the basic program - University of Chicago Graham School

THE BASIC
PROGRAM
OF LIBERAL EDUCATION FOR ADULTS
QUARTERLY
AUTUMN 2016
AUTUMN 2016 CALENDAR (10 WEEKS)
Mon
September 26–December 5
no class October 3
Tues
September 20–December 6
no class October 11, November 22
Wed
September 21–December 7
no class October 12, November 23
Thur September 29–December 8
no class November 24
Sat September 24–December 10
no class October 22, November 26
WINTER 2017 CALENDAR (10 WEEKS)
Mon
January 9–March 20
no class January 16
Tues
January 10–March 14
Wed
January 11–March 15
Thur January 12–March 16
Sat January 7–March 11
CLASS TIMES
Morning 10 AM–1:15 PM
Afternoon 2–5:15 PM
Evening 6–9:15 PM (Except where noted)
Saturday 9:30 AM–12:45 PM
CERTIFICATE
Participants earn a University of Chicago Graham
School certificate upon completion of the fouryear curriculum.
HOW TO REGISTER
Online
To register with VISA, MasterCard, American
Express, or Discover, visit:
grahamschool.uchicago.edu/basicprogram.
Phone
To register with VISA, MasterCard, American
Express, or Discover, call 773.702.1722.
FREE EVENTS
To register for a free event, visit:
grahamschool.uchicago.edu/basicprogram.
PD/CPDU CREDIT
PD/CPDU credits are available for public school
teachers. All courses have value of 30 unless
otherwise noted.
TUITION
$430/course for Years 1–4 courses, Alumni
Sequence courses, & Alumni/Open to All courses
$60/course for Mini-courses
$200/course for 10-week Online courses
University of Chicago Gleacher Center
450 N. Cityfront Plaza Drive
Chicago, IL 60611
Hyde Park Campus
Cobb Hall, Third Floor
5811 S. Ellis Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637
WHAT IS THE BASIC PROGRAM OF
LIBERAL EDUCATION FOR ADULTS?
The Basic Program offers a rigorous noncredit liberal arts
curriculum that draws on the strong Socratic tradition of the
University of Chicago. We discover, discuss and disagree
about the foundational texts of modern Western literature,
politics. and social thought. Come join the conversation!
Contents
2
Basic Program Four-Year Curriculum
4
Autumn Curriculum
6Events
NEW
8
Spring Break in Greece
9
Alumni Sequences
10 Alumni and Open-to-all Courses
NEW
15 3-Week Mini-Courses
16 Online Classes
17 Graham School Policies
1
The Basic Program
YEAR 1
YEAR 2
Autumn
Autumn
Week Seminar
Week Seminar
1–3 Introduction;
Sophocles 1–6 Sophocles
Oedipus the King;
Antigone
Aristotle
Poetics
4–6 Plato Apology and Crito
7–8 7–10 Dostoevsky
Crime and Punishment
9–10 Shakespeare Antony and Cleopatra
Week Tutorial
1–10 Plato Euripides
Week Tutorial
Meno
1–10 Homer
Winter
Winter
Week Seminar
Week Seminar
1–5 Herodotus 6–10 Aeschylus The Iliad
The History (Bk.I, VII, VIII)
1–6 Homer
The Odyssey
Oresteia
7–8 Joyce
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Week Tutorial
1–10 Aristotle The Bacchae
Nicomachean Ethics
Man
9–10 Woolf
A Room of One’s Own
Week Tutorial
1–10 Plato
Spring
Spring
Week Seminar
Week Seminar
Republic
1–2 Machiavelli The Prince
1–3 Aquinas
Treatise on Law
3–5 Hobbes Leviathan (selections)
4–5 Locke
Second Treatise on Government
6–8 Kant Grounding for the Metaphysics of 6–8 Rousseau
Discourse on the Origin and Morals
Foundations of Inequality Among 9–10 Conrad Heart of Darkness
Men
9–10 Shakespeare The Tempest
Week Tutorial
1–8 Bible Week Tutorial
Genesis, Job, Matthew
9–10 Kierkegaard Fear and Trembling
1–10 Lyric poetry
2
* Year 3 novels follow this order of Four-Year Curriculum
rotation: Don Quixote, War and Peace, Tom Jones, Middlemarch, Moby Dick.
