Sunday-Friday; $775 double; $1,035 single; $375 commuter
The Swerve: How the World Became Modern / Dan Taylor ‘63
The title of Stephen Greenblatt’s latest foray into the history of western civilization tells it all. Poggio Bracciolini’s discovery of a long-lost manuscript of Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura (The Nature of Things) in 1417 becomes the academic lynch-pin of (secular) humanism, which then inspires the Renaissance achievements that in turn usher in the modern world. The Swerve won both a National Book Award and a Pulitzer Prize, for it is a page-turner, an intellectual thriller, and an adventure story about scholarship with a thesis that is at once both compelling and controversial.
Lucretius’ magnificent didactic epic (it’s a poem written in dactylic hexameters) is an introduction to Epicurean philosophy. Epicurus (341–270 BC) adapted the atomic theory first articulated by Democritus in the 5th century BC, and in his first book or chapter Lucretius (circa 94–55 or 51 BC) describes how atoms and void are the only constituent elements of the universe. What is so amazing is that he does so in some of the most beautiful poetry ever composed in Latin! In book II he addresses the movements and shapes of atoms: they normally move downwards, but occasionally they swerve. The Latin noun clinamen means “swerve” and is pretty much unique to Lucretius. So anyone who has read Lucretius in Latin immediately knows what Greenblatt’s title means. To oversimplify, the clinamen of the atoms is what allows for free will in humanity.
Lucretius then (book III) discusses life and mind, which are both corporeal and which will therefore be dispersed back into the universe at death. Gods take no notice of human life, and the whole idea of an afterlife, especially the terrors and pains of Hades, is imaginary. Happiness is the goal of human existence, and it consists of a cheerful acceptance of our universal lot and an avoidance of as much pain as possible. (N.B. Epicurean happiness does not mean “eat, drink and be merry, because tomorrow you may die” no matter how many times it has been misinterpreted to mean that over the centuries.) Death is therefore nothing to us, and we must strive for ataraxia, literally “the state of not being shook up,” in life. In successive books Lucretius deals with sensation and sex, cosmology and sociology, and meteorology and geology. Such a book is anathema to religion, and it is no wonder that St. Jerome thought that Lucretius had composed his poetic treatise per intervalla insaniae “during intervals of insanity.”
So if, as Greenblatt argues, Lucretius’ On the Nature of Things becomes the centerpiece of a new, radical, intellectual paradigm, it’s just a matter of time until mediaeval theology is a thing of the past. “Aye, there’s the rub.” Mediaeval theology in religious, historical, and philosophical texts, art, sculpture, and elsewhere—does become a thing of the past and at precisely this time. But is Greenblatt merely employing a post hoc, ergo propter hoc (“after this, therefore because of this”) argument, which is a commonplace logical and rhetorical fallacy, or has he put his finger on the philosophical “nitty-gritty” that produces secular humanism? Critics have enjoyed pointing out that some of Greenblatt’s claims “are more convincing than others,” that they often rely on “charisma rather than evidence,” and that the author is himself “no stranger to finessing the historical record.” Yet Greenblatt does argue persuasively, and his conclusion is compelling insofar as his supporters are concerned. Participants are sure to have a lot of fun discussing the crux of this fascinating issue.
What critics and supporters alike agree upon, however, is that The Swerve is a truly magnificent read, “another triumph for Greenblatt.” It is “illuminating, entertaining, surprising and exciting” as well as “wonderfully engaging.” Its contents include “weird Latin lore, vivid Renaissance characters, and startling new stories.” What seminar instructor Dan Taylor likes about Greenblatt’s approach to his subject is that he hits all the high spots of his own intellectual pursuits. Greenblatt’s heroes are Taylor’s heroes: Lucretius, Cicero, Coluccio Salutati, Poggio, Niccolo Niccoli, and he touches upon intellectual giants such as Galileo and Freud, Montaigne, Darwin and Einstein, even Thomas Jefferson. Greenblatt’s topics are Taylor’s topics: classical literature, mediaeval manuscripts, writing on parchment rather than papyrus, changes in scribal practices, hunting for manuscripts of the Classics, the invention of humanistic script and of course early Renaissance intellectual history, including art history as well as book history. Not all historical figures are heroes, however, and so participants can also read about Poggio’s patron and boss, Antipope John XXIII, who was formally deposed in 1415 and whose name was stricken from the roster of official popes and, though made available for future popes, wasn’t adopted until 1958.
