Vol. 5 No. 1
Summer/Fall 2000
Reading Matters
publication of the SAN FRANCISCO GREAT BOOKS COUNCIL
Since
drafting a strategic plan three years ago, this Council has grown from 34 to 52 discussion
groups and Long Novel Weekend participation has increased by a third. If we want to
continue this growth, we need to elect new officers and recruit volunteers committed to
this objective. Come to the Annual Picnic at the Cheese Factory and share your views!
Bookstores have become the site of most new groups – Barnes
and Noble, Borders, Copperfield’s, Pacifica Book Company. Area Reps have made
the initial contacts with staff and assisted them in early meetings. To keep this
going, the identification and training of additional discussion leaders is critical. Their
primary source is talented participants in ongoing groups. Leaders are urged to
identify candidates and refer their names to Barbara McConnell who is conducting a special
training session for them on Sunday, October 8, in San Francisco.
The Great Books Foundation has caught fire, hiring a dynamic chief executive – Peter
Temes – and holding its first special event in decades, Chicago 2000. At
this event, we spent more than two hours in a small group with Temes discussing the future
of Great Books. We found him to be deeply educated in the classics, articulate,
committed to the adult program, and strategically thoughtful. He has accepted
several of our ideas and listened carefully to the remainder.
Chicago 2000 was exciting, a path-finding example of what a Great Books weekend can be.
The theme was literature about art. Each reading was paired with a visit or a
tour – an article “What is Art?” with a tour of several paintings at the
Art Institute; a commentary on architecture with a tour of exemplary buildings; a piece on
primitive art with a trip to the Field Museum of Anthropology. In the discussions
that followed, the readings were analyzed in the context of what had been seen. The
Foundation expects to make this successful event a regular occurrence. Watch for Chicago
2001 and sign up early as space will be limited.
This is my last letter as president. But I’ll be around. Thanks for all
that you have done for the program.
-- Rick White
A beautiful drive through the country, and then great food, great reading, and great
company…what could be a more perfect day than The Annual Picnic, Election, and
Discussion of the Great Books Council (Serving Northern California).
The barbecue and potluck begin at 12 in the picnic grounds of The Cheese Factory near
Petaluma. The grills will be ready for you to cook food you bring. Also bring a
potluck dish for four, your own beverages, and picnicware---utensils, tablecloth.
Or, purchase sandwiches and drinks at the Cheese Factory.
Following a “State of the Council” address by outgoing (in both senses of the
word) President Rick White, new officers will be elected.
A discussion of White Noise by Dom DeLillo will end the event. In The New York Times
Book Review, Jayne Anne Phillips calls DeLillo “One of the most ironic, intelligent,
grimly funny voices to comment on life in present-day America.” Your editor’s
opinion on another book by the same author: entertaining and puzzling.
The picnic usually attracts about 45 people; but there is room for lots more under the
trees and in the sun. Call President Rick White if you need help arranging a ride
(510)527-3762.
Directions: Highway 101 to Marin to Delong Avenue Exit (Novato). One mile on
Delong West to Novato Blvd. Right on Novato Blvd. & continue westward for 9
scenic miles to junction with Point Reyes-Petaluma Road. Turn left, drive ½ mile to
Cheese Factory. Drive to rear past white-washed shed for parking.
Rossmoor
"Morning, noon, and night will be covered by Great Books at Rossmoor,"
said Ted Kraus in a press release for the Rossmoor newsletter. Ted and Joanna
started an evening group meeting fourth Mondays to complement the morning and afternoon
Rossmoor groups started 10 years ago by Jan Fussell.
Using the 10th anniversary of the original two groups as a promotional point, Ted
advertised a free demonstration of the Great Books “shared inquiry” method.
He attracted 33 people to the discussion, leading to three more members
each for the morning and afternoon groups and 10 signups for the Kraus’ evening
group.
Brian Mahoney and Lou Alanko led the demonstration discussion. “Brian really did the
work,” says Lou, “I lent moral support.” The selection used was “In
Tennessee” by H. L. Mencken, an essay about the Scopes trial from a 1925 issue of
“The Nation.”
Los Altos
In the 50’s, Jean Packard enjoyed being a member of Great Books in Mexico
City. After looking for years, she found a small article in the AARP bulletin about Great
Books, called the Chicago office and was put in contact with SF Council President Rick
White.
