20 20 5655 https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/928553279f67b5b94155ba700eef2645.pdf 3fb90ba028b65a3a6c8ef4f48cafe428 PDF Text Text the Gadfly St. John’s College Annapolis, Maryland THE NATURE ISSUE February 6th, 2023 Vol. XLIV, Issue 7 �Contents Logos Delegate Council Herald Report Questions With Helen Felbek Dispatches from the Inauguration Symposium Ms. Seeger Reflections on Monet Life, Death, Void, Harmony The Procession of Life Letter rom the Editor 3 5 7 10 12 14 16 Polis Know Thyself Letter from an Anxious Learner " Lines from the Marlboro Trail Before Rain" "A Moment" "The Spider's Narrative" "Nature's Metronome" Horoscope 18 20 21 22 23 24 26 Staff Editor in Chief Managing Editor Daniel Nathan Luke Briner Meliha Anthony Dolan Polglaze Louise Harden Helen Wagner Catherine Greer El'ad Nichols-Kaufman Jackson Wojnowski FEATURING SUBMISSIONS FROM Deesha Arabatti Rylee Bain Madame Quiznos Lainey Rendelman Bridget Mace Nat Martin DEsign Director COVER Felix Tower Behold! 2023’s second issue of the Gadfly is here. Inside these pages you’ll find a host of new and experimental changes to our school paper with regard to our staff, design, and content alike. This is also the first issue in which I have the honor of serving as Editor-in-chief. I invite you all not only to read the thoughts, opinions, and reflections of your peers, but also to engage and interact with what they have to say: stir the polity, create discourse, gossip and talk your shit—take our namesake and truly be a gadfly. Because what’s this paper’s purpose if not just that? This issue’s cover is a way for all of us here at the Gadfly, who tirelessly think, and type, and click, and take pride in our school and our paper, to admit our faults, admit we study philosophy, and, most important of all, continue to admit as much criticism from the polity as you’ll give us. In recent weeks, the Gadfly has been called a foul nest of faux intellectualism, corruption, prentention [sic], and nepotism. Well, if we must commit to nepotism, let it be a nepotism for all. Submit your pieces. Write your stories. Share your opinions and interests. Make yourself known and make your voice heard here in the pages of this publication. For posterity. For your future. For however long it takes people to eventually throw a copy of the Gadfly in the trash—probably two weeks, approximately. I’d also like to take this space to thank our new staff writers who have dove right in and contributed immediately and immensely to the construction of this issue. As you might’ve already noticed, we are also undergoing an exciting and only slightly ongoing redesign. So get the word out: writers, come write. Artists and graphic designers: come do art. Our meetings take place every Sunday at noon in the King Williams Room of the BBC. If you’re interested in submitting your writing or art to the Gadfly, please reach out to me at djnathan@sjc.edu or our Managing Editor Luke Briner at lbriner@sjc.edu. And remember— tyranny, aristocracy, timocracy, oligarchy, and even democracy all die in darkness. – Daniel Nathan THE STRUCTURE Logos typically holds news reports and narratives of immediate relevance to the Polity. The purpose here is to develop a shared reservoir of information relating to campus life and the community. Symposium offers the opportunity for our readers to thoughtfully consider contrasting opinions regarding a particular topic. Polis serves as a platform for elevating voices in our community. Here we find letters to the editor, columns, cartoons, and submitted pieces. 1 �λόγος the Gadfly February 6, 2023 Delegate Council Herald Report Rylee Bain With the new semester comes a renewed Delegate Council. Gone are the days of the Ni administration and in our first meeting on January 10th, new officers and freshmen delegates were sworn in. They are as follows: President Helen Felbek, Treasurer Grace Jang, Secretary El’ad Nichols-Kaufman, Herald Rylee Bain :), Delegate Lainey Rendelman, Delegate Nicholas Hoo, Delegate Ali Shawamreh, Delegate Millie Ransohoff. Τhis meeting wasn’t all fun though, after the council approved Felbek’s choice for Polity Attorney, junior Ranna Kisswani, we swiftly began the impeachment process for junior delegate Ahan Sagreiya. After enacting executive session Mr. Sagreiya was impeached for absences, with a vote of 11 ayes and 5 abstentions. We also saw the reintroduction of the Constitutional Review Committee, given that the review didn’t pass last semester, and the Institutional Memory Committee, headed by junior Adam Powers. To end the meeting, the freshman delegates made a plea to the council, asking for the repair of the beloved foosball table in the Campbell basement, but with no obvious solutions, the meeting was adjourned.* In our second meeting, we swore in the three sophomore delegates and one junior delegate elected by an Ad Hoc election to fill the seats vacated by the officer elections or impeachment, they are as follows: Delegate Devin Sexton, Delegate Louis Rosenberg, Delegate Maliha Anthony, Delegate Oscar Gonzalez. And just like that, the spring budgeting season was open. After budgets, President Felbek announced the new members of the Constitutional Review Committee: senior Sachin Stanislaus, junior Adam Powers, sophomore Louis Rosenberg, freshman Ali Shawamreh, and of course, yours truly, Herald Rylee Bain. Former DC president Tom Ni joined us via video call in his position as one of the Board of Visitors and Governors Representatives. Mr. Ni proposed a plan to visit the Santa Fe campus within the next week to conduct an undercover report about the state of the campus, having the DC cover all costs, around $1000. Given that this was so last minute and Mr. Ni was planning on going without co-representative Charlotte Greenwaves-captain Nicholas, the plan was voted down and Mr. Ni would have to return to campus and write his senior essay. We will help fund a trip next year when there is actually a BVG meeting and both reps can attend. In our latest meeting, on January 24th, we heard a report from the SCI’s Chair, Ms. Chloe Steer, on their latest forums and the most recent All-College seminar, which unfortunately had lower numbers than 3 �λόγος the Gadfly usual. The SCI charter is also in flux, and will hopefully have an amendment hearing at our next meeting. With that, Ms. Steer was able to leave and I wish she had taken me with her because of the next agenda item, budgets and charters. Yikes. Three new clubs were chartered including FUTSAL, JSPN, and the St. John’s Orchestra, and even more budgets were heard. As your Herald, I look forward to giving you all the hot goss of the DC as well as some truly helpful information. Email me if you have questions @rebain@sjc.edu. *I would like to note that a new foosball table is in the works, a generous parent would like to donate theirs. Things are happening for my freshmen movers and shakers. Council of the Gods, Giocomo Zaboli 4 February 6, 2023 �λόγος the Gadfly (Almost) 20 Questions with DC President Helen Felbek Bennett Scott Q: Who are you? A: I’m an international student from Germany and I’m a sophomore. That’s it. What inspired you to become president? I’ve been on the DC since my first month at SJC. I just felt that the DC was a very powerful institution to impact the college in a positive way through budgets and other ways, but that it wasn’t fulfilling its potential. I was hoping with an officer position to fulfill that more. What are your major goals as president? I hoped that I would be able to shift the DC to be a more welcoming and supportive environment for archons so that they at least are not concerned about coming to delegate meetings and feel comfortable reaching out to the DC. Making sure they feel that it’s not arbitrary what the DC is doing. This can be achieved through a shift in mindset and target actions like publishing criteria for budgeting. That hasn’t been possible this cycle, but I’m hoping to use this for the first term next semester. Less concrete, I’d like to make the DC more visible to help the administration and polity better communicate. We had our first housing forum this past week and I thought it was quite successful. We wrote up post-its and gave them to the admin and they were happy to receive them. What do you see as your role at SJC as president? I hope that my role could be a facilitator because I feel like many students either don’t want to or don’t have time to talk to the admin or don’t feel it’ll lead to anything. So just having an open ear. I think individual students are their own best representatives, but I want to be a dedicated voice for the student body, freshman, my own class, and upperclassmen (if they want to talk to me). How has SJC changed you? It’s hard to talk about causation, [but] I think that the college has made me more thoughtful, more confident to be more involved, take agency, and get things done. But also more stressed. February 6, 2023 What program author would you have dinner with? I would like to have dinner with probably Socrates, but I would also be super annoyed by him. Who needs to get involved with the DC? Really, anyone who has ideas. Just criticizing is a first step, but I think if you have ideas, that’s important. Not even being an officer, just coming to the meetings. We want to bring back the culture of the observers being able to participate in the meetings. Even a half baked idea, like a vision for something, we’d be able to figure [it] out. What are the most important issues for the polity right now? Most immediate is the renovation of Campbell. While there is a lot of potential there, there’s a lot of dangers. It will challenge on campus students a lot and [also] the role of the DC. We should also remember that while this isn’t ideal, it’s important that the college keeps progressing like being more welcoming for people who need ADA accommodations. On a different level, for the first time this year, enrollment in the U.S. has dropped. Admin is doing this all the time, but the student body should be thinking about our identity. What sort of problems should people bring to you? The easiest ones are like the practical ones like starting a new club. I should be the first person you contact, and Woodward Hall Library in the Snow 5 �λόγος the Gadfly I’ll send you an email with the template. With other problems like housing or safety, these are all things the DC can think more about. We can’t offer solutions, but we can be a platform for solutions to tell the admin. What’s the best way to get in contact with you? Email, but I really don’t like emails. Just see me around on campus and tell me. If I have time, we can talk. What is your relationship to the Reform party? Well, I am a member of the Reform party, and their candidate for DC president. I didn’t really understand what they wanted initially–it started off as a joke, right? But I figured that it’s very important that there are people who care about the DC who aren’t on the DC. I felt like in that sense our interests were definitely aligned, even though I don’t agree with everything. What is your bottom priority at SJC? Playing croquet. Who are you most excited to work with? What has been really fulfilling is when people I’ve never talked to, especially freshmen, come up to me and talk to me about things like how to charter a club. It feels pretty great. Do you feel any tension with Nora, seeing as you are both presidents of SJC? I talked to her for the first time this Wednesday about housing. She listened a lot. She’s mostly just observing, 6 February 6, 2023 but she’s very knowledgeable and very good at all she’s doing. Do you have higher political aspirations after this? No. What’s the worst part of being president so far? Because I take my job seriously, I get very worked up and stressed about things. Even though I knew it was a demanding position to hold, it’s still a lot. I think I should turn off my phone [sometimes], but my phone addiction has become worse cause I’m checking my email all the time. Do you tell your family members that you’re the president in the US? When I told my parents, they told me I should not, so we don’t really talk about it. Will you abolish the Gadfly? Well it’s not really up to me. I think that’s a collective DC thing. [Delegate Adam Powers, from across the coffee shop: We’ll do it!] If the DC stopped receiving funding or we got rid of their charter, that would abolish them, but I would veto that. Fun fact? Did you know Nora comes from the same region as the PM of Bavaria? Thank you, Madam President. �λόγος the Gadfly February 6, 2023 Wes Is Moore: Dispatches from the Inauguration Jackson Wojnowski On Wednesday January 18th , around one o’clock, the inauguration ceremony of Wes Moore, Maryland’s 63rd Governor, took place. Moore, who campaigned on the mission-statement “Leave No One Behind,” was sworn in on the Bible that had belonged to Frederick Douglass. The occasion will be known nationally as the inauguration of the USA’s third black governor, ever, and the first for Maryland. These points just-said are some of the meaningful and pertinent facts that permeated the event, though along and intertwined with these, there was much else to be observed. As Moore himself said, “This journey has never been about ‘making history.’ Today is not an indictment of the past; it is a celebration of our future.” Here addressed in the terms of past and future, this broader question of what to focus on and to what degree showed forth throughout the inauguration. For the ceremony, the majority of the public assembled on Bladen St., though there was reserved seating in the Lawyers Mall as well. Men in crisp suits and women in lovely coats, along with those in sweatshirts and favored sweaters, sat in white fold-out chairs on the street and stood on the sidewalks to the sides. A plurality of the crowd, if not a majority, were Black. Many vigorous handshakes were given as individuals and groups exchanged greetings and snapped pictures with each other. State police patrolled around, some with K-9’s. Reporters, like myself but with lanyards and microphones, went around asking attendees what this inauguration meant to them. A media stand had been erected between Lawyers Mall and Bladen St, which prevented those on Bladen from seeing the podium where the Governor and others would give speeches; instead, two large projectors had been set up at the front of the street, along with two more further back. The weather was unseasonably warm. After walking around and observing for a bit, I began to inquire into the thoughts of those assembled. I saw an elderly man who seemed to be particularly sagacious, and so I first interviewed him. Who was he? 7 �λόγος the Gadfly “Hi, my name is Paul Chalmus, and I’m a retired letter carrier, artist, cartoonist… master gardener, paleontologist… I used to fly planes… And believe it or not, I used to be in politics back in the '70s.” Where was he from? Well, his earthly home is Baltimore, and his intergalactic home is “somewhere way out there… there’s no English word to describe where I came from.” What did this inauguration mean to him? “It means a lot. It’s a new day. It gives me hope. All things may be possible, hopefully good things. I feel some positive energies about this one.” Was this ceremony a step in the right direction for American politics? “Well, I’m looking beyond the ceremony actually. We have been taught to praise these ceremonies. My heart starts beating when they get in there and start going to work. They’re gonna have ceremonies, parties, all this kind of stuff celebrating the occasion. I understand all of that. But those same moneys could be used for housing, new roads, this and that…you do what you have to do for this ritual; I’m ready for the action….That same money could feed somebody, or fix somebody’s house….if I were elected right now, right this moment…I’d say, ‘Ok, thank you for electing me, let’s get started. No party or whatever.’” Delores White-Rose, an elderly woman who appeared equally sagely and who had retired from a career as a government auditor, had this to say as regards the significance of the inauguration: “Their things that they’re saying they’re gonna do as you swear them in—people need to pay close attention to the words that’s being read and what they’re saying ‘I will do.’ It’s for the people that voted for them—they make it an open forum for the people to hear… Now you can hold them accountable.” Regarding these promises that she would hear from Governor Moore, Ms. White-Rose had her concerns: “Even with Governor Wes Moore, and I have a high respect for him… He can come, and he can be the governor, but he can only say what we should do; because if these rest of these people who are in office don’t pass it, it’s not gonna get passed, and that’s not 8 February 6, 2023 right, and that’s not fair to the people who quote-onquote they are supposed to be representing.” Mr. Chalmus and Ms. White-Rose had other, more particular worries on their minds as well, which they spoke of in-depth on their own accord. Ms. White-Rose spoke of community violence and how, in her estimate, the removal of dissuasive laws and penalties is dangerous, while Mr. Chalmus had this to say as regards our relationship with the Earth: “And here’s the sad news that you didn’t ask me, and the scientists aren’t jumping on it fast enough. We are rapidly approaching what is called ‘the point of no return,’ and it’s right around the corner… We take so much life here on this planet for granted. And we’re in trouble. We really are… You may have come over here and opened up a can of worms.” With these points in mind, I awaited the governor’s speech. Various musical ensembles, including the Contemporary Polynesian Arts Group, a local high school choir, and a Latin-American music group, performed in front of the State House and through the speakers and projectors. A man and his wife, also on the �λόγος the Gadfly older side, swing-danced to the Latin music, and as the proceedings became delayed, 21 minutes into the afternoon and past when the ceremony was supposed to start, I overheard the remark, “I got a Manchester United game I gotta watch at 3 o’clock!” Eventually, the proceedings began. An invocation to God Almighty was made, thanking Him for Wes Moore’s victory; numerous people in the audience held up their hands to the Lord. Lieutenant Governor Aruna Miller, introduced by her children, told her story of immigrating from India, weaving in the values of compassion, empathy, and being one’s authentic self. Oprah (yes, Oprah Winfrey) praised the character of Maryland and that of Wes Moore, and retired Lieutenant Governor Jaime Martinez joined in the latter. A Nineteen Gun Salute was performed, along with a flyover by the Air National Guard 104th Fighter Squadron. After all of this, the newly inaugurated Governor spoke. To string some of the major points along: “It is time for our policies to be as bold as our aspirations and to confront the fact that we have been offered false choices. We do not have to choose between a competitive economy and an equitable economy…. We do not have to choose between a safe state and a just state….We do not have to choose between giving our children an excellent education and an equitable one….Those whose shoulders we stand on would ask us to view today not as a celebration—but as an opportunity. An opportunity to lead with love…this is our opportunity to build a state that those who came before us would be proud of, a state that leaves no one behind. That is not a slogan; it is a fulfillment of a hope. It is our mission.” Along with this general rhetoric came specific resolutions, such as a $15 minimum wage (immediately relevant to us Johnnies!); the protection of the Chesapeake Bay and the addressment of air pollution; and putting Maryland on track to generate 100 percent clean energy by 2035. These last two points in particular remind me of Mr. Chalmus’s concerns, as well as Ms. White-Rose’s reservations. I asked some people afterward what they thought about Wes Moore’s ability to accomplish his February 6, 2023 resolutions. “I think he has a very aggressive and a very important agenda, and it’s very ambitious, and I commend him for that, but the bottom line is it has to be paid for…and then without raising taxes, it’s all about prioritizing and reevaluating the funds to be able to make things work. So I wish the man well; I really do,” said Paul Blitz, the chiefof-staff for a Maryland state delegate. He also expressed uncertainty regarding Moore’s clean-energy resolutions. Regarding his confidence in the words of the governor, Colby Price, a fellow member of the media, had this to say: “We [my partner and I] were able to have a sit-down conversation with Wes Moore last week, and from what I got from it, he seemed very genuine…he seems like he’s genuinely a nice person…and that’s what politics needs right now…he cares about the state, and so I think he’s gonna do a great job.” Though the future, which as Mr. Chalmus reminds us will either vindicate or contradict these resolutions, is not yet known, the wholesome jubilation of the ceremony, and the palpable joy and optimism of the crowd, is still in itself worth noting. As another attendee remarked, “We’re just happy to be here to enjoy it with others… It means a lot to all of us here in Maryland. We believe they’re going to be a lot of changes that will affect the broader spectrum here of this state, so that’s why we’re here to support it.” (Photo credit to Meliha Anthony, excepting Oprah) 1 �λόγος the Gadfly February 6, 2023 Personality Profile – Ms. Seeger Meliha Anthony For Ms. Judith Seeger, learning is a lifelong process. Seeger has been part of the St. John’s community since 1989, spending much of that time as a tutor at the Annapolis campus, a couple years teaching at Santa Fe and four years as assistant dean here in Annapolis. She has taught the entirety of our Great Books program through multiple times and speaks with a sense of wonder and curiosity about the texts and subjects that we immerse ourselves in. “I don’t have a lot of difficulty admitting that I don’t know something,” Seeger says. Previously, she worried about becoming too comfortable with the program texts, fearing that she would lose her ability to model the process of learning to students. “It turned out to be something I didn’t need to worry about, because it never happened, never got even close,” she says. “Nobody can be an expert in everything we do here... In that respect, we’re all learning.” Before becoming a tutor at the college, Seeger spent years traveling and living in both Brazil and Spain with her husband, who is an anthropologist. With a doctorate degree in romance languages and literature, and a dissertation on oral traditional ballad, Seeger took the opportunity to engage in interactive field work, collecting and recording stories and ballads while abroad, “[as] sung and told by people there.” She recalls the difficulties of living in the jungles of Brazil and having to adjust to a new culture. Ultimately, she and her husband decided to depart from their lives as expats in Brazil, along with their two young daughters, partly due to their lack of a large, engrained family and a solid community while living in such a family-oriented society. Given her self-proclaimed unconventional academic background, Seeger was surprised when St. John’s College granted her an interview to become a tutor. Even more surprising was their job offer. Prior to her time as a tutor, Seeger had only taken an introductory level philosophy course, and the only program text she had previously been exposed to was Don Quixote—which was, of course, originally written in Spanish. Her lack of exposure to the Great Books program intensified some aspects of her experience as a tutor, and Seeger views continued learning 10 Ms. Seeger, Zeinep Kyzy to be an integral aspect of her job. “This has been a fabulous education,” Seeger exclaimed. “I have learned so much coming here and I really appreciate that. That’s kind of my story.” While debating what it might mean to have a favorite text—“Plato drove me crazy. Does that mean it was my favorite?”—Seeger admitted her deep love for Rabelais, author of Gargantua and Pantagruel, and her disappointment when his work was removed from the program. “We had a wonderful preceptorial. Can you imagine having a preceptorial where you just sit and laugh? Or a class? I mean, we just howled,” Seeger says. Seeger is now retired, but still occasionally teaches classes when asked to. She keeps busy in her summers �λόγος the Gadfly and spare time, spending time with her grandchildren, working at her family’s summer camp, and practicing Tai chi, among other activities. She has also been trying to learn Arabic for some time. The language first sparked her interest while reading Maimonides’ Guide to the Perplexed; and, her daughter’s husband is Palestinian and speaks Arabic. “I thought it would be polite to learn some,” Seeger explains. Seeger recounts one final story from her tenure as a St. John’s tutor: when she convinced Pete Seeger, her husband’s uncle and the storied folk singer, to come perform at the college. The entire Francis Scott Key auditorium was filled with students, staff, and February 6, 2023 townspeople who came out to see him perform, and given the weakness of his voice at that point in his career, the audience filled in where Pete Seeger couldn’t, collectively singing his iconic songs for him. “It was amazing. I mean, he’s a master, right? He just is,” Seeger said about the singer. Of everything Seeger has learned through her experiences, the common thread seems to be a sense of humility. “Be generous. Listen to people. Hear them, as much as you can,” Seeger says. “We talk here [about] our texts—‘what is justice,’ ‘what is virtue’—one of the things you learn very quickly is you will never know the truth. You just won’t, because there isn’t a single truth.” Scene from "Don Quixote", Mather Brown 11 �συμπόσιον the Gadfly February 6, 2023 Reflections on Monet’s Impressionist Landscapes Catherine E. Greer Often we find ourselves gravitating naturally towards art that depicts the human form above all else. Whether it be depictions of stories, regal portraits, or intimate glimpses into lives we have never known, the human form revealed in art presents an opportunity to see our own selves reflected back to us as a work of created beauty. This reflective nature of art can at times remind us of the simple beauty of living or the endless capability of human spirit, and at other times remind us of the depths of darkness into which we can sink. To view your own form in art reminds you of the persistence of human nature, and brings you closer and closer to recognising the power of the human mind to create and bring beauty into the world. In many ways it is harder to discover that human spark in art devoid of any image of the human body itself. However beautiful and skilled a work of art might be, there is a great difficulty in recognising the reflective nature of art when its image is that of nonhuman things, like objects captured in still-life or sweeping panoramas of mountain ranges and forests. But no art is ever truly devoid of the human, for even without an image of our own bodily forms there is a human hand that labored for many hours over each stroke of the brush or pencil. Recently, I have become fascinated with art that depicts the natural world and reveals the quiet but wondrous serenity of landscapes. The French painter Claude Monet is known by many for his Impressionist depictions of the world around him. Though he worked with the human figure in many of his pieces, he is best known for his unquestionable fascination with, and deep love for, the natural world and its landscapes. He seemed to have no sense of prejudice against any aspect of nature, for he pursued with equal care and sensitivity both thoughtfully cultivated and manicured gardens as well as the wild contours of free and untouched land. Monet was one of the original figures of the Impressionist movement, which brought a particular 12 Landscapes of the Ile Saint-Martin, Claude Monet method of painting to the art world which focuses not on the precise accuracy of detail but instead on capturing the “impression” of its subject. Monet’s landscapes are recognisable for the way in which he utilizes broad and relaxed brushstrokes that carry a sense of movement and continuous evolution, focusing on capturing the prevailing spirit of a scene rather than displaying each aspect in the sort of minute detail that freezes a moment in time. There is something peculiar and unique that comes to light when the world is depicted in such a way—something deeper and more precious than its mere accurate image is revealed. Something far more essentially human is captured in Monet’s Impressionist landscapes, as if the soul of the place itself is opened up to the viewer. �συμπόσιον the Gadfly The landscape is shown as if through the eyes of the artist himself, but not the eyes of the senses in the same way a realistic landscape might reveal the sensory perception of a place. It is a spiritual sight, which perceives the part of nature that is alive and moving and always changing. These paintings become, in a way, reflective, as if they contain not only the soul of the place but also the soul of the artist who was driven to capture the particular sense of wonder that only the beauty of nature can evoke in mankind. When I stand in front of Monet’s paintings of the earth, I feel his own reverence shining through in every wide and visible stroke of the brush. It seems to me as if Nature herself spoke to him, and thereby found her way into the imaginative vibrancy of these soft and ever-shifting scenes. February 6, 2023 I think we often struggle as human beings to recognise spirit in things which are not also human. We see depth most clearly in those who move and think and feel as we do, because that is where it is easiest to see ourselves reflected. But the world around us is not devoid of spirit: Nature, too, has soul, and if only we knew how to look for it, we could see that we are far more deeply connected to it than we might think. Perhaps by looking to art, where another has already seen that spirit of nature and sought to capture it for others, we can learn to look with deeper care and sensitivity to the natural world and discover for ourselves a kinship with the quiet yet prevailing soul of the earth. Landscapes of Vernon, Claude Monet 13 �συμπόσιον the Gadfly February 6, 2023 LIFE, DEATH, VOID, HARMONY D o l a n Po l g l a z e T he theme of this issue is centered around questions of nature, and so, in considering what to present, I want to share some thoughts which arose from last week’s All College Seminar. We read and discussed the first of Rilke’s Duino Elegies, which, as a whole, is a ten part poetic examination of human despair: its origins and its comforts. In my mind, the elegies are connected intimately with questions of nature and life, and the sorrow into which human beings are born. The elegies take the form of a lament, which although gives life to despair, never fully plunges the reader into its darkness. Rather, the elegies are a full and clear picture of how and where we might seek belonging. I do not wish to give a full exposition of the first elegy, instead I would like to piece together some thoughts that were born in the seminar in order to share them in writing. Our seminar began right where the poem begins: the first line asks, “Who, if I screamed out, would hear me among the hierarchies of angels?” In response, the opening question asked: why does the poet scream out? What is his lament? The beginning lines are subsequently filled in as Rilke goes on to say that as human beings, we are stranded, uncomforted, in a cosmic picture that is not always kind or welcoming of human despair. We cannot turn to angels, he says, for they would crush us with their terrifyingly greater being, and we cannot turn to other humans, or even animals, for they “note that we’re not very securely at home in the interpreted world.” From this beginning, the question of the elegy begins to take shape: where do human beings turn in their time of need? Where do we find true comfort in times of lamentation? We observed in the poem that Rilke seems to think that our constant expectation of finding a beloved is not a fruitful way to seek the existential comfort that we crave, and even worse, such endeavor distracts us from our greater need, which is also the greater need of the world. He says that by being continually on watch for the arrival of someone whose love might be a comfort, we neglect what needs us in the world. “The springtimes needed you. 14 There were stars counting on you to sense them.” But we don’t give ourselves to the springtimes, and we don’t sense the stars, not fully. Looking for a beloved seems to be the act of removing from ourselves the responsibility of our own despair, hoping that another’s love for us will be great enough to alleviate what is ultimately our own. If we could allow ourselves to be there for the springtimes and stars, we would have to learn to love what cannot love us back in the same way, for nature is not a person who feels and touches as human beings do. "Being left alive and alone in the absence of someone who has departed from our lives is the depth wherein our sorrows may become fruit for future growing." A fter this point in the poem, Rilke makes a transition. Our seminar focused most heavily on what follows. Rilke ceases speaking of the lovers, and quietly implores his heart to listen as the saints of old have listened. Yet we cannot listen to God, not even nearly, he claims. God’s voice would annihilate our being. Yet there is one help left to us: it is the voices of those who have died— the voices of those who he describes as having forsaken “the meaning of a human future,” who must necessarily have cast aside their name “like a broken toy.” Rilke makes it clear that the dead don’t need us; they are in a realm separate from our own. Rather, he leaves us with the question of whether we need them— whether the comfort of the living is entirely contingent on the dead and the spaces they leave in their wake. He ends the poem by telling us that as Linus, the mythical son of the �συμπόσιον the Gadfly ancient musician Amphimarus, passed into the realm of the dead, a void was created. In one version of the myth, Linus was also a musician who was eventually killed by Apollo for claiming to be his rival. Rilke’s invocation of Linus is the synthesis for many of the themes of the first elegy. Rilke ends by saying that in this void left by Linus’s death a harmony was left ringing. This musical vibration is the very thing that now “enraptures, consoles, and helps us.” He seems to want us to see that there is one thing to which human beings can turn to find comfort in despair: the harmony left ringing in the absence of someone now gone. Our seminar spent most of our time focusing on what Rilke means in these final lines—why is it that we must turn to the music of the dead in order to find comfort, especially when our despair arises from the very fact that we are living beings? We considered the possibility that what Rilke says could apply just as well to someone who is not necessarily dead, but has passed from our lives in a significant way. Rilke calls this absence a “deep February 6, 2023 mystery,” and says that we depend upon such mysteries in order to grow at all. Being left alive and alone in the absence of someone who has departed from our lives is the depth wherein our sorrows may become fruit for future growing. We need the dead because, unlike a lover, they don’t need us; the relationship is entirely one-sided. In absence, we must reflect back upon ourselves because we have no one to see us. Rest and comfort can only be found in a departed human being precisely because there lies, in their passing, a beauty that is not terrifying (like that of an angel or of God). The departed are our only way to approach and be enraptured by a bearable and comforting Divinity, and the only way by which our sorrow can be transcended. There is a great comfort in the musical chord that stretches between the one leaving and the one left behind. Elegy, from "Fifteen Etchings Dedicated to Sir Joshua Reynolds" by John Hamilton 15 �συμπόσιον the Gadfly February 6, 2023 THE PROCESSION OF LIFE Luke Briner L ife is war. When I look out at the world around me, I usually see little else but a savage, seething mass of conflict and suffering, in which necessity compels us to crush others in our blind, desperate striving after a chimeric happiness, and in which we will inevitably be crushed by that of others in our turn. I think Voltaire sums up the situation well: "All conscious beings are born under the same law— Our lives are pain and swiftly swallowed by Death’s maw. The vulture savagely assaults its timid prey, Feasts on its claw-gored limbs, the cruel spoils of the fray; All’s well for it, it seems; but soon, an eagle stern Flies forth to tear apart the vulture in its turn; The eagle is unskyed by arms that humans wield, Themselves becoming on the dusty Martian field Blood-spattered, mangled heaps which hurt beyond all words And serve as nought but hideous food for hungry birds. Thus all across the world do Nature’s children cry, For pain conceived and by each other made to die." Excerpt from the “Poème sur le désastre de Lisbonne.” My translation. B ut how have we come to this sorry state of affairs? What principle underlies this conflict that dominates Nature, and how did life as we know it proceed from that principle? It seems to me that we can understand this turbulent procession of life as being a natural consequence of the unity of every being’s desire, and the unity of the object of that desire itself. In the first place, if we assume that “[e] very art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and 16 pursuit, is thought to aim at some good,”1 and that “no one wants what is bad,”2 then every being naturally strives toward the highest happiness that they can perceive and tries to avoid whatever would deprive them of that happiness. The ultimate realization of this striving would then consist in the perfect union between that being and the perfect Good in which happiness must consist, such that its desire is entirely fulfilled and thus annulled as long as that union prevails. But the world we inhabit now is bereft of the conditions which Good must necessarily have, and so is incapable of providing us with That which alone could meaningfully or permanently satisfy us. The Good is One,33 but the world is endlessly multiplicious, such that beings are hopelessly separated from each other both by mind and by body, unable to ever truly know each other. The Good is eternal and immutable,4 but the world has only the perpetual restlessness and mutability of disparate moments in endless succession.5 Hence we, while consciously or unconsciously doing nothing but striving for the all-unified Good, are at the same time utterly separated from that very Good by the natural disunity of the world in which we live. We are all Tantaluses, forever reaching out for that which we cannot hold. Thus “all is vanity and a chasing after wind.”6 At the same time, however, it’s this very vanity that has produced and continually sustains Nature. It’s only because “the eye is not satisfied with seeing, or the ear filled with hearing” 7 that living things are compelled to always move from one thing to the next, are always attempting to do or get something which would bring them closer to the state of primal happiness which cannot actually reside in this 1 Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, I.1.1094a-97. 