When Taylor first read the title of Greenblatt’s book, he said to his wife, “With this book, Greenblatt will win the Pulitzer that he didn’t get with Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare,” and so he did. Taylor claims that The Swerve: How the World Became Modern is, quite simply, one of the best books he has read in quite a while, and it just might inspire him to finish his own book on the history of Varro’s De Lingua Latina during the intervals between ski seasons. Taylor doesn’t know whether he agrees wholeheartedly with Greenblatt’s major thesis, but he is attracted to it. What Taylor does know is that this Björklunden seminar is bound to be as intellectually stimulating as any he has ever taught.
Class text: “The Swerve: How the World Became Modern” by Stephen Greenblatt. W. W. Norton & Company; First Edition edition (September 26, 2011). ISBN: 978-0393064476.
Available at Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Swerve-How-World-Became-Modern/dp/0393064476/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1357591347&sr=1-1&keywords=9780393064476
Daniel Taylor ’63 is the Hiram A. Jones Professor and Chair of Classics Emeritus at Lawrence University. Author of two books on Varro—Declinatio: A Study of the Linguistic Theory of Marcus Terentius Varro (1974) and Varro De Lingua Latina X: A New Critical Text and English Translation with Prolegomena and Commentary (1996)—and a dozen or so articles, he has been acknowledged as the leading Varro scholar of his time. He also edited The History of Linguistics in the Classical Period (1987) and has published widely on Greek and Latin grammar, the history of linguistics and even baseball. He received two year-long research fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, which he spent in Florence (Italy), and served as the first Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Linguistics at the Universita di Trieste (Italy).
Professor Taylor has been honored with the Excellent Teaching Award at Lawrence University, accorded the National Award for Excellence in Teaching the Classics by the American Philological Association, and acclaimed as the Distinguished Foreign Language Educator of the Year by the Wisconsin Association of Foreign Language Teachers. He graduated with honors in classics from Lawrence in 1963 and earned M.A. (1965) and Ph.D. (1970) degrees from the University of Washington (Seattle). Now retired, he lives in Summit County, Colo., and serves as a trustee of the county library and as a board member of the Colorado Fulbright Association.
Voyage of the Sea Dragon: Nautical Adventures & Misadventures – Richard Halliburton & Travel Literature / Gerry Max ‘67 & Robert Wilson ‘80 - This seminar has been cancelled.
C-3PO: “Sir, the possibility of successfully navigating an asteroid field is approximately three thousand, seven hundred twenty to one.”
Han Solo (pilot): “Never tell me the odds.”
Star Wars V- The Empire Strikes Back
In March 1939 famed travel writer Richard Halliburton attempted to sail a junk named the Sea Dragon from Hong Kong to the San Francisco World’s Fair. Nine hundred miles southeast of Yokohama, the ship headed into a typhoon and was never seen again. Once a synonym for romantic adventure, Halliburton is best known today for his 50-mile swim of the Panama Canal (paying the lowest toll in its history—36 cents) and for his two Books of Marvels which introduced generations of young people to history and geography. Long out-of-print, his books, including the bestsellers The Royal Road to Romance and The Flying Carpet, have now been reissued as paragons of the classic travel narrative. Halliburton had in mind to write The Royal Road to Romance in America, beginning with pre-Columbian discoveries of the North American Continent and leading into those achievements which marked America’s ascendancy to world prominence; only letters and logs related to the Sea Dragon expedition itself now exist. The tragic grandeur of Halliburton’s loss at sea, meanwhile, continues to arouse wonder, and speculation.
The seminar provides scenarios of what happened to the Sea Dragon and, by using the junk as a model, considers the dos and don’ts of sailing. Broad in scope, boating achievements and disasters on the Great Lakes as well as high seas are examined from the classic voyages of Joshua Slocum and Cheng Ho to those of the Titanic and the Edmund Fitzgerald. A major question of the seminar is: Could the Sea Dragon have made it across Lake Michigan, let alone the Pacific Ocean? Collateral topics include high seas adventure narrative, travel writing, World Fairs, naval architecture, crew management, navigation tools, “wave” theory or wind and water behavior, and underwater archaeology. Afternoons are devoted to selected (optional) video presentations. The seminar coincides with the America’s Cup Races in San Francisco Bay, September 7–22, 2013.
