Academics | The Core Blog

Category: Academics

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, […]

By mdimov | Also posted in 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 […]

By mdimov | Also posted in 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 […]

By mdimov | Also posted in 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.

By mdimov | Also posted in 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)

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 […]

By mdimov | Also posted in Community, Core Authors, Curriculum, Great Questions | Tagged book, critic, criticism, Emma, Enlightenment, insight, Jane Austen, message, movie, question, Theory | 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- […]

By mdimov | Also posted in 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, […]

By mdimov | Also posted in 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)

Maximal Meaning in Minimal Space: the History of Punctuation

April 22, 2013 at 2:36 pm

The Core presents the original English version of an article that was published in the April 2013 issue of Hiatus, la revue. Here is an extract: Punctuation, as any dictionary will tell you, consists of the marks that dance around the letters of a text to mark clauses, sentences and inflection. What, though, is minimal punctuation? Is it in […]

By mdimov | Also posted in Core Authors, Future of the Book, Great Questions | Tagged Ancient Greek, Beat, cut, Greek, Irish, language, Latin, punctuation, rhythm | Comments (0)

Times Higher Education – “Creative Writing”

April 22, 2013 at 10:00 am

The Core presents an interesting feature from Times Higher Education, in which they offer their insight on what the causes, and possible consequences, of the rise of “creative writing” may be. Here is a sample: Despite the speed and apparent smoothness with which creative writing has become incorporated into English departments, or (especially in the US) as a […]

By mdimov | Also posted in Art, Community, Future of the Book, Great Questions | Tagged article, artist, author, creative, essay, feature, personal, system, THE, Times Higher Education, tool, writing | Comments (0)

When Dickens met Dostoevsky

April 18, 2013 at 11:39 am

Relating to the studies of CC202 is an article by Eric Naiman discussing a supposed encounter between Dostoevsky and Dickens. Here is an extract: I have been teaching courses on Dostoevsky for over two decades, but I had never come across any mention of this encounter. Although Dostoevsky is known to have visited London for […]

By mdimov | Also posted in Community, Core Authors, Great Personalities, Great Questions | Tagged account, authors, Charles Dickens, Dostoevsky, encounter, evidence, false, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, history, literature, meet | Comments (0)

Welcome!

The Core Blog is a hub for information and media related to the CAS Core Curriculum at Boston University. It will be updated regularly, with photo galleries, interviews, links to related reading online, news of events or activities, and other kinds of content that help connect our Core people—prospective, current, and former students—with each other. You can stop by here once a week to scroll through the posts, or make this your homepage in order to keep your finger on the pulse of the Core. Either way, we hope you find this to be a pleasant way to strengthen your connection with the great people, the great books, and the great questions we encounter in the Core.
Tags

alumni analect Analects Art books CC101 CC102 CC105 CC106 CC201 CC202 CC203 CC204 Community dante e-bulletin EnCore event Events faculty fun Gilgamesh Greece history Homer Humanities humor Inequality lecture music odyssey painting philosophy Plato poem poetry postcard postcards reading Science shakespeare theater video weekly links writing

Category: Academics

Welcome!

Tags