† Year 4 tragedies by Shakespeare follow this order of rotation: King Lear, YEAR 3
YEAR 4
Autumn
Autumn
Week Seminar
Week Seminar
Macbeth, Othello, Hamlet.
1–2 Aristotle
Physics (Bk.I, ch.1; Bk.II)
1–3 Plato
Symposium
3–4 Lucretius
The Nature of Things
4–5 Plutarch
Lives of the Noble Greeks and 5–7 Newton
Principia (selections)
Romans (selections)
8–10 Darwin
On the Origin of Species
6–7 Gulliver’s Travels
(selections)
8–10 Austen
Week Tutorial
1–10 Novel* Swift
Pride and Prejudice
Week Tutorial
Middlemarch
1–10 Thucydides
Winter
Winter
Week Seminar
Week Seminar
The Peloponnesian War
1–5 Virgil
The Aeneid
1–4 Aristotle
Politics (Bks. I, III)
6–8 Augustine
Confessions
5–7 Smith
Wealth of Nations (selections)
The Canterbury Tales (selections)
8–10 Marx
Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 and The Communist Manifesto
9–10 Chaucer
Week Tutorial
1–4 Euclid
5–10 Descartes
Elements (Bk. I)
Week Tutorial
Meditations
1–10 Shakespeare Tragedy† (Hamlet in 2017)
Spring
Spring
Week Seminar
Week Seminar
1–2 Montaigne
Essays (selections)
1–4 U.S. Founding Documents
3–4 Pascal
Pensées (selections)
5
Lincoln
5–7 Nietzsche
On the Genealogy of Morals
Inaugural Address
8–10 Freud
The Interpretation of Dreams 6–10 Tocqueville
Democracy in America (selections)
(selections)
Week Tutorial
Week Tutorial
1–10 Dante
Gettysburg Address and Second 1–10Plato
Inferno
3
Phaedo
Autumn Curriculum
YEAR 1
YEAR 2
OPEN TO ALL
PREREQUISITE: at least one quarter of Year 1
There is no reading assignment for the first class.
There is no reading assignment for the first class.
Week Seminar
Week Seminar
Antigone in Sophocles One,
1–6 University of Chicago Press
One, University of Chicago Press
ISBN 978-0226311517
ISBN 978-0226311517
4–6 Plato Five Dialogues, trans. By GMA Aristotle
Poetics James Hutton, trans., Grube, Hackett ISBN Norton ISBN 978-0393952162
9780872206335
7–8 The Bacchae in Euripides V,
7–10 Dostoevsky
Crime and Punishment
University of Chicago Press
Pevear-Volokhonsky, trans., ISBN 978-0226308982
Vintage Press
9–10 Shakespeare Antony and Cleopatra
ISBN 978-0679734505
1–3 Sophocles Week Tutorial
Sophocles Euripides Oedipus the King in Sophocles Bantam ISBN 978-0553212891
Week Tutorial
1–10 Plato Meno in Collected Dialogues,
1–10 Homer Iliad Fagles, trans.,
Bollingen Series,
Penguin ISBN 978-0140445923
Princeton University Press
ISBN 978-0691097183
Course Code BASC 10101
Course Code BASC 10201
Weekday Mornings
Weekday Mornings
SECTION
Gleacher Center
SECTION
Gleacher Center
01
Tuesdays
10 am–1:15 pm
02 Tuesdays
6–9:15 pm
02
Wednesdays 10 am–1:15 pm
01 Wednesdays 10 am–1:15 pm
Weekday Evenings
SECTION
Gleacher Center
SECTION
Cobb Hall, Hyde Park
03 Tuesdays
6–9:15 pm
04
9:30 am–12:45 pm
Weekday Evenings
SECTION
Hyde Park
05 Tuesdays
6–7:30 pm
05
Thursdays
6–7:30 pm
Saturdays
SECTION
Cobb Hall, Hyde Park
04
9:30 am–12:45 pm
Saturdays
4
Saturdays
Saturdays
Years 1–4
YEAR 3
YEAR 4
PREREQUISITE: Years 1 and 2
PREREQUISITE: Years 1, 2 and 3
For the first class please read Book I, chapter 1 and Book
There is no reading assignment for the first class.
II, chapters 1–3 of Aristotle’s Physics.
