COASTLINE JOURNAL

“Marilyn Monroe reading ULYSSES” by Eve Arnold, 1955

In the Chronicle of Higher Education, Steven Kellman reviews a book which claims that James Joyce’s Ulysses is readable, if you know how to attack it: Ulysses and Us: The Art of Everyday Life in Joyce’s Masterpiece, by Declan Kiberd.

Rather than read Kiberd’s explication of Ulysses (I’ll save that for another time), or in sitting at the beach actually reading Ulysses, I spent much of the summer, when I was on the road, walking or taking transit, plugged into my iPod, listening to the unabridged audio book from Naxos, a 21-hour reading by Jim Norton with Marcella Riordan. Available as a download from Audible.com, where, if you get a membership, it will cost you only 1 credit, a bargain over purchasing the set of cd’s.

But this is, as anyone who has attempted reading it knows, a very complex work layered with references, some more obvious than others. Joyce based his story of one day (a very full day) in the lives of Stephen Dedalus and Leopold Bloom, set in Dublin, on Homer’s Odyssey. Of course there are many references to the travails of Odysseus, from Stephen’s identification with Telemachus to the Sirens, and to get as much as you can from the book, you need a guide. And what better guide than Professor James A.W. Heffernan of Dartmouth College, whose 24-part (twenty-four hours of Bloomsday) lecture, Joyce’s Ulysses,  is available from the Teaching Company as a download or set of cd’s.

By alternating between Heffernan’s lecture and the chapter in the audiobook, I was able to make more of Joyce’s playful tapestry. The work is so rich and replete with multiple cross-references, as well as being, at times, a challenging read in and of itself, particularly in its stream of consciousness narrative, that being able to go back and forth between the lecture and the chapter was almost a necessity. I highly recommend both to anyone interested in exploring this seminal work of the 20th century.

by Aaron Sommers, University of New Hampshire

Aaron Sommers graduated with an M.A.L.S. in 2002. He lives in New Hampshire, where, when he isn’t shoveling snow, he’s fending off invisible fans of his fiction.

In 1892 Leo Tolstoy published an article titled The First Step.[1] Originally written as the Preface to the Russian translation of The Ethics of Diet by Howard Williams it was published after his conversion to vegetarianism in 1889. While he wrote this article Tolstoy was concerned with the process towards righteousness. The steps to this goal consisted of many demanding rules of an ascetic lifestyle that included vegetarianism. Additionally, he also believed that many Russians misinterpreted Christianity and the adherents of this religion preferred “beefsteaks” to any enlightenment.[2] Food that tastes good incites other sensual thoughts, according to Tolstoy, making completion of any subsequent steps towards a good life unattainable.

Not only does he condemn eating meat, Tolstoy also uses this article to lament the popularity of augmenting meals. For instance, he prohibits the use of any sauces, spices or flowers while eating meals. This restriction is not based on health reasons. Like his source of inspiration Arthur Schopenhauer, these choices are grounded on moral imperatives rooted in abstract spirituality, especially Vedanta. In The First Step Tolstoy says “the satisfaction of a need has limits, but pleasure has none.[3]” Food, as he sees it, is a basic need for humans, and all living things for that matter. However, we enjoy the process more than any other living creature. He advises readers to avoid the seduction numerous pleasures of the palate await us.

While some people may dispute whether flavorings on bread constitute the arousal of desire, Tolstoy would assert that it is an example of “relaxing effort” towards a righteous life. His writing in this article encourages personal sacrifice, and this includes abandoning all material “amenities” such as pillows, sheets, cushions or anything else he considered unnecessary.[4] Interestingly, his sex life presents a complicated, often paradoxical picture. (more…)

The day after Labour Day (“labor” in the U.S.), traditionally the first Monday of September, which made it feel late this year, we’re back in class, many of us, studying or teaching or doing both. Halfway through the course requirement for my MALS degree (which, for SFU, means the two core courses in the first year, which everyone in the cohort takes together, and then four more), I really haven’t a clue what I will focus on for a thesis project. In SFU’s GLS program, students have three options for fulfilling the requirements to graduate:

expand two previously written essays and defend;

complete a major thesis or non-written project and defend;

take one additional course and then a Capstone course.

This fall I’m taking an undergraduate course that focuses entirely on Jean Jacques Rousseau, with another graduate student and one who already has his MA in Literature; we’ll be writing longer, graduate-level essays, attending the weekly seminars with the undergrads, who will be teaming up in groups of four to make hour-long presentations on various aspects of Rousseau’s writing; as well, the three graduate students meet bimonthly with Stephen Duguid to delve deeper into the texts.*

As always, the invitation is open (throughout the year) to anyone who is currently taking, or is an alumni of, a graduate liberal studies program anywhere in the world, to contribute an essay, on any topic, and of any length. We do not pay, but the point of this site is to publish good writing which otherwise would sit on a hard drive after it had been marked. To be honest, I have rejected a few essays, but for the most part the essays have been well-written without requiring much editorial revision. Have a look at the guidelines.

Finally, I’d recommend two sites for anyone hungering for more courses: the MIT open courseware pages, which offer many of the MIT courses as non-credit lecture notes, some with sample essays, multi-media files, or even have sample exams.

The other site is the Teaching Company, which offers audio lectures by some of the finest teachers in America on a wide range of topics. Every month they offer courses at sale prices–the downloads are inexpensive and play well on iTunes or a portable mp3 player; they also offer their courses on audio cd and some courses have extra material availabl on dvd.

What are you taking this fall? Why not tell us, in a comment below?

——–

*FYI, the Rousseau reading list:

Rousseau, Politics and the Arts (Ithica: Cornell University Press, 1960) (isbn 978-0-8014-9071-2)

– Reveries of the Solitary Walker (London: Penguin, 1979) (978-0-14-044363-9)

– The Confessions (Hanover: Dartmouth College, 1995) (0-87451-836-9)

– Basic Political Writings (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1987) (0-87220-047-7)

includes Discourse on the Sciences and the Arts; Discourse on the Origin of Inequality; Discourse on Political Economy; On the Social Contract.

– La Nouvelle Heloise/Julie, or the New Heloise (Pennsylvania State University Press, 1968) (0-271-00602-1)

I would also recommend “Emile, or on Education,” but it isn’t on this course list.