2 Plato, Meno, 78b. 3 See Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy, III.10.25-27; Anselm, Monologion, ch. 1-2; Plotinus, Enneads, V.1.8-10, VI.9, etc.; Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I, Q. XI, A. 3-4. 4 See Plato, Timaeus, 27D-28B; Boethius, ibid, V.6; Plotinus, ibid, III.7; Aquinas, ibid, I, Q. X. 5 The Oneness of the Good necessitates its eternity and immutability; they’re pulled out specifically here only for effect. 6 Ecclesiastes 1:14. 7 Ibid, 1:8. �συμπόσιον the Gadfly world (since the supreme Good which alone would be capable of providing that happiness is unattainable in it). Hence reproduction, and so also evolution. These are simply the result of the natural tendency of living things to chase sexual gratification and to extend their own sense of being through the begetting of offspring,8 and the consequent struggle between those offspring for survival, with different forms of life emerging and differentiating themselves by virtue of their success in that struggle. February 6, 2023 soul, an identical desire, and we are only different from each other insofar as we have each evolved different means of chasing that desire. Every one of us is a microcosm of all Nature in that we’re identical to and direct descendants of its original principle of striving after the Good. This conclusion is at once beautiful and heartbreaking to me. If we are all the same soul united in the same desire for the same End, then how could the fact that fighting, brutalizing, killing, and devouring each other is the necessary consequence of that very kinship be anything but a tragedy of the grandest scale? Maybe all we can do in response to this, then, is have compassion for our kindred even as we steel ourselves for our inevitable conflict with them. And maybe if we do this with a grave nobility equal to the darkness of that conflict, we might find some way to rise above it at last. Clasped Hands of Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, by Harriet Goodhue Hosmer If this is true, then we are all alike to each other not only in the simple sense that we share a unified desire for the Good, but in that the exact same desire is literally passed down from one to the other through the endless process of procreation. We are all spiritual kin, animated by the very same longing, and only differentiated from each other by the consequences of the evolutionary procession brought on by that very longing. I am, at my core, exactly the same as any other human being, or a cat, or a tree, or the smallest blade of grass. We are each in possession of an identical 8 Plato, Symposium, 206c. 17 �συμπόσιον the Gadfly February 6, 2023 Know Thyself I guess it was just too complicated for us to wrap our heads around. Instead of feeling confident and prepared when I stepped out on the court, I only felt bewildered. It is incredibly disappointing that a club based around By LAINEY RENDELMAN empowering people who typically do not have a safe Kunai, by its very nature, is the most exclusive club on space to play sports would play into the exact stereotypes our campus. Prohibiting all cis-gendered men, a group it hoped to help avoid. If the point of Kunai is to learn that makes up fifty-three percent of our student body, the rules of the sports which we are going to play together Kunai started as the women’s equivalent of intramurals. Its competitively, then this version of Kunai has failed. creation was made necessary by the segregation of genders in the athletic department. However, today’s intramural program is fully integrated, yet Kunai remains. Given Kunai’s original purpose is superfluous, Kunai is now marketed as a safe and welcoming environment for female and non-cisgendered students to learn how to play the sports we play in intramurals. Sports have been a big part of my life since I was a little girl, and, thus far, the environment at Kunai has been as toxic as any that I have ever had the misfortune of being a part. When I walked through the door, all the stereotypes about being a non-cis-gendered male in athletics were immediately pinned on me in big bright letters. I was expected to be slow, helpless, confused, timid and weak. When it became clear through the way I played that I did not fit those stereotypes, I was criticized for playing too aggressively and “negatively” affecting the culture of Kunai. I used to play varsity volleyball and basketball in high school but quit because of events which made me no Interior of Iglehart Hall Gymnasium longer feel safe to be in the gym. It is also not something which I choose to tell everyone I meet, nor should I have to. An environment in which sports can be played with less These expectations were not all that turned me away from of a focus on winning and more of a focus on having fun Kunai. Frankly the “safe space” did not feel safe at all. In my is something of which I would love to be a part! However, first games at Kunai, I was belittled, shamed, and excluded. the culture at Kunai feels much closer to encouraging The club seemed to serve an insular and unwelcoming incompetence and discouraging learning how to play the group of friends who wanted a place to play sports with sports in question. each other but exclude everyone else. This attitude was As the intramural netball season approached, Kunai exclusive to Kunai; I have never experienced anything like began taking a day each week to play netball and learn the this at intramurals, especially not from a captain. If Kunai is rules. I was excited to be learning and looked forward to a safe space, then why do I and others find ourselves feeling having the opportunity to go into the intramural games so uncomfortable and unwelcome? It was intramurals, not having learned the rules of netball beforehand. That way, Kunai, which created the welcoming and encouraging space I could be confident and well prepared. You can imagine I needed. If Kunai is supposed to be a safe space to express how frustrating it was to discover that the game taught yourself and play sports, that is not the space it has become. at Kunai was completely different from the one we play Cis-gendered men are generally not welcome at Kunai, in intramurals. Why was Kunai netball so different from but recently a curious phenomenon has emerged: The intramural netball? Simple. The rules were dumbed down. athletic director now resorts to using men to bolster the 1 �συμπόσιον the Gadfly ranks of Kunai. At recent Kunai meetings, over 6 different cis-gendered men have joined in order to fill out teams. In addition, the primary ref for Kunai is a cis-gendered man. If no one in Kunai is imperiled by their presence, why have these offers to be included not been made to the rest of the polity? If the purpose of Kunai is to be a safe space for people who want to play sports, then that is what it needs to be, regardless of gender. There are plenty of cis-gendered men who have never played sports or may have an invisible reason for a safe-space, just like me. A cis-gendered man who has never participated in athletics before and wants to learn before going to intramurals should not be robbed of a safe space to do so. No one should be excluded from a safe space unless they are actively doing something to destroy or disrupt the safe space; no space is safe if one feels that they must constantly justify their presence. Why is it that Kunai is guaranteed Friday afternoons in the gym, the most in-demand and desirable court time available? As it stands now, the polity has consistently demonstrated a lack of interest in Kunai. Notably, so have many of its captains. Only four of the seven official Kunai captains regularly attend their own club, and most weeks Kunai is unable to support 5 v 5 basketball. Compare that to pick-up volleyball, which is attended regularly by 20-25 students from 8:30-12:00pm on a school night. Low Kunai attendance proves that the integration of intramurals has worked, and that Kunai is no longer serving its purpose as the safe inclusive league it pretends to be. There is a reason that people must be begged twice a week to come, and that most days there are not enough people to play a game of netball or basketball. I have been attending Kunai for an entire semester, and I can say with confidence that it is the least welcoming group on campus, not just for cisgender men, but for everyone. This op-ed is not my first attempt to broach this issue, and I had no interest in voicing these concerns in such a public forum. Sadly, I have been compelled to do so by necessity. I have raised these concerns numerous times with Ms. Fleming in hopes of opening a dialogue. But there is an unwillingness to discuss any changes to Kunai. Ultimately,  in my opinion, Kunai  is enabling and supporting antifeminist, exclusionary, and gender-based stereotypes that have no place at St. John’s. It is time for a change, whether Kunai realizes it or not.  Male Students Playing Basketball in Iglehart Hall 2 February 6, 2023 �the Gadfly πόλις February 6, 2023 Letter from an Anxious Learner By BENNETT SCOTT Dear friends, dear sophists, dear all those hateful of the world, This institution of ours prides itself on a shared, intensive curriculum. We trade majors for souls and specializations for explaining ourselves to Uncle Bill every Thanksgiving (he nods a little too much when I talk about geocentrism and natural-slaves). Even though some days in the classroom can feel pointless, it’s all meant to feed into some ‘bigger picture’ which we are too blind to see: the ‘Great Books Program’ has been planned for us and we’re along for the cultish ride (no Kool Aid, thank you, we have donuts). We take ourselves so seriously that there is no room for something quite dear to me: absolutely useless courses. Students Pulling Other Students in Wagons 20 Where is the random geology course for English majors? Why is there no Cultural requirement fulfilled by a random jazz class or upper level philosophy courses on post-post-postmodernism? When can I take the allimportant Scientific Thought in South-South European Immigrants to Scottish Communes on March 13th, 1812? (I would take this course.) Where is the joy of nothingness? Nay, we have been too long deprived of true vacuity! In the face of such a useful education, we must reclaim our right to uselessness! How? A second seminar based on my revolutionary new Useless Books Program. Meeting from 10:02 p.m.-12:34 a.m. from Monday into Tuesday (on the opposite side of campus from normal seminar) and Saturday into Sunday (to prevent our heathenish and Godly tendencies in one fell swoop), we shall dive deep into ancient goat-for-wheat exchange documents, the catalog of ships, and Finnegans Wake. Senior year, of course, will be everyone’s favorite: The Perks of Loving a Scoundrel (Seduction Diaries, #3), The President is Missing by Bill Clinton and James Patterson, Jesus and the New Math: 2+5=5,000. All seminars will begin with an opening exclamation. Grades will be awarded after each point using gymnastics-style score cards (bonus for including outside sources). The annual essay will be balanced with the pseudo-annual (occuring once every 366 days) presentation where students are invited to say as little as possible in 10 minutes (in the tradition of certain French philosophers). No more shall we suffer under the weight of our useful degrees; no more shall we bear the burden of improving ourselves; no more we say, no more! From the ashes of productivity we shall rise into the promised uselessness once more, cloaked in inanity. All interested tutors need not apply. —B.S. �πόλις the Gadfly February 6, 2023 Lines from the Marlboro Trail Before Rain Dig another hole into the muddy dark; coax a grass-limbed green hopper onto a kneaded palm. Granite dust is white without sunlight, electric in its own tiny storm, but the rain holds its breath above us as the leaves turn over. Thunder is my hammer on a rock and the forest breaks open. – HELEN WAGNER 21 �πόλις the Gadfly A Moment As golden Twilight, remnant crone of Dawn, Shines forth her wrinkled, melancholy smile And turns ambrosial the wide, open field Before the creek, as if to kiss goodnight Each of the trees and every blade of grass, And as the age-tinged leaves, learnéd too late Of Autumn’s amber elegy, at last Fall to the earth in gentle, bittersweet Repose, I cannot help but think of how Each of those little lives alike cry out For God, and how each of those little deaths Reflect the very same grief-tainted Love That I know in my heart of hearts I’ll face In those Last Moments that one day must come. How could I claim distinction from the least Of these? How could we possibly not be Alike unhappy atoms cleaved, bereaved Of a primeval Whole forever lost To us, alike enunciations of The same primordial Sigh of desire? Beholding these my fellow-souls, my kin, United in our Love and in our pain, I am undone with care, and suffocate Beneath the desperate need to embrace The All too beautiful for me to bear. – LUKE BRINER 22 February 6, 2023 �πόλις the Gadfly February 6, 2023 The Spider's Narrative I saw a spider in the corner of my room the other day. Sure, I could expel it, but look how delicate her home is. As her web grows, I could hear the careful tapping of a wind chime, Or, is it a vibraphone? No… it’s a kalimba. Her melodies get louder and louder, Rocking me to sleep. Songs sang in the minor key, Like the melancholy echoes of a priest singing in the pews of an empty church. Usually it would make me blue, But today it paints me marigold. As I now have gained a power, A power that weaves melodies of my own. – DEESHA ARABATTI 23 �the Gadfly πόλις February 6, 2023 Nature's Metronome Prose fragments from a summer working in a state park By HELEN WAGNER Never is there a moment twice-lived. Some are halflived, but never twice-lived. — Yesterday at work I spent the afternoon observing the comings and goings of a family of phoebe birds who had I often measure change by summers. No matter what their nest in the tollbooth. When they’re perched, eastern has occurred in the intervening months, Junejulyaugust phoebes have a way of flicking their tails up and down blesses my calendar like a comma in a run-on sentence. I am that looks like the ticking secondhand of a clock. It’s not grateful for this. It is here, in the stillness of the in-between, so regular, though; just once, for a moment, twice again that I take inventory of myself and the movements of my a while later, three times quickly and once slowly. A bird life. The backdrop never varies—Mount Monadnock, the needs no way of telling time. She has no appointments to town of Jaffrey, the trees and the mica and the road to keep. Her tail is less like a metronome and more like the my grandparents’ house. I measure myself against these flutter of leaves, the flash of light on water, the folding of a landmarks and somehow find myself changed. butterfly’s wing. Nature has its rhythms, but some moments are best left unmeasured. The phoebe knows this. — — This summer, I have become a birdwatcher. Nevermind if I only know three species by name. I am not knowledgeable, When I came into work on Saturday, Cindi told me that but I believe I am qualified for the title by this simple fact: the phoebes had lost a hatchling. She must have found it I watch birds. when she opened the tollbooth. I know little about eating habits or migration patterns, “It was dead,” she said, “The mother threw it out of the but I know that the wings of a turkey vulture wobble when nest. See that stick in the ground there? I buried him.” it catches the wind, and that blue jays are vicious dive The stick stands in the dirt beneath the One Way sign bombers. I’ve spent a morning watching a mother build where the phoebe always perches. I wonder if she knows her nest under an eave. I’ve watched young cooper’s hawks where her child has gone. Is she troubled? I can never tell; bathe in puddles in my driveway. I’ve seen phoebes grow her song is always the same. What kind of mother can from hatchlings to fledglings to flyers, and now I watch the watch her child die and let someone else bury it? Maybe place where their nest used to be. I am no ornithologist, she threw it out of the nest to make space for her healthy but I’ve found that observing God’s creatures is good for young. A bird does not sow or reap or gather into barns, but the soul. Call me a birdthinker when the philosophizing death is in her world, too. Death is in her world, but there outweighs the binocularizing—I’ll take any title, so long as is no room for it among the living. She is already so full of it justifies a few of these aimless musings. living—sunshine and beating wings and the wet squirming of beetles in the mud—and death has no place there, so she — must throw it out. Let the dead bury their own. I watch the stick poking unnaturally from the wet earth. Worry, I think, is not for the forest. Birds do not mourn their dead or erect strange monuments in the ground or fear the future. Only people do that. 24 �πόλις the Gadfly I do not write this as an old woman, looking back on a life of wisdom and truth. I am young, full of ambition, often full of that confusing anxiety that, as Wendell Berry says, tells me I should somehow be elsewhere than I am now. The peace I sense on the mountain is not the wisdom and rest attained by a long lifetime. It is a glimpse of some deeper meaning, an inner life which I access only sometimes, a safety net which I hope to grab and take with me into adulthood. Perhaps it is the last few wonderments of childhood bubbling through the hardening skin of life. It is a living memory of security and truth that I want to bottle up and pour over myself, like Bradbury’s dandelion wine, to thaw the ache of adult anxiety. Sometimes, down here at the bottom of the mountain, I February 6, 2023 have the itch to be up in the rocks where the air moves and the land unfolds like a forested atlas below me—up there in the wind, instead of down here in the leafy stillness, staring at the same trees and the empty road for hours at a time. I get tired of waiting for the crush of gravel under someone else’s tires, of handing them maps while they head up into the clouds and I stay here. But then someone walks past on his way down and says, “that looks like the fucking life,” and I look down at the jewelpurple plum in my hand and the novel in my suntanned lap and the wooden rocking chair leaning against a rock and I say, “yeah. It is.” It is. And the phoebe sings her agreement. And it is. Bird, Hakusanjin Hokui 25 �πόλις the Gadfly February 6, 2023 THIS MONTH IN HOROSCOPES ARIES (March 21-April 19) Love is in the air, Aries! Oh Christ, it’s in the air. It is a thick, all encompassing smokescreen that fills your lungs. It’s hard to breathe, the smoke in your eyes makes you cry but the feelings don’t go away. You feel heavy. Your lungs burn as if your organs are being stretched and mangled inside of you. It itches. Your insides itch. You scratch, but it gets worse. Why won’t anyone help you? You scratch. Dear lord, war is hell. You draw blood from your tender stomach, your organs still itch. You scratch deeper and deeper, till finally you can itch your lungs. Your comrades surround you in terror. You’ve disemboweled yourself. Oh the humanity! You live, you continue to scratch. The pain is endless, but the itching moreso. God won’t let you die. There are no atheists in foxholes, Aries. GEMINI (May 21- June 20) You’ve been doing a lot of self reflecting, Gemini. You don’t really even want a relationship, you long for personal freedom.You long for a herd of like-minded individuals but also a strong sense of individuality. You long for the dark carnival. You wish to ravage the streets of the midwest covered in grease paint and smelling faintly of vomit. You and your new found pack of Juggalo homies will provide you with the excitement you so desperately crave in your day to day. You will come to understand things you once thought impossible to grasp, like the Great Milenko, and magnets. Faygo and rhymes flow freely in your close knit squadron of freerange porch clowns. Connection is temporary, but 1989 Detroit based horrorcore group the Insane Clown Posse is forever. Whoop Whoop. VIRGO TAURUS (April 20- May 20) It’s easy to get caught up in the overwhelming loneliness, but the sooner Taurus realizes that community is more beneficial to them than romance, they’ll be unstoppable. Community is hard to find as an adult, though. Sure you have coworkers and maybe even college friends, but that’s temporary. You’ll outgrow each other soon, and you will once again be alone. Is it wrong to outgrow what you once loved? It’s painful to think that a person who once knew you better than you knew yourself will one day be a complete stranger to you. Sometimes you think you understand the curse of immortality. We’re all born alone and we all die alone, you know that, but it doesn’t make it any nicer to hear. The warmth is temporary, but you might as well enjoy it while you can. You could also invest in a weighted blanket, at least simulated touch is better than what you’re getting now. CANCER (June 21- July 22) Cancer, now is the season of plague. You are a destructive force as of late. Cuffing season awakens something dark within you. You deserve this! Slay! Forget anyone you may hurt along the way, it’s high time you go out and get what you want. There is a hunger deep inside you, Cancer. It is constantly growing, an endless gnawing in the pit of your stomach. You’re full of dog teeth. You are ravenous, a long and cold winter has made you cruel. Is it cruel to survive? One must do all they can, self fulfillment is the only fulfillment you can rely on. Looking out for you isn’t bad, it is self preservation, and therefore the most powerful form of rebellion. (Aug 23- Sept 22) Roses and chocolate are always nice, but the Virgo in your life can only be seduced by one thing. In the USNA Archives lies the story of the USS Eldridge. October, 1943 was when everything changed for the Virgo in your life. Half a dozen sailors merged with the ship, limbs akimbo poking out of the walls, melted into military grade steel. When the news broke, it was played off as yet another story of a Veteran who had lost his mind, making up nonsense about aliens for attention. Everyone knows that being honest about your alien encounters makes a social pariah out of you. You hide this dark secret- you hide the truth. You know acknowledging the Philadelphia Experiment will get a target placed on your back. Dear lord, you just want to be seen. Your Virgo wants you to ask them about what they’re hiding, they want assurance that you are not a spook, but rather an empathetic ear. 26 LEO (July 23- Aug 22) You have a secret admirer, Leo. Although having someone confess their unyielding attraction towards you is undoubtedly the ego boost you needed to get through the week, the stars tell me that nothing good will come of this union. The only one to benefit from this relationship would be your divorce lawyer. You may think you’ve met draining people before, but never like this. Every moment spent with this prospective partner feels like an eternity and not in a good way. You didn’t know the sound of someone’s voice could make you truely violent before this. It feels like a Manchurian candidate situation. This person will leave you waking up next to them every morning wishing you were dead. Sometimes the crushing loneliness is better than rushing into something with someone you tolerate at best. You should not relate to The Mountain Goats the way you do. Save yourself years of livable hatred and a cirrhosis diagnosis, reject Capricorn. �the Gadfly πόλις February 6, 2023 February 2023, The Romantic Edition LIBRA (Sept 23- Oct 22) As any Johnnie will tell you with a ghoulish delight, Humphreys used to be a civil war hospital, complete with a morgue in the basement. If you’re ever in Humpreys too long you’ll feel the hands. She’s cold, when she speaks it usually gets dark. The air is thick and still. Her eyes are somehow both empty and full of a thousand dying wishes, like a dead fish. She is the most beautiful woman you’ve ever seen. Her teeth are crooked and her hair is neat, you know she’s around because all the hair on the back of your neck stands on end. You’ve never been so intrigued by anyone before. You know she knows how you feel, she knows everything about you, but based on the retrograde of Uranus, now is the time to put your feelings out there. Verbalization is always nice, Libra, I’m sure the Humphreys ghoul will think so too. SCORPIO (Oct 23- Nov 21) Tis the season, Scorpio! Based on the position of Jupiter relative to its distance from the zodiac, you will find your soulmate this month! If February comes and goes and you remain alone and despondent, sucks to be you, I guess #SAD. CAPRICORN (Dec 22- Jan 19) with Madame Quiznos SAGITTARIUS (Nov 22- Dec 21) You don’t miss her, you’re just horny. You’re ready to be hurt again, Capricorn. It’s cliche, but Valentine’s Day makes you sentimental. Maybe you haven’t felt loved in a while, maybe never, but seeing everyone else do it sure does make you at least miss the chase. You need something to work towards- conquest is your middle name. Your eyes have drifted towards a certain Leo in your life. Their self confidence, sense of humor and passion gives you butterflies. As an earth sign, you’re particularly prone to overthinking, which could be catastrophic in this scenario. You need to learn to just go for what you want when you want it. Shoot now, question later. Better yet, really dig your heels into this one. You can make it work. You have to make it work. Anything less is a personal failing on your part. Maybe the goal isn’t happiness, maybe it’s merely knowing that you did the impossible and stuck out till the end. That makes you better than everyone. This month, romance your Leo, till death do you part. AQUARIUS (Jan 20- Feb 18) Happy Birthday, Aquarius! How does it feel being another year older? Look into your own eyes. Are you wiser or just tired? Maybe age doesn’t change everything. At least you have your birthday wish, right? The one time a year where a cold and uncaring god can actually hear you. Another year of pain and hardships is to be cleansed in the fires of a pink, paraffin torch. The smoke that threatens to set off all the alarms in your dorm carry your plea for peace into the heavens. It goes unheard. They all do. But you’re nothing if not persistent. Maybe it’s not that the gods don’t care, maybe they’re just busy. Yeah that feels better. You’re not irrelevant, everyone else is just too busy. You can do no wrong. Enjoy your cake. PISCES (Feb 19- March 20) Forget romance, Valentine’s Day is for the boys, Pisces! You’ve been hard at work down at the factory, but while you’ve been doing overtime, your gang of rowdy boys have been getting themselves into much trouble. There’s a big rumble down at the park tonight, and they instigated it. It’s gonna be a rough one, too. Bottles and chains, all because you were too busy trying to make ends meet to focus on your band of troubled yet well meaning rapscallions. It’s been tough since Pa and Mama died, but you’ll be damned if those kids end up in the system. You can make this work. You have to make this work. You have to do it for Johnny. Make more time for your pals, Pisces, God only knows when they’ll accidentally end up killing a rich kid, ultimately leading to two tragic deaths of those you hold dearest, forever altering your kid brother’s sense of childlike wonder. 27 �THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE Founded in 1980, the Gadfly is the student newsmagazine distributed to over 600 students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the Annapolis campus. Opinions expressed within are the responsibility of the author(s). The Gadfly reserves the right to accept, reject, and edit submissions in any way necessary to publish a professional, informative, and thought provoking newsmagazine. Submissions sent to the Gadfly should either be in Google Docs or JPEG format. The deadline for submissions is the Friday prior to publication. For more information, contact us via email at sjca.gadfly@ gmail.com 6 0 COLLEGE AVENUE Images without a listed source are from the St. John's College Digital Archives. St. John's College owns the rights to these photographs. ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND 21401 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>The Gadfly</em> Description An account of the resource Founded in 1980, <em>The </em><em>Gadfly</em> is a weekly student publication distributed to over 600 students, faculty, and staff of the Annapolis campus.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="The Gadfly" href="https://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=16&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CDate&amp;sort_dir=d">Items in the <em>The Gadfly</em> Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context thegadfly Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data pdf Page numeration Number of pages in the original item. 28 pages Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Gadfly, Vol. XLIV, Issue 7 Description An account of the resource Volume XLIV, Issue 7 of The Gadfly. Published February 6, 2023. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Nathan, Daniel (Editor-in-Chief) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023-02-06 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this publication. Type The nature or genre of the resource text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Subject The topic of the resource College students' writings--Periodicals College student newspapers and periodicals St. John's College--Periodicals Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Gadfly Vol XLIV issue 7 Gadfly Student publication https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/4af851a2e2653797bf79f73195b2d170.pdf 0c2020b1349ac586aa67e15950524e9a PDF Text Text St. John’s College Vol. XLIV, Issue 6 the Gadfly Annapolis, Maryland January 16, 2023 �CONTENTS From the Editor’s Desk: Dear Polity, Logos 3 4 6 7 Polity Communications Linking Communities of Learning How to Lose Your Mind Blister Beetle? Symposium On Time and Eternity An Open Letter to Infinity A Call to Idleness 8 10 12 Hedda Gabler Review The Gadfly Told Me to Do It Some More on Smoking Observing the Wild Beast Translation of Baudelaire's L'Idéal 14 16 19 21 19 Polis THE STRUCTURE Logos typically holds news reports and narratives of immediate relevance to the Polity. The purpose here is to develop a shared reservoir of information relating to campus life and the community. The Managing Editor for Logos is El'ad Nichols-Kaufman. His email is eanicholskaufman@sjc.edu Symposium offers the opportunity for our readers to thoughtfully consider contrasting opinions regarding a particular topic. The Managing Editor for Symposium is Luke Briner. His email is lbriner@sjc.edu Polis serves as a platform for elevating voices in our community. Here we find letters to the editor, columns, cartoons, and submitted pieces. The Managing Editor for Polis is Daniel Nathan. His email is djnathan@sjc.edu. THE COVER Photo of Isa Kiedrowski at the Reform Party Convention, taken by Meliha Anthony 2 the Gadfly / λόγος / January, 2023 This is my last issue as editor-in-chief of the Gadfly, Daniel Nathan (djnathan@sjc.edu) will be taking over after me. It's been a pleasure to read, discuss, and arrange the talented work many of you have contributed to the paper during my tenure. My favorite memories are the ones were something published in the Gadfly led to a discussion outside of it, or when a student with something to say came inquiring about the Gadfly with the happy hope that there was a place for them to say it. I have also especially appreciated the contributions made by Tutors and administrators; it's good when a campus paper is more than just its students. I'm sorry that releases haven't been as consistent as I hoped they would be, and I'm also sorry about the inconsistency of certain features of the paper. I would have liked it if there could have been a song or movie review in every issue, a tutor spotlight at least every other, a consistent listing of the many wonderful lectures related to what students are reading at the moment, and a much busier use of the 'Polity Communications' page. I'm sure you all have your own wishes too. In parting, I'd like to suggest that you puruse them through the Gadfly with verve and vigor--stay robust and questioning, keep the paper from becoming lazy, and remind it by your own efforts whenever it is. Sincerely, Craig Koch THE STAFF Audrey Fox Cooper Ussery Craig Koch Daniel Nathan El'ad Nichols-Kaufman Helen Wagner Isa Kiedrowski Jenna Lee Liz Dowdy Luke Briner Meliha Anthony Bridget Mace Paolo Medelius Helen Felbek SUBMISSIONS Bennett Scott John Teague �Polity Communications L etter from a Concerned Polity Member Dear All Concerned Members of the Polity, As many of you know, Campbell Hall is set to be remodeled this coming year. Truly and honestly, I’m happy for the future freshmen who will get to enjoy these sparkling new facilities. Now, I am a great supporter of the college; I think what we do here is contrarian and classical and liberal arts and St. John’s and maybe even Great Books. But I think we, as a collective polity, should take a moment and ask ourselves: Are these the changes we want to make? This college is representative of tradition, of the great learning of old (est. 1696 1784 1937). What traditions will remain for us after such renovations? What mice will scratch in the walls? What fire hazards will remain? What Civil War ghosts will be accidentally summoned on 8/18/2027 at 2 a.m. to the third floor bathroom in a ritual between five Febbies, a copy of Euclid, and a knife? Let me tell you: none. They shall gut these halls and they shall gut us too! This education is not just about what happens in the classroom, what happens in the books, what happens in the Great Hall; it’s about what happens in the dorms, in the dining hall, in the bathtub rooms. Those are the places we weep and bleed together, those are the places where we educate the entire person. If we allow ourselves the luxury of renovated dorms, we shall become like Thucydides’s Persians without the desert: soft, weak, unable to maintain our empire against the seafarers next door. To suffer through a freshman dorm is to grow one’s soul to face the challenges ahead: Junior lab, Senior math, the acute urge to go to the University of Chicago. If we let these renovations occur, freshmen will grow up with proper heating, functional windows, equal access, no mold in the walls. They will live like human beings! You know where I had to live my freshman year? Santa Fe. Boycott the Campbell renovations (and Mellon too). In your best interests, Bennett Scott (B.S.) the Gadfly / πόλις / January, 2023 3 �{campus life} Linking Communities of Learning BLAST Provides Seminars, Connections between Anne Arundel Community College and SJC by El'ad Nichols-Kaufman Like most Johnnies, I had never given much thought to Anne Arundel Community College (AACC), our neighbor in Arnold. Certainly, I knew it existed, I had passed through it on the bus to Baltimore many times, but I never gave it any particular thought. That is, until Mr. Haflidson, who was my seminar tutor my Freshman year, reached out to me about covering a partnership between St. John’s and AACC funded by a grant from National Endowment for the Humanities, or NEH, that had been going on since 2019. He told me that there would be two seminars hosted for students from both colleges, to bring together AACC students who already had experience with liberal arts seminars through the program at their school with Johnnies. This intrigued me, since I have often been concerned by the way that St. John’s creates a barrier to a great books education that is inherent in the structure of a private, expensive liberal arts school, and the idea that the college has been participating in a program looking to expand the reach of this style of education in our own Annapolis community was quite exciting. I knew I had to attend one of these seminars, and share as much as I could about the program while also learning from the other attendees. A little bit of snooping, and a few recommendations from Mr. Haflidson, pointed me in the right direction, and I began to trace the story of this program. In 2019, our Associate Dean for Graduate Programs, Emily Langston, and the Dean of AACC’s school for Liberal Arts, got together and applied for an NEH grant, and received $100,000 over the course of 4 three years. “The seminar came about because I and others read a piece in Inside Higher Ed that drew attention to the possibility of NEH grants for collaborations between community colleges and four-year institutions,” explained Langston. “St. John’s already had some connections to AACC, primarily through alumni teaching there. I asked a recent GI graduate who was teaching there to introduce me to the Dean of Liberal Arts, Dr. Alicia Morse. She and I started a conversation and it quickly became clear that interest in developing a closer relationship between our two institutions was strong on both sides – so the two of us got to work on developing the program and applying for the grant.” The money went towards bringing faculty from AACC to St. John’s for three twoweek summer sessions to participate in seminars and learn from Johnnie faculty about how our program works. After this, the AACC faculty would return to teach great books versions of their classes, creating a small great books program embedded within the community college. The program was called BLAST, or Bridge to the Liberal Arts through Primary Source Texts, and also provided AACC students a tuition discount of $4,000 a year if they wanted to transfer to St. John’s. Erica Beall, a tutor at St. John’s who participated in these trainings, explained how the program works at AACC. “AACC faculty who participate in the grant use their experience in the joint seminars with tutors to develop great books seminarbased versions of the classes that they teach, most of them in the humanities, as a kind of miniature great books the Gadfly / λόγος / January, 2023 program embedded in the AACC degree program. Students who take these classes receive the same credit for those courses that they would for those same courses offered in a more traditional format (generally lecturebased, or a combination of lectures, discussions, and group work).” At the seminar I attended, which was on the short story Love by Clarice Lispector, I got to meet many of the students who’ve had a chance to participate in these courses, almost all of whom were very enthusiastic about participating in a great books seminar. Once the seminar took off, the AACC students displayed a Johnnie-like energy in their discussion. Margaret Kirby, a tutor at St. John’s who led one of these seminars and participated in the summer sessions, noted this as well. “I often didn’t know whether the student who was speaking was a St. John’s or an AACC student.” This kind of commonality, the bond formed by meeting other students of the liberal arts in a great books program, was truly something special, and it was quite exciting to see it shared with another college in the Annapolis community. Beall explained that in many ways building this connection is groundbreaking. “The aim here was to make a robust liberal arts program available in the setting of a community college, which is in some ways a really revolutionary idea… Our understanding of liberal education is that it's for all human beings, so we're rejecting the notion that certain students and certain institutions simply can't engage in the kind of intellectual activity that we do at St. John's. Instead, there are two basic assumptions behind the NEH �grant: first, that there are community college students who would want exactly the kind of learning we do at St. John's, if made available to them; second, that there is nothing about the community college setting that is inherently incompatible with learning through discussion of great texts. Thus far, the results at AACC would suggest that our assumptions were well grounded.” The program is ending this year, but it has left an infrastructure of great books education at AACC, and the beginning of a closer relationship between the colleges. “I hope we can foster the connection that’s been established between our two campuses,” said Kirby. “The AACC BLAST faculty have been wonderful collocutors in our summer seminars... I’d like to see whether we could sponsor further seminars or study groups involving students from the two campuses. The St. John’s students who participated made the AACC students feel welcome and contributed enormously to the success of the seminars and the visits as a whole. I thought our students created an atmosphere and set a tone that made it easy for us all to work together fruitfully. It’s easy to become a bit insular, and this kind of activity reminds us that we’re part of a larger land.” Untitled, Clarice Lispector the Gadfly / λόγος / January, 2023 5 �{Club Spotlight} How to Lose your Mind An Interview with Kai Gyorki (A25) and Owen Healy (A25) by Daniel Nathan '24 DN: The club is called How To Lose Your Mind: A comprehensive guide to narrative insanity. What exactly…is it that you do at the club? KG & OH: We do a warm up of writing and Taylor Swift. When the chanting starts, the words move like the thick molasses flood of 1919. DN: Is narrative insanity the objective of the club or is it just an accidental by-product of what y’all do? KG & OH: Absolutely objective. Don’t know if we’ve gotten there vector orange left. DN: How many members/regular participants does the club have? KG & OH: Owen and I are there, mostly. DN: Would you like more people 6 to show up for meetings? If so, what will you threaten if attendance does not increase? KG & OH: Neutral on new members. However, we have very strong ties with the administration, so disenablement is on the table. DN: What do you hope people will get out of their experience at How To Lose Your Mind? Corollary: What are you getting out of your experience thus far? KG & OH: We want them to feel purity moving through their heart, once again like the great molasses flood of 1919. I’ve been getting a lot of information about the great molasses flood of 1919; we think it's both the solution and the problem of our current times. the Gadfly / λόγος / January, 2023 DN: When and where do y’all meet? How can people get involved if they are interested? KG & OH: Mellon 212, Wednesdays 7:30. Unless the weather is bad or either of us have an essay due, or we are not there. DN: In your heart of hearts, when all is said and done, and the encumbering trappings of alienation and modern life are torn away, when the world has ended but life still goes on, when the birds cease to chirp, and all that you’ve got left to prove you’re truly alive is the steady beeping of the heart monitor: Are ya having fun? KG & OH: We find this question offensive and unnecessary. �{the entomology beat[le]} Blister [beetle]? I hardly know her [beetle]! by Louis Rosenberg Shortly before the first frost of the season, I was headed towards the boathouse when I spotted a large beetle meandering across the sidewalk. It was an odd-looking bug, with its thorax and head tiny compared to its bulbous abdomen — the strange proportions paired with its undersized elytra made it look as if its bottom half had accidentally overgrown the rest of its exoskeleton. It was, however, a beautiful incandescent black, and its bumpy antennae were moniliform, resembling strings of beads. I recognized it immediately as a blister beetle (a member of the family Meloidae), specifically an oil beetle (of the genus Meloe), and thus resisted my eternal desire to pick her up. (Because of the specimen’s large size and the uniformity of its antennae segments, it was most likely a female — males are typically smaller in size and have a distinctive “C” shape partway down each antenna.) Meloe is one of the best-studied genera within Meloidae, but even so specific information on the differences between species within the genus is hard to come by. Clearly, however, though these beetles lack hind wings and have small elytra that overlap at the base, they are far from defenseless. They can secrete hemolymph containing cantharidin, a chemical which can cause serious damage to tissues it contacts. Humans can die from consuming a dose of less than 5 mg/kg, earning it a “super toxic” classification by the EPA. (Animals are at risk, too, particularly farm animals that might accidentally consume whole beetles in their feed.) Cantharidin has historically been used not just as a poison but also as a purported aphrodisiac. Though there is no evidence that the chemical works in that manner for humans, males of some other beetle species will consume it after being secreted by blister beetles; the cantharidin transfers to the female during copulation, and the eggs she lays will thus be coated in it for protection. While defense mechanisms like these are certainly oil beetles’ main claim to fame, this genus also possesses many other fascinating features throughout their lifecycle. Most notably, these beetles are hypermetamorphic — they go through more distinct stages in their metamorphosis than the usual complete metamorphosis. While the larval instars of other beetles might differ mostly because of their sizes, larvae of Meloe species are markedly different between instars. In their first instar, they are known as triungulins; they are quick-moving and capable of secreting chemicals that mimic female bee pheromones. After a male bee arrives, drawn in by the pheromones, the triungulins cling on to him until he finds an actual mate, at which point they climb onto the female bee and follow her back to her nest. The larvae then feed on the bee’s eggs and honey, becoming progressively less mobile with each molt until they finally become active — if still clumsy — beetles. Adult beetles feed solely on plant matter. A few days after I first spotted the Meloe specimen on the sidewalk, I saw her again, this time with dangerous hemolymph oozing out of her joints: she had been crushed, probably just by someone passing by. Thus ended the life of the first oil beetle I ever saw in person — her refined defenses sadly no match for a human boot. Sources: https://bugguide.net/node/ view/303 https://bugguide.net/node/ view/181 https://www.biodiversitylibrary. org/item/105984 Insect Biodiversity: Science and Society, Volume 1 by Robert G. Foottit and Peter H. Adler https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih. gov/compound/Cantharidin http://digital.outdoornebraska. gov/nebraskaland-magazine/don-tmess-with-oil-beetles ht tp s : / / b u g g u i d e . n e t / n o d e / view/149682 the Gadfly / λόγος / January, 2023 7 �On Time and Eternity Luke Briner I’ve been thinking recently about how the human condition prevents the fulfillment of human desire in any lasting way. When I withdraw into myself and look, I see at my very core a ceaseless, desperate, all-consuming yearning for something that does not and cannot exist in this life— for a Wholeness, a Unity, a Perfection which the dustbeladen crucible of a world that we inhabit, fettered as it is by the disunion of individual moments, couldn’t possibly allow for. I long ultimately for Beauty, but am only strung along from one instance of Beauty, one beautiful thing, to another, forever unsatisfied, if only because I know there’ll always be other beautiful things which this or that current one doesn’t already contain within itself. I long for Peace, but this life promises nothing but an endless and futile toil. Here, all strive for the same End and are set against each other in exactly that striving, with the very fact that this End is in reality unachievable being the guarantee of the perpetuation of that same struggle ad infinitum. Considering all of this, I’ve come to hold always before me the idea of some other, higher Life—one in which these unhappy limitations are transcended, and all is at last wrapped up in the perfect, loving Totality which alone could ever truly fulfill the soul. This Totality that I have in mind is the same one Plotinus does as he explains his view of Eternity in Ennead III.7. He understands Eternity not as a simple going-on without end, but rather as a perfectly self-concentrated Unity: a single, absolute Moment, an “Ever-Being” (III.7.4) which already encompasses within itself everything that can be encompassed. Mere perpetuity, or the indefinite goingon of something, isn’t Eternity, since the very fact that in perpetuity a thing moves into something—the future— from something else—the past—implies not Unity but only restless movement from one ephemerality to another. Such movement belongs to things of Becoming and not Being, since it necessarily involves a “continuous process of acquisition” (ibid), whereas to truly be “comports never lacking existence and never knowing variety in the mode of existence” (III.7.6). Being can never acquire anything because it never lacks anything, and, by virtue of its Unity, is “self-identical throughout, and…is one undistinguishable thing” (ibid). Eternity, then, as consubstantial with this Unified-Being, is “a life limitless in the full sense of being all the life there is and a life which, knowing nothing 8 the Gadfly / συμπόσιον / January, 2023 of past or future to shatter its completeness, possesses itself intact forever” (III.7.5). “To the notion of a Life… all-comprehensive,” he tells us, “add that it never spends itself, and we have the statement of a Life instantaneously infinite” (ibid). As ceaseless perpetuity in the realm of Time produces an infinite set of infinitely small yet disparate moments, Eternity, contrarily, sums all of those moments in one fell swoop, resolving the entire indeterminate infinity, and everything that could possibly be contained therein, into one immutable, indissoluble Whole. Eternity is the ∫ of the All. Having its identity in the “archetypal world” (V.1.4) of Authentic Being, Eternity is held in “the true Golden Age, age of Kronos…the place of every soul” (ibid), of which Time is nothing but an imitation. I understand “the place of every soul” here as denoting that world as the supreme télos of all things which find themselves here below. There, and only There, may the true Repose which my heart yearns for so desperately reside. Only There may the Tantalean struggle born of a shattered, degenerate life at last melt away into the all-embracing Love that I can’t help but feel is where we’ve come from and where we must at last return to. But if Eternity is the “Repose-There” (III.7.2), then how did we get here, to this reposeless, Time-afflicted world? How did it come to be that Time, Eternity’s “representation in image” (III.7.1), proceeded from its Parent in the first place, and what is its nature having thus proceeded? Plotinus argues that we can’t define Time as movement, whether in the sense of a single definite movement or movement in general, since it “in either sense…takes place in Time” (III.7.8) and therefore can’t be Time’s essential characteristic. Nor can we accept the Aristotelian account of Time as a measure of movement (see Physics, IV.12), since this would require the measure of the measuring magnitude itself, “because only when the standard shows such an extension can the degree of movement be appraised” (III.7.9). This would lead to a situation in which movement is measured not by a definite magnitude but only by the abstract numerical value estimating it; but “it is difficult to see how an abstract figure can perform the act of measuring” (ibid). Further, even if such a figure could measure movement, it doesn’t get us any closer to a meaningful understanding of what Time actually is, since “no measurement by anything is necessary for its existence; �measured or not, it has the full extent of its being” (III.7.10). The measurement of a thing by some arbitrary value has nothing to do with the essence of the thing in itself, and the thing would go on existing in the same way without such measurement. Time, rather than movement itself or the measure of that movement, is to Plotinus “the Life of the Soul in movement as it passes on from one stage of act or experience to another” (III.7.11). Before the emergence of Time, there was only the serene Eternity of Authentic Being, the Divine, reposing in its contemplation of The One from which it itself proceeded. But since “all existences, as long as they retain their character, produce…some necessary, outwardfacing hypostasis [metaphysical substance] continually attached to them and representing in image the engendering archetypes” (V.1.6), this Being, even in its own peace and upward-facing contemplation, had also within itself “an active principle…one set on governing itself and realizing itself ” (III.7.11). This principle, in its ambition, sprung forth from its Parent and became Soul, the third and final hypostasis. Soul, so self-differentiated, in its own turn had “an unquiet faculty, always desirous of translating elsewhere what it saw in the Authentic Realm, and it could not bear to retain within itself all the dense fullness of its possession” (ibid). In order to release this self-concentrated fullness, and in order to make for itself an external representation of that Realm, it created the universe that we currently inhabit, having “laid aside its eternity and clothed itself with Time” (ibid) to do so. In doing this, however, Soul lost its endemic Unity, and condemned itself forever after to a struggle to once again attain it, thus creating endless succession and action. Time, therefore, is simply the product of the Soul of the universe “seeking to draw Being to itself by a perpetual variety of production and action and…circling in a sort of ambition after Essential Existence” (III.7.4). I share, as we all do and as the All does, in Time, and so also in its wistful, struggling nature. I can’t help but feel like I’m only a lost, scared child, bereft of my Mother and desperately trying to do anything that I think might help me get back to her. I don’t know if I ever will. But in any case, let me at least come to terms with my own longing— let me, if the God-shaped hole inside of me will never be filled, at least work out its dimensions, and recognize at last that if there was ever anything that could fill it, it would be in Eternity. "Time" Luke Briner Unhappy moment when became all moments disparate, We since then damned to termless toil, bereft of native Whole, The consequence of that most tragic act of primal Soul, Whose extern appetite produced new world degenerate. O Dido of more Cosmic enterprise, All-claiming Queen Who sallied from Eternity, endeav’ring to impose In lower Sphere similitude to that supreme Repose, Thus spawning Time, coeval with the Universal scene, Yet now a conqueress no more but exile self-imposed, Who in perpetual Disunity is kept enclosed And sits despondent by that restless stream of her design: Dear Mother, let me sit beside you there; don’t scorn my love; And if you find a way to make return to Rest above, Give me the grace to rise then with you, your hand holding mine. By the Waters of Bablyon, Arthur Hacker the Gadfly / συμπόσιον / January, 2023 9 �An Open Letter to Infinity Dolan Polglaze Dearest —— , Given the time that’s elapsed between our parting, my intent in writing to you isn’t even clear to myself. In advance, I only ask your forgiveness for the clumsiness of my language, and for my reliance on my own temporality as the unit of my emotional experience. Knowing how to make these new beginnings is always difficult, especially since no beginning is ever truly new, and the person I feel myself to be now is probably just the compounded clutter of failed epiphanies and dusty revelations. Even now, I’ve already begun to speak in words that you probably don’t understand. What do you know of beginnings? What do you know of endings? Do you understand how nails grow and hearts break from the pressure of closeness? These are the afflictions of temporal beings, not infinite ones. But nevertheless, I don’t know any other words to use: the certainty of my own beginning and ending prevents you and me from ever entirely speaking in the same terms. You know this is the fault of my communication, and always has been: that I don’t know how to speak straight-up and in ways you’d understand. Why? Because I have no choice but to fear the closeness of communication, the true nakedness it requires. Nakedness has always scared me, even though I pretend it doesn’t. And why shouldn’t it? It’s the first thing we lost when we gained time. When something’s lost, I really don’t think that it can be recovered in the same way. That’s probably why we started calling nakedness “vulnerability,” and why we say vulnerability when really we just mean love, plain and simple. A thought about love: Now and then I spend my nights recalling my final moments of infinity before I was born— really, I’m just trying to grab onto something that I could recognize in this temporal form I now hold. It has occurred to me that love might be a holdover from the before-times, even though the only “truths” I know about love are what I’ve read in college, and even these various descriptions don’t seem to cohere into a singular idea or experience. I am frustrated that Socrates told me that philosophy is an erotic ascent (towards what?) because I am a twenty-year-old man, and everyone telling me that book-reading is erotic has either forgotten what it feels like to be held, or they’re barking up the wrong tree. “I’m not putting all my eggs in one basket,” a friend told me yesterday in a conversation 10 the Gadfly / συμπόσιον / January, 2023 about his lover, and that struck me as good advice. But these promoters of erotic philosophy keep demanding I put all my eggs in one basket—their basket—and I’m really getting sick of it! I know that you understand love better than I ever did, and I burn up in that thought. You have the advantage of being infinite, and I have the advantage of dying one day, which, although a meaningful fate, still offers me no clarity on love. It seems this has become a letter on my feelings about love. That wasn’t my intent. In many ways, though, it makes sense, since love and time are born of the same mother. You, infinity, are that mother. And the father too, probably. Perhaps I’m wrong to assume you know nothing of temporal existence, but if I am wrong, I’m wrong in the same way a child is wrong in assuming his parents cannot understand him, even though both originator and offspring are made of the same stuff. And if you and I are irreconcilable to each other, truthfully, I know that it is not because of lack of sight on your end, but because of the simple fact that I cannot, for the life of me, remember what happened before I was born. I am a being born entirely of my beginning, a being defined constantly by the flicker of my walking shadow. This is not an excuse for my clumsiness in trying to reach you all these years—I only mean to tell you that I have never given up hope of trying to reach you again, despite the infinite déroulement between me and you. How could I give up? Even when estranged, a child’s desire to find belonging in their parent is never fully extinguished. I seek you—we seek you—not from a desire to cast our minds forever into the darkness which springs from separation, but rather from the impulse of our contrary being. I will never understand why we cling to the things that are so opposite our existence, those things which we can never really hold. I cannot hold you, my friend, even though you are somewhere deep, deep within me. Perhaps I spoke too harshly earlier about love— it’s only that sometimes I feel angered by those who claim to have found you in philosophy. Sometimes I fleetingly glimpse you there, but mostly I find you in myself, and in the way that I don’t make any sense to myself. Pascal thinks my humanity is delicately caught between magnanimity and utter baseness, and that recognition of this fact will �lead me back to union with the Divine. But I don’t know if he’s right about this. Infinity, I am led to you—in the dark hours of the night and in the gallery halls—by the surging I feel in my breast when I think about how my ribcage, my teeth, and my skin are products of some infinite voice at the beginning of time. Then how can I not love you when such is my origin! I feel rapture at this thought. Rapture and rejoicing at my finitude which has the courage to write you this letter, even now. You have done me a great kindness in keeping me suspended between finitude and yourself. It is in this distance that I think love is born. I see it between human beings too—we fall in love with each because we see, in the other, the longing for the infinity that each contains. Sometimes there is sorrow in this tension, but mostly there is beauty. I fear that this letter has become more for my own sake than for yours, so I will leave it here, for now. I will write to you again, maybe in a decade. Yours always, ——— . Pair-Case automation watch, Peter Mounier Time, Enea Vico Casement to Infinity, Arthur Hacker the Gadfly / συμπόσιον / January, 2023 11 �A Call to Idleness, or Nihil Facere Aude Helen Wagner Hey! You! Yes, you, the one with three half-finished nonProgram books on your nightstand. Or you, reading poetry in the lunch line. You, there, with headphones in for the two-minute walk between Humphreys and the dining hall. You, watching YouTube on your phone while you brush your teeth. Even you, solving differential equations in your free time. Whoever you may be, I have a request. It’s quite a simple one, really. Only this: STOP THINKING. Easier said than done! you tell me, and I would agree. How often do you even allow yourself silence? How long can you go without doing something, making something, intaking some sort of information, before you feel guilty and unproductive? (And while we’re at it, why is unproductive a dirty word?) It seems, especially in an intellectually rigorous community like our own, that we must always be using or improving our brains. Philosophy, concentration, and conversation are the highest of virtues, while lollygagging, daydreaming, and general lying around are deadly sins. But I believe it’s important, maybe even vital, to rest our minds. Just like a physical workout, a mental workout requires resting time in order to be effective. And that’s what we are doing in the Program—hardcore intellectual crossfit. We can only spend so many hours in a row cogitating the definition of life. Giving our maximum concentration to Leibniz for an entire afternoon at 49 West will burn us out if we don’t stop to order a cup of tomato soup and look out the window for a few minutes. The other day, a friend told me that she’d read 90 pages of Augustine in one sitting. I opened my mouth to congratulate her on a fruitful study session, but she went on to say, “It felt wrong. I don’t think you should read that much at once of something so meditative.” I realized she was right. A book like the Confessions is so contemplative and rich that it must be taken in small doses if we really want to get something out of it. We are working our brains so hard most of the time that we often don’t seem to realize this: just because we aren’t physically fatigued doesn’t mean we don’t need a break. By “break,” though, I don’t just mean picking up a novel for the afternoon, solving a crossword puzzle, calling a friend, listening to a poetry podcast, watching TV, or playing 12 the Gadfly / συμπόσιον / January, 2023 sudoku on your phone between Greek exercises. These things are wonderful, and much of our free time ought to be dedicated to such lighthearted activities. But they are still activities. There must also be moments when we’re simply doing nothing. How often do you lay on your bed and stare at the ceiling? Not enough, I’d venture. Cognitive rest can be just as important as sleep: when you do something that doesn’t require full mental attention (like staring at the ceiling), your brain’s Default Mode Network (DMN) is active. The DMN is associated with introspection, memory processing, and even creativity—if you’ve ever thought of a solution to a problem seemingly out of the blue, or been struck with inspiration while zoning out in the shower, that was probably your DMN at work. It’s not good for you to strive for total concentration all the time; this part of your brain does its job best when you are daydreaming. We also must remember that we cannot fill an overfull mind. When I was younger, my piano teacher used to stop lessons early when she thought she had given the class enough information. “The cup is full now,” she’d say, “and we don’t want it overflowing.” She knew that our brains could only process so much new material before it started falling out of our ears. Our minds are like sponges in this sense: if oversaturated, they will not accept anything more. We need time to internalize knowledge with the help of the DMN (which also handles information storage). This is why we need mental downtime. Erwin Straus writes in “The Upright Posture,” “Indeed, only the empty hand, like the beggar’s hand, can receive. Emptiness is the condition by which our hands can be filled.”1 Perhaps the mind is similar: it must be empty in order to be filled. This summer, excited to make the most of my free and empty days, I read too many novels in too short a time and suddenly found myself sick of reading. All I wanted to do was lay in the sun with my eyes closed. “I’m tired of thinking,” I remember saying to myself. I realized then that I could not always be consuming information—even literature, even for fun—if I never gave myself time to zone out. Words become worthless if gobbled up for their own 1 Erwin W. Straus, translated by Erling Eng, “The Upright Posture,” Phenomenological Psychology, SJC Freshman Lab Manual 2022. �sake—it must be some form of literary gluttony. I’d had an overdose of reading, and I had to remedy it. I learned that even little things like eating a meal in silence, taking a trip without bringing a book, splashing into a cold lake and suddenly laughing—these are good medicine for too much thinking. You must remember that you can float on your back in a swimming pool without having any particularly edifying purpose other than cooling off and watching the clouds. You can walk in silence without your headphones. You can lay stretched on the couch staring into the fireplace for two hours after dinner, achieving absolutely nothing at all, not even finishing your book. Walt Whitman expresses this soothing of intellectual fatigue in one of my favorite poems, “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer.” When I heard the learn’d astronomer, When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me, When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them, When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room, How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick, Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself, In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars.2 How soon, unaccountable, we become tired and sick! How weary we sometimes grow of contemplation! Let us follow Whitman’s quiet footsteps into the stillness. Let us rest our minds. As I write this, the new year approaches. Resolutions accumulate in well-intentioned piles in the corners of my mind. Promises of fresh starts and renewed productivity beckon alluringly from my blank calendar. New lists of goals and dreams spiral out of my ears. But I pause for a moment to ask this question: will I give myself space to breathe this year? I ask you the same thing. Will you continue working your mind, filling it with books and movies and conversation? Or will you stop thinking for a moment? Will you dare to do nothing? Let your mind marinate. Vegetate. Roam. Space out. Leave room for boredom. Stare through a window. Take a solitary walk. Sit for a while and be a living being. Nothing more. "Recovering from Ontology," Helen Wagner I am wracked with words, whispering wraiths and shades that jibber Being into emptiness. Substance, Material, Potential, Form flit to and fro; Entelechy tumbles past and dissolves into pieces against Death’s windshield. Actuality and Potentiality —locked in carnal embrace— pay me no mind, while Existence gives Essence a wily glance and darts away, scattering like dust in the late afternoon sun which pours through Reality’s kitchen window. The Immaterial thumbs her nose at Matter and flounces off into thin air, leaving me (a thinking body) nauseous and reeling with ontological vertigo until I step outside, blinking, on a winter afternoon. I feel cold snap at ears and nose, watch sun on cobblestones, walk into the wind, and steady myself with the touch of the living world. 