GBSF BLOG

Asilomar Great Books Weekend 2012

2012-01-13T23:20:00.000-08:00

A theme is suspected

Added Feature:

Results of two- vs. three-daysurvey

By Rob Calvert

Preparationsare in full swing for the Asilomar Spring Conference, GBSF’s largest andlongest-standing annualevent. It takes place on April 20-22, in Pacific Grove. As is the custom for Asilomar weekends,discussions will cover a widerange of literary genres including selected

poems, an essay, a work of fiction,and a play.

Thisyear’s essay is Eugen Herrigel’s Zen in the Art of Archery, an accountby an early 20th Century German philosopher of his journey into Japanese ZenBuddhism by way of the study of archery.

Theplay will be Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit, a work that exerted aprofound influence on both the theatre and the philosophy of the 20th century.

The work of fiction will be James Joyce’s “The Dead,” a short story that depicts an annual holiday party. The story is packed with lovingly portrayed characters. It’s the final chapter in the set of linked stories that Joyce assembled and published as Dubliners. “The Dead,” following in the wake of last year’s Mrs. Dalloway, will be Asilomar’s second consecutive work of fiction in which a party forms the central event. (Do I detect a Theme?)

Registration for Asilomar is under way. A registration form is available on the Council’s web site at http://www.greatbooks-sf.com/events/asilomar.htm. Books and poems are mailed soon after each registration is received.

Inthe fall issue of Reading Matters, I asked for thoughts aboutchanging the format of the Asilomar Weekend from three days to two. This isGBSF’s longest and most expensive event, and with rental fees continuing toescalate we are looking for ways to keep a lid on costs. Many thanks to those who replied torob@rob-calvert.com. It’s alwaysgratifying to learn what a special experience Asilomar is for so many of you, as it is forme. While opinions were notunanimous (What would be the fun in that?), responses were heavily in favor ofkeeping the three-day format.

Alan Caruba on Reading

2012-01-02T17:01:00.000-08:00

WEDNESDAY,DECEMBER 28, 2011

The Magical Mental Exercise CalledReading

By Alan Caruba

In 1942 my parents purchased a home in apicture-postcard suburban New Jersey community and the first improvement theymade was to have bookshelves installed on the rear wall of the living roomalong with more in one corner. They had brought a lot of books with them andanticipated reading many more.

The living room was a library. Anindelible memory of mine was of both parents reading. My father was a graduateof New York University, having worked his way through while attending nightschool. Mother occasionally lamented not having attended college, but Motheralso taught in the adult school of the community for three decades and authoredtwo books in addition to many magazine columns.

An authority on haute cuisine and wine,she garnered honors from the British and French Sommelier Societies, as well asfrom Germany. She was profiled in The New York Times. The word for a personlike Mother is autodidact; a fancy way of saying self-taught.

Earlier and well into the 1930sthrough the 1950s Americans devoured books and often spent precious dollars topurchase sets of the Harvard Classics—we had them—and either the EncyclopediaBritannica or Americana—we had the latter. The Book of the Month Club was verysuccessful as was a magazine called Reader’s Digest.

I was reminded of this by a veryentertaining new book, “Blue Collar Intellectuals: When the Enlightened and theEveryman Elevated America”, authored by Daniel J. Flynn. The introductionbegins with a reflection on popular culture, “Stupid is the new smart.”

This isn’t, however, just another lamentabout the sad state of present-day education or popular culture. Instead, it isa look back at America in the pre-World War Two era up to and beyond whentelevision began to occupy the time many used to devote to reading books.Ironically, Flynn notes that television played a powerful role in popularizingseveral of the people he identifies as intellectual icons.

“For much of the twentieth century,” wroteFlynn, “there was a concerted effort among intellectuals to spread knowledgeand wisdom far and wide. Correspondingly, many regular people took fulladvantage of the great educational effort. The idea was that America dependedon having a well-rounded, educated citizenry.” This was not a new idea becausefrom its earliest years Americans valued knowledge for its own sake.

“Twentieth-century America witnessed ademocratization of education, unparalleled in human history,”says Flynn. Imentioned that my Mother taught gourmet cooking in adult schools. This was aphenomenon that began after World War Two. In addition to the GI bill thatencouraged returning servicemen, mostly still young, to attend college, adultschools sprang up in communities as a way to quench the thirst for knowledgeamong the parents of those in college who, because of the Depression and thewar, had not had the opportunity to acquire a higher level of education.

Common among the intellectual icons thatFlynn identifies as having made learning popular was that all of them came fromhumble, often hardscrabble beginnings. They were not the children of wealthand privilege. They were people who knew what it meant to work for meagerwages, but yearn for great achievement. All were denizens of local librariesand veracious readers. Of those who became members of the faculties ofdistinguished institutions, their roots gave them a unique advantage whetherthe topic was history, economics, or literature. They had lived in the realworld.