“Rick gave me the addresses of a couple groups,” she says, “but I wanted
one here.” Rick offered to do a demonstration meeting and brought in Brent and Erma
Browning to help. Jean advertised the meeting in the Los Altos “Town
Crier.” “I had no idea how many people would be interested,” she
says. “I got 30 calls right away.”
And about 30 people showed up for the first meeting. Brent enlisted Wallis Leslie,
and together they are mentoring the group. Prior to the meeting, Brent and Wallis
meet with first-time leaders for a half hour. The group is rotating leaders.
The most difficult thing, according to Brent, with any group, not just new groups,
is outside references. Brent says he and Wallis help impose some
discipline. The last 15 minutes are left for outside references and relating the
literature to personal life.
Now 18 strong, the group is discussing the old second series. The group meets second
Tuesdays from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Los Altos library. Contact Jean Packard
(650)941-7033.
San Lorenzo
Lee Hunter has started a group in San Lorenzo 1st Mondays from 6 to 8 p.m.
at the San Lorenzo Library on Paseo Grande. Call Lee at (510)278-5192.
East Bay Expansion
“We’re only limited by energy and manpower to start and maintain groups in
bookstores," says Lou Alanko, the Alameda and Contra Costa County area coordinator.
Lou recently received inquiries from Barnes and Noble at Fisherman’s Wharf, Berkeley,
and Walnut Creek to start groups. Rick White will mentor the Berkeley group, which will
read the new Great Books anthology of Jewish literature Soul of the Text. Rick also will
mentor a San Francisco group, while Brian and Lou mentor the Walnut Creek group.
Already busy with the Pleasanton group, Brian and Lou also started a group in Dublin
at Barnes and Noble, which will read the anniversary series. Two independent
bookstores, Goodenough in Livermore and Town Center in downtown Pleasanton, also are
considering groups, and Benicia will get a group in the fall. Lou also is in contact with
a high school teacher who wants to get Great Books into the curriculum.
Lou's advice: Keep meeting announcements in several local papers to generate calls.
Then, follow up by sending information packets to your new contact.
The Poetry Weekend will be held November 11-12 at Westminster in Alamo. Participants
will join pilgrims to Canterbury for the featured work, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.
It should be a quiet trip after traveling with Odysseus at the Kerr Weekend.
(Please see signup form on facing page.)
Nature poetry and a potpourri of poems round out the schedule for the weekend. The
management at Westminster has promised us fire in the living room fireplace, so we can
curl up by the fire in case of cold weather. As Westminster was often sweltering in June
and July, there is only moderate mourning for the date change.
The move to November is a result of switching times with the novel weekend. There
was no expansion space at Ralston White, so the novel weekend was moved to Clark Kerr
campus, which is a dorm during the school year and only available in the summer.
NEW SEASON: We’ve moved to the fall and given our
summer spot to the Long Novel Weekend. (Larger quarters for the Novel weekend were
available in the summer.) Following the success of the Odyssey and Iliad, we have
picked a great classic to discuss as well…Canterbury Tales.
SATURDAY MORNING: CANTERBURY TALES Take a pilgrimage with us to Canterbury with
this entertaining English classic.
SATURDAY AFTERNOON: NATURE POEMS Changing the meeting date
from summer to fall got us thinking about seasons and nature. Having discussed poems
about art last year, we thought this might be a pleasant contrast.
Saturday Evening: Fireside Party
Curl up before the fire on a cold November night for a party with the great company of
other great bookies.
SUNDAY MORNING: POTPOURRI
WHEN: Starts Saturday at 9:00
a.m. for registration. Ends Sunday after lunch.
REGISTRATION: Policy –first come, first served
– 50 spots available.
CANCELLATION: Before Oct 11, fees will be refunded, less a
charge for materials and postage.
NO REFUNDS after October 11
ROOMS: Accommodations are in the Manor and the Lodge.
The Manor is an old mansion and the Lodge a barnlike building. Rooms are mostly upstairs
and dormitory style. There are a few double rooms. Downstairs rooms (not
private) are located in the Lodge. For fully handicapped, the small dining room can
be converted into a bedroom. The meeting rooms are handicap accessible
However, please call Westminster to verify your wheelchair will fit through the restroom
door. (510)837-4481
PRICE: The price is $125 for which includes overnight
accommodations, book, readings, mailing expenses, four meals, snacks, and a party.
