Reading Matters Volume 2

<body stylesrc="frmain02.htm" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">  <p><a name="Vol. 1 No. 2"><font size="3"><strong>Vol. 1 No. 2</strong></font></a><font size="3"><strong><br> Spring 1997</strong></font></p> <h1 align="center"><font size="7"><em>Reading Matters</em></font></h1> <p align="center"><font size="3"><strong>publication of the SAN FRANCISCO GREAT BOOKS COUNCIL</strong></font></p> <hr> <p><a name="Interracial"><font size="5"><b><i>Interracial</i></b></font></a><font size="5"><b><i> "Gathering of Equals" Surpasses All Expectations</i></b></font></p> <p>At the largest single Great Books event in nearly fifty years, more than three hundred blacks and whites gathered at the Allen Temple Baptist Church in East Oakland on the morning of January 11 to discuss Martin Luther King, Jr.s "Letter from Birmingham Jail." Discussions took place in twenty small groups using the Great Books <i>Method of Shared Inquiry.</i> </p> <p>The event capped the San Francisco Great Books Councils program, "A Gathering of Equals," funded in 1995 by the National Endowment for the Humanities under its National Conversation initiative and suspended by the Council after two events when it found itself unable to achieve an adequate level of racial diversity.</p> <p>"We finally got it right," said Rick White, conference organizer for SFGB, "because this was not <i>our </i>event, but a true partnership among three organizations. Allen Temple Baptist, a renowned East Oakland church, brought in half of the participants, provided a third of the leaders and ran the event  superbly. Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian provided a third of the leaders and half of the participants. We supplied the books, the method, a third of the leaders, a sprinkling of participants, and the Foundations top trainer." </p> <p>The discussions were followed by lunch together, then a memorial service in the Allen Temple sanctuary in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The principal speaker was Reverend Allan Boesak, a famous South African civil rights leader now living in the United States and teaching at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley.</p> <p>After the speech, Co-Pastor J. Alfred Smith Jr. of Allen Temple and Pastor William Rolland of Lafayette-Orinda called upon everyone present to link hands and led the assembly of nearly five hundred, black and white together, in singing "We Shall Overcome." </p> <p align="center"><b><i>Evaluation Results Ratify Method</i></b></p> <p>The January 11 event at Allen Temple Baptist Church tested the Great Books <i>Method of Shared Inquiry </i>in important ways. Most important of these was its utility as a means of facilitating interracial discussion. </p> <p>The ninety-one participants completing an evaluation gave the method an average of 8.5 points on a ten-point scale  this in spite of the fact that two/thirds of the leaders had never led a Great Books discussion before. There were nineteen perfect 10s. A great many participants made written comments exalting both the method and the quality and excitement of the discussions. Only three individuals expressed strong reservations about the method.</p> <blockquote> <p><font face="Arial"><b><i>Asilomar Program Announced</i></b></font><font size="1" face="Arial"><b><i> </i></b><br> </font><font size="2" face="Arial">Asilomar Spring Conference is April 18-21. Discussed will be Herman Melvilles novel <i>Benito Cereno, </i>Jean-Jacques Rousseaus essay <i>Discourse on the Origin of Inequality, </i>August Strindbergs play, <i>Miss Julie,</i> and a selection of poetry that includes work by U.S. poet laureate Robert Hass. For more information call Laura Rubin, (510)528-3626.</font></p> </blockquote> <p>The few reservations about the <i>Method of Shared Inquiry </i>appeared to stem from a desire for a more action-oriented discussion or for more personal experiences from participants.</p> <p>Asked to say how they would like to see the spirit of the days activities continued, the largest number of respondents said theyd like to have more small group discussions. Second was the more general idea of continuing exchanges between the two churches. Third was joint action projects.</p> <p align="center"><b><i>SFGB Follow-Up Initiated</i></b></p> <p>SFGB President Erma Browning has appointed Brian Mahoney, Jimmie Faris, and Rick White to enlist MLK participants in further shared inquiry discussions. The vast majority, more than two hundred and fifty, are new to Great Books. </p> <p>Some of the measures being taken or planned are: </p> <ul> <li>Include MLK participants on SFGB mailing lists for all events and activities and for <i>Reading Matters.