Posts by: mdimov

W. H. Auden’s Syllabus

February 25, 2013 at 2:20 pm

In this article, Jeva Lange lets us peek into the extremely heavy reading list college students would receive from W.H. Auden for his class, Fate and the Individual in European Literature, as seen above. Compare this to all the Core reading lists combined! http://bit.ly/W8oTLj For the full article, visit http://nydn.us/13aM8q4

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Giacinto Scelsi

February 22, 2013 at 11:00 am

From the Shutter Island Soundtrack: The Core presents Giacinto Scelsi, an Italian composer from the 20th century that remained largely unknown for most of his career. The impact caused by the late discovery of Scelsi’s works was described by Belgian musicologist Harry Halbreich: A whole chapter of recent musical history must be rewritten: the second half of […]

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BU Today: The Penelopiad

February 22, 2013 at 10:26 am

This article by Susan Seligson of BU Today provides the first reactions to CFA’s rendi tion of Margaret Atwood’s Penelopiad. Here is a sample of description: In this contemporary reimagining of The Odyssey, which the author adapted from her 2005 novella, the dead Penelope narrates her tale from a 21st-century Hades, in a state she describes as […]

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The Essay as Reality Television

February 22, 2013 at 10:05 am

Adam Kirsch discusses whether or not essays are “extinct” as a form of writing, and references Michel e Montaigne, whose work is studied in CC201. Here is a sample: The essay, traditionally, was defined by its freedom and its empiricism—qualities that it inherited from its modern inventor, Montaigne. “What do I know?” Montaigne asked, and […]

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Sting & Confucius

February 21, 2013 at 12:46 pm

The Core presents a song by Sting titled Englishman in New York. It’s message relates to CC102’s study of the Analects of Confucius. The Confucian idea of the ethics of a “gentleman”, to some extent, provides directions on how to behave in the “gentlemanly” way when in a foreign land. Sting addresses this idea of […]

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Applying Confucian Ethics to International Relations

February 21, 2013 at 11:00 am

In view of CC102’s study of the Analects of Confucius, the Core presents an interesting discussion of Confucian ethics when applied to international relations. Here is a sample: Chinese ethics is a deontological system that has a continuity spanning a range from personal to public concerns, without differentiation. A good society, a good state, and […]

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Kurt Cobain: Letters & Journals

February 20, 2013 at 4:05 pm

Kurt Cobain’s music and ideas have had a large impact on several generations, and the Core finds it worth acknowledging. In this article, Maria Popova explores and provides pages from the letters and journals of grunge legend. She describes the collection: The posthumously released Kurt Cobain: Journals (public library) offers an unprecedented glimpse of the modern icon’s […]

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Where Stars Come From

February 20, 2013 at 3:24 pm

Watch this video on YouTube The Core shares an article from BU Today concerning the intriguing origin of stars, where CAS professor James Jackson answers some exciting questions. A sample: For years, Jackson, a College of Arts & Sciences professor of astronomy, and his international colleagues studied [a dark, opaque mass that astronomers call] “the brick,” […]

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Charles McNulty on Depictions of Violence in Theater

February 19, 2013 at 12:49 pm

In this compelling article, Los Angeles Times Theater Critic McNulty discusses the controversial topic of violence in theater. Here is a sample: What is the line between acceptable and unacceptable violence in art? If gruesomeness is the criterion, much of Jacobean drama would have to be banned, including Shakespeare’s “King Lear,” with its graphic scene […]

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CC204: Living Wage Calculator

February 19, 2013 at 12:11 pm

This spring, the class of CC204 has been looking at inequality in terms of race, gender, social class and financial standing. “Poverty in America” has provided a very useful tool to investigate inequality in terms wages across the United States, the Living Wage Calculator: http://bit.ly/Ykr2NZ Simply enter your home town and find out how much money […]

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