2 Walt Whitman, “When I Heard the Learn'd Astronomer,” Poetry Foundation, accessed December 8, 2022, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/ poems/45479/when-i-heard-the-learnd-astronomer. the Gadfly / συμπόσιον / January, 2023 13 �{Hedda Gabler Review} Sympathy for the Devil, But Make it Feminism Lysithia Page Hedda Gabler is a difficult character to play. Hedda is a clever young woman recently married to a bumbling academic. She is disgusted with her new situation in life. The source of her strife is some cocktail of money problems, ennui, and domestic claustrophobia. Most of all, Hedda’s circle of associates is akin to a psychological isolation chamber. None of her fellows— three male consorts and a frenemy from her school days— understand her. This “angel in the house” wants to burn it all down. It’s easy to write Hedda off as either a malignant person or a victim of her circumstances. She is, of course, both. How do we understand people who respond to their sufferings by carrying out horrific acts? To what extent should we condemn them? Hedda Gabler reignites ageold questions about justice and mercy, gussied-up for Ibsen’s Victorian audience with the portrait of a lioness strangled in whalebone. (If you, reader, have any insight into these matters, I exhort you to flag me down on the quad and share your remarks.) Sophomore Magnolia Vandiver’s Hedda was equal parts cutesy and sinister—wiggling her eyebrows, nuzzling her companions with about as much warmth as a boa constrictor, beholding the destruction she has engineered with a prim upturned pucker. At one point, she let out an abrupt chuckle at an unnaturally insistent octave. Imagine a church bell co-opted by gremlins. The hair on the backs of my arms stood up. Vandiver’s performance called to mind that unfortunate subgenre of horror films in which porcelain dolls come to life and chop their owners into bits. My favorite scenes of the production were ones in which Hedda toyed with meek Thea Elvsted, played by freshman Quinlyn Bright. Their dynamic was right out of any Animal Planet documentary detailing confrontations between predators and prey. Especially effective was Vandiver’s and Bright’s deployment of touch. As Vandiver snaked her arms around Bright’s back and curled her hands in Bright’s hair, the energy in the room tensed in anticipation of what could become the consummation of either a seduction or a hunt. My only request for Bright: speak up! There were a few times when I couldn’t quite 14 the Gadfly / πόλις / January, 2023 catch what she was saying. Director Alayna Raymond (senior) clearly knows her audience. Play-goers could not help but notice the resemblance between Hedda and other conniving antiheroines in the Program who elicit sympathy but spurn redemption (read: Medea, Clytemnestra, Lady Macbeth). At this school, moreover, the caricature of the muddled scholar is comedic catnip; the character Jörgen Tessman, played by Mirek Jungr, did not fail to provide. I wish I had started a count of his huffs and guffaws while I was watching the play. I never knew there were so many ways for someone to clear his throat. Jungr’s fuddy-duddy buffoonery is delightful but not really convincing, and I find that with this character, I don’t care about ‘convincing’ in the slightest. “I sympathize with Jörgen, but I hope I’m not as naive as he,” said freshman Ian Rossamondo, who was seated in the front row. “He doesn’t know what kind of a woman [Hedda] is.” How were the other men? Senior Wyatt Sweeney does Byronic brooding well, but we already knew that. His Eilert Løvborg—a previously “bad boy” aristocrat attempting to put his debauchery behind him—was credible. And, of course, the crown of vines Sweeney wore during the final bows was a sweet nod to both the text of the play and the actor. Sophomore Jack Domanski’s Judge Brack was a marvelous surprise for me. His kindly, reserved presence through most of the play seemed like a paternal equivalent to the warm pleasantries of sophomore Rachel Hauben’s Juliana Tesman and diligence of freshman Eden Kammeyer’s Berta (nice Cockney accent, by the way!). I initially thought that these three characters would serve as beacons of civility and stability in the ensuing catastrophe. In the case of Judge Brack, golly, was I wrong. And for those of you who haven’t yet seen or read Hedda Gabler, that’s all I’ll say about him! After the show, I kept thinking about the particular brand of evil that belongs to beautiful people, i.e. the Ted Bundys of the world, who fully recognize and wield the power of their delicious company, like Kalashnikovs of charisma. Then again—perhaps I, like many people, just romanticize bad decisions, and grand gestures of infamy �are really just expressions of confusion. Generally, with horrific acts, I wonder what happens in the soul of the perpetrator which motivates the perpetration. Could that happen in your soul? My soul? My sense is that Ibsen meant for his title character to be more than an aberration of nature constricted by the feminine ideal, inevitably bound to erupt. It was certainly entertaining to watch this Hedda play, by turns, the puppeteer and the bulldozer; even so, we have to remember she traipses through life like the rest of us mortals, who must pay the penalty for transgressing the rules even before even having learned what the rules are. “I don’t think she has a plan. She’s making it up as she goes along,” senior Birdi Mueller, another audience member, said. For this reason, despite immensely enjoying Vandiver’s flamboyant malevolence, I found myself craving more intimations of Hedda’s humanity. (Yes, I recognize that what I have just stated contradicts my early characterization of Hedda as a lioness of a woman. I contain multitudes.) The real undercurrent of agony that flows through Hedda Gabler is the thought that the protagonist, though she possesses considerable gifts, is still just a person who loses her way and then loses everything. As the magnanimous Robert de Niro once said, “The saddest thing in life is wasted talent.” Somebody get this poor woman a drink. Medea, William Wetmore Story Soap Bubbles Jean Simeon Chardin the Gadfly / πόλις / January, 2023 15 �{We Should Be As Annoying as Socrates} The Gadfly Told Me To Do It Daniel Nathan First off, let me preface this by saying I am definitely not doing a commentary about this newspaper at all. No, the gadfly I’m speaking of is Socrates’ as he stood before the court in Plato’s Apology—although the pages of this paper do offer vital ground and, maybe more importantly, an actual physical space with which to gadfly (v.) - “to provoke and annoy as you go about seeking truth.” That is, to agitate, annoy, and create a stir within the polity, stinging those buzzed on comfortable routines of truth. What is neat is made crooked; what is simple is deliberately complicated. The overall purpose of the gadfly isn’t dissent, but it is the outcome the gadfly aims for in the immediate, practical sense. So, all I ask is that you consider with me dissent as a sign, not of sickness, but of health amongst the polity. But you may object, “Come on, does our polity here at St. John’s really need that?” I don’t know, you decide. Are you satisfied with your pursuit? Are there ways to more effectively foster truth in our community? Is campus culture even that deep? As all students at St. John’s (should) know by now, Socrates spoke before the court in defense of his life. His was not merely an effort to save his life, but also, in a wider sense, his livelihood: the examined life which he advocated for, where one might find those qualities specific to each and every form and the conditions that necessitate and constitute each and every soul, where that tip-of-your-tongue, deep down “thingness” lies, for lack of a better term—that quality which makes Socrates not only a man and a teacher but also a Socrates. In his account, ancient Athens was like a “horse which was somewhat sluggish,” which “needed to be riled up by a sort of gadfly.” (30e). Here, let’s consider a “gadfly” basically as a shorthand for a dissent-monger, and this dissent and the related monger are good, or at least reaching towards the good. But examples from our own not-not-dystopian day and age have proven that the good can be hard to come by, like a ghost whose presence is felt but we all only pretend to see: disruptors in Silicon Valley have racked up quite a laundry list of harm done to the social fabric with their algorithms 16 the Gadfly / συμπόσιον / January, 2023 and public trust violations and income inequality; Marxist revolutionaries did some similar stuff too. As did the United States’ effort to “spread democracy” in the Middle East—”spreading” referring to hostile military occupation and the word democracy more accurately meaning “in line with United States’ global economic interests,” in what it saw as the developing world, not to put too fine a point on it. As did those patriots at the Capitol (Don’t let me lose you here) who brought 4chan into the real world, materializing the national mood of paranoid psychosis during the pandemic, which had been merely digital for many up until that point. And some say that those of us who marched in the streets six months prior to that day caused our fair share of harm too. What I mean by this is simply that we all just believe in the truths that we experience as true and we reject out of hand, wholehoggedly, any truth which does not cohere with, nor correspond to our own conceptions of our experiences, built up like scaffolding around some present reality. This thinking is natural though; it is also exactly what Socrates considered to be base. But what I can’t help myself from thinking about though is just how sort of pathetic Socrates’ version of dissent-mongering seems to be according to his own metaphor. The gadfly's function as a silly, disregardable, and easily disposed of provocation artist—like a guy who is impeccably learned in the art of retort and saying “Well, actually”—is not the role Socrates thought the gods assigned it. Not a crackpot in a tinfoil hat, nor an idiot on a soapbox, but rather, on the level of the heart, the gadfly is like a troll basically. A good kind of troll somehow. Not the guy on a college campus who sits at a foldout table with a sign that expresses a controversial hot take, challenging passersby to prove him wrong so he can get a clip of him “owning the libs” and “dunking” on those wayward, naive evil woke sheep. This character is no gadfly, to be clear. These types are too lonely and sad to pursue any truth outside of their page views. Let’s take a more virtuous, charitable depiction though: a gadfly with only good faith to spare, in which the source of the polity’s agita actually offers, �via the pursuit of truth and knowledge, the promise of a meaningful relief from life’s unavoidable ills. Leading the metaphorical horse to the proverbial water or so it goes I guess. It’s a case in which being annoying is the point, demanding full-throated, unapologetic (not a pun) engagement with the public due to just how unbearably irritating and ultimately unavoidable the gadfly’s frequent yet low-frequency stinging really could be. While the simple troll’s pursuits come from a sort of jolly sadism, the gadflys’ is sourced from a place of virtue, however vulgar and tacky its methods may seem on the surface at first. Pursuing truth proved uncomfortable and awkward for the Athenians, even making Thrasymachus blush. And eventually some saw it simpler to just swat the gadfly down and get it over and done with, rather than have to deal with Socrates’ nonsense—to have to take him seriously. The gadfly, to Socrates, is easy to mock because its positions are often easily mockable. Clearly. But in taking the mantle of those positions, Socrates saw a higher, deeper truth lurking, refusing to give way and accept the way the world worked according to the Athenians; he knew there was little to be found in their comfort. Sending back the steak not because it was overcooked but because the plate was empty. What he aimed to persuade others into was an activity, i.e., thinking critically (an inherently annoying thing to have to do) which required participation (which is often undesirable) which meant effort (the worst), thus calling the polity out from their sleep. So then, trying to think about what sort of “sleep” one might find here at St. John’s, why not do our best to heed the old man and break a shibboleth or two? Regarding this “sleep” the gadfly exists to disrupt, could it, in any way, be possible that we at this college find this “sleep” somewhere in the texts of the canon? “What?? B…b…but!!” Even further, do these grand narratives somehow serve as a way in which the polity uniquely makes its bed (with all its—we’ll call them quirks) for which it will later have to lie in? An article in the previous issue of this paper praised the cultural bubble of St. John’s. But can one culture’s truths be commensurate with another’s? Is truth still truth outside the bubble one finds to contain truth? Is that even the right way of thinking about truth? “What is virtue?” you ask the Chick & Ruth’s waitress during her twelfth hour into a sixteen hour double shift. This is annoying, and she will be annoyed, I assure you. But, I ask…is it noble? Well, it’s a really embarrassing thing to do, and I will mock you, and I’d say to you don’t do that—but dammit if I don’t want to say that Socrates would have maybe considered it bordering on gadfly-adjacent territory at the very least. What should being a gadfly really look like? What should it feel like? When everyone in your cultural bubble—all the Great Minds—eat and sleep and read and work and live like you do, must they also necessarily think like you do? I imagine a broad-shouldered Midshipman—a paragon of fitness and health—wearing his dress white uniform, which he says means something, (I can’t prove it does not), while standing next to St. John’s student, looking sickly and unseasonably pale and wearing literally their father’s falling-apart fleece from his college days forty years ago. The key markers and identifiers are there—the “uniforms,” I’ll call them— are clear: the juxtaposition is apparent. We get it. And so I’ll ask then: do both the Midshipman’s and the Johnnie’s “uniforms” mean anything? Do they matter? If they do, then, whose meaning matters more? That is, if we want to say one of them must matter more. Well the question begs itself at this point: who, then, truly matters more—who is more vital—to the functioning of a free and open society? Who should the polity regard themselves with? Those who pursue truth or those who enlist to defend it—the gadfly or the horse? I don’t know. Again, you get to decide. This example is only half serious. I don’t suspect this is the sort of respectable truth that we like to regard ourselves as pursuing. But still, we should concern ourselves with thinking, even when it appears vulgar and tacky. Pressure must be applied to even our conceptions of what seems safely bland and banal, if not normal. Really, why should life be the way it is? Or rather, why do we conceive of life the way we currently do? Should we continue this way of thinking or should we change our approach? Can we muster up the strength to monger us some dissent in a direction towards the good like Socrates taught to? Pastoral visions of perfect the Gadfly / πόλις / January, 2023 17 �postulates won’t do. Reality, even our great books, aren’t so neat as to be inhuman, and neither are we; certainly this article isn’t. But even with basic things that we can assert our autonomy upon and dissent from do exist here in our bubble. Doing this will hopefully create meaningful exchange but also affect material change in however simple and small a way it may; whether it be in choosing what we read, what we could or should think, how we could or should behave and conduct ourselves, and fine…I’ll say it…where we could or should or (if we’re being honest) probably shouldn’t smoke. In the shape of our daily lives at this college, and for those who come here after we’ve gone, maybe we can be more like Socrates’ gadfly; and hopefully in some small ways, we can succeed where Socrates tragically failed—hopefully we are not killed off. All too often the ways things happen to be at the current moment are interpreted as absolute outcomes—with ourselves as mere passive observers and spectators, not much more than ticket-holders—and so we overlook most of what we encounter in life, and treat it all as undeniable—as duh’s—as matters of fact, as just another symptom of life at a small, northeastern-ish liberal arts college. But what we may think is true, as we all (should) know, is neither in fact nor in essence, anything near “truth.” Who do you wanna sting? A literary argument on the second tier, Honore-Vicorin Daumier 18 the Gadfly / πόλις / January, 2023 �{Campus Culture and Its Future} Some More on Smoking John Teague The most surprising thing about the smoking debate at St. John’s College is the emotional hostility that surrounds it. As an infrequent smoker myself, I was shocked to learn that a personal activity could generate so much controversy. Ms. Felbek has recently complained about the hostility around this issue as well, and, in a move towards cooperation, I would like to attempt to reintroduce the spirit of lightness that moves public discourse towards levity and productivity. That spirit of lightness, however, must wait for me to briefly address some of the overblown arguments I’ve heard against smoking. First, one does not walk through ‘clouds of smoke’ as they move through the quad. Even before the new smoking policy was instated, the amount of smoke in public areas of the college has always been moderate. To avoid smoke, one simply has to avoid the people smoking. Secondly, the health risks of infrequently inhaling secondhand smoke outdoors are minimal. Research published regarding secondhand smoke refers to constant, heavy smoking indoors, such as in the home. Merely catching a whiff of smoke does not result in a measurable risk of cancer for any but the sickliest. Thirdly, the smell of tobacco smoke, while subjective, is generally not unpleasant. It smells somewhat similar to a campfire, and everyone likes campfires. Going past all this, while most people’s concerns about smoking rest in its effects on the body, few consider the effects on the soul. After interviewing many people, I have chanced upon this story. After the founding of Kallipolis, there was a group of people whose mixtures of bronze, silver, and gold in their constitutions fluctuated so frequently that a permanent position in the class system would cause disaster for the entire city. They would mill about, unproductively engaging in pointless or even harmful discussions. They were generally too boredom-prone to do hand labor and too wrong to make any important decisions. The philosopher king, even in his infinite wisdom, could not conceive an appropriate place for these people. So, after a few years of these people being a drain on society, he cast them into the wilderness. They fled to the caves, where Nature sheltered them from the elements. Although they could scrounge together a meager existence foraging and sleeping in the caves, their memories of the luxuries of their past life made such a life unbearable to them. They realized they needed to form some sort of society to regain their previous advantages. They held a meeting in one of the caves to establish some sort of constitution. A cacophony ensued as they nitpicked, redirected, and ignored each other’s points. As they attempted to deliberate, they made many gestures as they spoke and often moved their hands to their mouths. As they were losing hope, the dark cave was suddenly illuminated by a bright white light. A silence fell over the room as everyone recognized the divinity in their presence. Instinctively, the whole crowd knelt down to pay respects to God, who, in his infinite charity, came as a bringer of dignity to these creatures. He spoke in a loud, clear voice: “I have provided all of Man with fruit from the earth and fishes from the sea, but not all can be sated from such a simple diet. For you I leave another gift: the tobacco plant. Use it that you may steady your hand and focus your mind.” The bringer of fire and wisdom produced a number of tobacco leaves and placed them on the hearth. As the cave filled with smoke, the people knew calmness and deliberation. The elders sat around a stone table and successfully drafted a constitution for the people of the caves. All were joyous, their troubles had abated. The next morning they raised themselves up out of the cave and into the sunlight. The next few years saw great advancements in the political and logistical infrastructure of the town. Technology improved rapidly, and with it came advancements in the consumption of nicotine. Society developed three different ways to smoke the tobacco leaf: in cigarettes, cigars, and pipes. The three methods reflected three relationships one has with tobacco. One is moved either by his appetite, his want of distinction, or his rationality. It is plain to see how cigarettes correspond the the Gadfly / πόλις / January, 2023 19 �appetitive part of the soul. Cigarette smoke is inhaled, taken into the body like food. Cigarette smokers in particular are struck by nicotine addictions, often going outside to take smoke breaks many times during a workday. The consumption of nicotine for cigarette smokers is analogous to the consumption of food, and must be undertaken at regular intervals, often forming a routine. Cigarettes’ association with sex is also undeniable. The post-coital cigarette has been a part of culture for as long as cigarettes have been around. They are used to heighten the sex appeal of characters in film. A cigarette smoker experiences the craving and sating of his appetite much more intentionally than those who don’t smoke them and therefore must be more wise when it comes to such matters. Cigars, meanwhile, are an extension of the gloryseeking part of the soul. The cigar is more concerned with the external, with the un-inhaled smoke forming into impressive billows. Obviously, the phallic symbolism of the cigar has been well documented as an effective mode of power projection. The cigar smoker creates for himself a visual gravitas, a demand for others’ attention and respect. Cigars are used for celebration, as accompaniment to distinctive accomplishment. As a more expensive way to consume tobacco, one elevates himself above the proles with a more luxurious smoking experience. The cigar smoker enhances class distinction by consuming an imported luxury good, using the problematic nature of cheap third world labor to great effect. For those who prefer to attempt to rationalize their nicotine addiction, pipes are the smoking mode of choice. We associate pipe smoking with wisdom, visualizing it as the pastime of tweed-wearing Oxford men, inducing a necessary occupation of the hands while the smoker’s minds work out the puzzles of the Universe. The pipe’s yonic form clearly imitates the smoker’s relationship to knowledge. The way the pipe takes in tobacco is the same as the way its smoker takes in information, and both tobacco and preliminaries are inflamed by the pipe smoker into something new: a reasoned account. The pipe is truly a wondrous invention for philosophy. With these new implements of smoking discovered, the refugees were able to build a great society. Opposed to the focus on industrial growth of other civilizations, the tobacco smokers were content to live lives characterized by leisure, tradition, and rigorous discourse. They made for themselves a college at which they could exercise their minds studying the formative works of their literary tradition. This is the same college where, thousands of years in the future, we find ourselves at today. Tobacco Pipe with Case, ca. 1740 20 the Gadfly / συμπόσιον / January, 2023 �{Thoughts on Johnnie Science} Observing Living Beings The Wild Beast Helen Wagner With the end of the first semester, the freshmen have completed their biological studies in Observing Living Beings, and my first beloved green lab manual is worn and underlined and slightly falling apart. Basking now in the highlight-colored glow of Driesch and Aristotle’s wisdom, I want to take this opportunity to meditate on the nature of how we approach science at St. John’s. It seems to me that studying science is like studying a living being. Perhaps over Christmas dinner you described the college lab curriculum to a curious relative as the “History of Science.” This terminology manages to neatly quell and dissuade any further questions, for example: why do we even learn all this outdated stuff ? What is the value of considering the universe as Ptolemy saw it when the scientific world has moved beyond this perspective? But is “History of Science” really the best way to explain what we do here? The qualifier “History of ” seems redundant when I consider that science, by nature, is a process. Studying its history is inherently wrapped up in studying science itself as it moves and breathes and changes over time. Thus, we must observe it as a biologist observes a living being. As the biologist is to the animal, the St. John’s student must be to science itself. But what exactly does this mean? First, we should understand what it means to study an animal. How does a biologist go about his work? Driesch writes of the unique problem of the biologist: The biologist is almost always in that strange plight in which the physicist would be if he always had to go to volcanoes in order to study the conductivity of heat, or if he had to wait for thunder-storms in order to study electricity. The biologist is dependent on the specificity of living objects as they occur in nature. Studying animals through scientific, ostensibly empirical means is difficult precisely because they are alive. We cannot isolate them from their living existence the way that a physicist can isolate electricity from a thunderstorm, for example. As soon as we interfere or interact whatsoever with a given animal subject, whether by dissection or some other form of experimentation, we are changing—often killing—the very life we hope to understand. Driesch explains that, thanks to this problem, much of biology can be chalked up to simple observation and description. He writes, “We now understand why pure description, in the most simple sense of the word, takes up such an enormous part of every text-book of biological science.” Anyone who’s read Theophrastus and Goethe can attest: pages upon pages describing the intimate workings of plants are tedious but necessary. In order to understand a living being, we must observe it as it lives. We must see how it acts when it is left alone in its natural environment. We must watch it move. Aristotle showed plainly that he understood this by dedicating an entire volume to The Movement and another to The Gait of animals. Many biologists have used vivisection to understand the movement of internal organs— movement which would be unobservable through dissection. Harvey learned much of the information in De Motu Cordis through vivisection: he would not know how the heart worked if he hadn’t seen it pump blood. To understand living things, it is essential that we study them while they are alive. Students of science are in the same predicament regarding scientific inquiry. Like an animal, the body of scientific knowledge changes and grows over time. To understand its development, we must watch it in action—in the wild. This means reading authors whose work has been superseded by new developments. Modern science textbooks would not explicitly agree with Aristotle that creatures whose blood is hot, thin, and clear are “[n]oblest of all” and “suited alike for the development of courage and intelligence.” Nor would they explain the growth of plants in terms of pure and impure fluids, as Goethe does. Even Driesch’s vitalism—the darling of many a Johnnie, myself included—has been considered obsolete by the scientific community since the ‘30s. Modern textbooks would soberly discuss photosynthesis, adenosine triphosphate, enzymes, substrates, red blood cells, and DNA. And they would be right—in terms of current science, at least. But science changes. The prevailing the Gadfly / συμπόσιον / January, 2023 21 �cosmological view among scientists until the 1950s was the Steady-State model—a theory that the universe had no beginning. But you wouldn’t find that in any 21st-century textbook. Now the most widely accepted model is the Big Bang Theory, which states that the universe did begin, approximately 14 billion years ago. So how can we truly go about studying science, this strange chimera that one moment says the universe has no beginning, and the next that it does? We must hold it loosely enough to account for such changes in human knowledge. We must at the very least acknowledge that textbooks cannot teach us how it really works: they are ossified collections of facts which do not reflect the living movement of science itself. Studying science solely through textbooks is like trying to understand an animal with only footprints and photographs. At this college, I would argue, we do not study physics, chemistry, or biology for their own sakes. Instead, through these disciplines, we are studying the process of scientific inquiry itself. If we simply wanted to understand the workings of the world as we know it, we would not spend hours reading scientific theories which have since been replaced or improved upon. Textbooks would suffice to keep us up-to-date on the latest facts. But, if we want to understand how science actually works, textbooks will not do. Current facts and theories are only a snapshot of the great, beautiful, breathing beast of Scientific Inquiry herself. She lumbers through the halls of History searching for knowledge, ears alert, nose to the ground, sometimes drunk on success but nourished primarily by her many failures, which keep her walking in the right direction. Her tail occasionally bumps into an ecclesiastical pedestal and shatters fragile and cherished religious tenets which the Church usually later discovers weren’t too important after all. Her fur is a tangled mess of broken hypotheses and crossed-out equations; her gait meandering and full of questions; her cry a halfarticulated attempt to explain the movement of the heavens. Many have tried and failed to capture her, tying her down across the sterile lab table of absolute truth, only to see her waste away from starvation or wildly break through her bonds, destroying her captors’ conception of truth in the process. She is the enemy of anyone who tries to contain her, but the darling and friend of the true scientist: the one who recognizes her wildness, who gets on hands and knees in the dirt and watches her quietly from behind a tree, no rope or harness in sight. If the scientist truly knows how to approach her, he will walk forward and reach out, feeling her warm breath on his fingers, and perhaps she will even eat from his open hand if in his palm he holds the right morsel: a single, honest question. The Repast of the Lion, Henri Rousseau 22 the Gadfly / συμπόσιον / January, 2023 �{Student Translation and Commentary} Translation of Baudelaire's "L'Idéal" Luke Briner It will not ever be these beauties cursory, The shabby children of our late, debaséd time, Dressed up from head to toe in girlish levity, Who will know how to sate a famished heart like mine. To Gavarni, anemia’s bard, do I thus leave His warbling troupe of dolls, on sick, uneven keel, For I will not among those roses pale receive A flower that recalls my sanguine-red Ideal. What my heart truly needs, with great, Tartarean depth, Is she in crime so virile—you, Lady Macbeth, The dream of Aeschylus, in blust’rous climate born, Or you, dread-mistress Night, by salvaged Art composed, Who solemnly contort, in stately strangeness posed, With Titans’ mouths so sculpting your bewitching form! COMMENTARY The two themes I tried to communicate most clearly in this translation are, first, the contrast between the impression of weak superficiality which Baudelaire gets from many of the women around him along with the powerful, dominating spirit of the women he idealizes, and, second, the contrast between the modernity of the former and the antiquity of the latter. The first two quatrains of the poem introduce and subsequently reject the first group while alluding vaguely to the second, with the following two tercets formally introducing examples from it. I generally stayed faithful to the original French with two major exceptions, both made in order to more clearly convey the themes just mentioned. I decided to render line 3, which literally from the French goes something like “these feet with brodequins (high shoes), these fingers with castanets,” as “dressed up from head to toe in girlish levity” in order to focus on, with more universality, the idea of gaudiness and frivolity which Baudelaire aimed to communicate with the specific examples of brodequins and castanets. Likewise, in line 12, literally something like “or you, great Night, daughter of Michelangelo” I decided to replace the reference to Michelangelo with “by salvaged Art composed” in order to universally convey the Renaissance’s spirit of rescuing and reviving the ways of an older— and to Baudelaire, maybe better—time which Michelangelo was an embodiment of. One additional, smaller deviation also worth noting is my decision to replace the French’s “beautés de vignettes,” or “beauties of vignettes,” simply with “beauties cursory,” with the same reasoning as my translation for line 3. I’ve preser ved Baudelaire’s original iambic hexameter and rhyme scheme. the Gadfly / πόλις / January, 2023 23 �THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE Founded in 1980, the Gadfly is the student newsmagazine distributed to over 600 students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the Annapolis campus. Opinions expressed within are the responsibility of the author(s). The Gadfly reserves the right to accept, reject, and edit submissions in any way necessary to publish a professional, informative, and thought provoking newsmagazine. Submissions sent to the Gadfly should either be in Google Docs or JPEG format. The deadline for submissions is the Friday prior to publication. For more information, contact us via email at sjca .g adfly@gmail.com 6 0 COLLEGE AVENUE ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND 21401 24 the Gadfly / Sept 22, 2022 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>The Gadfly</em> Description An account of the resource Founded in 1980, <em>The </em><em>Gadfly</em> is a weekly student publication distributed to over 600 students, faculty, and staff of the Annapolis campus.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="The Gadfly" href="https://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=16&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CDate&amp;sort_dir=d">Items in the <em>The Gadfly</em> Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context thegadfly Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data pdf Page numeration Number of pages in the original item. 24 pages Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Gadfly, Vol. XLIV, Issue 6 Description An account of the resource Volume XLIV, Issue 6 of The Gadfly. Published January 16, 2023. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Koch, Craig (Editor-in-Chief) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2023-01-16 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this publication. Type The nature or genre of the resource text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Subject The topic of the resource College students' writings--Periodicals College student newspapers and periodicals St. John's College--Periodicals Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Gadfly Vol XLIV issue 6 Gadfly Student publication https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/d85ee011b1086004960eb1bc6d379de2.pdf 4b5f46dff6f363a71ab5228b115e0d85 PDF Text Text St. John’s College Vol. XLIV, Issue 1 the Gadfly Annapolis, Maryland Sept 5, 2022 �CONTENTS Logos From the Editor's Desk 3 The Johnnies Come Marching Home 4 Finds From the Archives 6 Symposium On Governance 8 What's the Good of Liberal Education?12 Polis Etiquette for Johnnies 14 Smoke Without Mirrors 15 And They Gave Her a Fork 16 When Vineyards are Yearning Again17 Freshmen Bodies, Freshman Souls18 Polity Communications 19 THE STRUCTURE Logos typically holds news reports and narratives of immediate relevance to the Polity. The purpose here is to develop a shared reservoir of information relating to campus life and the community. The Managing Editor for Logos is El'ad Nichols-Kaufman. His email is eanicholskaufman@sjc.edu Symposium offers the opportunity for our readers to thoughtfully consider contrasting opinions regarding a particular topic. The Managing Editor for Symposium is Luke Briner. His email is lbriner@sjc.edu Polis serves as a platform for elevating voices in our community. Here we find letters to the editor, columns, cartoons, and submitted pieces. The Managing Editor for Polis is Daniel Nathan. His email is djnathan@sjc.edu THE COVER Photo of the Achilles Rager, taken by Liz Dowdy 2 the Gadfly / Sept 5, 2022 Contact Us You can contact us by email at sjca.gadfly@gmail. com or you can visit our office in the lower level of the BBC (Room 110). Office hours will be announced in a public email here shortly, though there will always be a submission box outside. Submissions, suggestions, comments, questions and concerns can be sent to us in any manner you please, although we can't promise we'll publish all of them. If you're interested in working for or with us, please reach out to the email above or to our Editor-in-Chief directly at cekoch@sjc.edu. If you live within 5 miles of campus and would like a physical copy of the paper delivered to you, email us! If you live or work on campus and would like a physical copy of the paper delivered to you via campus mail, email us! If you're interested in design, layout, art, photography, writing, thinking, organizing, or decorating, email us! If you're interested in eventually becoming a part of the Johnnie historical record, email us! If you have nothing better to do on the weekend, email us! Otherwise, have a good day, and enjoy our paper. THE STAFF Audrey Fox Cooper Ussery Craig Koch Daniel Nathan El'ad Nichols-Kaufman Isa Kiedrowski Liz Dowdy Luke Briner Meliha Anthony SUBMISSIONS Bryce Jacobsen Michael Jeramaz Robert Abbott �D From the Editor’s Desk: ear Polity, You have found yourself committed to a year of study, community, and, if you’re lucky, illumination. For much of the year, you will be alone—fixed in a chair, laid in bed, or otherwise at rest and restricted. You will be reading great books. In them, you will find the dead leftovers of great minds. When you first try to give life to their markings, you’ll find yourself faced with a picture show of shadows and echoes. It is important that you take these apparitions seriously: you should learn the shape of them, their names, and their order of appearance. You should have a memory for what you read. At the same time, you must hate the memory that is nothing more than succession. You must crave the song itself and the harmony it sings. To this end, you have many advantages over those cave dwellers who are otherwise so ‘like us.’ The movement of dialectic—so terrifying to those who were born bound and still—is perhaps familiar to you, exciting. Since childhood, you have been able to note the movements of your own body, voice, and ear. You may even have recognized your own deficiencies and sought to correct them by forming an account of the error and then rehearsing the position again, seeking new possibilities and new grips. If you have ever done this—if you have ever realized the capacity for confusion that differentiates you from the brutes—it is possible that you also found within yourself a new and surprising interest: λόγος, speech, and what it is others can teach you in conversation. Your ability to discover this love on your own is your greatest advantage over those cave-dwellers who cannot speak but must have speech imputed to them by one who can (515b). Not only can you utter sounds which name something greater than your reference, but you can talk with another and realize what binds you in agreement and what splits you apart. You can hear the song of thought and you can tell when it fails. Your education at St. John’s is an opportunity to practice this ability. For at least some of the time, though, you will find that your body and your voice fail you and that you are no better off than those in the cave who do nothing but sit and watch whatever is thrown in front of them. This is what we call doing the reading. When you find yourself like this, you must have a memory and remember what it is you’ve done all your life: you have moved or been moved and you have sometimes sought to make sense of those movements. In reading, you must do the same. But since the written word is dead and cannot move itself, and since you cannot move the text by the powers of your body or your voice, you must engage the text with your mind and find the song—the νοῦς, the arrangement—that makes the markings musical. Talking with others aloud after attempting this quietly on your own will always help the song become clearer, and your fellow learners will always help you find notes that you’ve missed. Through speech with them, the song itself will become clearer. Or, changing very little: through διάλογος, νοῦς. Working towards this end is the purpose of The Gadfly. We are a paper for you to speak through and to speak with. Please, then, converse with us throughout this year and write us whenever you see something in the magazine that warrants a printed reply, let us know when there is an event you think we ought to cover, submit your opinions or your researches, and generally dare to share and discuss what is shared. In short: treat The Gadfly as a continuation of what is best about St. John’s. Not just an attempt at reporting or distributing, but a project concerned with life and the continual attempt to live it well and with the right amount of color. Sincerely, Craig Koch the Gadfly / Sept 5, 2022 3 �{campus culture} The Johnnies Come Marching Home Again by El'ad Nichols-Kaufman '25 I t is a sight this campus has seen almost 230 times, and remains, in a way, novel at each one of them. The chaos of move in day: from the multitude of baffled freshmen searching for their next orientation session to the scores of upperclassmen trying to lug minifridges up four flights of stairs; followed by the lull between arrival and convocation, and then the frantic energy applied to the waltz, first seminar, and the beginning of classes. This year, too, the sight was familiar, although some changes to the polity still stood out. The most obvious of these are the changes to the physical footprint of campus, which has shifted beneath our feet over the summer. The health center has descended to more expansive quarters below Randall, and administration offices are shifting around from building to building. Parts of Mellon are still turned inside out as a construction site, and at the Board of Visitors and Governors meeting this summer, more substantial renovations to dorms were discussed. Less visible, but even more notable to returning Johnnies, are the new members of the College’s administration. Our new assistant dean is Mr. Abbot, who has long been a member of the polity and has written an article for another section of this issue, and our new athletic director is Rachel Fleming. The contributions of the college’s administrators to the daily life of the average Johnnie may not always be clear, but their impact on campus is unmistakable, and it will be exciting to see our new leader’s footprints. 4 the Gadfly / λόγος / Sept 5, 2022 More intangibly, campus life is not quite the same as last year, either. Across the classes, the social and academic mood on campus is positive. “Socially, it feels like St. John’s is back, in a way that it didn’t feel like at the beginning of last year,” explained Peter Boersema, a junior. “I’m on the quad right now, and this is how I remember it last year. These conversations are going to go on for a long time… I’m excited about the year.” Academically, Connor Robinson, a sophomore, concurred with the sentiment. “The first seminar was the best I’ve ever had, and the second one was really good. I'm cautiously optimistic about the year.” Magnolia Vandiver, sophomore, explained further, “Having new tutors helps me see my classmates in a new way.” For the freshmen, of course, the newness of it all comes across rather differently. The simple absurdity of St. John’s is a change more drastic than any of the polity’s internal realignments. “St. John’s is a unique place,” explained Jonathan Teagan, a freshman. “I have never seen more nerds in one area since Comic-Con.” It’s comforting, at least for this sophomore, to know that with all the changes, even if they are all for the better, the Polity’s identity as a place of intellectual curiosity, academic interest and social strangeness still stands strong. The Bull by Franz Marc �{campus events} The First Waltz of the Year photos by Liz Dowdy '23 the Gadfly / λόγος / Sept 5, 2022 5 �Finds from the Archives F inds from the Archives is a new addition to the magazine that will run in every issue. The intention of it is to offer the readership an ability to enjoy parts of St. John’s history that they otherwise might have missed while also encouraging us to realize and remember parts of that history as sources of inspiration. All items are from the Greenfield Library’s digital archive and are searchable by the titles given in bold. In the lower right hand corner of the second page, we've included a list of past lectures that relate to what students have recently read or shortly will read. Enjoy! The Perils of St. John's 1965 The Cover Page of The Modern Theatre Group's The Perils of St. Johns. The music was composed by a tutor, Mr. Michael Littleton, while the book and lyrics were written by students. Alex Valk orchestrated. The full text of the play is available online. It looks like it must have been quite the production. 6 the Gadfly / λόγος / Sept 5, 2022 Charlotte C. Barham and Ellen M. Swinford Playing Baseball ca. 1981 Two St. John's students enjoying America's past time, with one of them looking to have just scored a run. �The Collegian: Senior Prank Lyrics 1975 The title page of the lyric book for the Senior Prank of 1975 in the normally quite serious Collegian. The songs for Junior and Senior year are particularly amusing. Jacob Klein Leading Tutorial ca. 1960-1970 Boxing Club program 1991 A flyer for a fundraising dance put on by the St. John's Pugilist Society. Included with the item is an essay: Toward a National Championship: The Metaphysics of Boxing. Friday Night Lectures Freshman The Heart of the Program. Annapolis; Joe Sachs; January 17th, 2004. Sophomore Jerusalem and Athens: The Family Drama in the Bible and Greek Thought. Annapolis; Ronna Burger; November 8th, 2019. Junior The Death of Don Quixote. Santa Fe; Cary Stickney; September 21st, 1990. Senior On Not Hating Hegel. Santa Fe; Cary Stickney. Mr. Klein leading a well-dressed class in tutorial. On Reading Hegel Before the Age of Eighty. Santa Fe; Janet Dougherty; October 8th, 2004. Hegel's Logic of Desire. Annapolis; Peter Kalkavage; March 24th, 1995. the Gadfly / λόγος / Sept 5, 2022 7 �On Governance Robert Abbott I have been thinking about the work of the Assistant Dean, and more broadly, the work of the faculty who do not teach in the classroom–but have some other office. This essay is in part concerned with the right use of words so I may as well be gin by saying that the word “officer” is an important one around here. It comes from the Latin words opus (work) and facere (to do), and originally meant, “someone who has a duty to do.” It also implies that the one occupying the office does so temporarily before passing off the work to someone else. “Officer” is the term we use to name those responsible for steering the College: the presidents, the deans, the treasurers, and College-wide officials. You can read more about who they are and what they do in our guiding document, the Polity, found on the College’s website or in the Assistant Dean’s office. The collection of such people at other institutions of learning is usually called The Administration. That phrase is not found in the Polity at least in that sense, but it has become usual in our everyday speech. It used to be frowned upon around here and I still do frown when I hear it. “Administration” connotes a large, impersonal bureaucracy when we should be referring to only a few individuals, not a collection of furniture. Another reason not to use it is that unlike the plural “officers,” “administration” is a singular noun, and implies that there is a collective will behind it. The leaders of the College should be individuals with separate minds, opinions, and spheres of responsibility, not constituents of an overarching, impersonal organization promoting a unified message. “Administration” comes from the word minus, as in “someone who is lesser than someone else, a servant.” An administrative servant might sound rather useful to you in your busy first few weeks here, but I hope to show that you should not want one. (A more idiosyncratic point: when I hear the word “administer” I think of being given a shot in the arm, or worse, a formulaic survey.) It may seem so, but the purpose of this essay is not to instigate a linguistic reformation–though we should 8 the Gadfly / συμπόσιον / Sept 5, 2022 always take great care about the way we speak. The purpose of this essay is rather, as I said above, to think about the responsibilities of those who lead the College. If it is not to administer, what exactly is their work? I used a word that might more closely approximate it, “to steer.” As many of you know, I used to be a crew coach, and so I am partial to nautical metaphors. Perhaps if I use a different word for “steer,” a word with an even older etymology than “administration” or “officer,” my metaphor will be more like a definition. That word, “govern,” ultimately comes from the Greek word kubernan, “to steer.” One name for what the officers of the College are doing is governance, or, steering. A rudder, as James writes in his epistle, is a very small agent with a very great effect. All sorts of interesting and contradictory things can be going on inside a boat, but it goes where the steersman steers it. This is sometimes how the College works. Perhaps there is a question about what is to be done involving controversial and complex issues. When should we wear masks indoors? Should students be required to purchase alcohol for parties? What honorifics are to be used in the classroom? After all the conversation inside the boat, a decision must be made. Part of the officers’ work might be to make that decision. But something about this metaphor doesn’t sit quite right with me. Maybe it describes the way things look but doesn’t explain the way they are. For instance, it doesn’t answer a rather crucial question: how did all these people get in the boat in the first place? And for that matter, why do they remain? Why don’t they each build a boat, jump ship, and steer their own course? Though I began this essay by wondering what the work of the College’s leaders is, I have arrived at a new question: what cohesive principle underlies the College community, without which there would be no one to lead? It might be helpful now for you to be told or reminded of a practice the faculty has. Every month we gather as a body–fifty or so people–and have a meeting. The meeting �The Spirit of Knowledge by Henry Fuseli (1798) the Gadfly / συμπόσιον / Sept 5, 2022 9 �Man and Boy Walking Down Village Road by Jan van Goyen or Paul Liender is overseen by the president, and the faculty discusses whatever needs to be discussed. Sometimes there are matters of pressing concern. Is Freshman Advising an effective way to help students begin their education at the College? Is listening to a book the same as reading it in the traditional way? How ought tutors be involved in the admissions process? Sometimes there are more theoretical questions. What is the role of the practicum in the laboratory? How might we think about the readings in Senior Language as a whole? Is the College flourishing? All of these were questions discussed this past year. Meetings are lengthy and wide-ranging, and the conversation often opens unanticipated lines of inquiry. We speak in a spontaneous and candid manner. These sorts of conversations also occur in the committees responsible for discussing more specific matters: Campus Planning, Athletics, Financial Aid, Admissions, etc. If you 10 the Gadfly / συμπόσιον / Sept 5, 2022 were to listen in on these conversations, you would find that no topic is too small or too large for serious attention. After all, what might seem to be a small matter is often linked to something greater. The faculty once considered– before digital media made their appearance–whether the coffeeshop should sell newspapers. This rested on a more fundamental question. What kind of attention should we encourage the students to cultivate: an immediate concern with the contemporary situation of the world or a settled contemplation of the fundamental questions underlying it? There are things to be said on both sides of this question, and they were. You would find similar and seemingly “administrative” questions considered with great seriousness over the decades the New Program has existed. Should there be a book drop at the library? Should the College maintain a scholarly journal? In what way should we represent ourselves to prospective students to convey �honestly and economically our essential aims and character? What is the optimal number of students on each campus so that we nurture a true community? This last question was taken up when ground had not yet been broken for Spector and Gilliam. The president held a public forum so that students could be informed of the plans to build two new dormitories and discuss what effect this might have on the community. Some students were concerned that more housing would mean a larger student body. It has turned out that the size of the College has only slightly increased, while more and more expensive housing in Annapolis has pushed many students to live on campus. The new dorms have accommodated that change. This kind of forum arises as needed but there are standing bodies in which matters of concern are regularly taken up by students. The Delegate Council, the Student Committee on Instruction, and the Committee on Student Life all have their role to play in governance. As I use that word again, “governance,” I am left with the same uneasy feeling. It does not capture what I have described above, particularly when I consider that the cohesive principle I am trying to grasp is present not only in formal deliberative bodies, but in informal conversations, at unscheduled times, and in private–standing in line at the dining hall, running into each other on the quad between classes, or conversing over the dinner table. It is both a duty and a feeling, an activity and an expectation, an honor and a joy. I believe I can name it more correctly by adding a simple but meaningful prefix to our previous designation. The special atmosphere we breathe around here is selfgovernance. You might think that self-governance is a delimited right to have a say over particular aspects of one’s well-being (such as health care) or one’s work (such as the classroom). But that is not the kind of self-governance that envisioned and built the College. Nor is self-governance merely the right to be heard or the right to representation. That would be the right to be a constituency—a paying or paid passenger on the boat. Self-governance is a way of deliberating about, taking care of, and acting for the whole good of the community of which one is a part. It is the reason we stay in the boat, and when it is lost, we will go our separate ways. You can now see why the notion of an administration acting as a servant to its master is so alien to the College. We are meant to govern ourselves. We do not need servants, and we do not want to be masters. Students too are meant to be self-governing individuals responsible for thinking about and caring for the whole. (You can find the Student Polity at the back of the Student Handbook.) We are not alone in attempting this way of life. The Athenians might recognize us as cousins–gossipy, inquisitive, perpetually active, not always effectual, deeply interested in what is best, questioning the limits of what is possible, preserving what we know to be fragile and hard-won traditions, knowing that it is a difficult but beautiful thing to rule and be ruled. It is a fragile form of government and not necessarily the best. It isn’t really a definite “form” of government at all, though those who care about self-governance conscientiously observe the written and unwritten conventions that sustain it. Besides being a shared activity, self-governance is, as I said above, a feeling. It is not a transient pleasure or pain, but an educable conviction like pride or shame, a bonedeep sensibility, something you both cherish and expect, like fine weather in May. By way of a humorous coda, I’ll share something I learned about the office of the Assistant Dean while I was reading the Student Handbook (available on the website). Towards the middle of the Handbook there is a helpful list called, “Whom to See about What.” The last item to see the Assistant Dean about is, “Anything not handled by anyone else.” It is wise to have such an indeterminate provision in one’s constitution. As you talk to upperclassmen, tutors, and staff, you will naturally figure out “whom to see about what” and get to know your community at the same time. I encourage you to ask questions of those you meet, just as you would in the classroom. And should you ever not know what to do with your question, please feel free to drop by the office of the Assistant Dean. the Gadfly / συμπόσιον / Sept 5, 2022 11 �What's the Good of a Liberal Education? Luke Briner A s the first cracks of the new year’s dawn finally make their way above the summer’s horizon, and as a new class of wide-eyed freshmen set their feet on those ancient red bricks of ours for the first time, filled with anxiety and anticipation for what our College will bring them, it seems important now more than ever to ask what exactly we intend to accomplish at St. John’s. What, we must ask ourselves, is the good of a liberal education? Advocates of liberal education often argue at the outset that it’s devoid of any external, material, utilitarian end. This is pretty apparent from the constitution of liberal education as a whole; by dipping our toes into virtually every facet of human life through the seven Arts of the trivium and quadrivium,1 we’re intentionally prevented from concentrating on any particular field or trade with concrete application. But these advocates argue that the lack of this kind of good is precisely liberal education’s strength. Ms. Eva Brann, in her Manifesto for Liberal Education, provides an explanation for this lack of utilitarian intent: “[I]n education utility is impractical. Eventually almost everyone had better become a this or a that…. but parents and the world owe the young some (let it be four) clear years for becoming not a this or a that, but for learning to be a human being, whose powers of thought are well exercised, whose imagination is well stocked, whose will has conceived some large human purpose, and whose passions have found some find object of love about which to crystallize.” If we aren’t learning to “become a this or that” but “to be a human being” on the level that Ms. Brann describes, then clearly liberal education is intended to bear internal rather than external fruits, its aim being the excellence of the human being in themselves rather than in this or that particular sense. What must be explained next, then, is exactly how this sort of excellence is fostered. By carefully considering and questioning “what is elementary in all subject matters,”2 students tend to and are intended to begin asking the deeper philosophical, moral, or simply human questions that underlie life. In this dialectical deepening, 12 the Gadfly / συμπόσιον / Sept 5, 2022 the line between the examination of a text or idea and the examination of the self blurs. It’s the student’s active presence to this blurring that makes it possible for them to fundamentally change their perspectives and characters; dialectic and dialogue on what is elementary in our thought is necessary in order to interface with what is elementary in ourselves. This is precisely why Socrates remarks to Meno that a state of deep questioning and perplexity is necessary for the improvement of our thinking and our lives,3 and why Mr. Stringfellow Barr writes that “we can never live wholly human lives without a genuine converse between men.”4 But something is wrong in supposing so straightforwardly that liberal education brings about the moral betterment of human beings. While I agree that the purpose of liberal education is to bring this about, I confess that I’ve become highly skeptical of its actual ability to do precisely that. We can talk all we want about liberal education being in the business of “freeing minds,” as one of our own College’s slogans proclaims, or generally of creating excellent human beings; but even a cursory observation of liberal arts students makes clear that many if not most of us are far from actually living up to that standard. Taken as a whole, I don’t believe we’re any more temperate, courageous, prudent, or just than any other random swath of human beings, in spite of us likely having spent a great deal more time reading and discussing fancy old books than they have. By this fact alone, it’s clearly no guarantee, nor is it necessarily even probable, that our minds will be “freed” and our characters improved in the way that we’ve considered. But if liberal education has no practical utility, and if even the internal benefit it boasts of is infrequent at best, then its moral value must be extremely limited. Socrates’ question about whether virtue really can be taught seems to be the right one, since people can turn out morally deficient even after the most excellent education.5 As Seneca held that “​​[p]eople prone to every fault they denounce are walking advertisements of the uselessness of their training,”6 so I hold that people who fall short of every ideal that they set for themselves are walking advertisements of the same. �Moreover, other forms of education operate under the assumption that “each tree is known by its own fruit” (Luke 6.44). For instance, engineering schools aim to generally produce good engineers, and schools that fall short of consistently achieving this are rightly considered failures. But if the same principle holds for liberal education with its end being to produce truly, fundamentally excellent human beings, shouldn’t we consider it a failure too, considering it falls short of achieving that end for most of its students? Even when we consider cases where liberal education comes off best, with the student truly blossoming into excellence by submitting to its discipline, its efficacy still seems questionable to me. In such cases, we need to ask whether the student’s character was changed by it in the sense that it was a true efficient cause, or whether they already had noble intentions beforehand, which they then simply realized through it. If it’s true, as Ms. Brann says, that “it is flabbily inflated and implausible to talk of teaching students to think—no one can do that,”7 then while liberal education is capable of facilitating the improvement of a will already sincerely invested in its own moral improvement, it isn’t capable of instilling that will itself in them. But if this is the case, then liberal education is in a sense morally redundant, since it only really helps those who already have the earnest will to become better people through it. In other words, the moral efficacy of liberal education appears to be limited by the fact that it can only help those who care about it in the first place—which is itself due to a prior moral will—and so cannot convert a non-moral to a moral will; at the very least, it hasn’t been made clear that this conversion is directly possible. We must ask again, then: what’s the good of a liberal education? What’s clear enough, at least, is that the relationship between liberal education and excellence of character is not a causal one—the former in no way necessarily leads to the latter, despite the latter being the former’s professed benefit. But even though there’s no causal relationship between them, it remains that liberal education at least potentially has great benefit insofar as it allows for and facilitates the development of a genuinely moral character. Since liberal education points not outwardly but inwardly, and intends thereby to focus the students upon their own selves, it gives the student the ability to genuinely determine what they believe to be the Right and the Good, independent of any other consideration—to ground themselves upon a foundation that they have intentionally, organically, and rationally developed. And if this remains true, then perhaps it isn’t actually necessary that we begin our liberal education with the explicit will to become an excellent human being in order to actually become one through it, but only with the will to take the actual work of that education, i.e., dialogue and dialectic, seriously—to open our minds and our hearts to it, and to sincerely give ourselves to the terrifying and delightful perplexity that noble character and moral conviction can at last burst forth from. If we’re able to do just this earnestly and resolutely, then a deeper transformation of the moral character seems feasible, since it remains true that it’s only through dialogue and dialectic that the grounds for such a transformation is possible. This, I venture, is the true good of a liberal education: that it alone, out of all the disciplines of the world, has even the possible capacity of helping us to develop this kind of will. Liberal education, therefore, is a worthy study for human beings, as Seneca reflects, “[n]ot because it can make them morally good but because it prepares the mind for the acquisition of moral values.”8 And if it’s true that the development of genuinely moral character does in fact remain the exclusive domain of liberal education, then it turns out after all that such an education is indispensable for living a good life, since it’s only by the fruit of the dialectically-achieved self-understanding and self-mastery that it provides that a truly moral character can be achieved. If this conclusion has any shred of truth in it, then the most crucial factor in determining whether any of us actually derive any good from our education at St. John’s is ourselves. If we give ourselves to our Program, then the Program will give itself to us—and, on that principle, we can choose for ourselves whether to chisel our inner statues until the “godlike splendor of virtue”9 begins to shine from it, or to squander some of the choicest and most formative years of our lives. Let’s, then, try to emulate Socrates and become devoted midwives for each other and thereby for ourselves, giving birth not only to great ideas, but to great souls; and, in doing so, do honor not only to ourselves but to the very pursuit of Wisdom. Let us try to become living testaments to the good that a liberal education can still have. notes (1) The trivium consists of grammar, rhetoric, and logic; the quadrivium consists of astronomy, music, geometry, and arithmetic. Together, they make up the Seven Liberal Arts which our own Program, and liberal education in general, is centered upon. (2) Brann, A Manifesto for Liberal Education, Thesis Two. (3) Plato, Meno, 84b-c. (4) Notes on Dialogue, §2. (5) Meno, 93a-96d. (6) Letters From a Stoic, Letter CVIII. (7) A Manifesto for Liberal Education, Thesis Three. (8) Letters From a Stoic, letter LXXXVIII. (9) Plotinus, Ennead I.6.9. the Gadfly / συμπόσιον / Sept 5, 2022 13 �{campus opinon} Etiquette for Johnnies Isa Kiedrowski T echnically, I suppose a better title would have been “Etiquette- and Manners-Based Customs and Traditions at St. John’s College,” but that’s a mouthful, and your average reader would have already skimmed on to the next article already. Other discarded titles included “Sit Down, Shut Up, Start Talking: A Guide to Classroom Manners,” which didn’t have quite the tone I was going for, and “Yes, You Should Stand Before The Lecture Begins.” And while one might think some of the etiquette at St. John’s belongs to the “Cult of Antiquity,” I would like to posit that it does not. Respect has yet to become unfashionable, after all. Archaic though some of these customs may seem, at the end of the day, they are all rooted in plain good manners. Tutorials You may have by now noticed that we address each other by last name and honorific. While it is permissible to occasionally slip up and call your friend by their first name in class, there is one rule you must forever observe: Ms. Brann is never to be called “Eva.” Ever. I saw a freshman do it once. Only once. He was never heard from again. I recently read that answering the call of nature, as it were, is discouraged during tutorials. Technically, that is true. But don’t sacrifice your bladder for your tutorial. You will be of far less use to everyone if you spontaneously combust during your music class. Lectures Stand at the beginning. Stand at the end. Avoid looking at your phone in the middle. Waltz Parties Dancing and etiquette have always been deeply intertwined. So much so, in fact, that it warrants an article of its own. Dancing was once the social activity to top them all, and it came with its own set of rules, regulations, and conventions devoted to ensuring that all involved had at least a tolerable time. Some were useful (the notion that “cutting in”—simply tapping a fellow on the shoulder to borrow his partner—is the height of rudeness, and ought only to be employed in extreme circumstances), others cruel (that a girl who realizes that she is unpopular ought to spare everyone the trouble of her presence and go home, to “look around for other worlds to conquer”), and others that were definitely a product of their time (dancing more than twice with the same partner could be considered tantamount to announcing one’s engagement). Some of these rules have trickled down to us, others have been mercifully abandoned. A rule I really wish I didn’t have to bring up involves hands—namely, their location. Suffice it to say that hands should not wander from their standard positions. Trust me when I say there’s no way your hands got there by accident. Not only does it make one run for the smelling salts, but it could also devolve into a Title IX case. Yours truly also happens to be of the opinion that Waltz Parties would be greatly improved by the addition of dance cards, but that is a discussion for another Waltz Committee meeting. Seminars We’re getting back into the swing of post-Zoom things, but it bears reminding that the mute button no longer exists. This means that one unfortunately cannot mutter Reality snide things under one’s breath. It also means that it’s I don’t think etiquette has ever applied here. So you have easier to talk over one’s classmates again. I certainly don’t want to cause anyone any more anxiety than they already my permission: go hog-wild if you want. Maybe hold the have, but please remember that your classmates have things door on occasion, though? to say as well. “I’m sorry. Please, do go ahead,” is always a good response if you find the beginning of your sentence colliding with the middle of someone else’s. Technically, seminars have no end time, hence the seminar last year that lasted three hours (apologies if the wound is still fresh). There is no good way to end a seminar reprinted from early if you aren’t a tutor. The Gadfly Vol XLIII, Issue 02 14 the Gadfly / πόλις / Sept 5, 2022 �{smoke without mirrors} Smoke Without Mirrors Year 3: Your Annual Report on Nictoine and New Beginnings Daniel Nathan A t St. John’s, nicotine usage—cigarettes, more to the point—is an oft undertaken habit. A lifestyle to some. A cultural flashpoint to others. School spirit to many. From the legends of smoking in seminar to the ten minute (not necessarily a smoke, but effectively a smoke) break during long lab, cigarettes have long been a St. John’s staple. Will it stay that way? Can it stay that way? Before that, some context. First, they came for the mango Juul pods, then it was the menthol cigarette ban, then there was the initial order banning Juuls altogether, which a federal appeals court temporarily blocked. “They,” of course, is the cold, paternal hand of the FDA. Over the course of last few years, there has been a wave of anti-smoking and anti-vaping policy enacted by Washington directed at lowering usage amongst America’s youngest and hopefully halting the rise of addiction amongst susceptible zoomers. From the lowering of nicotine levels in cigarettes to tightening restrictions on fruit-flavored and sweet-smelling vape products, an old crusade is being renewed, harkening back to the days of the Big Tobacco lawsuits of the late 90s and early aughts. These lawsuits—many of them class action—swung public opinion firmly against Big Tobacco and severely hamstrung the industry’s influence and stature, and, not to mention, cost the largest tobacco corporations billions, which they are still paying out to this day. Fast forwarding to the present, not only have new technologies such as vapes and other electronic cigarettes revolutionized the tobacco industry, but nicotine use has risen steadily and staggeringly in recent years. These discreet “smokeless” alternatives have rushed the market over the last decade or so. A 2018 study conducted by NIH found that over 37% of 12th graders had tried vape products, a 9% increase from the previous year, and trends indicate that without substantial intervention these numbers will continue to rise. Since students returned to campus in the spring of 2021 after the initial wave of Covid and shutdowns during the pandemic, there have been a slew of changes on campus enacted by the college’s administration. The ashtrays around campus and near the quad were removed and smokers were driven into their huddled