The “blue collar intellectuals” includedWill and Ariel Durant, co-authors of “The Story of Civilization” that includedeleven-volumes by the time they were completed. Another was Mortimer Adlerwho authored “The Story of Philosophy” and, in 1940, “How to Read a Book”which became the second best-selling book of that year.

Milton Friedman transformed economicswhile teaching at the University of Chicago for thirty years starting in 1946.He would win a Nobel Prize. “Friedman understood that economics wasn’t merelyabout numbers. It was about people.” His book, “Capitalism and Freedom”,challenged many of the New Deal liberal policies when published in 1962. AsFlynn put it, the book “highlighted the disconnect between the intentions ofdo-gooders and the atrocious results of their deeds.”

I can still recall reading Eric Hoffer’s“The True Believer” some years after it was first published in 1951. Working asa longshoreman, a strike in 1946 gave Hoffer the time to begin writing the bookand another in 1948 gave him the time to finish it. It has never gone out ofprint and it took the reclusive Hoffer from a modest life he greatly preferredto meeting with presidents. The book was about mass movements and was hisresponse to the two worst of the last century, Communism and Nazism. His ownlifetime of reading is reflected in this and other books he subsequently wrote.

Flynn ends with a look at Ray Bradbury,best remembered as a science-fiction writer, but like the others of a humbleorigin, beginning in Waukegan, Illinois in 1920. His books, “Fahrenheit 451”,“Something Wicked Comes This Way”, and “The Martian Chronicles” cemented hisreputation. Flynn says that “the threat to the life of the mind comes notas much from people who burn books as from people who don’t read them.”

So, when you’re commuting to work, on alunch break, or when a hundred or more television channels offer you nothingworth watching keep a book at hand. Some of them will become lifelongcompanions.

Editor’s note: To keep up with the latestin non-fiction and fiction, visit Caruba’s monthly report at http://www.bookviews.com/

Crying Wolfe

2011-11-07T12:00:00.000-08:00

This last August at Long Novel Weekend we discussed Thomas Wolfe's Look Homeward, Angel and the work was so well liked that quite a few of us put our names on a list to read and get together to discuss more of Wolfe's novels. Here is a very interesting follow up regarding Wolfe's later works.

Crying Wolfe

byWalter L. Mosley

Timewas when Thomas Wolfe was regarded as the equal of Ernest Hemingway, F. ScottFitzgerald and William Faulkner. In fact, Faulkner went so far as tosuggest that Wolfe might have been the most gifted of them all. However,if you seek for Wolfe in The Library of America, that effort to publishdefinitive editions of this country’s most important writers, you won’t findanything. He hasn’t been admitted into that prestigious company. Why is no secret.

WhenThomas Wolfe submitted the manuscript that would become Look Homeward, Angel to Scribners, it became aproject for Maxwell Perkins, an editor who worked with Scribner’s mostdistinguished writers. Perkins saw his task as turning this rhapsodicfamily saga into a commercially successful novel, and while eliminating some60,000 words involved some struggle with the author, he succeeded. Hetook such an important role in the development and form of Wolfe’s second book,The Web and the Rock, that Wolfe published a volume describing Perkins assistance in thecreation of the book (The Story of a Novel). The rumors about Perkins’ role in thefirst book became a published confession about his importance to the second,and Wolfe’s reputation began to be widely questioned.

Infact, the damage was such that Wolfe, who regarded Perkins as friend andsomething of a father figure, felt it necessary to terminate theirrelationship. Wolfe moved from Scribner’s to Harper’s where his neweditor was Edward Aswell. Wolfe maintained a voluminous output of prose,moved by whatever circumstances and events swept him up at the time. However, he became ill on a trip west and died unexpectedly at the age of38. Harper’s had given Wolfe advances toward his next book, but hadnothing to show except a mountainous manuscript of various autobiographicalexperiences without much organizing principle. Wolfe had settled on atitle, You Can’t Go Home, Again, but Edward Aswell was left to cobble together chunksof Wolfe’s prose, and, unlike Perkins who never added words of his own orchanged an author’s, Aswell evidently had to build the bridges between themhimself. The Web and the Rock and You Can’t Go Home, Again, which containmuch fine work, finished demolishing Wolfe’s reputation. Aswell’s creativityjustified Harper’s investment in Wolfe, but discredited the author.

Wolfewas really not a novelist inventing characters and situations, but a passionateobserver of his own life and times, a kind of journalist. He wasn’texactly a diarist either, building a private record of his experience. Hemight have been a poet, but he was too long winded perhaps. He didn’t fiteasily into any current genre.

