Five Books Every Book Lover Should Read
September 29,2012

What five books are a must for every lover of literature? Award-winning scholar and teacher, Professor Joseph Luzzi will explore this question with participants in an intimate seminar devoted to exploring the riches of literary expression. We will discuss such world-renowned classics as Dante’s Divine Comedy (1319) and Shakespeare’s Othello (1604), and also cover more recent works including F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (1925), Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse (1927), and Philip Roth’s American Pastoral (1997).

Prof. Luzzi will show how these fascinating works help us understand some of the most pressing concerns today, including the nature of religious faith, questions of personal identity, even the quest for the American Dream. Participants will be encouraged to develop their own list of “essential reading,” as Professor Luzzi helps them acquire the skills necessary for enriching their encounters with books of all kinds.

Joseph Luzzi (PhD, Yale) has taught at Bard College since 2002,and is currently Co-Director of the college’s First-Year Seminar program, a yearlong “great books” course that covers major texts and intellectual traditions. He has been invited to speak on literature at a number of institutions throughout the world, including Yale, Cambridge, and Penn, and is a widely published literary and art critic for the Times Literary Supplement, Book forum, American Scholar, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. His many awards and distinctions include a Yale College Teaching Prize.

NYC - Madison Towers
22 East 38th St
New York, NYSeptember 29,2012
10:00 AM - 1:00 PM