</i></li> <li>Form a joint committee of SFGB with the two sponsoring churches to explore how SFGB can continue to support them in their mission of improving racial understanding.</li> <li>Explore how SFGB can publicize its activities within the two churches.</li> <li>Work with the newly-trained leaders from the MLK, Jr. event to enlist their participation and assist them to form GB groups within the two churches.</li> </ul> <hr> <p><a name="First"><font size="5"><b><i>First</i></b></font></a><font size="5"><b><i> "Mini-Retreat" Holds Discussions at Pac Bell, Tours SF/MOMA</i></b></font></p> <p>Reaching out to younger readers and others not able to participate every two weeks or monthly in a GB discussion group, SFGB held its first "mini-retreat" at Pacific Bell in San Francisco on January 25. Fifty-eight individuals met in three groups in the morning to discuss <i>Ethan Frome</i>, by Edith Wharton, and after lunch <i>The Awakening</i>, by Kate Chopin. Participants were on their own for lunch at the many local cafes. </p> <p>Following the afternoon discussion, the group adjourned to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SF/MOMA) to tour the show "Matisse to Diebenkorn" and other exhibits at this extraordinary new San Francisco site. The tour was arranged by SFGBs Vince Scardina, a museum docent.</p> <p>"Mini-retreats" are designed to be local one-day events, usually on a Saturday, about four times per year. They are intended, said chair Fiona Humphrey, to serve as another kind of local discussion group, not as a special event designed to attract a widely dispersed audience. Mini-retreats usually will be tied into another local attraction. </p> <p>The event achieved its purpose in that the discussions were excellent, the tour was greatly enjoyed, and several younger San Franciscans and others participated who find frequent, single selection, local discussions incompatible with their work and family lives. </p> <p>The next San Francisco mini-retreat is set for May 3 at the celebrated new public library. Its goal will be to attract a greater proportion of individuals not currently in local Great Books discussion groups. The readings are yet to be identified.</p> <p>Events with a similar purpose are contemplated for other parts of the Bay Area, according to Humphrey.</p> <p><font face="Arial Black"><i>We Need Leaders!</i></font></p> <blockquote> <p><font size="3" face="Arial">Ever thought about leading at a Great Books event? <br> If youd like to consider it, please call Tom Cox at<br> (415)892-2310 or Barbara McConnell at (707)829-5643. </font></p> </blockquote> <hr> <h2><a name="Adult"><font size="5"><b><i>Adult</i></b></font></a><font size="5"><b><i> World Record Set for Great Books Training </i></b></font></h2> <p>While everything else was going on, SFGB casually set a new world record for the number of adult GB discussion leaders and participants trained. Eighty-six SFGB leaders and participants were trained by Gary Schoepfel during the six days between the January 4 pre-discussion he conducted for the "Gathering of Equals" and January 11, when the event took place (see story above). "Your efforts brought together in six days more participants for adult program training than had been trained in any one year during my ten years at the Foundation," said Schoepfel in a recent letter. And hes not even counting the 28 he trained the day before for the "Gathering of Equals." </p> <p>Under the auspices of Leader Training chair and SFGB vice president Tom Cox, Schoepfel conducted the sessions at the homes of Erma and Brent Browning, Jimmie Faris, Anne Pym, and Kay and Rick White. All agreed that it was of outstanding quality.</p> <blockquote> <p><font size="3" face="Arial"><b><i>Great Books Foundation Web Page</i></b></font><font size="2" face="Arial"><b><i> <br> </i></b>Information on the Great Books Foundation and local Great Books councils can be obtained at </font><a href="http://www.greatbooks.org"><font size="2" face="Arial">http://www.greatbooks.org</font></a><font size="2" face="Arial">. The San Francisco Council has its own home page, including <i>Reading Matters,</i> at </font><a href="../../../index-old.html"><font size="2" face="Arial">http://www.greatbooks-sf.com</font></a><font size="2" face="Arial">.</font></p> </blockquote> <hr> <h2><a name="Author"><font size="5"><b><i>Author</i></b></font></a><font size="5"><b><i> of "The Lady in Red" to Speak at Poetry Weekend </i></b></font></h2> <p>In what is already a season of coups, SFGB has scored another with the acceptance by noted contemporary poet Kim Addonizio of an invitation to speak on Saturday evening at this years Poetry Weekend. Addonizio had heard from earlier speakers of the enthusiastic response to their talks and the lively discussion which followed.