Fortunately,Matthew Bruccoli, a literary scholar who has focused largely on Scribner’sauthors, and his wife, Arlyn, have reconstituted the original manuscript thatbecame Look Homeward, Angel, and it has been published byThe University of South Carolina under its original title: O Lost. The original is a monumental record of American life that does not deserve tobe lost. Indeed, Bruccoli frankly considers O Lost “agreater work than Look Homeward, Angel.” Perhaps one day,The Library of America will republish O Lost.

Readers interested in pursuing this story might consult the following:

Bruccoli, Matthew J. and Buckner, Park, Editors, To Loot My Life Clean: The Thomas Wolfe--Maxwell Perkins Correspondence (U. of S. Carolina Press: Columbia, SC, 2000).

Donald, David Herbert, Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe (Ballantine Books: New York, 1987).

Mitchell, Ted, Editor, Thomas Wolfe: An Illustrated Biography (Pegasus Books: New York, 2006).

26th Annual Great Books Poetry Weekend

2011-10-07T01:31:00.000-07:00

November 5-6, 2011

In the Lodge

Yes,it is time for Poetry Weekend, held each year at Westminster Retreat inAlamo. To me, this is the mostrelaxing and enjoyable of our weekend retreats and they serve the best food aswell. The grounds are lush and green. There is a lovely hiking trail on the hill behind the Lodge.

Don't wait to register (information below) because we have limited room and the registration deadline is October 17, 2011.

Fall Colors

Iseldom have any idea what any of the poetry means until I get into thediscussions, but I think that is why I enjoy this event as much as I do andpreparation is a breeze. Here arethis year’s poetry selections:

Saturday AM Session: Varieties of Love

TheodoreRoethke AWalk in Late Summer

YehudaAmichai David,King of Israel…

YehudaAmichai MyParents’ Lodging Place

CynthiaZarin LatePoem

JohnDonne AValediction of Weeping

JohnHaines AWinter Light

The Carriage House Lodge

Saturday PM Session: Celtic Interlude

PaulMuldoon Whenthe Pie Was Opened

WilliamButler Yeats UnderBen Bulben

NualaNi Dhomnaill TheEbony Adonis

RobertBurns Toa Mouse

EavanBoland WhatLanguage Did

SeamusHeaney TheOther Side

Saturday evening entertainment

Aprogram of humorous poetry to be performed by the

Westminster Poetry Players(that’s us).

Sunday AM Session: Potpourri

WiliamCarlos Williams TheDescent

MaxineKumin TheLonging to be Saved

JackGilbert Waitingand Finding

JamesK. Baxter Poemin the Matukituki Valley

TedHughes HawkRoosting

Theodore Weiss AutobiographiaIlliteraria

Sunroom in the Lodge

Fee: The registration fee has been stable for the last two years; regrettably, we have had to raise the fees this year. The fee for those staying overnight will be $169; the fee for those not staying overnight will be $129. We regret this necessary increase, but hope it will not discourage your attendance at this wonderful event. Registrar: Theda & Oscar Firschein at 650-854-3980 or oscarf1@earthlink.net. If no response call Brent Browning at 408-353-6340.

Manor Patio

For a printable registration form with more information click here or go to our website for more information and a downloadable registration form.

Please join us for a fun and relaxing weekend of poetry and stimulating discussions.

Great Books in Wine Country 2011

2011-09-14T15:04:00.000-07:00

Book and a Movie in Calistoga, Sunday, October 2, 2011

The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit by Sloan Wilson

The movie stars GregoryPeck, Jennifer Jones, Frederic March, Marisa Pavan, Lee J. Cobb, and KeenanWynn. This is a complex movie withseveral sub-plots: flashbacks toWorld War II, a wartime love affair, pressure and support from a loving wife,children lost to TV westerns, a conniving old man after unearned compensation,whether to climb the corporate ladder and how to do so, the strength of family,and more. Gregory Peck does anexcellent, understated acting job, one of his best. Jennifer Jones is powerfully emotional reacting to a longhidden secret. Frederic March isthe quintessential big business man with his blind spots and personal failings. Lee J. Cobb does not get to yell a lotand wave his arms around, but is the perfect small town, pragmatic, cynicallawyer. All in all, this is anexcellent movie with far more depth than is found in most of the films from thefifties.

In a television skit in the1950’s Art Carney climbed out of a sewer in dirty overalls and said to JackieGleason, “What did you expect, the man in the gray flannel suit?” The title of the book had become a sortof national joke in the United States. The novel had risen up on bestseller lists and was translated into sometwenty-six foreign languages. Europeans apparently considered it an accurate reflection of Americanlife; it was banned in Russia. Iwas told I had a good story to tell about the problems which my generationfaced when we came home from World War II. To my surprise, my novel, which I had regarded as largelyautobiographical, was taken by some serious thinkers as a protest againstconformity and the rigors of suburban life. --- Sloan Wilson

Michael Sandel’s book, Justice, is a bestseller in theUnited States today and reportedly has sold more than a million copies in EastAsia. It’s subtitle is What’s the rightthing to do? The novel we willdiscuss, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit by Sloan Wilson, is about doing theright thing.

