Brighten Your Spring with Learning, Comradery, and Coffee withTaconic Learning Center

For Hemingway, it seems, that life and writing went hand-in-hand- a topic worth discussing.The stories cover a span of 1923-1939, include nine of his Nick Adams stories (which we might consider autobiographical fiction?) and nine stories that focus on other protagonists whose struggles draw on the author’s life experiences.

Continuing our overview of modern Russian composers we examine, with the assistance of The Great Courses, the life, music, and times of Dimitri Shostakovich with some of the finest available concert videos and recordings. Almost universally acclaimed in his native Russia and elsewhere he was publicly fun, loving, and poetic and very sensibly protective of his privacy. He used his expressive musical genius to “poke Russian autocrats in the ear” and yet avoid Siberia. He made his statements musically on a high-wire – well played!

In Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen follows Catherine Morland as she is introduced to society, revealing the challenges a girl from a quiet rural family faces in coping with social expectations of the times. Much of the pleasure of reading the novel derives from Austen’s satire. We will examine the context in which the novel was written including historical events, literary trends, the physical and social environment and related matters, such as the challenges Austen faced as a woman writer. We will explore Austen’s skillful blending of romance, humor, and drama. What is Austen’ point in writing a parody of a Gothic novel? How does she amuse us while implicitly commenting on social pressure?

Patrick Modiano’s Lost Memories: Since 1974, the French writer has been exploring the relationships among trauma, memory, and identity in a series of short, evocative, interlocking novels. Although often wearing the cloak of mystery tales, Modiano’s closely written books rise above genre constraints to pose thoughtful questions about trauma and self-knowledge. We will reflect on the commonalities and cross-references among the novels, which constitute interesting puzzles to be solved—puzzles about the past posed by Modiano’s narrators, and puzzles posed by Modiano himself about the intersections among trauma, memory, and identity.

President Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Tyranny: Remember the scene in which President Merkin Muffley is on the phone with the Soviet premier? Jump ahead to 2025, when Pres Trump is on the phone with Vladimir Putin. The two men pretend to be talking peace, but unlike Merkin and Dimitri, what they are discussing is not peace but the extension of tyranny. The purpose of this course is to use documentary films to examine the historical roots of tyranny and to discuss methods of resisting it.

Conversation Class A continuation of our weekly discussion sessions, examining everything and anything any member of the class wants to discuss.
https://www.taconiclearningcenter.org/courses.php?season=Spring&year=2025