Fine Arts, Film & Literature   

First published anonymously in 1813, Pride and Prejudice is justly considered Jane Austen’s masterpiece. It is filled with memorable characters (Elizabeth Bennet and Fitzwilliam Darcy, to name two) and with themes that have resonated with a wide range of readers across eras and cultures. Let’s gather to take a close look at this remarkable classic, with a focus on its historical backdrop, its characters, its themes, and its staying power, as well as the ways it has been adapted and parodied over the years.

The goal of this class is to inspire creativity in its participants and to encourage them to learn and grow as artists. Wherever you are in your art journey, you are welcome. We all start somewhere; beginners are welcome. LIMIT 20

Continue viewing the American Film Institute’s choices of the best films ever made. In this class, participants watch each film and, if time allows, have a brief discussion.

Prepare to have fun with writing. Practice observing, using your imagination, and expanding your use of language. Explore several different types of poetry and prose styles including memoir, fiction, and creative non-fiction. Practice using the senses in your writing, and discover different methods to increase creativity. LIMIT 15

Quite possibly breaking new ground for many readers, members of this class will discuss poetry by four contemporary authors: Kay Ryan, Mary Oliver, Ryan Vine, and Isabel Basombrio Hoban. Together, participants will explore their language and their thoughts about the world we share and the ways in which we as readers connect with their ideas. No prior experience with poetry is necessary. LIMIT 24

Coming this Fall! The Great Books class will reprise Volume 1 of the original Great Books series. It's a program first offered nearly four decades ago by some of the University for Seniors' founding members. The class will discuss essays and fiction representative of classic works of Western Civilization. Members will read works by Chekhov, Aristotle, Plato, Joseph Conrad, Kant, Marx, and Freud, as well as the Book of Genesis. LIMIT 16

The history of photography is a history of image making, technology, aesthetics, culture, and modernity. In this class, participants will examine the medium in its cultural context, surveying the history and complexities of photography. A focus of this class will be on the ways that photography has taken part in the production of authoritative knowledge about the human body--by informing medical and scientific diagnoses, charting gender and sexual norms, defining racial and ethnic stereotypes, and delimiting aesthetic ideals. Through an examination of historical, theoretical, and visual texts in combination with group discussion, we will see how photography writ large, while often masquerading as "natural," "self-evident," or "scientific," is always highly coded and invested with social meanings as well as institutional power.

Introducing Huckleberry Finn, Toni Morrison wrote, “For a hundred years the argument that this novel is has been identified, reidentified, examined, waged and advanced. What it cannot be is dismissed. It is classic literature, which is to say it heaves, manifests and lasts." Ernest Hemingway asserted, “All modern literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.” From the time of its publication in 1884, the book has invited controversy, first, not because of its oft-touted use of the N-word, but because of the even more frequent appearance of “ain’t” and associated “veriest trash” language. The serious reader will find, behind all the still-raging criticisms, Twain’s deep and profound articulation of human dignity, including among the enslaved Black population. Percival Everett’s astonishing new novel James revisits Huck Finn through the first-person experience of Twain's runaway slave, Jim. Everett's character, James, insists on his own personal agency, demonstrated by his intelligence, insight, self-respect, literacy, and highly articulate use of the English language, all of which are concealed from the white population through cunning and hilarious “code-switching.”

Participants will take it slowly, reading and discussing the novel Sons and Lovers over eight weeks. Lawrence's short stories proved discussion-worthy during the Fall 2023 term, and the novel should as well.

With a focus on poetry writing with models and prompts, this class will be structured around learning about various poetry forms and poets. Be ready to write your own poetry and read your work in class. LIMIT 18