masses, confined to the grassy knoll beside the Campbell parking lot and bordering the Paca-Carroll dorms. During the summer semester of 2021, students were even threatened with fines and expulsion from on-campus living if they were caught smoking outside the approved smoking area. Though few students faced this wrath, the message had been sent loud and clear: any sort of cigarette culture at St. John’s—like at many other institutions—was a thing of the past. And if it must stay, it will be tucked far, far away, where no can hear you or see you or God forbid smell you. But as 2021’s fall semester began, complaints soon started to roll in from residents of Paca-Carroll that the odor of cigarette smoke was wafting into dorm rooms. Thus, the smoking section was moved once again to the spot where it now lives and breathes and will most assuredly die: the desolate puka shell necklace of chairs and ashtrays wrapped around long-dead grass, tucked in between the tennis courts and the gym. What I have so graciously dubbed: The Most Depressing Place on Earth. The current smoking section goes by many names. Originally called the Fern Lounge by admin, this name did not stick, and some enterprising individuals started to refer to it as Wolf Mountain, or by its full territorial title: Bone Tree at Wolf Mountain. Simple, sleek, elegant. But whatever the name may be, it now rests as the one and only designated (key word) spot to smoke on campus—a second designated spot technically does exist behind Spector hall, near where Buildings and Grounds are located, which may as well be off-campus. Nevertheless, for all you smokers and non-smokers alike, you teetotalers and vapists, the important thing is to remember that there is a new year upon us, and You Have Made It. Whether it was through the rejection letter from Brown or due to a somewhat suspicious love of western intellectual heritage, you are here. And through the ups and downs, the pulling out of hair and the tugging of heartstrings, we are all in for another year at St. John’s College, whatever that may entail. So, smoke ‘em if you got ‘em. the Gadfly / πόλις / Sept 5, 2022 15 �{and they gave her a fork} Greetings! (And a review of Bread and Butter Kitchen) Audrey Fox T he pursuit of an Annapolis Foodie is trite and contradictory, a bit of a paradox one might say. “All Annapolis Foodies are Liars!” I shout as I proceed to enjoy an overpriced salad in the warm industrial lighting of some wine bar. So take what I say with a grain of salt, or perhaps a whole fistful, if you’re willing to follow an assuredly blind guide. Before I get into the particulars, my overall review of the Annapolis food scene is thus: it’s a scam, rarely worth your hard earned dollars! Thomas Jefferson would be rolling in his grave. No pursuit of happiness left in Annapolis, only total disappointment. However, for the sake of you, good reader, I wish to take you down the treacherous path of optimism and seek as many worthwhile dives in order to keep your hard working brains and well-restrained mouths satisfied for this coming year. You’re going to have to forgive me, good reader. My first review has two outstanding issues that I must confess before continuing. One: as I am writing this review in order to prove to my magnanimous editors my critical capabilities and appetite, the contents will be supplied mainly from memory and not from a recent restaurant trip. In the future, I hope to provide more details and accurate meal prices for my reviews. Two: the location of said restaurant is in Eastport, not Annapolis. Please do not fret! It is within walking distance, and the directions I will now give. It’s 8am on a Saturday, and while you usually find dining hall brunch a satisfying enough meal, today it’s just not going to cut it. You don’t just want breakfast food, you are craving comfort, you are craving warmth, might I say–joy? Joy is not always found in dining hall brunch. So you gather the troops together, coaxing hungover friends from their dens as a mother goose to her goslings does, and you lead them off campus onto the treacherous streets of Annapolis. You head down Main Street, towards the docks. You’re going to go down Compromise Street and lo and behold a bridge! Well you and your comrades cross this bridge and come to Severn Ave and make a left. From there walk a few blocks down to Second Street and make another left and on the right side of the block, dear reader, you’ll find a favorite spot of mine called Bread and Butter Kitchen. At first glance it does not seem very impressive, just a small, unimposing place by the Eastport docks. But I promise you there are few breakfast joints as good and 16 the Gadfly / πόλις / Sept 5, 2022 Bread and Butter Kitchen 303 Second Street, Suite A 410-202-8680 breadandbutterkitchen.com Open all week from 7:30 AM-3:00 PM. affordable as here. The atmosphere is cozy, a few tables inside plus a bar overlooking the water. On nice days they have outdoor seating and a seemingly endless stream of middle aged men with ponytails to play guitar for the guests. I’ve personally always come here in the dead of winter, and nothing beats walking inside after crossing the nefarious bridge with its icy breeze. All the breakfast options are great. I’d recommend either the southern chicken biscuit sandwich or the pancakes (with blueberries). The biscuits are freshly baked and absolutely divine. I am a northerner myself but a southerner I’ve gone with hath hailed them a proper biscuit. Most of their ingredients are sourced locally and they make a majority from scratch–including their delicious chorizo gravy and their sausage. Hands down, I’ve never had better breakfast sausage. They include a variety of vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options/substitutions on their menu, which is rare to find at Annapolis casual dining establishments. In my experience, they also have an extremely friendly staff who will always take the opportunity to chat when the restaurant isn’t too busy. On the beverage side, nothing remarkable. They serve Open Sea’s Coffee which gets the job done but is definitely not worth the trip out. They do have an impressive bottled beverage selection, such as local kombucha and bottled sodas, but again I’d be going there for the irresistible food, not the drinks. I think Bread and Butter Kitchen is more than worth the trip out. In fact, I think it would serve any Johnnie well to get away from campus if only for the morning. A walk slightly outside one’s usual trodden path is a fabulous way to chance upon something different and maybe even exciting (God willing). My final words: break out of that stifling routine and get you and your friends going on a little culinary adventure! �{poetry} When Vineyards are Yearning Again Michael Jeramaz In the valley where an angel naps You’ll see her shining eyelids asleep, perhaps And the calling of a noble wren When the vineyards are yearning again. How small is the sky! The lining fatal Like a blanket over a baby cradle While purple mountains sit proud intermission Goodbye to you songbird who flew on our wishes. But all this lasts when the angel’s heart beats When all woodland creatures get to their feet When echoes are stretched and singing reborn When young Boys and Girls choose to transform. So in the beginning of my second life I’ve planted some sunflowers in my strife Like how wine from a grape has forever been All when vineyards are yearning again. the Gadfly / πόλις / Sept 5, 2022 17 �{johnnie athletics} Freshmen Bodies, Freshmen Souls The reasons, both physical and metaphysical, why everyone ought to become involved in our sports program are many. I list a few: 1. We have the best athletic program of any college in the country. 2. Exercise is good for the body... unless you sprain an ankle, or something like that. 3. Most of us feel better, are more alert, and can get more work done if our bodies are healthy and our souls relaxed. 4. Friendly competition is one of the really fun things in life. It is good for your soul. 5. Your circle of acquaintances will be greatly enlarged. This is good for the soul, provided you can separate the wheat from the chaff. 6. You will learn to accept, and bear with, thousands of split-second decisions from the officials, a few of which are wrong. This is very good for the soul. 7. Do you like to strive for, and achieve, specific goals? If so, consider our College Blazers. They are much sought after, and the pathway is clearly laid out. Striving for goals is good for your soul. 8. It is probably true that more pure fun occurs in the athletic program than in any other area of the college. Fun is good for your soul. 9. If you get involved in team sports, and become a “good team player”, you have realized that there are things in the Universe that are more important than your ego. That is good for your soul. 10. The benefits of exercise and friendly competition, learned while one is young, should be maintained for the rest of your life... i.e., they should become habitual. For virtue, as the Philosopher said, is a habit. 11. You will get to know numerous Alumni, Tutors, and Staff members who participate in the program. This is good for your soul, or ought to be... provided that they are the proper sort of role models. 12. Our showers are the best at the college; always plenty of hot water. 13. Are you bothered by, or worried by, tobacco fumes in the air? Come to the gym. The whole building is a nicotine-free zone. 14. If you perform some sort of heroic deed on the athletic field, your name will be mentioned in our weekly column. Heroes are always acclaimed. But do not be carried away by this. Remember that “the paths of glory lead but to the grave.” 15. A high percentage of our best students are active participants in our program. 16. Those who play, stay. 17. The gym is not particularly well-equipped, as gyms go. But it has washers and dryers, and a coke-machine... and I will explain to you, if you ask me, how you can get yourself in tip-top physical shape, without any equipment at all. 18. You can sit in an old-time barber’s chair in my office... you can pump yourself up or down, and adjust the slope high or low. Where else can you do that? 19. All work and no play make Jack a dull boy. 20. It is better to light a candle, than to curse the darkness. So there you have it... twenty good reasons why you should participate in our athletic program. If you are not convinced by all this, come and talk with me... I can probably think of some more good reasons. Or better yet, talk with the upperclassmen. They will tell you all sorts of strange, interesting and wondrous things. original article by Bryce Jacobsen former Director of Athletics The Gadfly - September 9, 1982 18 the Gadfly / πόλις / Sept 5, 2022 �Polity Communications D ear Polity - For this year of the Gadfly, we will be trying something new. Here, in the Polity Communication section, we want to publish your thoughts, concerns, letters, and announcements. This section will be an opportunity for you to directly communicate with the Gadfly staff and our writers as well as the wider St. John’s community. Think of it as a cross between “letters to the editor” and a community message board. If you have something you’d like us to include here for the next issue, please send it to sjca.gadfly@gmail.com by September 10th. Sincerely, The Gadfly Staff the Gadfly / πόλις / Sept 5, 2022 19 �THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE Founded in 1980, the Gadfly is the student newsmagazine distributed to over 600 students, faculty, staff, and alumna of the Annapolis campus. Opinions expressed within are the responsibility of the author(s). The Gadfly reserves the right to accept, reject, and edit submissions in any way necessary to publish a professional, informative, and thought provoking newsmagazine. Submissions sent to the Gadfly should either be in Google Docs or JPEG format. The deadline for submissions is the Friday prior to publication. For more information, contact us via email at sjca .g adfly@gmail.com 6 0 COLLEGE AVENUE ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND 21401 20 the Gadfly / Sept 5, 2022 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource <em>The Gadfly</em> Description An account of the resource Founded in 1980, <em>The </em><em>Gadfly</em> is a weekly student publication distributed to over 600 students, faculty, and staff of the Annapolis campus.<br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="The Gadfly" href="https://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=16&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CDate&amp;sort_dir=d">Items in the <em>The Gadfly</em> Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context thegadfly Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data pdf Page numeration Number of pages in the original item. 20 pages Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Gadfly, Vol. XLIV, Issue 1 Description An account of the resource Volume XLIV, Issue 1 of The Gadfly. Published September 5, 2022. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Koch, Craig (Editor-in-Chief) Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2022-09-03 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this publication. Type The nature or genre of the resource text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Subject The topic of the resource College students' writings--Periodicals College student newspapers and periodicals St. John's College--Periodicals Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Gadfly Vol XLIV issue 1 Gadfly Student publication https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/c9ac81b7f2b1d788470b5182a25fb71b.mp3 e831dff12ad13f3f17bfbbbbe9754434 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Description An account of the resource Items in this collection are part of a series of lectures given every year at St. John's College. During the Fall and Spring semesters, lectures are given on Friday nights. Items include audio and video recordings and typescripts.<br /><br />For more information, and a schedule of upcoming lectures, please visit the <strong><a href="http://www.sjc.edu/programs-and-events/annapolis/formal-lecture-series/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">St. John's College website</a></strong>.  <br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="Formal Lecture Series" href="https://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=5&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CDate&amp;sort_dir=d">Items in the St. John's College Formal Lecture Series—Annapolis Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection.<br /><br />A growing number of lecture recordings are also available on the St. John's College (Annapolis) Lectures podcast. Visit <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/st-johns-college-annapolis-lectures/id1695157772">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6GDsIRqC8SWZ28AY72BsYM?si=f2ecfa9e247a456f" title="Spotify">Spotify</a> to listen and subscribe. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Title A name given to the resource St. John's College Formal Lecture Series—Annapolis Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context formallectureseriesannapolis Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data audiocassette Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 00:59:45 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource From Ancient Agony to Contemporary Ecstasy: The Gospel at Colonus Description An account of the resource Audio recording of a lecture delivered on January 18, 2008, by Theophus "Thee" Smith as part of the Formal Lecture Series. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Smith, Theophus Harold Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2008-01-18 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Permission received Type The nature or genre of the resource sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource mp3 Subject The topic of the resource Gospel at Colonus (Choreographic work) Religion and drama African American Pentecostal churches Tragedy--Greek influences Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context LEC_Smith_Theophus_2008-01-18_ac Alumni Friday night lecture https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/2546af82b5c97bb1c25a03b83e1b7fe8.mp3 ade347419384b68d6e591be897954869 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Description An account of the resource Items in this collection are part of a series of lectures given every year at St. John's College. During the Fall and Spring semesters, lectures are given on Friday nights. Items include audio and video recordings and typescripts.<br /><br />For more information, and a schedule of upcoming lectures, please visit the <strong><a href="http://www.sjc.edu/programs-and-events/annapolis/formal-lecture-series/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">St. John's College website</a></strong>.  <br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="Formal Lecture Series" href="https://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=5&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CDate&amp;sort_dir=d">Items in the St. John's College Formal Lecture Series—Annapolis Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection.<br /><br />A growing number of lecture recordings are also available on the St. John's College (Annapolis) Lectures podcast. Visit <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/st-johns-college-annapolis-lectures/id1695157772">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6GDsIRqC8SWZ28AY72BsYM?si=f2ecfa9e247a456f" title="Spotify">Spotify</a> to listen and subscribe. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Title A name given to the resource St. John's College Formal Lecture Series—Annapolis Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context formallectureseriesannapolis Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data audiocassette Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 01:51:05 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Form and Figure in Greek Art: Ideal Beauty, Individualism, and Political Space in Greek Architecture and Sculpture Description An account of the resource Audio recording of a lecture delivered on February 16, 2007, by Camille Paglia as part of the Formal Lecture Series. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Paglia, Camille, 1947- Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2007-02-16 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource A signed permission form has been received stating, "I hereby grant St. John's College permission to: Make a recording of my lecture, and retain copies for circulation and archival preservation at the St. John’s College Greenfield Library. Make a recording of my lecture available online." Type The nature or genre of the resource sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource mp3 Subject The topic of the resource Architecture, Greek Sculpture, Greek Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context LEC_Paglia_Camille_2007-02-16_ac Friday night lecture https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/078831fe59a8098112e5933ab2252130.pdf b63461ee3ff0df82302176919bd987bc PDF Text Text MITCHELL GALLERY 2021–22 PAST EXHIBITIONS AND PROGRAMS A SEASON OF SHAKESPEARE: BRONZE WORKS BY GREG WYATT August 23–October 15, 2021 A VIEW FROM THE SHORE: WINSLOW HOMER’S IMPRESSION FROM THE COAST October 16–December 17, 2021 FLOATING BEAUTY: WOMEN IN THE ART OF UKIYO-E January 7–February 25, 2022 PHOTO | BRUT: COLLECTION BRUNO DECHARME January 29–March 21, 2022 ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE COMMUNITY ART EXHIBITION May 9–15, 2022 �A SEASON OF SHAKESPEARE: BRONZE WORKS BY GREG WYATT AUGUST 23–OCTOBER 15, 2021 Greg Wyatt, Macbeth, bronze maquette. On the St. John’s College Quad at McDowell Hall Greg Wyatt, an American sculptor whose primary medium of artistic expression is cast bronze, is the sculptor-in-residence at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City. Wyatt is known for his public works throughout the United States and Europe, and is inspired and guided by poetry, classicism, Shakespeare, Italian Renaissance masters, and architecture. Wyatt’s sculptures can also be seen in the gardens at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Georgetown University Medical Center, Arlington National Cemetery, and many other major institutions. These maquettes, located on the quad at St. John’s College, will provide a preview for the full exhibition to be on view in the Mitchell Gallery in fall 2022. All exhibitions and most programs are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted. Links to events will be posted on the website prior to the event. This exhibition is organized by the Newington-Cropsey Foundation and the Mitchell Gallery. We thank the following for their continuous funding and support: Anne Arundel County, Arts Council of Anne Arundel County, the City of Annapolis, The Helena Foundation, the J.M. Kaplan Fund, the Maryland State Arts Council, the Estate of Elizabeth Myers Mitchell, the Mitchell Gallery Board of Advisors, Members of the Mitchell Gallery, Mrs. Ruth Mitchell, the John and Hilda Moore Fund, the Lillian Vanous Nutt Mitchell Gallery Endowment, and the Clare Eddy and Eugene V. Thaw Fine Arts Fund. Sponsors:  American Alliance of Museums, Arts Council of Anne Arundel County, Maryland State Arts Council �PROGRAMS AND EVENTS August 23: Online opening of exhibition A Season of Shakespeare: Bronze Works by Greg Wyatt August 23–October 15: Online Lecture “The Creativity of Bronze” by Art Educator Lucinda Edinberg. September 19: Live-stream interview with artist Greg Wyatt, 3 p.m. This interview, followed by a Q & A period, will offer insights on Wyatt’s inspirations as seen in his sculptures of Shakespeare’s characters, as well as the collaboration and production of bronze sculptures. September 30: Book Club, 2:30–4:30 p.m. Site tour of the exhibition (conditions permitting), followed by discussion of Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood, led by Janet Gellici. Registration required. October 14: Art Express, 12:15–12:45 p.m. Lunchtime site tour (conditions permitting) with Art Educator Lucinda Edinberg. �A VIEW FROM THE SHORE: WINSLOW HOMER’S IMPRESSION FROM THE COAST OCTOBER 16–DECEMBER 17, 2021 Winslow Homer (1836–1910) is regarded by many as the preeminent American painter of the 19th century, well known for his dynamic renditions of scenes from the coast. His rise to prominence was greatly due to his work as an illustrator for the then-booming pictorial press—an outlet that brought Homer’s imagery into hundreds of thousands of homes on a nearly weekly basis. During his tenure with such publications as Ballou’s Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion, Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, and Harper’s Weekly, Homer created more than 200 illustrations. His career as an illustrator began in 1857 and ended in 1875, at which point he dedicated himself solely to painting. Homer’s images were admired early for their engaging style and dynamic composition. Jacob Lawrence, (1917-2000), General Toussaint L’Ouverture, 1986–1997, silkscreen. © Jacob Lawrence, courtesy of Landau Traveling Exhibitions. Following a trip to Europe, illustrated in the double-spread impression Homeward Bound (1867), Homer’s compositions for the press became noticeably more developed and sophisticated. Impressions including Gloucester Harbor (1873), Sea Side Sketches—A Clam-Bake (1873), and Seesaw-Gloucester, Massachusetts (1874) reflect a mature understanding and relationship to the engraving process. Though he did not participate in the printing of the block, Homer did have approval over the interpretation of his imagery and only used specific engravers for his impressions, maintaining his involvement in the process. The prints on display are selected from the original newspaper editions. The pictorial press enlisted an army of artists, engravers, platemakers, and printers to publish these works. While it is the draftsmen we focus on, the unnamed craftsmen who engraved and printed these images deserve recognition for bringing these mass-produced publications into the homes of 19th-century families. This exhibition is organized by Syracuse University Art Museum and curated by Andrew Saluti. We thank the following for their continuous funding and support: Anne Arundel County, Arts Council of Anne Arundel County, the City of Annapolis, the Helena Foundation, the J.M. Kaplan Fund, the Maryland State Arts Council, the Estate of Elizabeth Myers Mitchell, the Mitchell Gallery Board of Advisors, Members of the Mitchell Gallery, Mrs. Ruth Mitchell, the John and Hilda Moore Fund, the Lillian Vanous Nutt Mitchell Gallery Endowment, and the Clare Eddy and Eugene V. Thaw Fine Arts Fund. Sponsors: American Alliance of Museums, Maryland State Arts Council, Arts Council of Anne Arundel County �PROGRAMS AND EVENTS October 16: Online opening of exhibition A View from the Shore: Winslow Homer’s Impressions of the Coast October 16–December 17: Online Lecture “Winslow Homer: Printer and Painter” by Art Educator Lucinda Edinberg. Prerecorded lecture. Premieres October 15, available through December 17. October 20: Art Express, 12:15–12:45 p.m. Lunchtime Tour with Art Educator Lucinda Edinberg. November 3: Discussion, 5:30 p.m. “Illustrator to Artist: Winslow Homer and the Public” with American art scholar Wilford Scott. November 14: Live-stream lecture by exhibition curator Andrew Saluti, 3 p.m. This lecture, followed by a Q&A period, will provide insights into Homer’s career as an engraver and its importance in American art history. Watch the recorded lecture via YouTube. Andrew Saluti is assistant professor and program coordinator of the Graduate Program in Museum Studies at Syracuse University. Before joining the faculty of the School of Design, Saluti was the chief curator of exhibitions, programs and education for the Special Collections Research Center at Syracuse University Libraries, and the assistant director of the Syracuse University Art Galleries and Collections. Saluti’s creative research centers on the curatorship and history of printmaking, specifically the relationship to prints in social context. Current projects include the text The Preparator’s Handbook: A Practical Guide for the Prep and Installation of Collection Objects (Rowman & Littlefield), and the catalogue raisonné of the prints of Louisa Chase. December 9: Book Club, 2:30–4:30 p.m. Online tour of the exhibition, followed by discussion of Winslow Homer in Gloucester by D. Scott Atkinson and Jochen Wierich. Please contact the Mitchell Gallery for this out-of-print book. Discussion moderated by the author Jochen Wierich. Registration required. Jochen Wierich holds a dual appointment as Associate Professor at Aquinas College and as Curator of Sculpture and Sculpture Exhibitions at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park. He studied Art History and American Studies at the Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf and at the Goethe University of Frankfurt am Main and received his Ph.D. in American Studies at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. His teaching appointments in art history include Vanderbilt University, Whitman College, Free University in Berlin, and Belmont University. As a museum professional he has worked at the Terra Museum of American Art in Chicago, the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture in Spokane, Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art in Nashville, and the Mississippi Museum of Art in Jackson. In addition to a Terra Foundation Senior Visiting Fellowship in Berlin, Wierich had pre- and post-doctoral fellowships at the Smithsonian Institution as well as Winterthur Museum, Garden, and Library. His publications include two books published by Penn State Press: Emanuel Leutze, Washington Crossing the Delaware, and American History Painting (2012) and Internationalizing the History of American Art: Views (2009), an anthology co-edited with Barbara Groseclose. His essays cover a range of topics and artists in American art, including Richard Caton Woodville, Lilly Martin Spencer, Emanuel Leutze, Winslow Homer, the Taos Society of Artists, The Eight, Winold Reiss, and Plantation images in the American South. �FLOATING BEAUTY: WOMEN IN THE ART OF UKIYO-E JANUARY 7–FEBRUARY 25, 2022 Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III), Standing Courtesan, 1828, ink on paper. This exhibition of woodblock prints examines the historical perspectives of women and their depiction in art in Edo period Japan (1615–1858). Female characters in literature, kabuki theater, and poetry; the courtesans and geisha of the Yoshiwara district; and wives and mothers from different social classes performing the duties of their station are depicted in ways that provide some insight into the lives of women in pre-modern Japan. This exhibition is organized by the Reading Public Museum, Reading, PA. Exhibition support is provided by Casey and Rex Pingle. We thank the following for their continuous funding and support: Anne Arundel County, Arts Council Anne Arundel, the City of Annapolis, The Helena Foundation, the J.M. Kaplan Fund, the Maryland State Arts Council, the Estate of Elizabeth Myers Mitchell, the Mitchell Gallery Board of Advisors, Members of the Mitchell Gallery, Mrs. Ruth Mitchell, the John and Hilda Moore Fund, the Lillian Vanous Nutt Mitchell Gallery Endowment, and the Clare Eddy and Eugene V. Thaw Fine Arts Fund. Gifts-in-kind: Up.St.ART Annapolis. Sponsors: Foundation for the Reading Public Museum, American Alliance of Museums, Maryland State Arts Council, Arts Council of Anne Arundel County �PROGRAMS AND EVENTS January 7: Online opening of exhibition Floating Beauty: Women in the Art of Ukiyo-e January 7–February 25: Online Lecture “Floating Beauty: Women in the Art of Ukiyo-e” by Art Educator Lucinda Edinberg. Prerecorded lecture. Premieres January 7, available through February 25. January 12: Art Express, 12:15–12:45 p.m. ET, Online Lunchtime tour with Art Educator Lucinda Edinberg. January 29: Try-It Workshop, 9 a.m.–noon ET, In person With the guidance of artist and printmaker Mary Ellen Carsley, participants will create a print in the ukiyo-e style. No experience necessary. Materials provided. Registration required. $20 for members; $30 for non-members. Open to ages 16 years and up. February 1: Curator’s Lecture, 5:30 p.m. ET, Online Kit Brooks, the Japan Foundation Assistant Curator of Japanese Art at the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, will provide insights into the representation and attitudes toward women in the Edo period. Watch the recorded lecture via YouTube. Kit Brooks, The Japan Foundation Assistant Curator of Japanese Art at the Freer-Sackler Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art, holds a PhD in Japanese art history from Harvard University. Specializing in prints and paintings of the Edo and Meiji periods, Kit’s primary research interests revolve around the reevaluation of “eccentric” artists of the 18th century, the relationship between illustrated books and paintings, and special prints that emulate the visual qualities of other media, such as surimono and takuhanga. Before joining the Smithsonian in 2019, Kit held positions at the British Museum, Harvard Art Museums, and the Children’s Museum in Boston; they are also a graduate of the CCL/Mellon Foundation Seminar in Curatorial Practice at the Center for Curatorial Leadership. Kit is currently working on a number of shows drawing from the museum’s collection of over 8,000 Japanese prints. February 24: Book Club 1–2:30 p.m. ET, In person Join members of the Mitchell Gallery Book Club for a discussion of Tokaido Road led by the author, Lucia St. Clair Robson. Free. Registration required. Location to be announced. �PHOTO | BRUT: COLLECTION BRUNO DECHARME MARCH 4–APRIL 22, 2022 Elke Tangeten (Belgian, 1968– ) Untitled, 2013. Embroidery on chromolithograph adhered to paper. The abcd/Bruno Decharme Collection includes more than 3,500 pieces in a variety of media dating from the mid-19th century to the present day. This exhibition will feature 16 artists with representative works that provide a window into artists who exemplify the 1945 concept of art brut, the French term for “raw art” invented by Jean Dubuffet to describe art graffiti or naïve art created outside the academic tradition of fine art. Artists include Marcel Bascoulard, Mark Hogancamp, Ichiwo Sugino, Elke Tangeten, Melvin Way, and others. This exhibition is organized by abcd/Bruno Decharme and the Mitchell Gallery. Exhibition sponsorship is provided by PNC Bank with additional support by Laurie Salladin and Mark Baganz, and Cynthia Alderdice. We thank the following for their continuous funding and support: Anne Arundel County, Arts Council of Anne Arundel County, the City of Annapolis, the Helena Foundation, the J.M. Kaplan Fund, the Maryland State Arts Council, the Estate of Elizabeth Myers Mitchell, the Mitchell Gallery Board of Advisors, Members of the Mitchell Gallery, Mrs. Ruth Mitchell, the John and Hilda Moore Fund, the Lillian Vanous Nutt Mitchell Gallery Endowment, and the Clare Eddy and Eugene V. Thaw Fine Arts Fund. Gifts-in-kind: Up.St.ART Annapolis. Sponsors: PNC Bank, American Alliance of Museums, Maryland State Arts Council, Arts Council of Anne Arundel County �PROGRAMS AND EVENTS March 4: Online opening of exhibition PHOTO | BRUT: Collection Bruno Decharme March 4–April 22: Online lecture, pre-recorded “PHOTO | BRUT: Outsider Art from the Collection of Bruno Decharme” by exhibition curator John Verdi. Premiers March 4, available through April 22. This talk provides an introduction to select artists in the exhibition and provides some suggestions about the power of “outsider art” to shape our understanding of art in general. Watch the PHOTO | BRUT online lecture March 8: Panel Discussion, 5:30 p.m. ET, online Join this panel of distinguished guests as they address the process, aesthetics, and traditions of art outside the academic tradition, in “Pictures from the Edge.” • • • • American Visionary Art Museum Director Rebecca A. Hoffberger Curator and Tutor Emeritus John Verdi Cultural Historian Jennifer Donnelly (A96) Interim Director of the Mitchell Gallery Lucinda Edinberg View the recorded panel discussion on YouTube March 30: Art Express, 12:15–12:45 p.m. ET, online Lunchtime tour with Interim Director Lucinda Edinberg. April 6: Curator’s Lecture, 5:30 p.m. ET, online Exhibition curator John Verdi will provide insights on visionary and outsider artists in his lecture “Art Without Irony.” View the recorded lecture on YouTube April 13: Book Club, 1–2:30 p.m. ET Join members of the Mitchell Gallery Book Club for a discussion of Welcome to Marwencol by Mark Hogancamp and Chris Shellen, led by curator John Verdi. Free. Registration required. Contact the gallery for book purchase. Location to be announced. �ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE COMMUNITY ART EXHIBITION MAY 9–14, 2022 St. John’s College Undergraduate and Graduate Students: • • • • You may submit up to three works of art, total. Works may be two-dimensional or three-dimensional. We will mat your two-dimensional artwork (max. 11”x14”) for free. Sale of artwork is optional. St. John’s College Faculty and Staff • • • You may submit one work of art, either two- or three-dimensional. Two-dimensional work must be ready to hang. Sale of artwork is optional. Drop-off Dates • • • 2-D works: Wednesday, April 27 and Thursday, April 28, Noon to 5 p.m. 3-D works: Friday, May 7, Noon to 5 p.m. Deliver at the Mitchell Gallery (come to back door) Call to All Seniors: The Charles Vernon Moran Prize, open to any SJC Annapolis Senior, is awarded to a member of the senior class whose work in The St. John’s College Community Art Exhibition demonstrates mastery of technique and original thought. Announcement of this prize will be made in May. Questions? Contact Lucinda.edinberg@sjc.edu or call 410-626-2556. � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Mitchell Art Gallery Exhibitions Description An account of the resource Schedules of past exhibitions from the Mitchell Art Gallery. To see current exhibitions please visit the <a title="Mitchell Gallery" href="https://www.sjc.edu/annapolis/mitchell-gallery/exhibits-and-programs" target="_blank">Mitchell Gallery Exhibitions</a> webpage.<br /><br /><span>Click on </span><a title="Mitchell Art Gallery Exhibitions" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=30"><strong>Items in the Mitchell Art Gallery Exhibitions Collection</strong></a><span> to </span><span>view and sort all items in the collection.