</p> <p>Addonizio is the author of <i>The Philosophers Club, </i>a book of poetry. Her new book is called <i>Jimmy and Rita.</i> </p> <p>Poetry Weekend takes place at Westminster House, in Alamo, on July 18<sup>th</sup> and 19<sup>th</sup>. For more information, call Laura Rubin.</p> <hr> <h2><a name="Ralston"><font size="5"><b><i>Ralston</i></b></font></a><font size="5"><b><i> White Weekend Proves SFGB Can Discuss War and Peace in Six Hours</i></b></font></h2> <p><b><i>Triumph Creates Lust for James Joyce </i></b></p> <p>Some said it couldnt be done, but in a leap of faith SFGB decided to read Leo Tolstoys huge novel, <i>War and Peace, </i>for the Fall 1996 Ralston White Weekend on Mt. Tamalpais. Following an extraordinarily high quality leader preparation session conducted by Tom Cox, the discussions, sold out as always, went so well that most participants are urging James Joyces <i>Ulysses</i> for Fall 1997. Experienced leaders, however, believe this book is not discussible without substantial reference to outside sources  in particular Homers <i>Odyssey</i>. The use of outside sources is an exception to the Great Books <i>method of shared inquiry. </i>Ideas for a practical discussion strategy should be addressed to Catherine Sugrue, 1997 conference chair, through <i>Reading Matters.</i></p> <blockquote> <p><font face="Arial"><b><i>Colby Summer Institute Announced</i></b></font><font size="1" face="Arial"><b><i> </i></b><br> </font><font size="2" face="Arial">The 1997 Summer Institute at Colby College in Waterville, Maine will feature selections from the original (1947) Great Books series. Included are works by Thucydides, Aristophanes, Aristotle, Aquinas, Montaigne, and Rousseau. The week-long conference begins August 3<sup>rd</sup>. For information, call Dan Kohn, (516)727-8600 or visit their web site at </font><a href="http://www.dol.net/~greatbooks/colby.htm"><font size="2" face="Arial">http://www.dol.net/~greatbooks/colby.htm.</font></a></p> </blockquote> <hr> <h2><a name="Bobbie"><font size="5"><b><i>Bobbie</i></b></font></a><font size="5"><b><i> Eliason Leads Walnut Creek Group in 36thYear</i></b></font></h2> <p>In the second of a series of visits to local Bay Area discussion groups, your editor betook himself to a wooded neighborhood in Walnut Creek to sit in on Bobbie Eliasons monthly meeting at her comfortable home. The selection was the novel <i>Washington Square,</i> by Henry James<i>. </i>Present were thirteen individuals and Bobbie began by announcing they would dwell on each of the four principal characters in the story. </p> <p>Using a detailed list of questions she had developed and which she felt it necessary to cover to understand the reading, Bobbie began by asking each participant in turn to identify a trait of Dr. Sloper, the first character. Then she conducted an extended discussion of this character, sometimes guiding the discussion with fact questions and sometimes correcting a participant whom she felt to be in error -- "in the interest of time," she later explained. Also, in the interest of time, she occasionally gave her own interpretation of the text. </p> <p>Bobbies insightful and tightly organized questions contributed to a lively and thoughtful discussion in which everyone in the room participated. </p> <p>As the end of two-hours neared and the group was still working on Bobbies questions about the first character, she announced that the discussion of <i>Washington Square</i> would be continued at the next meeting. Time permitting, they would also begin to discuss James Baldwins "Sonnys Blues," which she had selected in recognition of Black History Month.</p> <p>As the book discussion was over for the evening, participant Ron Kihara told the group he is making a new batch of jalapeño chutney, a condiment about which your editor needed to admit his ignorance. Ron informed us that hot peppers are assigned a "Scoville Rating." A typical pepper rates about 10,000 on the scale. The jalapeños he uses are rated at 500,000. Interested readers can reach Ron through Bobbie. </p> <p>Talking with Bobbie after the meeting I learned that the group has been meeting for 36 years and current members average twelve years participation. Turnover and absenteeism are very low. Larry Fussell, the much-loved SFGB ex-president who recently retired with his wife, Jan, to Wisconsin attended for three years in the 1970s as Bobbies co-leader. In recent years, Bobbie has led book discussions at Byrons Boys Ranch, a correctional facility, and has done literacy work in the community.