“For a while these reveries provided an outlet for his imagination; they were a satisfactory hint at the unreality of reality, a promise that the rock of the world was founded securely on a fairy’s wing.” The Great Gatsby (1925) , F. Scott Fitzgerald, p. 106.
Crossing Niagara. ( Still photo is John Barrymore and Dolores Costello, When A Man Loves. Music is “A Sea Change,” Kyle Preston.). May 20, 2017. Video by Gerst.
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.” (Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind)
Those of us who have been reading Anna Karenina together end this joyful reading not with answer but with questions. Questions are what open doors and light up worlds. Continue reading
And the candle by the light of which she had been reading that book filled with anxieties, deceptions, grief and evil, flared up brighter than ever, lit up for her all that had once been in darkness, sputtered, grew dim, and went out forever.
Novelist Leo Tolstoy concludes Section Seven of Anna Karenina with the sentence about reading that you see above. But in reading any sentence, a reader enters a universe, somewhat originating in the text and somewhat coming from elsewhere. Where does Tolstoy’s sentence lead you?
You can see here where the sentence above leads some Anna Karenina reading group members.
If the sentence takes you somewhere, too, send back a message by contributing a comment.
The Dance of Life (1929), dir. John Cromwell & A. Edward Sutherland
Writes Professor Robert Gerst:
Novelist Virginia Woolf explained in 1926 what she sought from movies: “…We should be able to see thought in its wildness, in its beauty, in its oddity, pouring from men with their elbows on a table; from women with their little handbags slipping to the floor.” (The Movies and Reality)
In this shot from The Dance of Life (1929), a character prepares for her wedding night. What do you see?
Philip Glass, “Satyagraha,” Act 1, Scene 2, Tolstoy Farm
First Tolstoy. Then Gandhi, who revered Tolstoy. Then Philip Glass, who revered Gandhi and wrote on commission Satyagraha, his opera honoring Gandhi. Now, us. Listen.
“Imagine! One can hear and see the grass growing!” Levin said to himself, noticing a wet, slate-colored aspen leaf moving beside a blade of young grass. He stood, listened, and gazed sometimes down at the wet mossy ground, sometimes at Laska listening all alert, sometimes at the sea of bare tree tops that stretched on the slope below him, sometimes at the darkening sky, covered with white streaks of cloud.
Anna Karenia, Chapter 15
Next meetings are April 7th, April 21st, May 5th, and May 19th. Join us.
Writes Professor Robert Gerst:
The first time I read Anna Karenina it was snowing. It was Buffalo. It snowed for forty straight days and I read Anna Karenina for forty straight days. There are are islands in time when the sea around you turns preternaturally visible. Reading this novel that way was such an island for me.
March 31st, Friday, 2-4 PM, Professor Leon Steinmetz will be introducing Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina to our Liberal Arts Department Anna Karenina discussion group. Leon suggests that we read the translation by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, available in paperback from Penguin.
We’re meeting Friday afternoons from 2 to 4, in Lin Haire-Sargeant’s office 533-B (or in an adjoining classroom) March 31st, April 7th, April 21th, May 5th, and May 19th. Join us.
In Sumerian cuneiform from ancient Babylon (c. 2000 BC) comes Gilgamesh, the world’s oldest written narrative. Professor Albert Lafarge passes along questions and student answers for a Literary Traditions quiz on this story pitting life against death. Read the whole quiz here. Or try the first question below.
Question 1. How does Gilgamesh react when Ishtar comes on to him?
Student Answers: Ishtar asks for Gilgamesh’s hand in marriage (and sperm) .. Over the top! “You are the door through which the cold gets in” (Ferry, p. 30) … Gilgamesh says she manipulates men for their seed then they end up dead …Gilgamesh talks about how Ishtar has screwed over all her exes … She is not faithful to them and kills them, or dominates their destiny … [Gilgamesh says] she is “a flimsy door that keeps out neither wind nor draught” .. he continues to insult her .. instead of just saying no and moving on .. to me, this seems a little excessive .. could have been done with a simple no …Gilgamesh was unenthused and rejected her snarkily … [he] starts listing people she’s messed with and tells her he isn’t interested in getting his life ruined … This contradicts his previous and almost uncontrollable behaviors towards women and shows how truly powerful he is and can be. Ishtar is not pleased … she has been unacceptably controlling to past lovers and Gilgamesh asks why he should expect to have any better luck with her. This spewing of blatant truth shocks and angers Ishtar … He rips into her + calls her out on her poor past behaviors.
“Gilgamesh, where are you hurrying to? You will never find that life for which you are looking…” And did they sing the story of Gilgamesh…plunked on a lyre…when stars lit the sky like fireflies…four thousand ago? Listen here.
“My thighs say thunderous. My thighs say too fat for skinny jeans. My thighs say wide, say open. My thighs say cellulite, say tattoo, say stretch marks, say pockmarks, say ingrown hair. My thighs feel upset that you only offered one bite of your Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia,” begins Desireé Dallagiacomo’s poem, “Thighs.”
Dallagiacomo performed “Thighs” at the Last Chance Slam at the 2014 Women of the World Poetry Slam in Austin. Texas.
Reading-Poetry-Like-We-Mean-It students Austin Kimmell, Sara Manfredi, Julie Martin, and Morgan Metcalf visualized Dallagiacomo’s poem in the video below, setting it on the Mass Art campus.
“Thighs” Film Adapation (2016). Video by Austin Kimmell, Sara Manfredi, Julie Martin, and Morgan Metcalf.
Writes Professor Cheryl Clark:
“When I asked Reading-Poetry-Like-We-Mean-It students, ‘How do you spread poetry and a conversation about poetry on campus? What spaces, places, people could you enliven with poetry?’ four came back with this report.”