Other recreation: hiking trails.
Mail registration form to
Ruth Korn
1113 Singingwood Ct. #3
Walnut Creek CA 94595
Phone: 925-933-7097.
By Mary Wood
“Finding the Path” was the Asilomar theme for Spring 2000, announced Council
President Rick White, although as usual, the committee denied any theme. An
alternate theme, “Losing the Path” was your editor’s suggestion, based on
the unintelligible Aristotle Ethics selection, the wandering characters of Blindness, and
St. Joan’s carrying her campaign a little too far. Supporting this theme from
the poetry is “But still, on the ocean, there is no path…” from
“Millennium,” and “the soul takes off, a wandering, moral drug,” from
“Indian Summer II” by Charles Wright.
Thirty new participants came to Asilomar this year and were welcomed by Kyra Hubis at a
hospitality gathering Friday night. Meeting at 5:30 p.m. before the first events, new
participants had a 45-minute orientation about the schedule, the program, and advice
finding one’s way around. Additionally, large red dots were placed on the name
tags of each first time attendee. One especially outstanding participant was heard
to ask, “Does the red dot mean people are supposed to tell me they like my
comments?”
Poetry
As to the poetry selections, as a committee member, I assure you that we did NOT have a
theme. However, 4 of the 5 poems contrasted daily life with an intimation of the
divine or the soul. I have two explanations for this: humans seek patterns; or
the committee members were all in a similar mood the day we picked poems.
According to word of mouth, “Millenium" by David Whyte was the big
success; it is a poem about self discovery. “The Wish for Some Release” by
Albert Goldbarth used the metaphor of trepanning, or drilling a hole in the brain.
The incessant arguing of a couple in the next booth at a restaurant is compared with the
innate nature of man being “the progeny of stars…the original core-born elements
in new recombination, condensed and sizzled into sentience and soul.” Earthly
landscapes were also contrasted with the starry eternal one in “Sweet Will” by
Philip Levine, about workers in a machine shop, and Charles Wright’s
“Indian Summer II.”
Totally in its own realm, “The Last Duchess” inspired
debate, which surprised me, as to whether the duke really had the duchess killed.
Aristotle
“Although several participants said that the Aristotle translation was awful,"
said Rick White “the sessions were so good that some joked that a bad translation was
the way to guarantee a good discussion.”
Aristotle argued that virtue is not innate, but the result of education, and only by
actions can a man be called good, and without action he is not. Our group debated
whether Aristotle’s arguments were meant to apply to everyone or just the elite of a
community, excluding such as women and slaves.
Richard Mohley commented that he thought the value was in the process, not the
conclusions. Richard said that although Aristotle’s thoughts were for himself in his
world, he taught us how to think about life for ourselves, in our own world.
Since Aristotle was a rich, free citizen of Athens, his conclusions naturally ignored
slaves, women, illiterates, non-Greeks, cross dressers, Lithuanian belly dancers, and
others.
Novel Discussion
The novel, Blindness, by Nobel Prize winning Portuguese writer Jose Saramago, was grim.
In the novel, an epidemic of blindness attacks an unnamed city, and almost everyone
except a doctor’s wife becomes blind. The writing style was strange—for
example, conversations were not punctuated with quotes or paragraphed for different
speakers—they just ran on. None of the characters had names. Both the
blindness and the cure were staggeringly random. Blindness seemed to suggest that it
was man’s blind involvement in trivial life that led to the epidemic of
blindness. The note in the frontispiece suggests the theme: “If you can
see, look. If you can look, observe.”
Saint Joan
I loved George Bernard Shaw’s “Saint Joan," especially the preface.
Although participants had been told to read the preface, leaders were instructed to
exclude it. Somehow I always get caught: one of my group turned me in for leading
the preface.
Shaw creates a woman who could have been inspired by God or divinely confident of her own
abilities. In the play, Joan says she will fight till the King is
crowned. Conveniently for the King, but not the nobility, she succeeds. But
she wants to continue fighting, and because she no longer has support is captured by the
English. Although Shaw is a man of ideas, his characters, who are so like the
fallible people we know, overpower the ideas.
