The intersection of Jewish and popular music culture has been an exceedingly rich and productive encounter. Is it Jewish? Is it American? Can we claim the voices of such luminaries as Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Carole King, and a host of others?
This seminar-style course has limited enrollment to allow small group discussion.
In this course, we will study the remarkable breakthroughs across the arts and sciences in the first several decades of the twentieth century.
Euripides, the most ‘modern’ of the ancient Greek playwrights, examines human flaws as well as noble actions, and regularly challenges the assumptions of his audience. In this course, we will read and discuss three of his plays that confront various societal norms: Alcestis, which examines selfishness vs.
This course focuses on the study of select American artists in Europe from the colonial period to the post-1945 era. These artists were offered exposure to the great ateliers, museums, and frescoes overseas. A few of these artists in the twentieth century remained in the US for their professional training, yet they absorbed European sources.
“These are unprecedented times.” This has become a common phrase used to describe the COVID-19 crisis, but is our experience truly unprecedented? In this course, we will examine three of the most devastating epidemics in American history: Yellow Fever in the 1790s, Spanish Flu in 1918, and HIV/AIDS in the 1980s.
Join us for a close, guided reading of Homer’s great epic poem the Iliad. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in analysis and discussion of various aspects of the poem, including style, historical context, and the poem’s significance within the literary canon.
The core repertoire of Verdi and Wagner owes much to the works of their great predecessors. Wagner sought Meyerbeer's influence, emulated him, and later reviled him in his essay, Judaism in Music. His admiration for Halevy's 1835 opera La Juive (The Jewess) however, was lifelong.
How did the Cold War era change the eerie inner landscape of the intelligence agent in our fiction? Has the spy become just one more variation on the antihero? How does he or she navigate times of greater moral ambiguity and cynicism?
Join Steven Windmueller for a look at American Jewish behavior in reaction to our country in crisis.