Week Seminar
Week Seminar
Physics, Bk. I, ch. 1; Bk. II in
1–3 The Physics: Bks. I–IV, Loeb,
Dialogues, Bollingen Series,
Harvard University Press
Princeton University Press
ISBN 978-0674992511
ISBN 978-0691097183
3–4 The Nature of Things
4–5 Lives of the Noble Greeks and Copley, trans., Norton
Romans (selections)
ISBN 978-0393090949
Modern Library vol. 1,
5–7 Principia (selections)
ISBN 978-0375756764;
Densmore, ed., Green Lion Press
vol. 2, ISBN 978-0375756771
ISBN 978-1888009262
6–7 Gulliver’s Travels
8–10 Darwin
On the Origin of Species
Norton ISBN 978-0393957242
(selections)
8–10Austen
Pride and Prejudice
Modern Library
Oxford University Press ISBN 978-0679600701
ISBN 978-0199535569
1–2 Aristotle
Lucretius
Newton
Week Tutorial
Plato
Plutarch
Swift
Symposium in Collected
Week Tutorial
1–10 Eliot
Middlemarch
Penguin Classics
ISBN 978-0141439549
Course Code 1–10ThucydidesThe Peloponnesian War
Crawley trans., Touchstone
ISBN 978-0684827902
BASC 10301
Course Code BASC 10401
Weekday Mornings
Weekday Mornings
SECTION
Gleacher Center
SECTION
Gleacher Center
01 Tuesdays
10 am–1:15 pm
01 10 am–1:15 pm
02
Thursdays
10 am–1:15 pm
03 Saturdays 9:30 am–2:45 pm
5
Thursdays
Events
FIRST FRIDAY LECTURES
WORKS OF THE MIND LECTURES
These free public lectures complement the Basic
Program curriculum. They are offered at 12:15 pm on
the first Friday of every month except July at the
Chicago Cultural Center (Michigan Avenue and
Randolph Street).
These free public lectures are offered on selected
Sundays at 1 pm October through May at the
Chicago Cultural Center.
Tocqueville, The Problem of Equality,
and John Ford’s Stagecoach
SHAKE SPE ARE 400
Robert Pippin, Evelyn Stefansson Nef
Distinguished Service Professor and Chair of the
Committee on Social Thought, the Department
of Philosophy, and the College, the University of
Chicago
Shakespeare’s Wars of the Roses
Plays: The Original Game of Thrones
Cynthia Rutz, Basic Program Instructor
October 7, 2016
October 16, 2016
Neither Tyranny Nor Freedom:
Saul Bellow’s Herzog and the
American Century
SHAKE SPE ARE 400
Providence in Hamlet and
The Tempest
Joseph Alulis, Basic Program Instructor
David Bevington, Phyllis Fay Horton Distinguished
Service Professor Emeritus, Department of
English Language and Literature, Department
of Comparative Literature, Chair, Theater and
Performance Studies, the University of Chicago
November 4, 2016
SHAKE SPE ARE 400
Shakespeare the Master of
Ambiguity
November 13, 2016
Katia Mitova, Basic Program Instructor
December 2, 2016
Chaucer in the Land of Unlikeness:
Subjectivity and Self-Division in The
Canterbury Tales
SHAKESPEARE 400
Shakespeare 400 Chicago is a yearlong celebration of the anniversary
of Shakespeare’s death sponsored by
the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. In
conjunction with the festival, the Basic Program is
offering a selection of lectures and courses exploring
Shakespeare’s work. Look for the blue ‘Shakespeare
400’ for these offerings.
Mark Miller, Associate Professor, Department of
English Language and Literature, the University of
Chicago
December 11, 2016
6
SAVE THE DATE
APRIL 28–30, 2017
Spring Weekend Study Retreat
Toni Morrison’s Beloved
The Abbey Resort, Fontana, WI
2016 AUTUMN SYMPOSIUM
Selections from The Federalist Papers
“If men were angels, no government would be necessary.” Federalist no. 51
Written under the pseudonym “Publius” by
Our keynote speaker will be Ralph Lerner, the
Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay,
Benjamin Franklin Professor Emeritus in the
the essays of The Federalist Papers form a detailed, College and of Social Thought with a talk titled
brilliant tutorial on the proposed Constitution of
“Publius: Putting a Good Face on Disappointment.”