</p> <p>This highly successful group is quite different from those discussed in our last issue. Its members come back year after year for a rigorous, directed discussion. They love it. The moral of the story remains, if you dont like one group, try another!</p> <hr> <h2><a name="GBF"><font size="5"><b><i>GBF</i></b></font></a><font size="5"><b><i> Names Books for 50</i></b><sup><b><i>th</i></b></sup><b><i> Anniversary Series</i></b></font></h2> <p>Recognizing its 50<sup>th</sup> anniversary, the Great Books Foundation has announced a special series of books. Three volumes of new readings can be ordered in April 1997 for delivery in May, three more in October, and three in April 1998. Each volume will contain five or six prose readings and a selection of poetry, enough material for six or seven discussions. Two novels will be recommended for outside purchase. Questions will be offered for all the readings. </p> <p>Unlike the current five-year series, the new volumes will be organized by theme. Themes for the three May 1997 books are Love and Marriage, Parent and Child, and Living with the Past. For October they are Order and Chaos, Identity and Self-Respect, and The Evil and the Guilty. For May 1998 they are Politics, Leadership, and Justice, Happiness and Discontent, and Clashes of Culture.</p> <p>Authors new in this series include Jane Austen, Adrienne Rich, Sylvia Plath, James Baldwin, Yukio Mishima, Marcel Proust, Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, and Ralph Ellison, among others. Selections also will be included from the Bhagavad-Gita and the Tao Te Ching, along with new selections from traditional Great Books authors.</p> <p>Late in 1997 the Foundation will publish <i>How to Discuss a Book, </i>a guide for shared inquiry discussion groups. Unlike the series volumes, this guide will be sold in bookstores.</p> <p>A complete listing of the 50<sup>th</sup> Anniversary Series follows.</p> <p><font size="3"><b>Love and Marriage</b></font></p> <p><font size="3">Isaac Bashevis Singer The Spinoza of Market Street<br> Søren Kierkegaard Either/Or Josef Skvorecký Emoke<br> Flora Annie Steel Tom-Tit-Tot <i>and </i>Caporushes<br> Yukio Mishima Patriotism<br> Plato Symposium</font></p> <p><font size="3"><b><i>Poetry</i></b></font></p> <p><font size="3">William Shakespeare Sonnet 116<br> Sylvia Plath The Applicant<br> Gregory Corso Marriage<br> Gwendolyn Brooks To Be in Love</font></p> <p><font size="3"><b><i>Novels for Purchase</i></b></font></p> <p><font size="3">Vladimir Nabokov Lolita (suggested questions)<br> Virginia Woolf To the Lighthouse (questions) </font></p> <p><font size="3"><b>Parent and Child</b></font></p> <p><font size="3">A. B. Yehoshua The Continuing Silence of a Poet<br> Jamaica Kincaid Gwen <i>and </i>Somewhere, Belgium<br> Euripides Iphigenia at Aulis<br> William Faulkner Barn Burning<br> Andrea Lee New African<br> Franz Kafka Letter to His Father <i>and </i>The Judgment</font></p> <p><font size="3"><b><i>Poetry</i></b></font></p> <p><font size="3">W.B. Yeats Among School Children <i>and<br> </i>A Prayer for my Daughter<br> Derek Walcott A Letter from Brooklyn<br> Randall Jerrell The Lost Children<br> Sharon Olds Exclusive</font></p> <p><font size="3"><b><i>Novels for Purchase</i></b></font></p> <p><font size="3">Jane Austen Persuasion (suggested questions)<br> Heinrich Boll Billiards at Half-Past Nine(questions)</font></p> <p><font size="3"><b>Living with the Past</b></font></p> <p><font size="3">Marcel Proust Overture<br> Sigmund Freud The Rat Man<br> Gustaw Herling The Island<br> David Grossman Momik<br> Annie Dillard An American Childhood</font></p> <p><font size="3"><b><i>Poetry</i></b></font></p> <p><font size="3">William Wordsworth Ode: Intimations of Immortality<br> Adrienne Rich Diving into the Wreck<br> Robert Lowell For the Union Dead</font></p> <p><font size="3"><b><i>Novels for Purchase</i></b></font></p> <p><font size="3">Gabriel Garcia Marquez One Hundred Years of Solitude (suggested questions)<br> Toni Morrison Song of Solomon (questions) </font></p> <p><font size="1" face="Arial Rounded MT Bold">SAN FRANCISCO GREAT BOOKS COUNCIL Erma Browning, President; Tom Cox, Vice President; Duke Edwards, Secretary; Lee Jordan, Treasurer; Laura Holt Rubin, Coordinator -- telephone (510)528-3626. </font></p> <p><font size="3" face="Brush Script MT">Reading Matters </font><font size="1" face="Arial Rounded MT Bold">Rick White, Editor 501 Santa Barbara Road Berkeley, CA 94707 e-mail rwwhite@aol.com</font></p> <p> </p>  </body>