Here is the story of Tom andBetsy Rath, a young couple with everything going for them: three healthy children, a nice home, asteady income. They have everyreason to be happy, but for some reason they are not. Like so many young men of the day Tomfinds himself caught up in the corporate rat race---what he encounters therepropels him on a voyage of self-discovery that will turn his world inside out. At once a searing indictment ofcorporate culture, a story of a young man confronting his past and future withhonesty, and a testament to the enduring power of family. The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit is adeeply rewarding novel about the importance of taking responsibility for one’sown life. --- from the book jacket

For more information and to register online click here.

9/11 & us

2011-09-14T14:28:00.000-07:00

Thislast Saturday there were many 9/11 memorial ceremonies with speeches andheartfelt gestures and rightly so. The question arises, what now? That question was much more important in the immediate aftermath ofSeptember 11, 2001. Below is thestory of one reaction by the founder of Meetup.

We haveused Meetup to attract some new members to Great Books discussion groups. Great Bookies have been meeting with astrong sense of community since 1947 and we continue to support face to faceencounters with our friends and neighbors. Please read Scott Hefferman’s email that I received lastweek. To me the significant phrasetherein is “use the internet to get off the internet.”

FellowMeetuppers,

I don'twrite to our whole community often, but this week is specialbecause it's the 10th anniversary of 9/11 and many peopledon't know that Meetup is a 9/11 baby.

Let metell you the Meetup story. I was living a couple miles fromthe Twin Towers, and I was the kind of person who thought local community doesn'tmatter much if we've got the internet and tv. The only time I thought about myneighbors was when I hoped they wouldn't bother me.

Whenthe towers fell, I found myself talking to more neighbors in thedays after 9/11 than ever before. People said hello to neighbors(next-door and across the city) who they'd normally ignore.People were looking after each other, helping each other,and meeting up with each other. You know, being neighborly.

A lotof people were thinking that maybe 9/11 could bring peopletogether in a lasting way. So the idea for Meetup was born:Could we use the internet to get off the internet -- and growlocal communities?

Wedidn't know if it would work. Most people thought it was a crazyidea -- especially because terrorism is designed to make peopledistrust one another.

A smallteam came together, and we launched Meetup 9 months after 9/11.

Today,almost 10 years and 10 million Meetuppers later, it's working.Every day, thousands of Meetups happen. Moms Meetups, Small Business Meetups,Fitness Meetups... a wild variety of 100,000 Meetup Groups with not much incommon -- except one thing.

EveryMeetup starts with people simply saying hello to neighbors.And what often happens next is still amazing to me. Theygrow businesses and bands together, they teach and motivateeach other, they babysit each other's kids and find otherways to work together. They have fun and find solace

together.They make friends and form powerful community. It's powerful stuff.

It's a wonderfulrevolution in local community, and it's thanks toeveryone who shows up.

Meetupsaren't about 9/11, but they may not be happening if it weren't for 9/11.

9/11didn't make us too scared to go outside or talk to strangers.9/11 didn't rip us apart. No, we're building new communitytogether!!!!

Thetowers fell, but we rise up. And we're just getting started withthese Meetups.

ScottHeiferman (on behalf of 80 people at Meetup HQ)

Co-Founder& CEO, Meetup

NewYork City

September2011

2011 Picnic, Annual Meeting, and Book Discussion

2011-09-13T13:58:00.000-07:00

We met at Berkeley’s Tilden Park on Sunday, June 12 for a funpicnic with a higher turn-out than in recent years of more than sixty GreatBookies. The weather was sunnywith a bright blue sky and a cool breeze to keep everyone comfortable. The food, as usual was great and GrillChef Brent Browning, pictured at right, was kept busy.

BrianMahoney, Treasurer, presented detailed financial information to be examined byanyone present who wished to do so. The organization is in solid financial shape.

Jim Hallintroduced Duncan Calvert. Duncanis the 17 year old son of Rob Calvert, who is the son of Bob Calvert. Bob and his wife Carol wereparticipants for many years. Theystill live in North Berkeley. Sofar as we know, Duncan, in participating in today’s discussion of The ThingsThey Carried, isthe first third generation participant in our council’s book discussions.

Jim Cookedrew attention to a front page article with pictures in today’s MarinIndependent Journal featuring GBSF leader Roy Harvey, past Treasurer andlongtime participant. Roy isabsent because he is in the famous Dipsea race, from Mill Valley over Mt.Tamalpais to Stinson Beach. Accordingto the article, Roy, 85, is to be awarded the title “Dipsea Demon,” as theoldest participant, running in the event for his 30^th time. Roy and his wife Jimmie first met atour Asilomar Spring Conference and married about a decade ago.