1787. In the process of persuading the citizens of
Basic Program instructors Keith Cleveland and
New York (and any other readers) to support its
Joel Alulis will also be speaking, and members of
ratification, it works systematically through the
the Basic Program teaching staff will lead small
Constitution, explaining, justifying, and defending
group discussions.
the work of the framers. As part of a serious
Recommended Readings:
debate about the Constitution’s design to fulfill the
The Federalist Papers, Rossiter, ed., Signet Classics,
needs of government while providing guarantees
ISBN 978-0451528810
and protections to the liberties of American
Course Code BASC 14001 | 01
citizens, it also replies to the most challenging of
Sat 8:30 am–3:30 pm / Oct 22 / Gordon Center,
the attacks on the proposed government in the
University of Chicago Campus / $195*
extensive body of “antifederalist” writing, and in
*Tuition includes continental breakfast, lunch, and all day
the process becomes an exploration of the nature
beverage service.
of governance itself. With the perspective
Free shuttle service will be available from the Gleacher
provided by our accumulated experience living
Center to the Gordon Center.
under the government produced by ratification,
the Autumn Symposium will give us the
opportunity to think and talk again about the
successes and failures of the framers, to admire
their achievement and to consider their missteps.
7
Basic Program
Spring Break
in Greece
NEW | MARCH 18–25, 2017
Prerequisite: Students who have completed through Winter Quarter of Year 2 of the Basic Program.
New this year, we are offering an opportunity for
Basic Program students to travel to Greece
accompanied by Instructor Cynthia Rutz, to
experience firsthand some of the historic places
they have encountered in the first two years of the
curriculum. Based in Athens, the trip will visit
places such as the temple of Athena on the
Acropolis and Socrates’ jail cell in Athens, Apollo’s
temple and Oracle at Delphi, and the tomb of
Agamemnon at Mycenae. We will also plan time for
discussion groups so you can talk about the sites in
relation to the texts with your fellow students.
Tuition includes double-occupancy hotel
accommodation (single supplement $280),
ground transportation, archaeologist-led tours
and entry to the ancient sites and museums,
welcome and farewell dinners, and bilingual
support services provided by the Athens Center.
Participants are responsible for their own air travel
to Greece.
Course Code BASC 15003 | 01
Mar 18–25 / Athens, Greece / Tuition $2,950
Cancellation fee: $550 after February 15 but
before March 15
Registration deadline: December 15, 2016.
For more information and to register, visit
grahamschool.uchicago.edu/bpalumtrip
8
Alumni Sequences
ALUMNI SEQUENCE: THE ROMANS II
NEW | ALUMNI SEQUENCE:
Staff
Prerequisite: The Romans I
Staff
THE MODERN TRADITION I
Becoming Individual in the Modern
Period
As we begin Year II of The Romans Alumni
Sequence, the focus of the conversation shifts
from history and politics to literature and
philosophy. The Autumn Quarter is centered
on poetry, with themes of love and nature
intertwining with ideas of aesthetics, passion,
morality, and even violence.
The modern tradition is characterized by
relentless insistence upon individualism,
beginning with “the discovery of the individual”
around the early fifteenth century as both a
social and political fact and a new, historically
unprecedented reality. But what kind of
“discovery” is this? What does it mean to be—or
to become —“individual”? In this first quarter,
we explore the meaning, conditions, tensions
and complexities of individualism in the modern
period.
