THE COMPLEAT GARGOYLE - Graham School of General Studies ...

Amy Thomas Elder and
Charles Elder
Ms. Thomas Elder holds degrees in
biology, classics, and the study of
religion. She teaches in and directs
the Odyssey Project, an Illinois
Humanities Council program
providing a college humanities
course to adults living on low
incomes. Mr. Elder holds a PhD from
the Divinity School at the University
of Chicago. His particular interests
are philosophy, social and cultural
theory, and issues of modernity.
Course Code BPURTW
Section 12U1
Summer 2012
Gleacher Center
$190 Early registration ends June 13
$220 Regular registration
Thursdays
June 21–July 12
10 am–1:15 pm
Teacher Recertification CPDUs: 12
Please read the opening chapter,
“Economy,” for the first meeting.
(Note: we will use the Shanley
edition, published by Princeton
University Press, but any edition is
acceptable.)
The Early Sleuths:
19th-Century Detective
Fiction
Many of us are avid readers of
detective fiction, but where did this
popular genre begin? In this class,
we will read some of the world’s
great pioneering detective novels,
including such early 19th-century
writers as Edgar Allan Poe, Wilkie
Collins (The Moonstone), and
Charles Dickens (The Mystery
of Edwin Drood). And we will, of
course, also explore some of the
best Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle, including The
Hound of the Baskervilles.
Cynthia Rutz
Ms. Rutz is pursuing a PhD at the
University of Chicago on Shakespeare.
Other academic interests
include mythology, folktales, and
ancient Greek philosophy and
literature. She served as chair of the
Basic Program from 1999 to 2004,
and currently teaches at Valparaiso
University.
Course Code BPUTES
Section 12U1
Summer 2012
Gleacher Center
$250 Early registration ends June 13
$280 Regular registration
Thursdays
July 12–August 16
10 am–1:15 pm
Teacher Recertification CPDUs: 18
For the first class, please read
Poe’s short stories “The Murders
in the Rue Morgue,” “The
Purloined Letter,” and “The Mystery
of Marie Roget.”
The Poetry of
Emily Dickinson
The mythos of Emily Dickinson in
her life can sometimes soften and
distort her greatness. In hopes of
redressing that situation, we will
enter the conversation of her 1,775
works, and focus intensively on
selected poems. We will directly
address the range, suppleness and
fire of her intellect and emotion, and
the startling mastery and inventiveness
of her poetic forms. Dickinson’s
conjoining the Bringing-to-Be of
artistic creation, with philosophy’s
fierce Eros to comprehend Thatwhich-Is,
powerfully bears out theologian
David Tracy’s recognition of
poetry as “embodied philosophy.”
Claudia Traudt
See bio under James Joyce’s Ulysses.
Course Code BPUPED
Section 12U1
Summer 2012
Gleacher Center
$335 Early registration ends June 13
$365 Regular registration
Tuesdays
June 19–August 7
6–9:15 pm
Teacher Recertification CPDUs: 24
The World of Fernando
Pessoa
We will devote the five weeks of this
course to a selection of poetry and
prose by one of the most fascinating
artists of the 20th century, the
Portuguese modernist Fernando
Pessoa (1888–1935). Pessoa created
70 different writing personalities
(literary alter egos with their
own identities and writing styles)
and produced an immense oeuvre,
which is becoming more and more
12 Humanities Texts & Contexts
popular in English translations.
We will focus on poems by four of
Pessoa’s poetic incarnations, and
the prose in his wise, imaginative
Book of Disquietude, in which every
second line makes the reader look
for an occasion to quote it.
Katia Mitova
Ms. Mitova holds an MA in
comparative Slavic studies from the
University of Sofia, Bulgaria, and an
MA and PhD from the Committee
on Social Thought at the University
of Chicago. She is working on a
book on the dialogical character of
literary creativity. Her research and
teaching interests include storytelling
and artistic creativity. She
received the 2008 Graham School
Excellence in Teaching Award for
the Basic Program.
Course Code BPUWFP
Section 12U1
Summer 2012
Gleacher Center
$210 Early registration ends June 13
$240 Regular registration
Tuesdays
June 19–July 17
6–9:15 pm
Teacher Recertification CPDUs: 15
Little Dorrit: Finance,
Society, and Freedom
A novel for our times, Charles
Dickens’s Little Dorrit examines
the effects of abstract financial and
policy decisions on individuals,
families, and entire neighborhoods.
At the heart of the book
is the infamous debtor’s prison
from the author’s childhood, the
Marshalsea; when coupled with an
entire metropolis of unforgettable
characters the result is a moving,
comic, and incisive analysis of the
many guises of imprisonment in
modern life. To appreciate Dickens’s
analysis of choice and freedom, and
how these are linked to work, investment,
inheritance, debt, and social
services, we will also read excerpts
from works by Adam Smith, Karl
Marx, George Orwell, and others.
Marissa Love
Ms. Love is assistant director of
Humanities, Arts, and Sciences
at the Graham School and has
taught in the Basic Program since
1998. Her areas of interest include
19th-century novels, Shakespeare,
Japanese literature, and lyric
poetry.