“Her yellow hair, her yellow hair” Wallis Leslie was haunted by this
phrase from a poem discussed at Asilomar, “Indian Summer II” by Charles Wright.
She found a website http://www.websonar.com/websonar/sonar.html
for looking up literary phrases. Once within the site, look under Wisdom Quest
Multimedia. Turns out Wallis was thinking of “not your yellow hair” from
W. B. Yeats' poem “For Anne Gregory.”
“That only God, my dear,
Could love you for yourself alone
And not your yellow hair.”
To provide a forum for great bookies to discuss ideas, Wallis Leslie has set up
an “egroup” on the web. "Now when you get that flash of insight
at 3 in the morning,” says Wallis, “you can send it into cyberspace, thus adding
a Silicon Valley twist to the French staircase wit."
Wallis set up the group through eGroups, a free email service that also provides a way to
store photos and files, coordinate events, and more. Although called a group, the
technical name is “listserve” and list is the membership roster. By typing one
address in your email program’s TO line, you send a message to everyone in the group.
Instructions
First you need to join the group.
Go to the site: http://www.egroups.com/subscribe/SFGBooks
and click on register or subscribe and fill in the blanks. You will receive a message in
your email saying you have been accepted. Once you are a member of the group you can
send a letter to everyone in the group by going into your email program and typing in the
TO: line SFGBooks@egroups.com. If you receive an email message that shows
“bcc," it means blind carbon copy. According to the technical staff where
I work, when a server is down, the system will attempt to re-send the message to all
recipients until it’s a successful delivery for all. This means that many
recipients can receive multiple copies of the same message. Email programs that use
“bcc” can avoid this. Therefore, in Lotus Notes, emails can be sent as
follows:
To: your email address
bcc: SFGBooks@egroups.com
Subject : whatever
Reading Previous Messages
Catch up with what others have been writing by viewing previously posted
messages that are archived on the website. You will need a password. If you
can’t find or lose your password, go to the website and register (sign in) and follow
the instructions for lost password.
You can also send a message directly from the website instead of from your email program.
Go to POST. Usually when you sign in, the website will say
“Welcome” and your name. If it says “Welcome Guest” then go to
Sign in and sign in with your name and password.
By Oscar Firschein
Users of the Internet are familiar with the idea of hypertext, a literary narrative that
consists of a network of linked blocks of text, one that allows the reader to select from
a multiple of story paths, reading in a “non-linear” manner. There can be
many possible beginnings, and there is no designated ending in this new computer-based
medium.
Authors of hypernarrative vary in the amount of control they give to the reader.
Some authors provide a map of the narrative with the links and blocks labeled, allowing
the reader to explore at will. Others will not let the reader peruse a block of text
until other blocks of text are first read.
My favorite hypernarrative is the beautifully written Patchwork Girl, a
takeoff on Mary Shelley’s book Frankenstein. Both Mary Shelley
and her now female creation are central characters in the story. There are five ways
to begin the narrative. As we explore these various threads, we discover the story
of Mary Shelley’s patching together of a woman from body parts stolen from
cemeteries, and the adventures of the creature, Patchwork Girl.
Hypertext novels, such as Patchwork Girl, are sold in floppy disk or CD-ROM form on their
website by Eastgate Systems, http://www.eastgate.com,
for about the price of a conventional book. You can read hypertext poetry and
narrative online at sites such as the Web magazine “Hyperizons,” www.duke.edu/~mshumate/hyperfic.html, or
use your favorite search engine on search terms such as “hypernarrative” or
“hyperfiction.”
Location, Location, Location
“I love this place, I’d like to live here,” said Althea Ippolito of the
Clark Kerr campus where the long novel weekend was held.
Built around a courtyard and surrounded by a stone wall from 1869, the campus features
Spanish style buildings constructed in the 1920-40’s. Formerly the California
Schools for the Deaf and Blind, the campus is a dorm during the school year.
Offering a commuter rate was a hit with this close-in location, although accommodations
were luxurious after Ralston White’s attic. Mostly suites, both shared and
single rates were offered.
Fagles Provides Good Read in Fast-Paced Verse
Rudy Johnson, chair of the Kerr Weekend says, “Like many contemporary people, I knew
the Iliad and Odyssey only vaguely and had never read them carefully.”
