Literature Classes in NYC, New York

Join charismatic actor and teacher Leo Schaff as he breathes life into Shakespeare's words, acting out portions of the play, and offering illuminating insights into the Bard's language, plot lines, historical context and eternal relevance, all with a generous sense of humor. This year, he tackles the history plays. Sep 26 — Henry VI, Part I Part...

"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks." - John Muir Join us for a light-hearted look at trees! We will seek to identify a few trees and search for the poems hidden in the furrows of bark and in the slenderest of branches.   This class leans heavily toward the whimsical and will certainly get those creative...

Each session, students will address three of the twelve unnumbered chapters in the book and focus on issues that are raised by those chapters.   Topics covered will include: literary form, personal psychology, social status, rewritings of The Odyssey and Ulysses, local and imperial politics, archetypes and myths, distant and intimate marriages,...

Dante’s Divine Comedy follows the journey of the poet through hell, purgatory, and paradise. This epic Italian poem, composed between 1308 and 1321, is an allegory for the movement of the soul toward God. But it is also a multifaceted exploration of ethics, metaphysics, politics, love, order, chaos, poetic form, and the Classical literary tradition. ...

From convincing her bosses at The New Yorker to pay for Ancient Greek studies to traveling the sacred way in search of Persephone, “The Comma Queen” Mary Norris delivers an unforgettable account of both her lifelong love affair with words and her solo adventures in the land of olive trees and ouzo. Along the way, Norris explains how...

Octavia E. Butler is arguably one of the best sci-fi writers of her time. A rarity in her day--African-American and female-- she broke boundaries and created extraordinary, life-changing stories. In this class, we will examine two of her short stories - one from the "Unexpected Stories" collection and another from the "Bloodchild" collection....

From smoky-eyed vamps to spunky PIs, the role of women in crime fiction has come a long way, baby! This course focuses on women crime fiction writers and female sleuths, with the occasional “guy” thrown in for comparison.  Book list will be provided before the first class.

Gather in a diverse group setting and participate in an informal but challenging discussion of contemporary and classical literature and the reading experience.  Learn what authors do to capture a reader's interest and The Mare by Mary Gaitskill will be the first selection. Please read this book PRIOR to the 1st class mee...

A novel of cruelty, poisoned love, ruthless necessity, intergenerational vendettas, memory and revenge, Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights remains an opulent enigma. First published under the male pseudonym, Ellis Bell, the book puzzled and repulsed its initial readers, who castigated it for immorality but reluctantly acknowledged its inscrutable...

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