</span> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data pdf Page numeration Number of pages in the original item. 10 pages Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Mitchell Gallery Exhibition Schedule 2021-2022 Description An account of the resource Mitchell Gallery Exhibition Schedule 2021-2022. Exhibitions include JA Season of Shakespeare: Bronze Works by Greg Wyatt, August 23–October 15, 2021; A View from the Shore: Winslow Homer’s Impression from the Coast, October 16–December 17, 2021; Floating Beauty: Women in the Art of Ukiyo-e, January 7–February 25, 2022; Photo | Brut: Collection Bruno Decharme, January 29–March 21, 2022; St. John’s College Community Art Exhibition, May 9–15, 2022. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource St. John's College (Annapolis, Md.). Elizabeth Myers Mitchell Art Gallery Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2021-2022 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this publication. Type The nature or genre of the resource text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Subject The topic of the resource Art museums--Exhibitions Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Mitchell Gallery Exhibition Schedule 2021-2022 Mitchell Art Gallery https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/14983763513edb9ce47df6b004c9dc37.pdf 651eb5c7a8a32a285f07d020a2ef2e3b PDF Text Text MITCHELL GALLERY 2020–21 PAST EXHIBITIONS AND PROGRAMS JACOB LAWRENCE: “GENESIS” SERIES September 2–October 6, 2020 JACOB LAWRENCE: “TOUSSAINT L’OUVERTURE” SERIES October 7–November 17, 2020 JACOB LAWRENCE: “HIROSHIMA” SERIES November 18–December 18, 2020 A. AUBREY BODINE: OUR TOWN January 29–March 21, 2021 LENS AND BRUSH: WORKS BY AMERICAN ILLUSTRATOR FRANK E. SCHOONOVER April 1–May 16, 2021 �JACOB LAWRENCE: “GENESIS” SERIES SEPTEMBER 2–OCTOBER 6, 2020 Jacob Lawrence, (1917-2000), No. 8 Creation was done--and all was well, from the “Genesis” series, 1989, silkscreen. © Jacob Lawrence, courtesy of Landau Traveling Exhibitions. Based on biblical texts and his own memory of the Sunday sermons of the Rev. Adam Clayton Powell, Sr. at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, New York, Jacob Lawrence’s “Genesis” series provides a richly personal interpretation. The bright colors and the expressive, monumental preacher figure that stands central in each work reflect the artist’s affinity for action and resonance given in the sermon. Inspired by realism and details of iconography, these silkscreen prints also reveal Lawrence’s interest in references from art history and, together with a universally celebrated narrative, provides an important voice to American art and artists. About the Artist Since his first published print in 1963, Jacob Lawrence (1917—2000) produced a body of prints that is both highly dramatic and intensely personal. In his graphic work, as in his paintings, Lawrence has turned to the lessons of history and his own experience. From depictions of civil rights confrontations to scenes of daily life, these images present a vision of a common struggle toward unity and equality, and a universal struggle deeply seated in the depths of the human consciousness. The works are on loan courtesy of the collection of Alitash Kebede of Los Angeles, CA. The exhibition and museum tour are organized by Landau Traveling Exhibitions of Los Angeles, CA. “Jacob Lawrence: Three Series of Prints: Genesis—Toussaint L’Ouverture—Hiroshima” is made possible through the generosity of the Maryland State Arts Council and the Mitchell Gallery Board of Advisors. �PROGRAMS AND EVENTS September 2: Online opening of exhibition Jacob Lawrence, “Genesis” series September 9–October 6: Online Lecture Lecture on the “Genesis” series by Art Educator Lucinda Edinberg. Prerecorded lecture. Premieres September 9, available through October 6. October 2: Interview with Jeff Landau, 7:30 p.m. A live interview with Jeff Landau, director of Landau Traveling Exhibitions, titled, “From Coast to Coast: Exhibitions on the Road.” This event will provide the backstory on the work and creativity involved in curating a traveling exhibition, shipping logistics, venue reviews and schedules, and all the particulars involved in getting the show on the road. Moderated by Art Educator Lucinda Edinberg. A short Q&A period will be held after the interview. Jeff Landau Mitchell Gallery members only event. Gallery members will receive an email with the event link 24 hours prior to the lecture-interview. Make sure we have your current email address. To update your information, contact us at mitchell.gallery@sjc.edu. �JACOB LAWRENCE: “TOUSSAINT L’OUVERTURE” SERIES OCTOBER 7–NOVEMBER 17, 2020 Jacob Lawrence, (1917-2000), General Toussaint L’Ouverture, 1986–1997, silkscreen. © Jacob Lawrence, courtesy of Landau Traveling Exhibitions. This collection of prints is based on 41 tempera paintings from a series by the same name completed in 1938. Lawrence received his inspiration from C.L.R. James’ book, The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution (1938), a widely acclaimed history of the Haitian Revolution regarded as a seminal text in the study of the African diaspora. Toussaint L’Ouverture was the commander-in-chief of the Haitian army who led the slave rebellion into a revolutionary movement against Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1800 L’Ouverture helped draw up Haiti’s first democratic constitution, but he was arrested by Napoleon’s troops and sent to Paris, where he died in prison in 1803. L’Ouverture is known as the “Father of Haiti.” About the Artist Since his first published print in 1963, Jacob Lawrence (1917—2000) produced a body of prints that is both highly dramatic and intensely personal. In his graphic work, as in his paintings, Lawrence has turned to the lessons of history and his own experience. From depictions of civil rights confrontations to scenes of daily life, these images present a vision of a common struggle toward unity and equality, and a universal struggle deeply seated in the depths of the human consciousness. The works are on loan courtesy of the collection of Alitash Kebede of Los Angeles, CA. The exhibition and museum tour are organized by Landau Traveling Exhibitions of Los Angeles, CA. “Jacob Lawrence: Three Series of Prints: Genesis—Toussaint L’Ouverture—Hiroshima” is made possible through the generosity of the Maryland State Arts Council and the Mitchell Gallery Board of Advisors. �PROGRAMS AND EVENTS October 15–November 17: Online Lecture Lecture on the “Toussaint L’Ouverture” series by Art Educator Lucinda Edinberg. Prerecorded lecture. Premieres October 15, available through November 17. October 29: Virtual Tour, 2:30 p.m. | Book Club, 3 p.m. Join Art Educator Lucinda Edinberg for a virtual tour of the Jacob Lawrence “Toussaint L’Ouverture” exhibition. Then stay for book club, featuring C.L.R. James’s The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution and led by St. John’s College Tutor Emeritus Tom May. Free event, registration required. November 7: Live-stream Concert, 8 p.m. George Winston Conversational Concert: In Honor of the Jacob Lawrence Exhibition at The Mitchell Gallery, St. John’s College George Winston was born in Michigan and spent much of his childhood in Montana (Miles City and Billings), as well as Mississippi and Florida. He is best known for his solo piano recordings, of which he has sold more than 15 million albums, including a Grammy Award for the album, Forest. Winston’s primary interest is in New Orleans R&B piano, influenced by James Booker, Professor Longhair, and Henry Butler; however, Winston George Winston. plays in a variety of styles, including a melodic approach he calls “rural folk piano,” Photo by Todd V and “stride” piano—a style of jazz developed in the 1920s as an offshoot of ragtime Wolfson. developed by Thomas “Fats” Waller and Teddy Wilson. George Winston’s classic albums, Autumn and December, are perennial favorites, along with Winter into Spring, Summer, 2017’s Spring Carousel–A Cancer Research Benefit, as well as two volumes of the compositions of Vince Guaraldi, two volumes of benefit albums for the Gulf Coast disasters, and six other solo piano albums. He just released his 15th solo piano album, Restless Wind, via Dancing Cat Records/RCA Records. The album is available now at georgewinston.com. For this conversational concert, Winston will focus on “Fats” Waller’s influence on his own compositions. Waller, who was somewhat of a child prodigy, was an organist at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem—the same church Jacob Lawrence attended. A brief question period from the audience will follow the concert. Mitchell Gallery members only event. Gallery members will receive an email with the event link 24 hours prior to the concert. Make sure we have your current email address. To send or update your information, contact us at mitchell.gallery@sjc.edu. George Winston plays Steinway Pianos. Mitchell Gallery members only event. Gallery members will receive an email with the event link 24 hours prior to the lecture-interview. Make sure we have your current email address. To update your information, contact us at mitchell.gallery@sjc.edu. �JACOB LAWRENCE: “HIROSHIMA” SERIES NOVEMBER 18–DECEMBER 18, 2020 Jacob Lawrence, (1917-2000), Playground, from the “Hiroshima” series, 1983, silkscreen. © Jacob Lawrence, courtesy of Landau Traveling Exhibitions. Lawrence received an invitation by the Limited Editions Club of New York to illustrate any book of his choice from the club’s numerous titles. Lawrence wrote that he selected John Hersey’s narrative, Hiroshima, because “of its power, insight, scope, and sensitivity, as well as for its overall content.” These works illustrate a series of events taking place in a marketplace, playground, street scene and other sites at the moment of the bombing on August 6, 1945. John Hersey, a noted American writer and journalist, is considered one of the earliest practitioners of what was called “New Journalism,” in which storytelling techniques are adapted to non-fiction reportage. Hersey’s account of the aftermath of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, and the effect on six Japanese citizens, was published in its entirety in the August 31, 1946 issue of The New Yorker. This was the first and only time the magazine has devoted an entire issue to a work by one writer. About the Artist Since his first published print in 1963, Jacob Lawrence (1917—2000) produced a body of prints that is both highly dramatic and intensely personal. In his graphic work, as in his paintings, Lawrence has turned to the lessons of history and his own experience. From depictions of civil rights confrontations to scenes of daily life, these images present a vision of a common struggle toward unity and equality, and a universal struggle deeply seated in the depths of the human consciousness. The works are on loan courtesy of the collection of Alitash Kebede of Los Angeles, CA. The exhibition and museum tour are organized by Landau Traveling Exhibitions of Los Angeles, CA. “Jacob Lawrence: Three Series of Prints: Genesis—Toussaint L’Ouverture—Hiroshima” is made possible through the generosity of the Maryland State Arts Council and the Mitchell Gallery Board of Advisors. �PROGRAMS AND EVENTS November 18–December 18: Online Lecture Lecture on the “Hiroshima” series by Art Educator Lucinda Edinberg. Prerecorded lecture. Premieres November 18, available through December 18. November 22: Family Event, 3 p.m., all ages. Children’s event to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Hiroshima. This live-streamed event on YouTube will feature: • • Online video recording, courtesy of George Winston: Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. Narration by Liv Ullmann, music by George Winston. Online workshop: Origami—Making a Paper Crane with Art Educator Lucinda Edinberg. The ancient art of creating an origami paper crane will be demonstrated. The paper crane includes many origami techniques, so make one, or watch one being made! Everyone is invited to participate. Free. December 3: Virtual Tour, 2:30 p.m. | Book Club, 3 p.m. Join Art Educator Lucinda Edinberg for a virtual tour of the Jacob Lawrence “Hiroshima” exhibition. Then stay for book club, featuring Hiroshima by John Hersey. Free. Registration is required. December 13: Interview with Alitash Kebede, 3 p.m. A live interview with Alitash Kebede, collector and owner of Alitash Kebede Arts in Los Angeles, CA. Kebede will speak about her collection of works by African American artists and her friendship with Jacob Lawrence. See a recording of this interview on YouTube. December 18: Closing of Jacob Lawrence exhibition Alitash Kebede. Photo credit: Lily Kebede Abozin. �A. AUBREY BODINE: OUR TOWN JANUARY 29–MARCH 21, 2021 A. Aubrey Bodine, The Big Freeze, 1936. Silver gelatin print. © A. Aubrey Bodine (1906–1970), although probably best remembered for his association with the Baltimore Sun, was among the early Pictorialist photographers—an aesthetic movement that emphasized romantic beauty over documented reality. This exhibition of more than 20 photographs, some of which have been exhibited internationally, features urban and rural vignettes that expand beyond the city “beat” to include poetic and nostalgic images of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County, Maryland in the mid-20th century. Curated by Lucinda Dukes Edinberg Exhibition images courtesy of Jennifer B. Bodine “A. Aubrey Bodine: Our Town” is made possible through the generosity of the Maryland State Arts Council, the Mitchell Gallery Board of Advisors, and Chesapeake Medical Imaging. PROGRAMS AND EVENTS January 29: Opening of online exhibition Lecture on the “A. Aubrey Bodine: Our Town” exhibition by Art Educator Lucinda Edinberg. Prerecorded lecture. Premieres January 29, available through March 21. �February 7–March 7: Pictorialist Challenge Submit up to three photographs that have been manipulated in the Pictorialist style and have them critiqued by awardwinning photographers Robert W. Madden and Wilford Scott. Best images will be posted on the Mitchell Gallery website. Free and open to the public. Guidelines: • • • • • • • This video provides tips for those wishing to enter the Pictorialist Challenge. Submit up to three photographs for consideration Entry submissions open February 7 Images must have at least two Pictorialist elements that have been added to the final photograph Images should be submitted as JPEGs and also include a zip file of a folder containing the elements Image files must include name and title Entries should be sent to mitchellgallery@sjc.edu with subject line: Pictorialist Challenge Deadline: March 7 February 10: Panel Discussion, 5:30 p.m. ET Discussion and analysis of Bodine’s Pictorialist style by photographers Robert W. Madden and Wilford Scott and Art Educator Lucinda Edinberg. Free and open to the public. February 28: Interview with Jennifer B. Bodine, 3 p.m. ET This interview, followed by a Q&A period, will provide the backstory on the work and creativity of A. Aubrey Bodine’s photography exhibited in salons and the “Brown Pages” of the Baltimore Sun. Free and open to the public. March 4: Virtual Tour, 2:30 p.m. ET | Book Club, 3 p.m. ET Join Art Educator Lucinda Edinberg for a virtual tour of the A. Aubrey Bodine exhibition. Then stay for book club, featuring After the Photo-Secession: American Pictorial Photography, 1910–1955 by Christian A. Peterson. Meeting will be led by celebrated photographer Don Dement. Free event, registration required. March 7: Pictorialist Challenge Deadline, midnight. March 14: Pictorialist Challenge “Reveal,” 3 p.m. ET Join jurors Robert W. Madden and Wilford Scott for a discussion and “reveal” of selected challenge photographs and the manipulations created. See the entries and finalists. March 21: George Winston Concert, 7 p.m. ET Free and open to the public. George Winston was born in Michigan and spent much of his childhood in Montana, as well as Mississippi and Florida. He is best known for his solo piano recordings, of which he has sold more than 15 million albums. Winston plays in a variety of styles: a melodic approach he calls “rural folk piano;” stride piano, a style of jazz developed in the 1920s as an offshoot of ragtime developed by Thomas “Fats” Waller and Teddy Wilson; and his primary interest, New Orleans R&B piano, influenced by James Booker, Professor Longhair, and Henry Butler. He has also paid tribute to famous composer Vince Guaraldi, the creator of the George Winston. Photo music of the early Peanuts cartoons, and he later released an homage to the by Todd V Wolfson. Doors with his album Night Divides the Day: The Music of the Doors. All of his albums have received overwhelming critical acclaim, and Winston has received many awards, including a Grammy Award for Forest. �Traditionally, George requests attendees bring canned food contributions for local homeless shelters. While the current climate prohibits in-person gathering, St. John’s College will make a gift to the Lighthouse Shelter in Annapolis in honor of George. George Winston plays Steinway pianos. March 21: Closing of A. Aubrey Bodine exhibition. �LENS AND BRUSH: WORKS BY AMERICAN ILLUSTRATOR FRANK E. SCHOONOVER APRIL 1–MAY 16, 2021 Top: Photo by Frank E. Schoonover Bottom: Frank E. Schoonover, Fur Brigade, 1912. Oil on canvas. Frank E. Schoonover (1877–1972) is known for his works found in Harper’s Weekly, Scribner’s, Saturday Evening Post, Ladies Home Journal, American Boy, and other publications. Schoonover—along with N.C. Wyeth, Jesse Willcox Smith, and others—was a prized student of Howard Pyle, the founder of the Brandywine School of American Illustration. Through Pyle’s encouragement, Schoonover traveled by snowshoe and dog sled across parts of Canada and North America, taking photographs of his environments that were later used as image references. This exhibition, which includes more than 40 works, provides a glimpse into Schoonover’s resources, technical skill, and creativity used for his highly acclaimed illustrations. Curated by John Schoonover, president and curator, Schoonover Studios. Organized by Lucinda Dukes Edinberg. �PROGRAMS AND EVENTS April 1: Opening of online exhibition April 1–May 16: Online Lecture “Compatible Companions: Tools of the Illustrator,” a prerecorded lecture by Art Educator Lucinda Edinberg. Premieres April 1, available through May 16. April 11: Live interview with John Schoonover, president and curator, Schoonover Studios, 3 p.m. ET This interview, followed by a Q&A period, will provide biographical insights and background on Frank E. Schoonover’s travels, training, and inspirations—which led to his reputation as a prominent illustrator. Free. No registration required. John Schoonover John Schoonover graduated from the University of Virginia and established Schoonover Studios Ltd. in 1969. The Schoonover Studios specialize in the works of Frank E. Schoonover, but works by other American illustrators, as well as art conservation, are also a vital part of the studio’s operations. Along with Louise Schoonover Smith and Lee Ann Dean, John is the co-author of the 2-volume Frank E. Schoonover Catalogue Raisonné. He is currently on the Board of Trustees at the Biggs Museum of American Art, and has served on the Board of Directors of the Delaware Humanities Forum, was a founding member of the Brandywine Arts Festival, and remains an active member of the Wilmington Rowing Club. John is currently working on a book celebrating the documentary photographs of Frank E. Schoonover, which is expected to be released in 2022. April 29: Virtual Tour, 2:30 p.m. ET | Book Club, 3 p.m. ET Online tour of the exhibition followed by discussion of Howard Pyle by Henry Pitz, led by illustrator Rob Wood. Contact the gallery for book purchase. Free. Registration required to participate in Book Club. Illustrator Rob Wood received his BFA from East Tennessee State University with a major in painting and graphic design. Upon graduation, he joined the U.S. Air Force and served a year in Vietnam. After receiving an honorable discharge, Wood attended the University of Georgia, where he earned his MFA and began his illustration career at a design firm in the Washington, DC area. Rob Wood Wood’s artwork is found in books and magazines, and he has created illustrations for book covers for Stephen King, Nevada Barr, Jack Higgins, Kristin Hannah, and a new edition of Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian, released in 2021. He has also created an ornament for the White House Christmas tree, as well as murals for the Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum, The World War II Museum in New Orleans, and the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia. He is a member of the Society of Illustrators and has received multiple awards and recognition, including best in show and gold medals from Communication Arts Magazine, the Art Directors Club of New York, the American Illustration Annual, the Art Directors Club of Washington, DC, National Geographic, and other publications and organizations. In addition to his illustration work, Wood has served as a guest lecturer and judge at the World Infographics Conference in Pamplona, Spain. Wood has taught at Towson University as a graduate advisor and for the former Continuing Education Program at St. John’s College. Wood is a partner with Wood Ronsaville Harlin, Inc. an internationally recognized firm with clients worldwide. May 5: Art Express, 12:15–12:45 p.m. ET Lunchtime tour with Art Educator Lucinda Edinberg. Free. No registration required. May 16: Closing of Frank E. Schoonover exhibition � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Mitchell Art Gallery Exhibitions Description An account of the resource Schedules of past exhibitions from the Mitchell Art Gallery. To see current exhibitions please visit the <a title="Mitchell Gallery" href="https://www.sjc.edu/annapolis/mitchell-gallery/exhibits-and-programs" target="_blank">Mitchell Gallery Exhibitions</a> webpage.<br /><br /><span>Click on </span><a title="Mitchell Art Gallery Exhibitions" href="http://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=30"><strong>Items in the Mitchell Art Gallery Exhibitions Collection</strong></a><span> to </span><span>view and sort all items in the collection.</span> Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data pdf Page numeration Number of pages in the original item. 12 pages Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Mitchell Gallery Exhibition Schedule 2020-2021 Description An account of the resource Mitchell Gallery Exhibition Schedule 2020-2021. Exhibitions include Jacob Lawrence: “Genesis” Series, September 2–October 6, 2020; Jacob Lawrence: “Toussaint L’Ouverture” Series, October 7–November 17, 2020; Jacob Lawrence: “Hiroshima” Series, November 18–December 18, 2020; A. Aubrey Bodine: Our Town, January 29–March 21, 2021; Lens and Brush: Works By American Illustrator Frank E. Schoonover. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource St. John's College (Annapolis, Md.). Elizabeth Myers Mitchell Art Gallery Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2020-2021 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource St. John's College owns the rights to this publication. Type The nature or genre of the resource text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Subject The topic of the resource Art museums--Exhibitions Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context Mitchell Gallery Exhibition Schedule 2020-2021 Mitchell Art Gallery https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/183cd0fe79202198a9f2578b8412c32f.pdf 7f4619dc22798d76a2a293414d431ed8 PDF Text Text THE POWER & GLORY OF PLATONIC DIALOGUE In Book One of his A1emorabilia, Xenophon reports Socrates conYersing \vith the sophist Antiphon. Towards the end of their comrersation, Socrates speaks of sharing wisdom with one's friends: ... just as someone else takes pleasure in a good horse or dog or bird, so I take even more pleasure in my good friends, and should I possess anything good I teach it, and I recommend my friends to others from whom I believe they \vill receive some benefit regarding \'Utue. And the treasures of the wise men of old that they have left written down in books, unfolding the scrolls, I carefully go through them in common with my friends; and should we see anything good, we single it out, and we consider it great gain should \Ve [thus] become helpful to one another. (1.6.14) Xenophon comments: ''\Vhen I heard these things, he certainly seemed to me a supremely happy man and someone to conduct those heeding him into a good and noble life." Xenophon's testimony to the ,·alue of books in their relation to friends is striking, gi\·en his upright character and worldly competence-a man fully capable of successfully leading others in the grimmest of life and death circumstances. He must have had rather special books in mind. \Vhat, then, is im,olved in reading Plato's dialogues together as friends, carefully turning their pages, seeking out the treasures that hmre been written down by a wise man of old? What ought 1.ve be after? What \voul<l Plato ha\·e us find? \Vhat would he ha\'e happen, as the result of our reading? The ans\ver to such questions cannot be straightforward, but the dialogue form of Plato's writings-graciously and thankfully-makes unm·oidable our consciousness of what it means to read them. Looked at a little more carefully, they also make unavoidable the question of what it means to speak, ,-1:rite, or read in the name of philosophy, and-from another angle-they encourage meditation on what it means to speak, read, or write at all. To presume that we already know what a dialogue is for, \vhat philosophical speech really aims at, and what we should be getting out of reading Plato, is therefore to ignore, perhaps even to violate what I shall be suggesting to you are Plato's wise and manifold purposes. In particular, your single greatest practical failing as readers of Platonic dialogue \vill regularly be the assumption that you can remain spectators of its dialectical drama, disinterested onlookers, that you can remain aloof from its proceedings to pick and choose among the thoughts you imagine the drama to be presenting to you. Your single greatest theoretical failing \Vill regularly be to suppose that you know the nature of the philosophical life. I do not doubt that Plato both understood and allO\ved for the fact that many people would easily make both these sorts of mistake, each in his O\vn way, but that should not lessen your resolve to be counted among the readers he most wished for. �CARL PAGE THE POWER & GLORY OF PLATONIC DIALOGUE PAGE-:! Tonight I want to assemble some reminders to help stop you falling short of Plato's potential friendship. I hope to do that, principally by recalling hO\v thoroughly strange the dialogues are and by reflecting a little on why that might be. From the n:ry start, therefore, you can see that my speech \Vill be far more practical and erotic, i.e., aimed at nudging your habits and ideals, than it \Vill be doctrinal and theoretic-which is to say, aimed at informing you of something. Jn this respect, my speech about Platonic dialogue reduplicates the central character of the dialogues themselves. A few procedural obsetTations. First, my main design is to present a vie\v of Plato and his philosophical activity, rather than to justify my interpretation of them. I confine myself to presentation, partly because of ti.me, but mostly because I think justification comes up as a serious question only after one is convinced that something is interesting enough to warrant that sort of effort-should circumstances require. It is the interest I would like to pro,-oke first. My second note is a confession. Although much of \vhat follO\vs could be called methodological, I often find myself impatient and ungenerous with such reflections, with abstract worries about how one ought to do things instead of getting on with doing them. Methodology, critique, and meta-theory tend to be airy and undisciplined, they lend themsefres to indecisi,-e, apparently endless bickering, they e:acourage an odious sort of intellectual smugness, and their attention to matters of form is frequently at the cost of return to the concrete content (whose understanding they were originally supposed to serve). N e\-ertheless, any serious \vell-directed \vork does need orientation, does need some understanding of what it's about, and this is especially important for those who have only just begun. In philosophical matters, the Delphic injunction to know oneself looms as large over Socrates as it does over Kant, notwithstanding their disagreements over how best to fulfill the responsibility. It seems, therefore, one must at some point or other run the risks of transcendental narcissism for the sake of self-knowledge. Third, some of the topics I shall explore \Vill sound like nriations on the familiar, perhaps eYen tired old Straussian themes of esotericism, noble lies, persecution of philosophy, and the rest. But not e\·eryone here has heard these important refrains. I intend to repeat my \Trsions of a few of them eloquently and incisively, along with a couple of riffs I hope no one has heard before. I deliberately refer to "my \'ersions" of these refrains because I disagree with an underlying assumption commonly at work in their interpretation: that philosophy is by nature politically alienated and must therefore exercise a condescending accommodation, compelled by necessity, to the city and to ordinary human life. Some of my reasons for this deep disagreement are \VOYen into \vhat follows, though I do not make them thematic. One last introductory word. I shall not hesitate-rather shamelessly perhaps-to speak on philosophy's behalf. By my acknowledging this presumption in advance, you can at least see that I appreciate what might be questionable about my immodesty. THE ODDITIES OF PLATONIC DIALOGUE A moment ago I hinted that there is something important in the very fact of Platonic dialogues, something that goes beyond and maybe even upsets the conventional meanings �CARL PAGE THE POWER & GLORY OF PLATONIC DIALOGUE PAGE-3 typically associated with philosophy books and their academic study. This needs to be made explicit. PU.TONIC ANONYi\IITY. The dialogues arc fully dramatic, i.e., they portray logoi in action and deeds of speech but never disembodied assertions. This form is unusual and was noted by Aristotle near the beginning of the Poetics, \vhere he speaks of "the Socratic conversation,'' classing it together \vith the mimes of Sophron and his son Xenarchus (1447b10). Sophron was a fifth-century Syracusan writer, reputedly admired by Plato. His mimes were dramatic renderings in \'erse of everyday people, designed to be revelatory of their characters. Plato's dialogues are either directly performed, simply narrated, or narrated within a performed frame, but in all cases not a \vord is said in Plato's own voice, except the titles. The dialogues not directly performed permit external comment by their narrators, but there is neYer-unlike the passage from Xenophon with \vhich I began-any authorial comment from Plato himself. In this respect, the Platonic corpus is like the body of Shakespeare's plays. Just as \Ve must wonder exactly how far Prospero, for example, can be taken to speak for the Tempest's author, or I Iamlet or Lear, so too must we wonder hO\v far Socrates or Parmcnides or the Eleatic Stranger or Timaeus or the Athenian Stranger can be taken to speak for Plato. This question was known to Diogenes Laertius in the third century A.D., though many contemporary readers seem to have forgotten it. Despite the unremitting anonymity, hO\vever, it must be added that the dialogues are known to be Plato's and were circulated from the start under his authorship. We arc therefore meant to notice that the dialogues contain no direct word of Plato's O\vn. He addresses us, but he does not declare himself. Ancient rumours of secret Academic teachings notwithstanding, in his own time Plato was just as reticent about his ultimate insights and purposes, providing almost no other clues but the dialogues themseh'es. They are like "the lord, \vhose oracle is at Delphi,'' that "neither reveals nor conceals, but gives a sign" (Heraklcitos, Frag. 93) and, like the sibyl herself, '\vith ra\·ing lips, uttering things unlaughable, unbeautiful, and unperfumed, they reach \Vith their \"oice across a thousand years, because of the god" (cf. Herakleitos, Frag. 92). So, Plato whispers an intriguing name into our ears-Phaedms (\vhom e\·eryonc knows to be very beautiful), Theaetetm (whom everyone knmvs to be very clever), Afeno (whom everyone knows to be very bad); either such names or sometimes a provocative title-Socrates' Defense Speech, An Intimate Drinking Par!J, Cizilized Order, Reg11lations,-then he draws the curtain back, to disappear, not off-stage but behind the masks, bringing life to each and every one of his drama/is personae-the personae Platoms. LOGICAL DERANGEMENT. The god-inspired oracle at Delphi uttered things "unlaughable, unbeautiful, and unperfumed," the very same qualities we meet with in Plato's oracular dialogues. Before fully realizing that strange fact, an experienced and competent reader might well approach the dialogues assuming that philosophy is meant to be or at least ought to include the art of telling, insightful speeches, that a philosopher's discourse should be more accurate, more illuminating, more comprehensive, and more self-conscious than any of our other ways of talking. Plato's dialogues, ho\vc\•er, present quite a different face, despite their being finished works and despite how plainly philosophy is their centre of l l :!I) / I) 8 �CARL PAGE THE POWER & GLORY OF PLATONIC DIALOGUE PAG E -4 gra,·ity. Individually and as a whole they are, at first sight, if not a conceptual chaos at least a tangle of conflicting and unrcsoh'ed accounts, often at cross-purposes with one another, and sometimes in ways their speakers seem not even to appreciate, let alone understand. I list the most ob,·ious features. Many of the dialogues are aporetic, i.e., they lose their way and never seem to find it again, no matter how serious the resoh·e with \vhich they began. One tends to get used to this, but the failure of comfortable closure~,·cn in the manifestly great works, such as the Rep11b/ic-reliably irritates any classroom of first-time readers; as, indeed, it should. Some of the dialogues that seem more doctrinally committed, more like "proper" philosophy, e.g., Parmenides, Sophist, are experienced by many competent readers, at least initially, as rather boring through much of their length, occasionally to the point of unreadability. A good handful of dialogues hardly seem like dialogues at all, if "dialogue" be understood as an earnest effort at inquiry in common. At crucial points in almost all of them, the philosophical argument relics on images and metaphor, conwntionally the tools of poetry. Worse still, poetry itself seems regularly to be denounced, while nonetheless used throughout. fa·en writing itself is declared some sort of mistake. Also at crucial points, the speech will sometimes turn with utter logical seriousness to myth, to what are acknowledged within the com·ersation as fanciful talcs (Repuhlzi.~ Gorgias, Phaedo, Phaednd). And yet, all these myths and images rub cheek by jowl with the most abstruse forms of technical argumentation and intricately developed analyses, sometimes lasting for pages and pages-pages that cause painful conceptual squinting, e,·en for the most discursi,·ely facile of readers. Yet again, logical precision can at almost any moment gi,·e \vay to outrageous fallacy, blatant non-sequitur, and shameless ad hominem attack. Occasionally, the whole show seems a logical farce-as in the Crary/11s, the E11th)'demm, and parts of the Protagoras for example-yet everyone in the dialogue keeps a completely straight face. There seems to be no overall plan to the dialogues as a totality; one more or less would not seem to ruin their effect, and there is no single dialogue that might count as their culmination or key. Nevertheless, many are linked dramatically \vith one another, both temporally and topically. Worse still, some topics seem to be treated inconsistently across different dialogues, and worse again, the topical coherence of individual dialogues has seemed to many readers to lea,•e much to be desired (Rep11blzi.