Course Code BASC 61211 | 01 | PD/CPDUs 30
Tue 2–5:15 pm / Sep 20–Dec 6 / GC / $430
*no class Oct 11 or Nov 22
Course Code BASC 61211 | 02 | PD/CPDUs 30
Thu 6–9:15 pm / Sep 29–Dec 8 / GC / $430
*no class Nov 24
Course Code BASC 61211 | 03 | PD/CPDUs 30
Tue 2–5:15 pm / Sep 20–Dec 6 / GC / $430
*no class Oct 11 or Nov 22
Course Code BASC 62111 | 01 | PD/CPDUs 30
Wed 10 AM–1:15 PM / Sep 21–Dec 7 / GC / $430
*no class Oct 12 or Nov 23
Autumn
Course Code BASC 62111 | 02| PD/CPDUs 30
Tue 6–9:15 PM / Sep 20–Dec 6 / GC / $430
*no class Oct 11 or Nov 22
Week Seminar
1-2 Virgil Eclogues
3
Virgil Georgics
Autumn
4-5 Robert Frost
Week Seminar
6-10 Flaubert Madame Bovary
Week Tutorial
1-2 Latin Poetry: Catullus
3-5
Latin Poetry: Horace
6-10 Latin Poetry: Ovid
1
Swift “Battle of the Books”
2-3 Hegel
Introduction to the Philosophy of History
4-6 Rousseau The Social Contract
7-8 Emerson Essays (selections)
9-10 Heidegger “Authenticity and Death” from Being and Time
Week Tutorial
1-10 9
Proust Swann’s Way
Alumni Courses
and Open-to-all
Courses
Downton Abbey Revisited: Seasons 1 and 2
The Metamorphoses of Ovid
Raymond Ciacci
Ovid began his epic poem on the theme of
metamorphoses (changes) beginning about 2 AD,
and finished it in exile in the bleak city of Tomis
on the Black Sea, a location noted for its danger
from fierce local tribes, its terrible climate, and
its utter cultural isolation (no one spoke Latin,
and very few spoke Greek). Having come into
prominence in his own time, Ovid was well known
when Augustus banished him for an offence or
offences never named or explained. Whatever
may have moved Augustus’ ire, it appears his
poems have never lost their appeal for readers.
It has been said that “The Metamorphoses is like
no poem written before it, although virtually
everything in it can be found elsewhere.” Even so,
Ovid’s ingenuity, creation of characters, shifting
points of view, and his overall roguish and risqué
playfulness with the legends and epic stories of
old have been admired through the centuries.
Keith Cleveland
Capturing the imagination of an era is not
accidental. Downton Abbey is one of the most
popular television series beloved by viewers who
intuit connections between the late Edwardian
society and our own. The late Edwardian period
was a time of unprecedented social and cultural
changes in music, literature, art, architecture,
fashion, and inventiveness. The manifestations
of innovation are wonderfully captured against
a world that is resisting change that affects all
levels of this society. The important question of
how people reinvent themselves is at the heart
of our exploration of why this series is so popular
both in America and so many other countries.
This three quarter sequence will examine both
Fellowes’s scripts as well as a number of other
references which the author of this work used
from his own extensive understanding of this
period.
This is the first quarter of a 3-quarter course.
This is the first quarter of a 3-quarter course.
Course Code BASC 50011 | 01 | PD/CPDUs 30
Mon 6:30–9:45 pm / Sep 26–Dec 5 / GC / $430
*no class Oct 3
Course Code BASC 70011 | 01 | PD/CPDUs 30
Mon 10 am–1:15 pm / Sep 26–Dec 5 / GC / $430
*no class Oct 3
Course Code BASC 70011 | 02 | PD/CPDUs 30
Mon 6–9:15 pm / Sep 26–Dec 5 / GC / $430
*no class Oct 3
10
REQUIREMENTS FOR ALUMNI COURSES: Alumni courses are open to
everyone who has completed at least year 2 of the Basic Program, and
to all University of Chicago College alumni. For those who have not
yet completed Year 2, we offer open-to-all courses on varying topics,
designated with a maroon
banner.
SHAKE SPE ARE 400
Turn of the Century Bohemians:
Kafka and Rilke
The Complete Shakespeare:
The Tragedies
Clare Pearson
Eva Fernandez and Cynthia Rutz
This quarter we will explore the work of two
brilliant Prague-born modernist writers, Rainer
Maria Rilke and Franz Kafka. We will begin with
Rilke’s semi-autobiographical poetic novel,
The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge. The
Notebooks contain passages of unforgettably
haunting lyricism, showing why Rilke is not only
one of the most beloved poets in the German
language, but is also the third best-selling poet
in the U.S. We will follow the Notebooks with
selections from the Duino Elegies, and then a
selection of Kafka’s short stories, including “A
Hunger Artist,” “The Judgment,” “Before the
Law,” and others.
In honor of Shakespeare 400, the worldwide,
year-long celebration of the 400th anniversary
of Shakespeare’s death, we are offering a
three-quarter sequence of all of his plays. This
semester we will read the tragedies in the order
in which he wrote them. We will see the evolution
of Shakespeare’s drama from the brutal Titus
Andronicus through the stirring rhetoric of his
early Roman plays such as Julius Caesar, ending
with the almost unbearable pathos of his late
great tragedies, King Lear and Othello. Here is
the full pageant of human nature from lust for
love to lust for power, from first love to mature
love, from family squabbles to battles for empire.
