of interest by participants, and the depth of discussions revealing other participants varying viewpoints makes a seminar very rewarding. If you are interested in spending a week diving into a topic that interests you and may be outside of your usual daily work or interests, then a session at Summer Classics is for you.”

1160 Camino Cruz Blanca Santa Fe, NM 87505 sjc.edu


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.