Asoutgoing president, Jim Hall expressed appreciation for all in GBSF who helpedto make his term successful. Events this year were well attended. The three mini-retreats were at or nearcapacity, as was poetry weekend. Three new discussion groups were launched in San Francisco and one eachin El Cerrito and Berkeley. TheBerkeley group, led by Carol Hochberg, is our first devoted exclusively topoetry.

Electionof Officers: Jimintroduced RickWhite, nominations chair, who announced the slate of officers of GBSF for thecoming year approved by the Executive Committee. They are Marge Johnson, president; Rob Calvert, vicepresident, Brian Mahoney, treasurer; Rick White, secretary. Jim called for further nominations ofwhich none were offered. He thencalled for a vote on the slate of candidates. Approval was unanimous.

MeetMarge Johnson: It's been said thatif you want something done, ask a busy person. So here's Marge Johnson, our newpresident. Marge is fairly new tothe Executive Committee, but by no means new to Great Books. She is a regularat Asilomar and the Long Novel Weekend, attending with her husband Rudy, longactive as a discussion leader. She and Rudy met at Stanford and have beenmarried 53 years. Marge firsttaught handicapped children, then became a real estate broker. She retired fromthat in 2000 and has since devoted her time to travel, "our favoritepastime"—she and Rudy have traveled widely—to cultural activities, and totheir three grandsons. When Marge and Rudy are not attending the theatre or thesymphony, or going to and from the airport to visit family, they volunteer atcity functions and tutor foreign students. Marge is eager to be of service in her role as president and seeks the assistance and counselof everyone who can help her make this "the best year ever."

As herfirst act of office, Marge Johnson thanked Laura Bushman for managing thispicnic and announced that Laura has agreed to do it again next year. Marge praised Jan Vargo for theexcellent large print name tags provided. She said that since so many participants took effective responsibilityfor carrying out the Council’s activities, she had been told “there would benothing to the job” of president. She requested of the group that during her term she receive any praisethat was to be offered and that any questions go to Jim.

Weadjourned the meeting and Laura convened four groups to discuss The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien. This book, about men who served in VietNam, brought out some widely divergent opinions. Most agreed that war could play havoc with some people’smental stability, but, while concurring, some thought that after awhile peopleshould “just get over it” and get on with their lives. Is this award winning book history,memoir, or fiction? Does itmatter?

For adifferent treatment of similar subject matter you might consider attending ourGreat Books in Wine Country event on October 2, 2011 where we will discuss TheMan in the Gray Flannel Suit by Sloan Wilson in the morning and view the movie adaptation inthe afternoon. There is still timeto register, click here.

Socrates, Cleopatra, Mrs. Dalloway, and Stabenau Go Into a Bar

2011-09-12T23:38:00.000-07:00

JimStabenau

Stabenau: Herewe are in the Grecian Urn Taverna on the Elysian slopes. Let us seek beauty andtruth in our discourse today. When Keats wrote the "Ode on a GrecianUrn" he drew on deep memories, not tracts of certainty. This provides usimagery where Truth and Beauty may be found. He believes the urn to be a friendto man with much to tell us. Keats summarizes the drawing on the urn in poeticrhetoric: “Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty; that is all ye know on earth and allye need to know.”

Socrates: I’ve seen the urn but had not read the poem until Dr. Stabenauhanded it to me. Before I dazzle you with my famous “Socratic method,” allow meto say that whereas the urn shows images as if each were in its own space andtime, the poet clearly takes the artist’s purpose to be to convey a singleconcept: the idea of Beauty as Truth. Keats adds Truth as Beauty. Poetic truthconveys the beauty of language. Truth and beauty are expressions of the twohalves of our consciousness. One half expresses our thoughts through rhetoricand the other through imagination. Together they form the unity of truth andbeauty. Thus we have an eternal dialectic between Beauty and Truth. Cleopatra,Clarissa, do you see this as true for you?

Cleopatra: Oh great thinker, I willspeak first because I am young and beautiful. When majestic Caesar came to mykingdom I presented him youth and physical beauty. I felt no need for truthbecause I am able to lie well and copiously. This did not impress the old man.But he saw my potential and tutored me in seeking truth. He said that I shouldvalue truth in others more than I value beauty in myself. Then I would becometruly a queen. Upon his return to Rome he would ask Mark Antony — strong, withmuscular round arms — to come to Egypt and be my lover. So I believe that ifyou have beauty and guile you don't need the truth.

Stabenau (to himself): Perhaps herleft and right brain were trying to come together but didn’t make it.

