UOInsight Seminars 2009

Insight Seminars are college-level non-credit courses designed for adults who want to improve their reading and thinking habits by studying great books and important ideas. As Emerson says, “When the mind is braced by labor and invention, the page of whatever book we read becomes luminous with manifold allusion. Every sentence is doubly significant, and the sense of our author is as broad as the world.” That’s the kind of reading we want.

Classes meet weekly on Monday evenings in the Knight Library, or on Saturday mornings in the Schnitzer Art Museum. Parking is easy. A month-long seminar costs $90. Books are available at the UO Bookstore. Availability limited. Register at 346-1889 or on-line registration here.

More information call 346-1889.

Saturdays, 10-12:30
Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art

Mahatma Gandhi
October 3, 17, 24, 31
Gandhi’s non-violence continues to attract global attention. Explore the Indian and Western roots of his doctrine of non-violence, ahimsa, how it worked to free India from colonialism, and how Martin Luther King adapted it in America. Read Gandhi’s Experiments with Truth in light of his greatest inspiration, the Bhagavad-Gita.
(with Veena Howard (Religious Studies) and Jim Earl (English))
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Tuition: $90
Books and CDs available through the UO Bookstore

How To Read An Indian Novel
November 7, 14, 21, 28
Novels by Indian authors are more and more popular, but they often embody distinctively Indian notions of plot, character and form. How might concepts like dharma and karma affect the structure and meaning of Indian novels? Read three novels about Gandhi by three great Indian novelists, in this Indian context.
(with Jim Earl and Veena Howard)
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Tuition: $90
Books and CDs available through the UO Bookstore

Augustine’s Confessions
January 9, 16, 23, 30
A brilliant young Roman philosopher recounts his dissolute early life, his search for truth and gradual conversion to Christianity, meditating on themes like memory, time, and the soul. The first autobiography, a founding document of the Middle Ages, still fascinating and profound, it’s on every list of Great Books.
(with Jim Earl (English))
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Tuition: $90
Books and CDs available through the UO Bookstore

How To Read A Poem
February 6, 13, 20, 27
Marianne Moore begins a poem about poetry, “I, too, dislike it.” Well, people may dislike poetry, but they turn to it when faced with life-events that need expression, like love or death. Moore says, “one discovers in / it after all, a place for the genuine.” A good reader of poems is a better reader of everything, including people.
(with Karen Ford (Creative Writing))
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Tuition: $90
Books and CDs available through the UO Bookstore

Ballad And Folksong
April 3, 10, 17, 24
Shared ballads and songs are at the center of our cultural experience. How do song traditions work? How it is that songs popular in Shakespeare's time are still being sung in Yoncalla? How do song traditions shape and reflect society and identity? What are medieval carols, broadside ballads, the blues?
(with Dianne Dugaw (English))
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Tuition: $90
Books and CDs available through the UO Bookstore

Tolkien’s World
May 1, 8, 15, 22
The Lord of the Rings was recently voted best novel of all time by British readers. What makes it so engrossing? How does Tolkien's profession as a medievalist illuminate it? Explore Middle-earth in new ways. For those who have already read it, and newcomers up for substantial but absorbing reading.
(with Martha Bayless (English))
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Tuition: $90
Books and CDs available through the UO Bookstore

Mondays, 6:30-9
Knight Library Browsing Room

The Book Of Genesis
October 5, 12, 19, 26
No book has influenced western civilization like the book of Genesis, a history of the cosmos, of the (dysfunctional) family, and of the relationship of the human to the divine. Explore the depths of the Genesis texts, the cultural heritage of the Ancient Near East, and the Israelite traditions that frame these stories.
(with Deborah Green (Religious Studies))
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Tuition: $90
Books and CDs available through the UO Bookstore

Film Noir
November 2, 9, 16, 23
“Film noir” is America’s most distinctive film genre, with a shadowy look and a fascination with the underside of American life. Men are on the take, women are dangerous, and only the cynical survive! What are the genre’s historical roots? Why does it view men, women, and American politics as it does?
(with Cheyney Ryan (Philosophy))
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Tuition: $90
Books and CDs available through the UO Bookstore

The Fine Art Of Haiku
January 4, 11, 18, 25
Haiku present profound connections between ourselves and the natural world, experienced in fleeting moments of awareness. How do we recognize these moments? What do they mean for us? How can a centuries-old Japanese poetic form capture our experience of modern American life?
(with Ce Rosenow (Honors College))
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Tuition: $90
Books and CDs available through the UO Bookstore

Death And Dying
February 1, 8, 15, 22
The literature of death and dying is immense, from the ancient Epic of Gilgamesh to today. How do different cultures deal with death and dying? We’ll read three recent novels from around the world: how do they resonate with our own meditations, light-hearted or deadly serious, on this universal topic?
(with Steve Durrant (East Asian Lang.))
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Tuition: $90
Books and CDs available through the UO Bookstore

Medieval Dragon-Slayers
April 5, 12, 19, 26
Beowulf and the Viking Volsungs’ Saga are the inspiration for most modern dragon-stories, including Wagner's and Tolkien's. What are dragons in medieval myth, legend and history? What could they mean in modern fantasy fiction? What does it mean to kill the dragon, and how do you do it?
(with Jim Earl (English))
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Tuition: $90
Books and CDs available through the UO Bookstore

Bob Dylan
May 3, 10, 17, 24
Who is Bob Dylan? Who are we? What is an I? Some call him America’s greatest living poet--but is he even there? His works keep coming, and continue to challenge the very idea of identity, both personal and national. Who is he, what are his great themes, and how do his writings work?
(with Jeff Harrison (English))
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Tuition: $90
Books and CDs available through the UO Bookstore