Course Code BASC 50021 | 01 | PD/CPDUs 30
Tue 10 am–1:15 pm / Sep 20–Dec 6 / GC / $430
*No Class Oct 3 or Nov 22
For the first class, please read Titus Andronicus.
Course Code BASC 70021 | 01 | PD/CPDUs 30
Thu 10:00 am–1:15 pm / Sep 29–Dec 8 / GC / $430
*no class Nov 24
Course Code BASC 70021 | 02 | PD/CPDUs 30
Tue 6–9:15 pm / Sep 20–Dec 6 / GC / $430
*no class Oct 11 or Nov 22
11
The Art of the Novella
The Torah: Genesis
Katia Mitova
Stephen Hall
Novellas combine the focused, intense plot of
the short story and the in-depth exploration of
human character found in lengthy novels. We will
enjoy a variety of approaches to the genre in ten
masterpieces: Goethe’s Novella (1828), Tolstoy’s
Hadji Murat (1912), Mikhail Bulgakov’s Heart of a
Dog (1925), Richard Bach’s Jonathan Livingston
Seagull (1972), Heinrich Böll’s The Lost Honor
of Katharina Bloom (1974), Garcia Márquez’s
Chronicle of a Death Foretold (1981), Naguib
Mahfouz’s The Day the Leader Was Killed (1983),
Marguerite Duras’ The Lover (1984), Patrick
Suskind’s The Pigeon (1988), and Mario Vargas
Llosa’s In Praise of the Stepmother (1988).
The book of Genesis is the first book of the Bible
for Judaism and Christianity and a book that has
been the source of inspiration over the centuries
for numerous other books, sermonic literature and
other works of art. This course is a close reading
of Genesis. The dense narratives compiled in
this ancient book invite the reader to participate
in their drama to untangle plots and figure out
characters. Moreover, these narratives include
divine participation as character in the stories that
for many become paradigmatic for an ongoing
dialogue. This course is the first in a three quarter
reading of the Torah or Pentateuch.
For our first meeting, please read Goethe’s
Novella.
Course Code BASC 50041 | 01 | PD/CPDUs 30
Tue 10 am–1:15 pm / Sep 20–Dec 6 / GC / $430
*no class Oct 11 or Nov 2
Course Code BASC 50031 | 01 | PD/CPDUs 30
Tue 6–9:15 pm / Sep 20–Dec 6 / GC / $430
*No Class Oct 11 or Nov 22
Course Code BASC 50041 | 02 | PD/CPDUs 30
Thu 6–9:15 pm / Sep 29–Dec 8 / GC / $430
*no class Nov 24
Course Code BASC 50031 | 02 | PD/CPDUs 30
Sat 9:30 am–12:45 pm / Sep 24–Dec 10 / GC / $430
*No Class Oct 22 or Nov 26
12
Rousseau on the Ethical
Significance of Education
The Birth and Re-birth of Early
Rome: Livy and Plutarch
Joshua Daniel
Adam Rose and Zoë Eisenman
This course offers a close reading of JeanJacques Rousseau’s novel-treatise Emile, or
On Education, as well as related writings. Emile
has often been read as an anti-authoritarian
celebration of freedom that promotes an
“anything goes” approach to education that
caters to children’s desires—in fact, its influence
has been partly blamed for the “failures” of the
American public school system. As we read,
we will attend to the subtle dynamics between
authority and freedom that play out in Emile’s
ideal upbringing, focusing on its ethical goal: the
development of Emile’s moral agency.
“There has never existed any commonwealth
greater in power, with a purer morality, or
more fertile in good examples; or any state in
which avarice and luxury have been so late in
making their inroads, or poverty and frugality
so highly and continuously honored, showing
so clearly that the less wealth men possessed
the less they coveted.” Thus Livy begins his
monumental account of Rome history from the
city’s founding to his own time. This course is an
in-depth exploration of Rome’s early years using
the first five books of Livy’s history as our guide
supplemented by a selection of Plutarch’s Roman
“Lives.”