Mrs. Dalloway (Clarissa): I too havebeen young. Preparing for my recent party I had cause to ruminate upon myromantic past, no pun intended. Get it? Romantic? I did not have your beauty,Cleopatra, but I did have class. I knew passion with Peter and with Sally. ButI passed over them to marry Richard, solid and steady, a choice that followedreason. Alas, that makes me simply Mrs. Dalloway. Virginia Woolf summed this upon the last page of my story. “What does brain matter,” said Lady Rossiter,getting up, “compared with the heart.” Iwatch the old woman across the street prepare for bed and wonder if when I facedeath I will ponder whether I have given away the truth and the beauty thatcould have been mine with Peter or Sally.

Stabenau: Well said,my friends. We struggle in a quest for beauty to have a meaningful life. Such alife should be based upon truth with oneself and with others.

Socrates: Bartender,one more round of drinks, but hold the hemlock.

53rd Asilomar: Rob Calvert reports

2011-09-12T21:33:00.000-07:00

The 53rd annual Great Books Asilomarweekend began with rain squalls, soon clearing to beautiful spring weather onthe gorgeous California coast. One hundred or so eager lovers of literaturegathered from near (Monterey Peninsula College) and far (North Carolina) toexchange ideas on Plato, Woolf, Shaw and selected poetry.

Vince Scardina leads discussion of George Bernard Shaw’splayCaesarandCleopatra

at Asilomar.Seated from left, Roger and Ann Brogan,

Vince, Jan Fussell, JenniferAnderson. PhotobyJimHall.

The clandestine, unacknowledgedTheme Committee was a bit more obvious than usual this year in its choice ofselections. Clearly, this weekend’s readings explored the passage of time.Poems by Keats, Auden, and Thomas all dealt explicitly with things that witherin time and things that do not. Plath’s Daddy looked backin time as she attempted to exorcise a childhood demon. As for Rae Armantrout’sSoft Money, what was that poem about? Prostitution? Britney Spears?Banana republics? Dubious investment practices? Perhaps all of the above.

Meanwhile Virginia Woolf’s Mrs.Dalloway couldn’t seem to make it through a sentence of internal monologuewithout hearing a clock chime somewhere. And Shaw’s Caesar and Cleopatra was a longmuse on “The modern British empire is nothing compared to those cool AncientRomans — those were the days.” So yes, time was in the air.

As I compiled evaluation stats andlooked at comments, it was clear that many (myself included) were challenged byPlato’s Phaedrus. A poor choice of translation was partly responsible, for which Itake full blame — we’ll be more careful choosing editions in the future. Butthe dialogue presented difficulties beyond those caused by the translator forthose of us unversed in the mysteries of classical rhetoric. Some of uspreferred to set the rhetoric aside and concentrate on Phaedrus’s initialdiscourse about lovers vs. non-lovers (Platonic love), perhaps separating usinto Lovers and Talkers. When the discussion was over, I was left wondering –what was Socrates smoking when he hallucinated flying chariots drawn by onewhite horse and one black horse? Cosmic.

Unsurprisingly, the weekend held afew surprises. It was realized too late that we hadn’t followed the usualrotating-groups-of-ten- people arrangement, and that we’d share discussionswith the same twenty companions for much of the weekend. With a little spincontrol, this evolved into an impromptu “experiment” in which feedback wassolicited on whether fixed groups or rotating groups are preferable. Rotatinggroups was the clear victor, and we’ll return to that arrangement next year.Thank you, “test subjects”! We also innovated this year by adding a Saturdayafternoon film screening, drawing on the success of GB mini-retreats, in whicha book discussion is combined with a viewing of its film adaptation. The godsof consumer electronics were not kind, however. A roomful of seventy people,assembled and ready to enjoy Vanessa Redgrave’s portrayal of Clarissa Dalloway,instead witnessed a line of text on the video screen saying: “Cannot play this disk – please insertanother.” That was when we realized that our DVD was cracked nearly straightthrough! So much for Netflix, andBlockbuster to the rescue. Following a mad dash to the Pacific Grove video store, I returned with TheHours (closest I could get to Mrs. Da loway) and wasgreeted by “No problem about thedelay — we’ve been talking.” I love bookies.

Clarissa Dalloway and Peter Walshwould have fit right in at the Saturday afternoon party. Although there were nosightings of the prime minister, we were graced by the artistry of DonnaReynolds’s piano playing. The party provided a welcome chance to catch up withold friends and to debate what the poetry had really been about.

Organizing an event of this size ismade easy because so many share in the effort. The genius of the Great BooksCouncil of San Francisco lies in the willingness of its members to help make itall happen. Sheri Kindsvater shouldered the largest burden as registrar,meeting the needs of each attendee while navigating the sometimes strainedrelationship with Aramark, which is now in charge of Asilomar State Park’smanagement. Barbara McConnell helped in a thousand ways, most notably asdiscussion arranger, a task that bears remarkable similarities to reciting theGettysburg Address while humming the Ode to Joy and dancing the tango. Barbarahelped Mary Stuart, who coped beautifully with incessant “one more thing” planchanges as she assembled registration packets at the last minute (assisted byJan Vargo). Louise DiMattio wasour own Clarissa Dalloway, arranging and hosting the film screening and party.That volunteer list just scratches thesurface, though — there were also the reading selection committees, the stalwartsat the Friday registration table, and last but not least the 21 discussionleaders who read and reread the books, thought up topic questions, attendedpre-discussions, and generally made themselves experts, all so that they couldavoid expressing their own opinions and let us have the fun of expressing ours.Thank you.

