Courses

Proust's narrator explores themes of art, taste, memory, personal identity, high society, and love, set mostly in pre-war Paris. Swann's Way is the first volume of The Search for Lost Time. In summer quarter, the second and third books will be offered: In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower and The Guermantes Way.

This one quarter discussion course will examine the relationship between Public Religion (that is, religion that impacts law and politics) and Politics in America, in the 20th Century, from roughly the 1890s to 2020.

We will read two 20th century poets, W. H. Auden and Philip Larkin. Auden names and pierces many of the beauties, pains and dilemmas of living, loving and making in works that echo with resonances from antiquity to modernity. Larkin's poetry is direct, down, open, modern; his poetic techniques razor-sharp and subtle.

The third of three quarters in the study of Greek Tragedies and Comedies. This Quarter will be devoted to the study of the surviving plays of Euripides and the remaining plays of Aristophanes not read in the first two quarters.

Herodotus called Egypt the "gift of the Nile"; why and how this is relevant to the civilization on the Nile is the thesis of this class, which will focus on the ancient Egyptians' unique perception of the universe and their place in it.

Through groundbreaking texts we will explore this ancient and contemporary literary mode. Students will experiment with this flexible form through in-class writing exercises, discussion of professional models and critique of student writing.

This three-quarter sequence will examine the history of the relation between “Techne,” (science and technology) and Sophia (wisdom). How does technology, especially “IT,” shape the ideas of our civilization?

This quarter's seminar examines the legacies of slavery and racism in America through both philosophical and literary texts. The tutorial takes up some of the most important poetry of the 19th and 20th centuries.

American writers have created a body of literature great in its illumination into the deeps of the human condition and our own lives. These stories communicate through originality, masterly prose and imagination in presenting pathos, comedy and irony.

We will aim to unpack the interplay between the structural and stylistic decisions and the challenging historical topic in Morrison's classic Beloved. In Song of Solomon we will follow her hero Milkman as he reckons with his own heritage.

This class will engage in a close reading of a text that makes an excellent introduction to Heidegger: his lecture course titled Introduction to Metaphysics- a critical dialogue with the beginnings of Greek philosophy.

Many organizations now use machine learning in their operations but have not yet realized the potential of these approaches for cybersecurity.

The last in a three-quarter series of courses exploring texts connected to the origins of Christianity.

We will read Hannaford's seminal work, Race: The History of an Idea in the West, as he confronts the Western canon with a sympathetic yet critical eye in this, the first treatment of the idea of race from the standpoint of intellectual history.

This course is a continuation of a close reading of the first five books of the Bible known as the Torah in Judaism and the Pentateuch in Christianity. We will read chapter by chapter, discussing its literary form and content as well as its religious significance.

The Peony Pavilion is one of the most famous masterpieces in the history of Chinese theater. Written by Shakespeare's contemporary Tang Xianzu. Through the lens of this classic work, we will explore some key aspects of Chinese culture.

Which musicals changed the face of this most American of art forms? Join the Chicago Tribune's renowned theater critic and cultural columnist Chris Jones on a weekly online journey across the most fascinating Broadway musicals, from 1945 to 2016.

How does music paint pictures and inspire emotion? Is it the power of suggestion from program notes, or is there really a musical language? This class examines the program music of Berlioz, Liszt, Strauss, Respighi, Debussy, Stravinsky,and others.

This is Part 3 of a 3-quarter series

The Spring Seminar focuses on texts dealing with daily life to allow us to explore other areas of the Roman world and its influence that are not always seen in more lofty genres. Through comedy and religion, we get a glimpse of the pleasures and anxieties that are found in all levels of Roman society.