Course Code BASC 70611 | 01 | PD/CPDUs 30
Wed 6–9:15 pm / Sep 21–Dec 7 / GC / $430
*no class Oct 12 or Nov 23
Course Code BASC 50061 | 01 | PD/CPDUs 30
Thu 10 am–1:15 pm / Sep 29–Dec 8 / GC / $430
*no class Nov 24
Legality and Morality:
The Quest for Certainty
Elliott Krick
We will examine three texts: Kafka’s The Trial,
Herman Melville’s Billy Budd, and Shakespeare’s
Measure for Measure. In each work, significant
ambiguity exists as to the letter and spirit of
the law. Also, the outcome of each work raises
fascinating questions concerning honesty,
“fairness,” and the complex workings of the
human spirit.
Course Code BASC 70511 | 01 | PD/CPDUs 30
Sat 9:30 am–12:45 pm / Sep 24–Dec 10 / HP / $430
*no class Oct 22 or Nov 26
13
A Basic Program Exploration
of the Visual Arts
SHAKE SPE ARE 400
Eros & Power, Hidden & Confused:
Shakespeare’s As You Like It and
Twelfth Night
Claudia Traudt
Art is—thrillingly—always with us, and ever new.
In Plato’s Symposium, Socrates describes eros
as the desire that drives one toward the loving
of humans, the begetting of works of art, the
founding of cities, the clamoring to understand
that is philosophia. The same eros or desire leads
us to take in and respond to works of art. Basic
Program studies look directly at classic texts
without the mediation of secondary commentary.
Here we will explore directly a wide selection
of the Art Institute of Chicago’s and other sites’
spectacular holdings, engaging them primally,
in unmediated intercourse and discussion. First
meeting at Gleacher Center, the following nine
meetings on sites, which will be announced.
Claudia Traudt
“If I were a woman…”
Rosalind – As You Like It, epilogue
As You Like It and Twelfth Night are comedies par
excellence—romantic comedies, with zest. They
are classically comic—in the definitive sense that,
profoundly, they have a happy ending. Lovers
are sorted out—mainly rightfully. In both works,
indelible characters pierce us. Limpid language,
gender-unsettlings, disguises, dilemmas,
outlandishness delight us. The works seize us—via
loss, longing, threat, death’s dangers, ignorance
and knowledge (and the powers inherent
in them), hilariousness, accident, intention,
poignancy—ostensible magic, the outright magic
of poetry and structure.
Course Code BASC 70411 | 01 | PD/CPDUs 30
Mon 2–5:15 pm / Oct 10–Dec 12 / GC / $430
*no class Oct 3
Course Code BASC 70311 | 01 | PD/CPDUs 30
Mon 10 am–1:15 pm / Oct 10–Dec 12 / GC / $430
*no class Oct 3
14
3-Week
September
Mini-Courses
NEW | SHAKE SPE ARE 400
NEW | SHAKE SPE ARE 400
Shakespeare’s The Merchant of
Venice as Christian Comedy
Man as Woman as Man:
Reveries on As You Like It, Antony
and Cleopatra, and Twelfth Night
Adam Rose
Claudia Traudt
Although modern interpretations of The
Merchant of Venice often focus on the play’s
characterization and treatment of the Jewish
moneylender Shylock, both the play’s title and
plot suggest that Shakespeare’s focus was on
the Christian merchant Antonio. Through a
careful reading and discussion of Shakespeare’s
play in conjunction with selections both from
Christopher Marlowe’s roughly contemporaneous
The Jew of Malta and from the New Testament,
this course will explore Shakespeare’s exaltation
of “graceful Christianity” in both the major and
minor plot threads of one of Shakespeare’s most
controversial plays.
In two of Shakespeare’s most heart-winning and
hilarious comedies, As You Like It and Twelfth
Night, and in Antony and Cleopatra, one of his
most soaring and heart-slamming of histories/
comedies/tragi-comedies, we shall explore
relations of identity, sexuality, gender, disguise,
confusion, danger, pain and joy, representation,
degrees of knowing or understanding, and of
power and politics—both interpersonal and
imperial.
Course Code BASC 80211 | 01 | PD/CPDUs 10
Thu 10–11:30 am / Sep 1–15 / GC / $60
Course Code BASC 80111 | 01 | PD/CPDUs 10
Wed 10–11:30 am / Aug 31–Sep 14 / GC / $60
Course Code BASC 80121 | 01 | PD/CPDUs 10
Sat 9:30–11:00 am / Sep 3–17 / ONLINE / $60
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Online Classes
NEW | SHAKE SPE ARE 400
NEW
Shakespeare’s Henriad
The Socrates Who Does (Not)
Know: Gorgias, Charmides, Laches,
Lysis
Zoë Eisenman
A country divided, the legitimacy of leadership
questioned, a wrong-headed foreign war, rulers
who think God is on their side, and a son’s
attempt to rise to his father’s expectations—these
are some of the themes that resonate in the four
plays of Shakespeare’s “Henriad.” Shakespeare
uses England’s medieval kings to explore the
inner workings of human nature and of political
life in a way that is timeless even though it is
history. For this course we will read Richard II,
Henry IV Part I, Henry IV Part II, and Henry V.