A walk to the beach.

Boardwalk

View to the South

Flowers in the dunes

Gull Searching

Fragile--Protected by Chicken Wire

Another Flower

View to the North

More Flowers

View to the West

More Flowers

Beware the Man-Eating Kite

Return to Asilomar

From the Ex-President's Desk

2011-09-11T19:16:00.000-07:00

My term as President of the Great Books Council of San Franciscoended in June, 2011. It has been a distinct pleasure to work with all themembers of this organization over the past two years. We are blessed with manytalented, energetic people who make things happen in a way that seemseffortless, but requires a lot of hard work. Thanks to all of you.

At the beginning of myterm I listed several areas on which to concentrate. One was to in- creasemedia exposure. That has not been very successful. Having worked with somesuccess with electronic media, I suggest that pursuing print media exposure isnot worth much time or effort. The internet has proven to be a powerful tooland is getting better. From email between individuals to discussion amongcommittee members (our book selection committee works entirely by email) todisseminating information via e-newsletters, I find electronic media to bemarvelously efficient. Anybody who does not use the e-media regularly shouldlearn to do so. Except for Great Books discussions, learning something new,like how to surf the net, is the best way to keep and improve our mentalcapacities.

Another effort is supporting existing groups. That is underwaywith the leadership of Louise DiMattio. She identifies and works with our areacoordinators to help local leaders. Barbara McConnell developed our mentorprogram to assist leaders. Our mini- retreats have all proven successful,including the newest, Great Books in Gold Country and Great Books in WineCountry. We will support the establishment of more as the opportunityarises—which means whenever a local discussion group wishes to organize one. Wecan provide resources and publicity to start an event which will have the bestpossible chance for success. Our other events have also been successful even inthese times when people have less discretionary income. We experienced adecline in attendance at Asilomar in 2010, a problem handled well by RobCalvert, our Asilomar coordinator. Rob made adjustments and Asilomar 2011 was agreat success.

Another area we worked on is establishing new discussion groups.We are designing a program to be used by anyone who wishes to start a newdiscussion group. Local discussion groups are the life-blood of thisorganization. Longstanding groups do not seem to be good at attracting new, inparticular younger, members. I have nothing against seniors; I am one. Iappreciate what has been done by us seniors for Great Books through the years.However much we may try, established groups are not as welcoming as a new groupwhere everyone is starting together. We have had success in San Franciscostarting three new groups in the last two years, this in a city having only onediscussion group for decades. Clifford Louie is the one most responsible forthe success of these groups, one meeting at the main library, one at theRichmond branch, and our newest at the Noe Valley branch. Let us know by phoneor email if you are interested in starting a new discussion group. We’ll help.

As past president I willassist our new president, Marge Johnson, any way I can, I’ll continue effortsat starting new discussion groups, and I’ll go on publishing oure-newsletter. I expect to increaseour public exposure through the use of social media on the internet. Again, thanks to everyone in this organization for the pleasure of working withyou these last two years.

Jim Hall

Long Novel Weekend, August 20-21, 2011

2011-07-22T15:32:00.000-07:00

Held at Walker Creek Ranch, 1700 Marshall-Petaluma Road in rural Marin County.

This year’s Long Novel Weekend will include a dance party Saturday night themed with the novel, Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe. Wolfe was born in Asheville, North Carolina and places this autobiographical novel in the rural hill country of his youth. The area was settled by Scots-Irish immigrants who brought their music with them, so our Saturday evening will be filled with the music of the Humuhumus, back by popular demand. Two years ago, we danced to English and Scottish country dancing music (the novel then was Vanity Fair) provided by the same band and all had a great time.

This year, they will guide us through some contra and square dancing with music typical of the time and place of the novel we will be discussing.

The novel follows the trajectory of Eugene Gant, a brilliant and restless young man whose wanderlust and passion shape his adolescent years in rural North Carolina. Wolfe said thatLook Homeward, Angel is "a book made out of my life," and his largely autobiographical story about the quest for a greater intellectual life has resonated with and influenced generations of readers, including some of today's most important novelists. Rich with lyrical prose and vivid characterizations, this twentieth-century American classic will capture the hearts and imaginations of every reader.