So verse translations by Robert Fagles of both the Iliad and Odyssey were provided to Kerr
Weekend participants as the
Odyssey presumes knowledge of the Iliad.
As well as a new site, a new discussion format highlighted the Kerr weekend. The
four groups stayed together for all sessions. However, the leaders changed. But each
of the four leaders lead all three sessions to ensure continuity between discussions.
Shouldering the load were Jim Stabenaugh, Chuck Scarcliff, Rick Flynn, and Brian
Mahoney.
After finishing the Iliad, your editor’s first response to the Odyssey was, where is
the wooden horse? But as participant Althea Ippolito pointed out, the Odyssey is told in a
series of flashbacks. It begins 10 years after the Trojan War has ended with
Telemachus, Odysseus’ son.
In a way, the Odyssey is a family story. In the first part, Telemachus breaks away
from his mother and travels to visit Menelaus and Nestor and learn the story of his
father. The settled relationship of Menelaus and Helen is a striking contrast to the
Iliad where Helen had run away with Paris. It also contrasts with the fight that
begins the Iliad: the fight between the married Agamemnon and Achilles over a war trophy,
the woman Briseis. The stability of the Trojan families, as shown in the
relationship between Hector and Andromache, is ended by the death and destruction of the
city.
Odysseus as Hero
Linda Coffin points out that after Odysseus grows in self control in his various trials,
he is at last able to return home. The appeal of the Odyssey is that it is
attainable, said another participant, it shows something to strive for rather than
something heroic.
The Odyssey is a story about marriage as well as about Odysseus reestablishing his
authority over his household, which has been inundated by suitors for Penelope. This
clever wife has remained faithful for 20 years. She tests Odysseus with a secret of
marriage, a little incident that shows the magic of couples.
“I love Athena’s makeovers,” said Wallis Leslie, referring to the
goddess’ way of making heroes look larger, shining, and more muscular or old and
emaciated if the plot calls for it.
Fortunately, says your editor, the Fagles translation of the Odyssey moves at a fast pace
with easy to read language. The Iliad, by contrast, was full of blood and guts, and
even though I’m a dedicated Mad Max and Terminator fan, it was way too real.
Dr. Stroud Offers Insights into Iliad
Mysteries of the Iliad and Odyssey were explored by Dr. Ronald Stroud in an entertaining
after dinner speech at Kerr weekend. Dr. Stroud, professor of classics
at U. C. Berkeley, concentrated on the questions of when the events might have occurred,
and how the poems might have been transmitted.
The Legend of Troy
Up until 150 years ago, Troy was considered legendary. Although to the Greeks Troy
was history, no rich civilization of large cities as described in the Iliad had been found
by archaeologists. Until 150 years ago, existing finds dated back to the 8th century BC.
Called the geometric period after patterns in pottery, it was characterized by tiny
houses, no silver or gold; and cremations with only a few pots in the grave. Compare
these with the elements of the cities of the Iliad: huge palaces, fortified citadels, rich
cities with gold and silver, royal burial offerings, and chariot fights. None of
these had been found in Greece or were known to Grecians.
Heinrich Schliemann grew up believing there was a Troy. After emigrating to the US, and
making his fortune selling supplies to miners during the California Gold Rush, he went to
a “grubby little Turkish village” as Dr. Stroud described it, to dig where Troy
was reputed to be. And found 10 Troys--10 layers of cities. Layer 7A is
probably the level that corresponds to the time that the Greeks believed the Iliad took
place. In this layer, a city destroyed by fire dating about 1300-1230 BC.
contains fortified walls, large storage jars, large numbers of arrowheads,
and skeletons lying in the street. It appears to have been abandoned for a
couple hundred years, and then another city was constructed on the remains.
Evans' Excavations
In the 1900’s, on Crete, Sir Arthur Evans, an expert in ancient scripts continued
aborted excavations begun by Minos Kalokairinos and later Schliemann of the Minoan
civilization at Knossos. Evans went to bedrock and discovered elaborate burials such as in
the Iliad in a royal cemetery with gold, silver, ivory, crystal, weapons, jewelry, and
death masks,
In 1939 and then after World War II, Carl W. Blegen, a classical archaeologist at the
University of Cincinnati, excavated in Troy. He also went to Pylos, where Nestor
reportedly lived and discovered a Bronze Age palace or administrative center, as the
site’s website prefers to call it.
