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Posts by: mdimov

A Review of Christian Wiman’s Spiritual Autobiography

April 30, 2013 at 12:59 pm

In his review of Christian Wiman’s spiritual autobiography, My Bright Abyss: Meditation of a Modern Believer, Jay Parini discusses Wiman’s emphasis on the importance of faith to a critic. Here is an extract: It strikes me that criticism—systemic reflection on texts, even on life itself—has lost its urgency during the past 30 years or more, […]

Posted in Academics, Art, Community, Great Questions | Tagged autobiography, belief, Christian Wiman, criticism, divine, faight, interpretation, Jay Parini, literature, review, specific, spiritual, vague, words | Comments (0)

Oscar Wilde in America

April 30, 2013 at 12:31 pm

In his review of Roy Morris Jr.’s Declaring His Genius: Oscar Wilde in North America, Justin Beplate discusses Oscar Wilde’s trip to America, and the lasting effect that it had on his writing and personality. Here is an excerpt: Wilde’s reception in America was uneven. If some were bemused by the colourful paraphernalia of aestheticism, others […]

Posted in Academics, Great Personalities, Great Questions | Tagged America, Justin Beplate, literary, North, Oscar Wilde, review, Roy Morris | Comments (0)

A Review of Kurt Vonnegut’s Letters

April 30, 2013 at 12:21 pm

The Core presents a review of Kurt Vonnegut’s Letters, by Keith Miller. Vonnegut is not a writer directly studied in Core classes, however, his influence on the literary world is worth examining. Here is an excerpt: Most of Vonnegut’s early writing is – despite his protestations about “genre-ism” – fairly easy to ghettoise as science […]

Posted in Academics, Great Ideas, Great Personalities | Tagged author, genre, Keith Miller, Kurt Vonnegut, letters, personality, review, writer | Comments (0)

Salvador Dali: Dante’s Paradiso

April 30, 2013 at 11:49 am

Relating to CC102′s study of Dante’s Divine Comedy are illustrations made by Salvador Dali for Paradiso. Here is a sample: For the full set of images, visit bit.ly/16iqVvI. To view Dali’s illustrations for Inferno, visit bit.ly/10jHp1E, and for Purgatorio, visit bit.ly/17H3fQT.

Posted in Academics, Art, Community, Core Authors, Curriculum, Great Ideas, Great Personalities | Tagged dante, Dante Alighieri, drawing, illustration, painting, Paradiso, picture, Salvador Dali, The Divine Comedy | Comments (0)

Writers’ Reasons For Reading

April 24, 2013 at 9:46 am

Here is where these great writers get their zest for reading: “Every man who knows how to read has it in his power to magnify himself, to multiply the ways in which he exists, to make his life full, significant, and interesting.” Aldous Huxley “Reading a book is like re-writing it for yourself. You bring […]

Posted in Art, Core Authors, Future of the Book, Great Ideas, Great Personalities, Great Questions | Tagged Aldous Huxley, Angela Carter, book, drama, Franz Kafka, interest, motivation, reading, W Somerset Maugham | Comments (0)

Core Banquet: Invitations!

April 24, 2013 at 9:32 am

To all Core scholars: You are invited to next week’s Core Banquet; we’re very much looking forward to the occasion. We would like to invite you to submit your shout-outs and photos, so that they can be inserted into the slide show that will be playing throughout the evening. Any photos (of Core friends, classes, […]

Posted in Activities, Announcements, Art, Community, Core in the City, Core Lecturers, Events, Friday Fun, Great Ideas | Tagged banquet, Core Banquet, drink, end, food, fun, gathering, memories, music, pictures, semester, together | Comments (0)

Criticism of ‘Jane Austen, Game Theorist’

April 24, 2013 at 9:22 am

Relating to CC202’s study of Jane Austen’s work is an article from Slate, in which Adelle Waldman gives her amusing criticism of a recent book that discusses Austen’s insight into human behavior. Here is an extract: Austen, it seems, has something to tell us. And not only us English majors. Mathematicians. Game theorists. Serious thinkers. Even […]

Posted in Academics, Community, Core Authors, Curriculum, Great Questions | Tagged book, critic, criticism, Emma, Enlightenment, insight, Jane Austen, message, movie, question, Theory | Comments (0)

An Oddly Modern Antiquarian Bookshop

April 23, 2013 at 1:29 pm

In an intriguing article for the New York Times, Jody Rosen discusses a fascinating but little-known bookstore called Monkey’s Paw, and gives ideas on how such businesses fit into today’s literary world. Here is an extract: “Life-Spark Stories for the Intelligent Young.” Attributed to the author “R. K.,” it tells the story of a “bright […]

Posted in Art, Community, Future of the Book, Great Ideas | Tagged age, antique, antiquity, balance, book, bookstore, future, literature, new, odd, rare, technology | Comments (0)

CC106 Information

April 23, 2013 at 1:12 pm

Below is a list of important topics from lectures since CC106’s last exam (not including the April 16th lecture and those after). Important topics: Ecology Lectures I and II: Biomes and Physical Ecology: (Prof. Schnieder) Ecology as concept- Biotic vs. abiotic traits of environment- Biome vs. biogeographic region- Levels of biological organization- Physical geography vs. biogeography- […]

Posted in Academics, Announcements, Core Lecturers, Curriculum, General Announcements | Tagged CC106, exam, guide, hint, information, lecture, preparation, study, test, topic, update | Comments (0)

Annual Poetry Reading: Poetry’s Distant Voice

April 23, 2013 at 12:59 pm

The Core presents a “set of two poems, which are the same poem” as phrased by Zachary Bos, one of the respected speakers at the Annual Poetry Reading this year on April 16th. The theme of the reading was “Poetry’s Distant Voice”, and here is Zachary Bos’ contribution: From The Book of Hours I, 36 MacDiarmid, […]

Posted in Academics, Activities, alumni, Art, Community, Core in the City, Events, Great Questions | Tagged annual, Book of Hours, distant, God, poem, poetry, question, reading, speakers, theme, voice | Comments (0)

Posts by: mdimov

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