Adam Rose
Although Socrates has become iconic for
“knowing that he doesn’t know,” only some of
Plato’s dialogues actually cast Socrates in this
light. Other dialogues portray a Socrates who
seems to know a great deal about a great deal
(including love, politics, virtue and the afterlife). In
this course we will examine important dialogues
of both types. On the one hand we will read and
discuss “aporetic” or “inconclusive” dialogues
about the nature of temperance (Charmides),
courage (Laches) and friendship (Lysis). On
the other we will consider Plato’s great Gorgias
in which Socrates practically preaches for one
particular notion of the good life.
For the first class, please read Richard II, Act 1– 2
Course Code BASC 80221 | 01 | PD/CPDUs 15
Wed 6–7:30 pm / Sep 21–Dec 7 / Online / $200
*no class Oct 12 or Nov 23
Course Code BASC 80321 | 01 | PD/CPDUs 15
Sat 9:30–11:00 am / Sep 24–Dec 10 / Online / $200
*no class Oct 22 or Nov 26
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Graham
School
Policies
REGISTRATION
773.702.1722
grahamschool.
uchicago.edu
CONTACTS
Jan Watson
Program Coordinator
janwatson@
uchicago.edu
773.834.0157
Zoë Eisenman
Basic Program Staff
Chair
[email protected]
773.795.2925
LOCATION
University of Chicago
Gleacher Center
450 N. Cityfront
Plaza Drive
Chicago, IL 60611
Hyde Park Campus
Cobb Hall, Third Floor
5811 S. Ellis Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637
WITHDRAWAL AND CANCELLATION
Full Refund
To obtain a full refund, registrants need to notify the Graham School of cancellation
five business days or more before the first class meeting. A full refund will also be given
if the course has been canceled by the Graham School. For the Weekend Study Retreat
and Autumn Symposium, cancellation must be received at least 10 days before the
start of the event. After that time, a $100 cancellation fee will be applied.
Partial Refund
To obtain a refund minus a $50 cancellation fee, registrants need to notify the Graham
School of cancellation at least 24 hours before the meeting of the second class. No
refund will be given after the start of the second class.
Those who are not registered may not attend class. The school reserves the right to
refuse to retain any student at any time. The information contained in this brochure is
subject to change. For the most up-to-date information, please visit grahamschool.
uchicago.edu.
DISCLAIMER
To preserve the academic environment, students may not bring minors to the
classroom or leave minors unattended in University buildings.
NON-DISCRIMINATION STATEMENT
In keeping with its long-standing traditions and policies, the University of Chicago
considers students, employees, applicants for admission or employment, and
those seeking access to University programs on the basis of individual merit. The
University does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual
orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, age, status as an individual with
a disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, or other protected classes
as required by law (including Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972). For
additional information regarding the University of Chicago’s Policy on Harassment,
Discrimination, and Sexual Misconduct, please see: harassmentpolicy.uchicago.edu/
page/policy.
The University official responsible for coordinating compliance with this Notice of
Nondiscrimination is Sarah Wake, Assistant Provost and Director of the Office for Equal
Opportunity Programs. Ms. Wake also serves as the University’s Title IX Coordinator,
Affirmative Action Officer, and Section 504/ADA Coordinator. You may contact Ms.
Wake by emailing [email protected], by calling 773.702.5671, or by writing to Sarah
Wake, Office of the Provost, The University of Chicago, 5801 S. Ellis Ave., Suite 510,
Chicago, IL 60637.
The University of Chicago Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional
Studies reserves the right to refuse to retain any student in any program at any time.
DISABILITY POLICY
Persons who have been formally accepted into a Graham School program or have
registered for a course who have a disability and believe that they may need assistance
should contact Gregory Moorehead, Director of Student Disability Services, at
773.702.7776 or [email protected] in advance of the first class meeting.
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