Nestle into your favorite reading chair, indoors or out, and fluff the pillows on your armchair for on demand viewing. Homework for our literature, film, and television classes is a reward, not a chore, for bibliophiles and film fanatics. Both in-person and online options promise scintillating conversations in the upcoming weeks.

Nicholas Birns, currently in the midst of a four session course on the newest translation of the Aeniad, will next turn his attention to Book Discussion: Novels of Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, Brilliant Brazilian (11142), starting Thursday, May 5, 2022. Machado de Assis’s tales provide a portal into Brazilian life and culture and portray the tensions between religion and reason, progress and skepticism.

In the summer, Birns explores Short Stories by Nikolai Gogol and Isaac Babel: Between Russia and Ukraine (11242), beginning Thursday, July 7, 2022. Elevate your beach reading with this four-session focus on two of the greatest short fiction writers of all time. Though they wrote in Russian, both authors were based geographically in what is now Ukraine. Their wry humor and direct observations reflected the often violent and unpredictable situations faced in earlier eras by a resilient people.

Short stories are also on the menu with the next session of Short Stories Live (11256), starting Thursday, June 16, 2022. This innovative program combines the immediacy of live performance, insights into classic and contemporary literature, and collegial discourse with fellow participants. Watch and listen as a professional actor reads a thought-provoking short story aloud and then engage in a discussion led by cultural historian Lori Rotskoff.

Even more short stories will be explored in Marilyn DeRight's Short Stories by Nobel Prize-Winning Authors. Ernest Hemingway, Kazuo Ishiguro, Doris Lessing, Thomas Mann, Alice Munro, and Luigi Pirandello are among some of the Nobel laureates in literature to be considered. The first six-session course (11102) just got underway this week and the next one begins on Monday, June 20, 2022 (11245).

Though they may not have a Nobel to their credits, Stacy Schiff, Nathanliel Philbrick, and Doris Kearns Goodwin are not lacking in awards and accolades. Starting Tuesday, May 3, 2022, Joseph Verdicchio's three-session course, History in Context Through Prize-Winning Authors (11237), explores their recent works: Cleopatra: A Life (2010), Travels with George: In Search of Washington and His Legacy (2021), and No Ordinary Time: Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II (2013). Dive into these impressive non-fiction books now to prepare for class.

More history as well as comedy are in store with two upcoming Shakespeare courses. The first, Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (11212), begins on Wednesday, April 20, 2022 with Shakespearean scholar Robert Hermann. Tuesday, July 12, 2022, marks the return of Estha Weiner to the line-up with a four-session course on Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part I (11236).

Ellen Witchell will lead Book Discussion: The Hare with Amber Eyes (2010) by Edmund de Waal (11105) on Thursday, April 28, 2022. This literature class is the perfect sequel for those who enjoyed our earlier Curator's Perspective art appreciation class that delved into the fascinating history of the Ephrussi family. The memoir's title, also used as the title of the museum exhibit, is a reference to one artifact in the inherited collection of miniature wood and ivory carvings (netsuke), the only possessions not confiscated in the German Anschluss from this immensely powerful and wealthy family. Ellen Witchell returns next month on Thursday, May 26, 2022, for Book Discussion: Beasts of a Little Land (2021) by Juhea Kim (11106).

Harriet Sobol's popular BookTalk classes have been converted into single serving discussion groups, so you can pick and choose based on which provocative novels peak your interest and suit your schedule. Having just covered The Unseen (2016) by Roy Jacobsen and Oh William! (2021) by Elizabeth Strout, she moves on to The Promise (2021) by Damon Galgut (11108) on Wednesday, May 4, 2022, and The Anomaly (2020) by Hervé Le Tellier (11109) on Wednesday, June 1, 2022.

Memoirs and documentaries provide fodder in Lori Rotskoff's Book and Film Discussion: Portraits of the Artist, Creative Lives on the Page and Screen (11059). Starting this Wednesday, April 13, 2022, class will discuss works about artists Winfred Rembert, Riva Lehrer, Suzanne Heintz, and Barbora Kysilkova.

New to the faculty this semester, Viviane Silvera has introduced two multi-disciplinary courses that blend art appreciation into big and small screen subjects. Where Film and Painting Meet explores movies that have been inspired by or have imitated the art of a famous painter. Each lecture covers a different filmmaker and all Silvera's lectures are being recorded and distributed to registered students. Upcoming classes exploring this theme are:

Silvera's other course, Artistry Behind the Series, shines the spotlight on the creativity and importance of the cinematographer, production designer, set decorator and costume designer, to the success of today's most popular television series. She received rave reviews for the first two classes on The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Bridgerton. Behind-the-scenes contributions in the following shows are coming up next:

Artistry Behind the Series: Succession (HBO) has been split into two separate meeting dates. Seasons 1 and 2 will be covered at 7 pm on Tuesday, April 12, 2022, under the original course number 11131. Season 3 will be the subject of new course number 11258, scheduled to meet at 7 pm on Tuesday, April 19, 2022. Both lectures will be recorded and available for registered students to view on demand for one week.

All upcoming classes are listed in our Printer-Friendly, Interactive Version of our Spring/Summer 2022 Catalog. New classes are added regularly.