"Language as rich and ambitious and intensely American as any of our novelists has ever accomplished." -- Charles Frazier, author of Cold Mountain and Thirteen Moons

"Look Homeward, Angel is one of the most important novels of my life. . . . It's a wonderful story for any young person burning with literary ambition, but it also speaks to the longings of our whole lives; I'm still moved by Wolfe's ability to convey the human appetite for understanding and experience." -- Elizabeth Kostova, author of The Historian

"Wolfe made it possible to believe that the stuff of life, with all its awe and mystery and magic, could by some strange alchemy be transmuted to the page." -- William Gay, author of The Long Home

"As so many other American boys had before and have since, I discovered a version of myself in Look Homeward, Angel, and I became intoxicated with the elevated, poetic prose." -- Robert Morgan, author of Gap Creek

We will be using a paperback edition published by Scribner, a division of Simon and Schuster, which you will need to order and purchase from your local bookseller. The ISBN number is 978-0-7432-9731-8. Plan to arrive around 9:00 AM Saturday. In addition to three discussions of Look Homeward, Angel, you will enjoy four fine meals, entertainment and a party on Saturday evening and free time for exploring or relaxing. You will leave Walker Creek Ranch after lunch on Sunday. Cost: $165.00. For more information, contact Rudy Johnson, Coordinator, 925-846-6084, rudymargejohnson@comcast.net. For information and a registration form click here.

2011-03-25T17:09:00.000-07:00

A HISTORY OF THE GREAT BOOKS CLUB AT MONTEREY PENINSULA COLLEGE From Julie Brown Smith:

The Club started as an offshoot of David Clemen's Great Books Program in 2008 as a way to read the Canon of Western Literature as defined by Robert Hutchins in order to continue his "Great Conversation". It began as a way to discuss the great books, and others, in a fun, friendly setting, in order to foster the love of reading and tone down the intimidation some students feel when approaching these texts. Joshua Converse began the club, and he asked me to attend a meeting in the Spring of 2009. The meetings were held every other week, and were sparsely attended. For the Spring and Summer of 2009, Josh and I were usually the only two members in attendance, along with our advisor, David Joplin. In the summer, we met on our own in an effort to keep the momentum going. In the Fall of 2009, we took steps to become an official club. Josh became President, and I became Vice-President. We began to meet each week and little by little gathered a core group of 6-10 people. We had read Homer during the Spring and Summer, and decided to do a special event, "Homer on the Beach", reading The Odyssey on Carmel Beach on a freezing cold November night, looking out at the wine-dark sea from the warmth of a bonfire. This was an extremely special evening, as it started out with only Josh and myself in attendance, and drew various strangers who were walking on the beach, including three women from Germany. Everyone was fascinated to see us reading aloud by a fire, and we felt that we had reached a new goal. We had our first Used Book Sale in December 2009, raising $191 for the Children's Advocacy Center of Boston, who used our money to provide a book and a journal to every abused child who left their shelter. The May 2010 sale raised $181 which we donated to Sylvia Panetta's Monterey County Reads organization. As an official club, we now participate in our MPC Club Lobo Days, gathering new members and many comments, as we give away free books to people who tell us it makes them want to read even though they haven't read or wanted to before. In addition, we attend all of the Colloquium lectures put on by David Clemens as part of the Great Books Program, meeting the speakers and exchanging ideas with them. These have included former Poet Laureate of the US Robert Pinsky, Dana Gioia, formerly of the NEA, and Victor Davis Hanson. Last Spring we were also invited to attend the Great Books Council of San Francisco's Asilomar Weekend. They were so pleased to have us that they have invited us back to participate in their discussions again this year. Last fall, I became President when Josh transferred to UC Santa Cruz, and Aaron Birk became Vice President, and we attended a performance of Twelfth Night at Carmel's historic outdoor Forest Theater, attended the Fall Colloquium of Clare Cavanagh and Mark Bauerlein, and will see Mark Edmundson in the Spring as he had to reschedule. We have hosted Shimer College, whose representative spent two hours at our meeting and was thrilled to be a part of such a wonderful discussion, and we were pleased to have MPC professor Dr. Haffa introduce us to Greek poetry, explaining the rhyme scheme and reading to us in Greek. He will be joining us again in the Spring. As we continue to read through the Canon, in three semesters we have covered Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, Dante'sInferno, Shakespeare, and Milton's Paradise Lost. We have interspersed these weighty tomes with C.S. Lewis' The Screwtape Letters, Twain's Letters from the Earth, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Dickens' A Christmas Carol, Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, Beowulf, Poetry, Voltaire's Candide, and Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita. We have more exciting plans for the Spring semester, and are happy to have support from the college as well as the community, which donates many fine books for our sales. We also have a Google group for people to participate long distance, or who cannot attend the meetings on a regular basis, as well as a Facebook page.

2010-11-11T00:06:00.000-08:00

Asilomar 2011, April 8-10, Save the date.