Book Discussion: "Alice Bliss" by Laura Harrington
Mark Szarko
Thu Jan 26, 12-01:00pm, 14N-417
No limit but advance sign up required (see contact below)
Single session event
Alice Bliss, the debut novel by playwright and Music and Theater Arts faculty member Laura Harrington, tells a coming-of-age story of an adolescent girl coming to terms with her father’s deployment in Iraq. The discussion will be facilitated by Mark Szarko, Literature, Theater Arts, and Writing & Humanistic Studies Librarian.
The first 10 individuals to register will receive a free copy of the book, either hardback or Kindle edition. Please register at: http://info-libraries.mit.edu/events/.
Contact: Mark Szarko, 14S-144, x8-8022, szarko@mit.edu
Sponsor: Libraries
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Investigating Sherlock Holmes
Daniel Polvere, Member, Baker Street Irregulars
Wed Jan 18, 07:30-09:00pm, 32-141
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event
Learn about the life of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, how Holmes was created and his alternative world, the literary and social phenomenon of Sherlock Holmes then and continuing to the present, film characterizations and finally the "scholarly" societies which have sprung up around the world.
Contact: Anne Hunter, anneh@mit.edu
Sponsor: Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Cosponsor: Science Fiction Society
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Literature Mobile Reading Marathon
Wyn Kelley
Thu Jan 26, 09:30am-05:30pm, 14E-304, event is mobile, rooms change
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Single session event
Please note: rooms locations will change throughout the day.
Great Danes: Shakespeare’s "Hamlet" and Stoppard’s "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead"
Come to Elsinore! Join us in a dramatic reading of two plays about a gloomy but intriguing Danish prince. Readers will gather in the morning, fortified with coffee and pastries, to read Shakespeare’s "Hamlet" in its entirety. After a break for lunch (on your own), we will reconvene to finish the play. We turn then from high tragedy to existential comedy in Stoppard’s imaginative (and shorter) reconstruction, "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead." Mysterious guest readers may appear at strategic moments. There may be sword fights. There may be shipwrecks. There may be skulls. We conclude with refreshments and possibly some film clips. Details of times and places to follow.
Contact: Wyn Kelley, 14N-413, 253-7655, wkelley@mit.edu
Sponsor: Literature
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Love and Humor in Ancient India
Shekhar Shastri Director of Meru Education Foundation, Sanjay Sarma
Tue Jan 10, Thu Jan 12, Tue Jan 17, Thu Jan 19, Tue Jan 24, 07-09:00pm, 4-145
No limit but advance sign up required (see contact below)
Signup by: 10-Jan-2012
Participants requested to attend all sessions (non-series)
Romantic poetry was considered the supreme form of aesthetics in ancient Indian literature. Strikingly uninhibited in their content and intensity, the works of poets such as Bhartrhari, Kalidasa, and Jayadeva are unparalleled in their sublime expression of love which provide deep insight into ancient Indian society, culture, and relationships in general. In addition, a brief background in Indian aesthetics would be provided to help in understanding the literary works and the sensibilities of the era under study; paintings inspired from the above-mentioned love poetry would be shown and discussed
Students would be encouraged to create original works on their own deriving inspiration from the works studied in the class.
Instructor
Shekhar Shastri is an entrepreneur, poet, and filmmaker and is a Director of Meru Education Foundation, which produces educational programs on the arts and culture of India. He writes poetry and plays in Sanskrit, Hindi, and English. He has produced four films, one of which was nominated for a National award in India.
Please email shastri@shastri.net to register.
Contact: Shekhar Shastri, shastri@shastri.net
Sponsor: Mechanical Engineering
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On the Screen
Eugenie Brinkema
Mon-Thu, Jan 9-12, 17-19, 23-26, 30-2, 03-05:00pm, 3-133
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
THE FILMS OF ALFRED HITCHCOCK explores sixteen of the great director's films, ranging from 1927 to 1972. Films will include early Expressionist forays; pictures of espionage and intrigue; the “wrong-man” films; big-budget classics; and lesser-known late works.
Films will include:
The Lodger (1927)
Blackmail (1929)
The 39 Steps (1935)
Suspicion (1941)
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Lifeboat (1944)
Spellbound (1945)
Notorious (1946)
Rope (1948)
Strangers on a Train (1951)
Rear Window (1954)
Vertigo (1958)
North by Northwest (1959)
Psycho (1960)
The Birds (1963)
Frenzy (1972)
Contact: Hannah Carpenter, 14N-407, x8-5629, hcarpen@mit.edu
Sponsor: Literature
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Pleasures of Poetry
David Thorburn
Mon-Fri, Jan 9-13, 17-20, 23-27, 30-3, 01-02:00pm, 14E-304
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Participants welcome at individual sessions (series)
Strengthens writing and reading comprehension skills. Public poetry readings and discussions. The poems chosen by the various moderators range across the history of literature, from ancient Chinese lyrics to contemporary texts.
Contact: Hannah Carpenter, 14N-407, x8-5629, hcarpen@mit.edu
Sponsor: Literature
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Reading and Writing the Shakespearean Sonnet in 2012 - CANCELED
Karyn Crispo Jones
Thu Jan 26, 12-02:00pm, 14E-310
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Signup by: 26-Jan-2012
Single session event
Through all ages, no one has expressed the truth of the human experience like William Shakespeare. His poems and plays stay with us through all times and speak to us across all cultures. Shakespeare's a remarkable storyteller, and it's through his stories that he's able to show us what it means to be human. Come explore how Shakespeare's extraordinary sonnets are still relevant to your life in 2012, discover what he has to say about being alive, and try your hand at expressing your own feelings about the human condition through this celebrated form of poetry.
Contact: Karyn Crispo Jones, 13-5110, x3-0094, k1jones@mit.edu
Sponsor: Writing and Communication Center
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Visual Poetics of Literary Form: from Visual Poetry to Poetry Film
Natalia Fedorova Fulbright Visiting Scholar, Taras Mashtalir, sound designer
Tue, Fri, Jan 10, 13, 17, 20, 24, 27, 31, 01-02:30pm, 56-180
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Signup by: 09-Jan-2012
Participants welcome at individual sessions (series)
Prereq: none
Visual Poetics of Literary Form: from Visual Poetry to Poetry Film examines the development of experimental literary forms from visual to multimedia poetics through the twenties century in radically changing landscape of Russian cultural history. Explores their transition across national and media borders. Course will look at the history of representation of visual poetic forms from Russian fututism and avante-garde further on to underground samizdat, poetry film, kinetic and digital poetry pratices. Careful observation of the dinamics of the visual poetic forms will allow to re-think the notion of novelity, as well as observe how the economical and historic circumstanses can influence the mode and media used by the artist. Students will be required to do the reading for each class and also will be encouraged to submit visual poetic works of their own for the final exhibition with the discussion to follow.
Contact: natalia fedorova, 14N-233, (671) 515-3573, natali@mit.edu
Sponsor: Comparative Media Studies
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