![cubist image of musicians](/sites/default/files/styles/small_6_4_480x320_/public/images/2024-07/Untitled%20design-34_1.jpg?h=b69e0e0e&itok=9die01K6)
20th Century: The Crisis of Tonality: Music at an Impasse 20th Century: The Crisis of Tonality: Music at an Impasse
We will look at some of the momentous innovations in classical music in the twentieth century, specifically in respect to tonality and problems of “form”: in the seminar, as viewed by three major...
![wood block drawing](/sites/default/files/styles/small_6_4_480x320_/public/images/2024-05/iStock-2109161869.jpg?h=143d916c&itok=iM4iLXob)
Alumni Sequence: Asian Classical Traditions Autumn Year 1 Alumni Sequence: Asian Classical Traditions Autumn Year 1
Autumn Seminar:
This course introduces Basic Program alumni to three ancient Indian classics: the Rigveda, the Upanishads, and the Bhagavad Gita. The Rigveda introduces readers to a world rich with...
![roman ruins](/sites/default/files/styles/small_6_4_480x320_/public/images/2024-05/iStock-1331264987.jpg?h=df1f1a57&itok=gIjln4u7)
Alumni Sequence: The Romans II Alumni Sequence: The Romans II
Corrupt politicians, scandalous celebrities, aggressive foreign policy, upheavals in cultural ideas about sexuality and marriage, income inequality, immigration problems, concerns about the...
![War of Athens](/sites/default/files/styles/small_6_4_480x320_/public/images/2022-07/BASC%2040101%20%28Basic%20Program%20Year%20Four%20Autumn%29.png?h=4362216e&itok=pHd1Klvz)
Basic Program Year Four: Autumn Basic Program Year Four: Autumn
The Year 4 Seminar texts cover a wide range time periods and genres, including philosophy, biography, satire, and romance, which connect through the themes of love, character, and humor as they...
![Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant's painting, "Antigone at the Bedside of Polynice"](/sites/default/files/styles/small_6_4_480x320_/public/images/2022-04/BASC10101.png?h=252f27fa&itok=2VKlaTq9)
Basic Program Year One: Autumn Basic Program Year One: Autumn
Since 1946, the Basic Program of Liberal Education for Adults has engaged lifelong learners in reading, discussing, and building community around the foundational texts of literature, philosophy, and...
![Alt: A replica of Isaac Newton's second reflecting telescope of 1672.](/sites/default/files/styles/small_6_4_480x320_/public/images/2022-07/BASC%2030101%20%28Basic%20Program%20Year%20Three%20Autumn%29.png?h=4362216e&itok=raJO_33P)
Photograph © Andrew Dunn.
Basic Program Year Three: Autumn Basic Program Year Three: Autumn
In the Seminar, we read two classics texts seeking the ungrounded ground of reason. In the Tutorial we will engage in a close reading of a classic novel. The novel for 2024 is War and Peace, by Leo...
![Cleopatra: The oil painting "Cleopatra" by John William Waterhouse (1888). Death Pentheus Louvre: Pentheus torn apart by Agave and Ino on an Attic red-figure cosmetics bowl lid, c. 450–425 BC.](/sites/default/files/styles/small_6_4_480x320_/public/images/2022-07/BASC%2020101%20%28Basic%20Program%20Year%20Two%20Autumn%29.png?h=4362216e&itok=eDlVnTtg)
Basic Program Year Two: Autumn Basic Program Year Two: Autumn
The Year 2 seminar is devoted to three great plays: Sophocles' Oedipus the King, Euripides' The Bacchae, and Shakespeare's Anthony & Cleopatra. A close reading of Aristotle's Poetics will enhance our...
![calvino on a bike](/sites/default/files/styles/small_6_4_480x320_/public/images/2024-05/calvino%27s%20worlds%20resized.jpg?h=b69e0e0e&itok=TDCFYHSi)
Calvino's Worlds Calvino's Worlds
Shortly before his death, Italo Calvino (1923-1985) wrote: “The grand challenge for literature is to be capable of weaving together the various branches of knowledge, their various ‘codes’ into a...
![old drawing of Antony and Cleopatra wedding](/sites/default/files/styles/small_6_4_480x320_/public/images/2024-05/Deep%20dive%20resized.jpg?h=b69e0e0e&itok=C5eXQz7d)
Deep Dive: Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra Deep Dive: Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra, a relatively late play by Shakespeare, is a powerful work that stands out for its complexity and scope as well as for the challenge it presents to norms of tragedy. In this class...
![dostoevsky](/sites/default/files/styles/small_6_4_480x320_/public/images/2024-06/Untitled%20design-22.png?h=b69e0e0e&itok=pfSDArsW)
Dostoevsky on Ethics and Rebellion Dostoevsky on Ethics and Rebellion
Dostoevsky’s dominant philosophical and literary issue is arguably how we know and access goodness as human beings and the cultural, intellectual, and psychological forces at work that block this or...