Materials fee: $25 per participant for handouts in lieu of a textbook, payable upon arrival
Gerry Max ’67, author of Horizon Chasers—The Lives and Adventures of Richard Halliburton and Paul Mooney (McFarland, 2007), has published articles on a variety of humanities-related topics including “From Thin Air” (for Lawrence Today on Lawrence English professor Warren Beck). Besides talks on Richard Halliburton at history symposia and on public radio, he has delivered papers on Richard Halliburton, poet Elinor Wylie and eco-tourism in the later writings of Thomas Wolfe and Richard Halliburton. Awarded the William B. Wisdom Grant by the Thomas Wolfe Society to study at Harvard, he conducted research on Wolfe’s impact as an English teacher at NYU; awarded an NEH Fellowship to study at the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute, he conducted research on ancient Near Eastern libraries and travel narratives. Max earned a B.A. in history from Lawrence University and, from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, an M.A. in classics, a Ph.D. in Ancient history, and an M.L.S. degree. He has written a play Uncommon Courtesy on the life of Richard Halliburton, and is currently writing The Voyage of the Sea Dragon. His website is www.sunflowercircleproductions.com/gerry-max.html.
Robert Wilson ’80 has contributed a chapter to The Voyage of the Sea Dragon about the likely causes of the Sea Dragon’s demise from a mariner’s point of view. He has written a play about Richard Halliburton, A Life of Marvels, and is currently working on another play based upon the poet William Blake. A Phi Beta Kappa, Wilson earned a B.A. in history from Lawrence University and an M.A. in South Asian studies from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. As a Fulbright scholar, he lived for several years in India where he researched Hindu epics and performance traditions. Wilson has guest-lectured, chiefly on modern historic topics, at Lakeland College. As vice president of the Lonesome Travel Publishing Coop, he co-edited several books of modern poetry. He achieved the rank of eagle in scouting, and has taught wilderness survival, lifeguarding and sailing as a camp staff member for both the Chicago and Milwaukee councils. An avid sailor, he has devoted time researching the history of ships and the field of navigation. He currently races keelboats on Lake Mendota in Madison.
Mastering Poetic Forms / Marilyn Taylor
“The joy of working in form is, for me, the paradoxical freedom form bestows to say the hard truths,” says poet Maxine Kumin. Could it do the same for your own poetry? It’s finally time to find out. In this workshop, in the company of supportive fellow poets, participants will be experimenting with a variety of traditional poetic forms, from the sonnet to the sestina—equipping them with many new stylistic strategies for their poetic bag-of-tricks. (Working with forms can do wonders for one’s free verse, too!) In the end—with a little help from fellow classmates and a good ear—participants will have a great start on gaining the necessary skills for combining the best of both worlds: using the timeless old forms (and varieties thereof) as vehicles for their own totally contemporary ideas. Please bring one completed poem with enough copies to hand out in class (copies can be made on site as well).
Marilyn Taylor, Ph.D., former Poet Laureate of the state of Wisconsin (2009 and 2010) and the city of Milwaukee (2004 and 2005), is the author of six collections of poetry, the most recent of which, titled GOING WRONG, was published by Parallel Press in 2009. Her work has also appeared in many anthologies and journals, including The American Scholar, Poetry, Able Muse, Poetry Daily, Measure, Iris, Mezzo Cammin, Ted Kooser’s “American Life in Poetry” column and The New York Times. She has been awarded first place in contests sponsored by The Atlanta Review, Passager, The Ledge and the GSU Review poetry journals. She was also the recipient of the Dogwood Prize for a crown of sonnets titled The Good-Girl Chronicles. Her second book, SUBJECT TO CHANGE, was nominated for the Poets Prize in 2005.
Taylor taught poetry and poetics for 15 years for the English department and the Honors College at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. She has presented readings and facilitated independent poetry workshops in dozens of communities throughout Wisconsin and across the country, from California to Connecticut. She is currently a member of the Poet Laureate Commission, the Council for Wisconsin Writers Board of Directors and serves on the advisory board for the literary journal Verse Wisconsin, and the advisory board of the Low Residency MFA program at Gunnison University, Gunnison, Colo. She is a contributing editor for The Writer magazine, where her widely-read “Poet to Poet” column on craft appears bimonthly.
