Grosse Pointe Library Annouces 2011 Book Lectures

The Friends of the Grosse Pointe Public Library announces the ninth season of its Classic Books Lectures.
 
The first lecture in the series, on The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus by Christopher Marlowe, will be given by University of Michigan Professor Theresa Tinkle on Thursday, January 27th at 7:30 p.m.  The lecture will be held at Grosse Pointe South High School library, 11 Grosse Pointe Boulevard at Fisher Road in Grosse Pointe Farms. Enter the parking lot on Grosse Pointe Boulevard and proceed straight ahead to the north side of the complex to the last building entrance. Admission is $10 at the door for the general public and free to Friends members, students and teachers with identification. There are no presales. For further information, contact Donna Di Sante at dmdisante@att.net or 313-881-2258.
 
About the Book
 
Faustus's Damnable Desire for Knowledge: Dr. Faustus sells his soul for forbidden knowledge, much as Eve did in the Garden of Eden. Icarus-like, he means to soar beyond human reach, but he wastes his days in frivolous magic, using his extraordinary power and knowledge to entertain those greater than himself, and discovering only the husks of pleasure. While he denies his own soul, he also dreads the eternal death he knows awaits him when his brief term of life is over. In the end, facing his own damnation, he desperately wishes to become "a creature wanting a soul," a being that could simply dissolve into vapor, into nothingness. He speaks his-and Christopher Marlowe's-greatest poetry as he confronts his own eternal death. For a modern audience, he enacts a passion for knowledge that pushes us to reach for what we cannot grasp, for previously unknown truths, and the tragedy that befalls those who defy the limits imposed by their cultures.
 
Lecturer Theresa Tinkle...
 
is an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor and Associate Professor in the Department of English Language and Literature. She is the author of Medieval Venuses and Cupids: Sexuality, Hermeneutics, and English Poetry (1996), and the co-editor of two volumes: The Iconic Page in Manuscript, Print, and Digital Culture (with George Bornstein, 1998), and Chaucer and the Challenges of Medievalism: Studies in Honor of H. A. Kelly  (with Donka Minkova, 2003). She is currently completing a book on medieval interpretations of the Bible, and beginning a new project on performances of masculinity in late medieval and early modern drama. Her research and teaching interests include gender and religion, early drama, and manuscripts. Her hobbies include scuba diving, hiking, and cooking.
 
What is the "Classics" Books Lecture Series?
 
Esteemed professors from the University of Michigan, Department of English present stimulating talks on a variety of classic selections. The talks are always interesting and the programs allow time for audience discussion. 
 
The series starts with the early classic books in literature and finishes with the modern. Everyone from teenagers to octogenarians and beyond will enjoy these lectures because of the wealth detail and background that the professors bring to their presentations.
 
The Classics Books Lecture Series was started by Grosse Pointer Mary Beth Smith, a Secretary of The Friends of the Grosse Pointe Public Library and a trustee of the Library Board. When she moved to Grosse Pointe from New York City, she sought out lectures on classic literature similar to ones she had enjoyed in New York. But, according to Smith, there were no such continuing education courses available in Metro Detroit or Ann Arbor. When she approached local universities, she found that the University of Michigan English professors were eager to share their knowledge.
 
According to Smith, "One does not have to have read the books to enjoy the Classics Books Lectures, because the professors bring so much information about the authors, the times in which they lived, comparison to other pieces of literature, insights into how and why the works were written, et cetera. We need to appreciate the past to make the best of the future.  The speakers are all notable scholars in their literary period."
 
All lectures will be held at Grosse Pointe South High School, 10 Grosse Pointe Boulevard, Grosse Pointe Farms, at 7:30 p.m.  Admission at the door is $10, but the lectures are free for members of The Friends as well as for students and teachers with identification. 
 
Membership in The Friends of the Grosse Pointe Public Library is $25 for individuals and $30 for families, so it pays to join if you wish to come to the lectures while supporting this auxiliary organization in support of the library. For more information about The Friends see the website at www.gpfriends.org