Dr. Stroud showed slides of all of these excavations, bringing back memories of Greek
travel to many of the other participants and inspiring others to go there for the first
time.
Dr. Stroud's second topic was the transmission of the poems. Up until 150 years ago, no
record of
written Greek was discovered before 750 BC. At this time, the Greeks adopted an
alphabet from the Phoenicians. Schliemann had excavated tablets within Crete with
strange marks that proved to be two languages (Linear A and Linear B) dating long before
the 8th century. Linear A has not been translated. Linear B was decoded by Sir
Arthur Evans, establishing that Greece had a written language of 88 signs for syllables
(vowel plus consonant) dating back to the period 1500-1200 BC
Greece apparently had a language at the time the Iliad might have occurred, and lost it.
How, then were the poems transmitted?
Oral Tradition
As described in Bernard Knox' Introduction to the Fagles translation, the question of
whether so long a poem could be transmitted orally was resolved by American scholar Milman
Parry. He analyzed the “ornamental epithets," the standardized
descriptions of people and gods that reoccur, and studied the illiterate bards performing
and improvising in Yugoslavia. Knox says Parry proved that Homer was an heir to a
tradition of improvised, oral, epic poetry that reached back over many generations.
Stroud hypothesizes that Homer was at the end of a long tradition of oral transmission,
and that when Homer's version of the Iliad and Odyssey was written down, the other
versions were superseded and forgotten because his was the best.
Database Maintenance
The names and addresses of Great Books participants are kept by Wallis Leslie, who would
like to pass on the job. The database includes rosters of clubs, frequent reader
roster of participants, and the main database that is used for sending Reading Matters.
At times, the database manager is requested to pull lists to send out event
advertisements. Currently Wallis is converting it to MS Access, which is a popular
database program. This job can be done at home at your own pace and time. It
does require frequent data entry, but this can be accumulated.
Publicity Coordinator
Publicizes Great Books events.
San Francisco Area Coordinator
Respond to public inquiries, keep track of existing groups, and either start new groups or
find volunteers to help. Much of this can be done by phone.
The newsletter is published free by the San Francisco Great Books Council (Serving
Northern California). However donations to help pay for printing and mailing are
warmly welcomed. Please make check to Great Books Council, write newsletter in the
memo line, and send to our treasurer
Grace Apple Dennison,
35 Fairmont Drive
Daly City, CA 94015
Q. How did the San Francisco Great Books council get started?
A. Lee Jordan, former treasurer, unofficial historian, and
council member for 28 years says: “The purpose of the council was Asilomar and
the annual meeting. The council planned when to go to Asilomar and what to read.
Then Marian Shepardson handled the rest from start to finish. We didn’t have
any money, but Asilomar only required a small deposit, so we paid the deposit with the
first registrations. I loved Asilomar. We liked it the way it was falling
down. We called it Castle Collapso.
“The first annual meeting I went to was in Stern Grove: we discussed Bartleby the
Scrivener in the mist—almost raining but not quite."
“Bob Shephardson was the head of the council. When Bob died, he left
$2,500 to the council through Marian Shephardson. Then we could deal with emergencies,
like the year of the gas crisis when Asilomar registration dropped. I worked hard to
build the treasury, and I think we should take a half page ad in the book section of the
newspaper to advertise Great Books.
Sunday, September 17
Annual Meeting, Novel & Picnic
Cheese Factory, Petaluma; Chair: Nancy Wortman
Sunday, October 8
Leader Training
For information, contact your group leader, area coordinator, or Barbara McConnell (707)
829-5643
Saturday, November 11 & Sunday, November 12
Poetry Weekend Canterbury Tales
Westminster Retreat, Alamo; Registrar: Ruth Korn
Friday, March 30-Sunday, April 1, 2001
Asilomar: Poetry, Essay, Novel, Play
SAN
FRANCISCO GREAT BOOKS COUNCIL SERVING NORTHERN CALIFORNIA: President, Rick White;
Vice-President, Brian Mahoney; Secretary (vacant); Treasurer, Grace Apple Dennison.
Reading Matters Publisher, Rosemarie Hitchens; Editor, Mary
Wood, 1001 Shoreline Drive #207, Alameda, CA 94501,
email marylwood@prodigy.net National website: www.greatbooks.org