· and Phaedms have gi,·en this impression for centuries). Neither can one help but wonder at the apparent naivete with which the interlocutors so often proceed, only infrequently stopping to "define their terms"-as \VC like to say--often plainly making large and questionable assumptions, sometimes agreeing not to pursue deeper investigations, and so on, all the while talking about precision and whether we really know what we think we know, how different knowledge and opinion are from one another, and what indispensable value there is in self-knowledge. Finally, as if it were n ot sufficient that \VC never hear directly what Plato himself thinks, the character of Socrates-clearly a protagonist, though not for that reason equinlcnt to Plato-is depicted \vithin the dialogical drama as notorious for hir irony. Let me say straightaway, ho,ve,·cr, that Socrates' irony docs not mean that he isn't serious in what he does say or that he says the opposite of what he thinks, either for amusement or �CARL PAGE T H E POWER & GLORY OF PLATONI C DIALOGUE PAGE-5 social co1wenience. Socrates' irony is that he kno\vingly ne,·er says all that he has in mind, and that he will on occasion knowingly let his speeches and his deeds contradict one another, both in the present and across dramatic time. Plato's irony is similar, if not identical, in spirit. It is an irony that Aristotle described as "graceful and generous," an a,·oidance of pretension, especially in matters that are " unclear and apt to cause no small impediment" (Nicomachean Ethics 1127b22-31). In sum, the logical or account-gi,·ing, truth-telling face o f the dialogues presents a confusing, sprawling, eclectic, thoroughly unsystematic gallimaufry of irritatingly teasing hints at philosophical depth and meaning. Beware of becoming blind to this obtrusive fact. Everyone has heard that the whole of Western philosophy is nothing but footnotes to Plato, so the dialogues must be magnificently crafted speeches. Right? Well, they are, but not in the way you might expect. Their ,·cry ugliness, their rebarbati,·e outward appearance is itself a manifestation of the greatest craft. It is great, because we haYe all-by which I mean all serious readers since Plato wrote-kept coming back in amazement and expectation to these astonishingly ugly things. You \vill often hear it said that Plato is a master stylist, and indeed he is. He is a master stylist because he can and regularly does with facility and com·iction imitate eYeryone else perfectly, from Aristophanes' humour, to G o rgias's nai\·e urbanity, from Lysias's oratory to Protagoras's logic, from Hippias's vanity to Alkibiades' disarmingly attractiYe hubris. Yet the dialogues themselves remain lopsided, ungainly, "unbeautiful and unperfumed." They are nothing that we expect, either as ordinary readers or as readers with m ore sophisticated views about the nature and tasks of philosophy. Plato's intensely ironic dialogues, then, are just like the ironic Socrates, \Vhom Alkibiades describes for us in the Symposium. Completely ugly on th e outside- short, snub-nosed, goggle-eyed-yet nonetheless suffused with a hidden harmony. Like the Silenus figures Alkibiades goes on to mention, the dialogues are cleverly contrived statuettes, ugly satyrs of undisguised desire on the outside but on the inside filled with images of gods. Alkibiades saw the gods in Socrates, but on account of his hubris tic ambition to command Socrates' eros, he failed to make those gods his own. Like\visc, the reader of Platonic dialogues must abandon the urge to possess. Blundering, thoughtless lonrs, groping after the satisfaction of their O\Vn, preconceived lusts, \Vill get nowhere. Socrates seems to b e a sort of conversational vulture, always hanging around to see if he can tum the carrion of ordinary conversation into a philosophical feast. More particularly, he seems to be a sort of psychic vampire as well, circling around all the promising young men, always whispering with some one o r a few of them off in a corner, as Kallikles fo r example accuses him in the Gorgias. In both cases the hope and promise seem ne,·er fulfilled. There is simply no Platonic dialogue between two mature philosophers; Zeno and Parmenides happen to be present together with an immature Socrates in the Parmenides, while the mature Socrates is present but does not engage the Eleatic Stranger in the Sophisl and Stalesman. As for any dialogue that acti,·ely engages truly potential philosophers, one might look to the Republic but Plato's dialogues furnish no clue as to the later fate of either Glaucon or Adeimantus, while in the case of the Parmenides, the promising Socrates is for the m ost part an onlooker-th o ugh he is THE ABSENCE OF :tl!ATURE PHILOSOPHY. l l / ;! I) / 9 8 �CARL PAGE THE POWER & GLORY OF PLATONIC DIALOGUE PAGE-6 undoubtedly educated both by what he sees and by the brief exchange that crushes his fledgling account of Ideas. It is fair to say overall, then, that while Socrates is forever interested in getting philosophy going and that as a mature philosopher he is clearly superior to all those he actively questions, \Ve ne\'er really see philosophic conversation underway in full sail, top-gallants flying. Moreover, this omission is explicitly brought to our attention in the Sophist, whose intriguing prologue leads the eager reader to expect a third dialogue Philosopher once Sophist and Statesman arc done. The apparent promise, however, remains unfulfilled. There ne\'er was such a dialogue published, and we are provoked to wonder if it ever could have been written. We are also invited to think about why sophist and statesman should be the topics to eclipse so bright a sun as that. The common spectacle of the Platonic dialogues is at least the deferral of fully realized philosophy and more often than not the outright failure of philosophy even to show signs of a healthy beginning. On the other hand, Plato himself is standing somewhere beyond that absence and failure, a position he underlines for us by \vriting himself out of a scene in which everyone would most have expected him to appear-and where he was no doubt present in fact-namely Socrates' swan-song and death, the scene that Plato dramatized in the Phaedo. Whate\'er else, therefore, that Plato takes his own philosophizing to be, it cannot be what is represented in the drama of his dialogues. In particular, philosophy as Plato means it to be understood cannot be a simple equivalent to "Socratic conversation." I mean that last assertion to be a little shocking. The dialogues are often thought to be mirrors or representations of real, li,·ing communications, or at least of some idealized version of foring, philosophic communication. i\foreover, this mirror image is by itself somehow supposed to dra\v us too into the same sort of living communication, as if the imitation became the deed in us by our seeing it. But Plato did not seek to encode the living communication of philosophy by imitating it via the drama that is constructed in and as the dialogue. This is worth stating bluntly: Plato did not write dialogues because he thought that the proper form of philosophy \Vas the Socratic flim-flam that takes up so much of them. The dialogues are designed to make up for the fact that Plato cannot be here to talk with us as he would most desire. They are the monological half of a philosophical communication that must compensate for the fact that one of the interlocutors, perhaps the wisest one, is absent. The dialogue is first and foremost a logos, Plato's logos. That it is dramatic and so on, is all internal to the fact of its having been written dO\vn and published as an artfully contrived speech by one man to the entire world. This does not sit well with a common contemporary view that there is nothing else that should emerge from Socratic inquiry except more Socratic inquiry, that the full, mature form of philosophy--disappointingly but somehow only accidentally missing from the dialogues-would be a conversation between Socrates and his equal in logical refutation. To cut a very long and depressing story short, current intellectual orthodoxy claims that the best reasons available to human beings are ahvays and in principle immanent to the contingent circumstances of their inquiries, that our deepest thoughts cannot but be fully conditioned by tradition and circumstance in \vays that make them inevitably finite and parochial, that all insight can never be more than a single perspective, a point of vie'v taken from within a 11 / :!(1 / 9 8 �CARL PAGE THE POWER & GLORY OF PLATONIC DIALOGUE PAGE-7 limited horizon. This posture has the following peculiar result: to the extent that there is nothing absolute available in the contingent play of opinions, to that extent it starts to seem absolutely better to be able to refute an opinion than to assert or maintain it. Human life on the practical le\Tl no doubt calls for provisionally acceptable conclusions, but on the philosophical or theoretical level all assertions turn out to depend on the critically complacent failure to have discovered their refutations, \vhich if not around today surely will be tomorrow--or so the fallibilist predicts and insists with alarmingly fanatical, not to say incoherent conviction. It thus also follows that the theoretically open mind ought to be an empty mind, a mind fortified with a sturdy arsenal of techniques for preventing any opinion from lodging within it. To ha\'e any opinion at all is to risk the embarrassing accusation of intellectual naivete. Whatever its own merits, this is not the view represented by Plato's Socrates or his dialogues. Although Socrates claims to lack \visdom-in the teeth of the fact that no one, either inside or outside the dialogues, belie\·es him when he does so-it is still \visdom that he loves, not the lack of it. Contemporary critical thinkers love the lack, and this tempts them into making a fetish of transcendental detachment and to indulge an infinite, unfalsifiable suspicion for what Socrates in the Apology calls his "human wisdom" and \vhich elsewhere turns out to be the science, note that word, the science of erotics. There is, hmvever, a more substantial point of comparison. Although both Socrates and the contemporary critical thinker agree that most people are unhelpfully opinionated (which is by no means the same as to say that all their opinions are \vrong), the critical thinker imagines that the fitting response is to work hard on disinterested mind-skills for keeping all tempting beliefs up in the air, for keeping the naivete of commitment at arm's length. For Socrates, on the other hand, the fact that most people are opinionated is a much deeper, murkier problem, tied up \vith what souls most deeply want and what they most deeply fear they can't get. The examination of genuine opinions, i.e., the deep-seated convictions you ha,·e about what is true, good, and beautiful, the com·ictions \vhose belief is not a matter of choice, the examination of those sorts of opinions is a far more delicate matter than testing for reasonableness----e,·en if self-styled logicians kne\v precisely what that really is, which they obviously don't. I say that so confidently because I have never yet heard of a logician helping anyone understand Plato, or Hegel, or Nietzsche, for example-all of whom I take to be entirely reasonable thinkers. They haven't done much for Aristotle either. Plato makes the need for something else especially clear by having his Socrates talk about two unusual and hitherto unrecognized arts: psychic midwifery in the Theaetetus and philosophical rhetoric in the Phaedms. The reader is also meant, of course, to notice how often those same arts are portrayed at \vork throughout the dialogues, both by the characters and by Plato himself. Philosophical inquiry turns out to be a far more complex acti,·ity than tying people in argumentative knots or never being at a loss for a clever or merely correct reply. It includes a moral, soul-tending dimension that pays attention to pedagogical, rhetorical, ethical, and political matters as well, in addition to the surface dimensions oflogic, analytic technique, and epistemic responsibility. TRA...:"JSITION. I have briefly considered Plato's artfully contri\·ed anonymity, the constant baffling of our logical expectations, and the dramatic absence of philosophy in a l 1 :!o _: 9 B �CARL PAGE THE POWER & GLORY OF PLATONIC DIALOGUE PAGE-8 mature form. These obsenrations, together with the phenomena of irony, both Platonic and Socratic, plus a glimpse into certain soul-tending arts, all point to the partially hidden yet systematically intrusive presence of philosophizing in a more complex, shadowy form than Socrates' public \vrestling matches or the Eleatic Stranger's diacritical gymnastics. Plato speaks through indirection and means to indicate that philosophy cannot and ought not to speak as straight as one might at first suppose. This initially unsettling conclusion finds several well-known echoes in the Platonic epistles. "There is no composition by Plato, nor will there e,·er be one, but those now said to be his belong to a Socrates grown young and beautiful" (314c). And then in a great and famous passage from the Seventh Letter. But this much I can certainly declare concerning all these writers, or prospective writers, who claim to know the subjects which I seriously study, whether as hearers of mine or of other teachers, or from their own discoveries; it is impossible, in my judgment at least, that these men should understand anything about this subject. There does not exist, nor will there e\·er exist, any treatise of mine dealing therewith. For it does not admit of verbal expression like other studies, but, as a result of continued application to the subject itself and communion therewith, it is brought to birth in the soul of a sudden, as light that is kindled by a leaping spark, and thereafter nourishes itself (341 b) Nevertheless, Plato wrote dialogues all his life, taking astonishing pains m·er their intricate construction. He cannot therefore ha,·e thought them superfluous or trivial, despite his recognition of their necessary limits. By all normal standards of truth-telling coherence the dialogues are manifestly deranged; my task now is to address the partly hidden method in their apparent madness. PHILOSOPHY IN THE IRONICAL MODE According to the reports of antiquity, Aristotle wrote Platonic-style dialogues in the earlier part of his career. They are, regrettably, lost-all the more regrettably, seeing that Cicero praised them as golden (though what else should we expect from someone \vho spent the greater part of his early years in the Academy teaching rhetoric?). What we ha,·e from Aristotle are documents that may reasonably be thought of as treatises or at least notes to treatise-like expositions. As it happens, there is nothing in the Aristotelian corpus as we have it that can confidently be taken as published "\vriting in the manner of Plato's dialogues and it is certainly the case that much of what we do have presents an aporetic, tentative, less than declarative face. Even so, and with all due allmvance for hints at even Aristotelian indirection in what seem to be far more straightforward texts, the Aristotelian writings bear witness through much of their bulk to an expository, more recognizably academic style of philosophical speech than the baffling Platonic form. The comparison shO\vs that Plato perfectly well understood what it would mean to write philosophy in that more straightforward mode-and that Aristotle kne\v perfectly well \Vhat it would mean to write in the ironic, self-deprecating dialogical mode. In neither case, then, is the form a stylistic quirk 11 / :!O /9 8 �CARL PAGE THE POWER & GLORY OF PLATONIC D!ALOGUE P AG E-9 or an historically dictated necessity. Moreo,·er, for both Aristotle and Plato it was a conscious decision to write at all, since Socrates, just as self-consciously did not. DIALOGUE YS. TREATISE. What is at stake in this stylistic difference between dialogue and treatise? At first glance, the Aristotelian style of telling, philosophical speeches gives one reliably direct ways of talking about and thinking about the ordered, eidetic structure of things, both human and non-human. E\Tn if one accepts none of his specific metaphysical results or if one prefers to emphasize the open-ended, aporetic character of certain of his inquiries, Aristotle's noetic tools and categories have proven themseh·es of permanent worth. The notions of substance, essence & accident, form & matter, actuality & potentiality, together with Aristotle's interpretative specifications of aitia, arche, kinesis, p!Jche, phronesis, epzsteme, and praxis are all ingenious and Yirtually indispensable devices for anyone interested in the peculiar business of philosophical articulation. Aristotle's insights constitute a huge fraction of our philosophical patrimony, and amount to a legacy we should receive \Vith both gratitude and respect. While at least equally deserving of gratitude and respect, Plato's ironic form of philosophical telling does not emphasize in the same way the ordered structures that may be seen and understood. Rather, Plato points to \Vhat it is like to be seeing structure, what it is like to be moved by truth, to be astonished by beauty, to aim at and hope for the good. Not only that, Plato also indicates the manifold \Vays in \vhich human beings variously fail and fall short in their attempts to be knowing and wise. Actuality and achievement rule in Aristotle's philosophic art, eros and lack in Plato's. The one emphasizes what may be understood, the other the fragile, unsteady soul that does the understanding. Aristotle is thus the philosopher of detachment, Plato the philosopher of integrity. Correspondingly, the danger of Platonic philosophizing is self-obsession and the narcissism of intelligent desire, while the danger of Aristotelian philosophizing is selfforgetfulness and the indulgence of theoretical hubris. Strange as it may seem, although Aristotelian exposition puts a premium on truth-telling, in the end it is more guarded. Aristotle tends to suppress the erotic, the madness of self-transcendence and the nuances of self-knowledge. In particular, he muffles what is dangerous about philosophy, whereas Plato is comparatinly open about it. Aristotle prm·ides many theoretical insights for which one can be very thankful, yet it is \VOrth recalling that on the death of Alexander he had to flee Athens, pursued by an indictment for impiety. For help in understanding that disturbing fact, one will find more extensive guidance in Plato. In distinguishing an eidetic emphasis from an erotic one, I do not mean to say that the two modes are rigidly correlated with dialogues and treatises, as if Plato never really presented a philosophical idea or Aristotle never worried about the integrity of thinker and thought. Platonic dialogues can in places be as expository as Aristotelian treatises can in places be ironic and full of finesse. Both modes have their relative purposes and merits. Sometimes, one is simply ready to hear an idea, to be told how it is \vith things, to be shown where the joints of the world are. At other times, and for different reasons on different occasions, one needs to understand the circumstances of such truth-telling. "Aristotelians" and "Platonists" have quarreled over these matters for centuries and \vill, doubtless, brawl for centuries more. As a matter of temperament, different human beings find themseh·es 11/:!I) / l)8 �CARL PAGE THE POWER & GLORY OF PLATONIC D!ALOGUE PAGE-10 favouring one emphasis rather than the other, but both dialogue and exposition are equally flexible in the hands of masters. In fact, I am quite sure that philosophic masters need to be masters of both. Let me just state then that masterful philosophical articulation, in thought or in speech, requires equal command of \Vhat I shall call eiddics and erotics. As just suggested, eidetics correspond to the objects of contemplation, the intelligible nature, structure, and wholeness of things. The dimension of erotics includes how the soul is disposed to think and to act, and how responsible it remains to itself and its conditions as it engages both. As it happens, i.e., just as a matter of historical fact, the artful irony of Plato's dialogues as we have them communicates far more about philosophical eros-and its failings-in relation to the truth than do the Aristotelian writings we have. No doubt Aristotle could have told us more, and has probably told us more than is usually realized, but I think that the matter of fact rests on a matter of principle, namely, that Platonic dialogue is truer to the manifold needs and realization of lucid, philosophical existence. In particular, it is Platonic dialogue that can more reliably save us from ourselves, since it is \vith respect to the erotic dimension of human endeavour that \Ve keep getting in our own way, that we are the originating sources of our O\Vn unnecessary wanderings and corruption. Eidetics tend, in comparison though by no means mindlessly, to take care of themseh-es--one sign of \vhich is that they're more teachable. Plato hides, though not with complete invisibility, behind his characters. Chief among them is a character, namely Socrates, not only notorious among his fellow players for his irony but plainly to us his spectators coy, manipulative, and far from even-handed. Taking courage from the apparent straightforwardness of Aristotelian exposition, we can hardly forbear an exasperated cry: Why all the fuss? Why the teasing, not to say irritating indirection? What prevents philosophy from speaking forthrightly, from saying all she means? Must philosophy ahvays play false, or perhaps play games, with our truth-telling hopes and ambitions? In short: what, if anything, calls for Platonic irony? If we cannot answer such questions, then Plato can be left to his idiosyncratic, sibylline whimsies. Unsurprisingly, the dialogues themselves furnish many clues to a more generous understanding. Gi\Tn that writing dialogues cannot be all there is to the philosophical life, it \Vill be helpful to consider such writing in light of that li"\·ing \Vhole. As I read the dialogues, actual philosophical life has four principal domains of responsibility: work, pedagogy, guardianship, and civics. By work I mean master-work, the full, unimpeded realization of philosophical insight. By pedagogy I mean the husbandry of potential and apprentice philosophers. By guardianship I mean the preservation of philosophy against both external assault and internal corruption. By civics I mean philosophy's citizenly life and duty within the larger human community that gives it birth. All four domains suggest good reasons for philosophical indirection, for less than unqualified truth-telling, though I shall not here be able to pay full attention to them all. ORIGINS OF IRO:t\TJ:'. The most common initial excuse offered for Platonic irony, for \vhy the dialogues seem so ugly and manipulative and confusing, appeals to pedagogy, to the requirements, as it is commonly formulated, of getting readers to think for themselves. Certainly, in any worthwhile education and a fortiori any philosophical education, mere instruction is not 11. :o / 9 8 �CARL PAGE THE POWER & GLORY OF PLATONIC DIALOGUE PAGE-II sufficient for understanding. Instruction alone leaves us, as Nietzsche put it, with a bellyful of undigested knowledge-stones; enough to calm our hunger for a while perhaps, yet ultimately unable to nourish and satisfy. To the extent, therefore, that the dialogues aim at guiding and training potential philosophers, it can safely be expected that they do more than instruct, that they challenge when we get lazy, inspire when we are daunted, and that they somehow aid proper noetic digestion. As usually understood, however, this encouragement "to think for oneself'' is interpreted as the development of critical thinking skills, skills that may permit you to grind down those knowledge-stones but which do nothing to help you assimilate whatever truth they may have contained. One must also be wary of supposing that such pedagogical aims, even when understood in the best sense, exhaust the possible reasons for dialogical irony, that teaching determines the boundary of Plato's communicative intent. It does not. There is another, deeper difficulty with the idea of thinking for oneself. Namely, that everyone already does; it's part of the problem, not the solution. To quote from Herakleitos once more: "though the logos is common, the many live supposing themselves to have a special understanding" (Frag. 2). At the most important level, then, irony or stimulating indirection is a proper part of philosophical pedagogy not so much because young learners need tricky help with the hard work of assimilation-which they certainly do-but because we human knowers are constantly prone to collapse into that state of consciousness Hegel identified as self-certainty. Once in such a state, we can usually only be levered out again with well-meaning, i.e., noble, lies. Being in the know, the natural condition of the human soul, is so obviously our greatest adaptive advantage that we keep getting entranced by partial realizations of our wonderful capacity, we keep generalizing our local insights into global wisdoms. But how is such self-satisfied conviction to be m oved, led out of itself, educated? How does one come to recognize that one does not know? Hegel's dialectic, to the extent that it may be thought of as containing a pedagogical response to the problem, is a logical bludgeoning that has turned out to be all but useless, except in the case of a uniquely motivated not to say perverse few. Socrates, in contrast, seduces many a complacent soul-though not every one--out of its proclivity to noetic self-satisfaction with all manner of charms and deceits, as does Plato in tum at another level of refinement. The essential psychagogical trick in most cases is to make the higher truth look somehow attractive within the perspective of the lower, more confined horizon. Plato's Eleatic Stranger classifies such tricks as belonging to that species of the image-making art that works with phantoms (fantastics) rather than with likenesses (eikastics). The distinction is made in a dialogue entitled Sophist (236c). Philosophy's strictly educative concerns, however, have definite limits, since not every soul is capable of fully realizing her promise. We moderns do not like to hear things like this, partly because we tend to think that reason ought by and large to be perfectible by methods universally available to all and partly because we h ate to think that possibilities are limited or that freedom alone might not suffice for realizing the good. Plato is more hardheaded. Serious attraction to philosophy is no guarantee at all of its fulfillment, as may be seen, for example, in Apollodorus of the Symposi11m, who was at least wise enough to know 11 / 20/98 �CARL PAGE THE POWER & GLORY OF PLATONIC DIALOGUE PAGE-12 this fact about himself. Furthermore, while Socrates will converse with whoever comes his way, he does not undertake to teach everyone. Some souls he passes on to others, often guided by the admonitions of his daimonion, his "divine sign." His daimonion, of course-his little daimonic thing-is an inflection of the daimon eros, in whose affairs he is expert. So Socrates will sometimes help and sometimes tum aside those who will never be able to manage all that philosophy requires. As with most serous matters, it is a risk-y sort of discrimination, easily incurring public odium. In Socrates' case, that risk is the essential meaning of the historical accident that wrapped his erotic daimonion up into the civic charge of impiety, of importing new-fangled gods, an innovation partly responsible for his execution. As a final point it needs to be noted that infatuations with philosophy are not always so benign as Apollodorus's. The tyrannical ambitions of Alkibiades and Kritias, for example, both gifted intellectually, were blamed on their association with Socrates, while Plato's Seventh Letter--from which I have already quoted--exists principally on account of the havoc wreaked on philosophy's public, indeed international, reputation by Dionysius the Younger, Tyrant of Syracuse, in his efforts to make Plato's wisdom his own. My guiding question is whether or to what extent the irritating indirection of Platonic dialogue can be understood as exercising philosophical responsibility. The particular demands of teaching provide some plausible grounds, but there are others. Some of these are rather easy to overlook, once inside the comforts provided by contemporary academic freedoms. But not only are those freedoms hard-won and in need of constant maintenance (a task for which philosophy, in virtue of its disciplinary competence regarding the relation of theory to practice, is the proper guardian), neither is peace the uniform condition within our necessarily parasitic Republic of Letters. Academic politics is notorious for its pettiness and intolerance-itself a hardly accidental fact-but more significant are the manifold theoretical disputes over demarcation, hierarchy, and methodology across and between the various disciplines. Regarding these foundational and procedural reflections, philosophy's competence and even presence is held in deep suspicion by the positive disciplines. Within the so-called university, faction it would seem is the norm-no matter what ideals one might prefer or hope to see there. Not everyone can be fully philosophical, you might think that's a shame; not everyone wants to be philosophical; well, that's their choice; but not everyone wants philosophy around. That's dangerous. Hence the need for what I called philosophical guardianship. Both philosophy and what is philosophically best in all of us cannot rely on being left alone. In either the personal or the political case, there are several intrusive challenges to philosophy's well-being within its larger community: the psychic community of manifold desires on the one hand; the civic community of individual agents on the other. The fights in both cases depend on a hunger fo~ wisdom. The Platonic dialogues emphasize two main sources of intrusive challenge, and though I shall discuss them mostly in terms of the civic paradigm, the Rep1Jb!ic's own brilliant likeness of city to soul should keep the psychic paradigm equally in mind. According to Plato's dialogical imagery, then, the challenges come (1) from the other men of logoi, of whom the two main classes are poets and sophists, and (2) from the men of the city, who share with philosophy an ambition for the noble but 11 /20 / 9 8 �CARL PAGE THE POWER & GLORY OF PLATONIC DIALOGUE PAGE-13 disagree on the location of its highest form. The latter challenge also has two arms : that philosophy subverts decent, conventional politics (Anytus, Kleitophon), and that philosophy is adolescent, laughable, and unmanly (Kallikles, Thrasymachus). Adeimantus, who stands for what is necessary and best within the large yet still limited horizon of the city, bluntly restates these two accusations in the middle of the Rep11blic: philosophers are either useless or depraved. They therefore deserve no place in human community, let alone to be enthroned as its only competent kings. Perhaps the clearest overall Platonic symbol of the political challenge is the dialogue entitled Socrates' Defense Speech, while an emblem for the challenge from the men of logoi may be found in that gigantomachy mentioned in the Sophist, that never-ending battle between the hard-headed, aggressive "motion men"-whose general, so we learn in the Theaetet11s, is Homer-and the gentler, more generous "friends of the forms." Plato's implied account of the nature and grounds of these several challenges, I cannot examine in detail here but it is, I think, tolerably clear that the predicaments are, in all cases, serious and abiding ones. Astute Protagorean prudence, Hippian technical competence, and effective Gorgian rhetoric all seem far more beneficial-both in themselves and certainly to their practitioners-than Socratic elenchus could ever be. Socrates' wisdom appears only to numb people and make them angry or unhappy. Homer, Sophocles, and Aristophanes all seem more inspiring and companionable than philosophy's austere explanations and deflations, from which the gods are missing and in which, if the divine be mentioned at all, it seems aloof and indifferent to human concerns. Too much talk, and talk for talking's sake are indeed shameful and unmanly, while delving too deeply into the origins of things does indeed run risk of undermining civic loyalty, familial respect, and even the self-confidence that is a necessary condition for any worthwhile deed. All these tensions have a symbolic focus in that disturbing scenario at the end of the Rep11blic's most memorable image: the philosopher returning to the Cave would be set upon and killed by those still shackled there, if they could get hold of him. Their opinions are not so true as they imagine them to be, formed as they are by the shadows cast from artifacts and statues of real things carried above and behind them by poets, sophists, and politicians, and they would react with hostile fear if they knew. Yet the lesson is not that the Cave-dwellers are all contemptibly ignorant and wicked; it is that pure wisdom is unbearable to the incompletely enlightened soul. I say "incompletely enlightened" because too bright a light is unbearable, only to those who can already see. There is both a fire and muted daylight in Plato's Cave. Athens that prided itself on its freedom of discourse, its accomplishment in tragedy and its welcome to the sophists, nonetheless executed Socrates and indicted Aristotle. Philosophy cannot be an unqualified human good, because it is not unqualifiedly safe to tell the truth. We all know this already. Frankness is a gift and honour reserved for close friends, and even there it's difficult. Nor should we be surprised to learn that the truth is dangerous, if-as we hear so often-that knowledge is power. Socrates let himself be executed to vivify these sorts of unsettling facts for all thoughtful souls to come, knowing that Plato was there to write about it in a way that would keep the recognition safe within the memory of subsequent generations. 11/20/98 �CARL PAGE THE POWER & GLORY Of PLATONIC DIALOGUE PAGE-14 The several differences between what is philosophical and what is not are none of them merely qualitative; they are fraught with threat and anxiety of an order that civility alone cannot control because their roots lie deeper than the city. Furthermore, Plato's sustained attention to the various assaults on philosophy suggests that none are to be regarded as accidental, that there are good if incomplete reasons why philosophy should suffer from them and it is therefore incumbent upon those pursuing her to understand the justice within such fates. To the extent that the assaults are not accidental, the need for irony in dealing with them is more than politic accommodation. Philosophy needs to make a peace with politics and poetry, with the healthy decency of civic life and with the consoling charms of comedy and tragedy, but such peace is at best a very unstable friendship of unequals. Moreover, the instability is reproduced within the individual soul as well. Each of us must make his uneasy peace both with the needs of practical life and with the enchantments of art, if we are to live as thoughtfully as possible. The ironical Socrates in Plato's ironical dialogues can be seen constantly negotiating these inequalities and their attendant dangers. Budding philosophers can be thankful for the tips. Guardianship and pedagogy deal, respectively, with the privations and the potentials of philosophizing. Actual or fully-fledged philosophizing remaius. Insofar as irony entails in some sense a playing false, it might seem that irony could at best be only conducive to and never constitutive of philosophy's focal activity-which might for the moment be characterized as consorting with the truth. Yet irony belongs here too, I think, at the heart of philosophy's defining concern. Philosophical account-giving or truth-telling has to be ironical to the extent that what philosophy is obliged to mean cannot in principle be given all at once. Philosophical comprehensiveness entails primacy, universality, and lucidity, i.e., its truth-telling must be a self-illuminated knowledge of ultimate principles in relation to what is. Among other things, this implies that any philosophical account aims at simultaneous knowledge of the conditions that make possible and justify its thematic claims; it must not only tell the truth, but somehow also tell the truth of its telling as well. These conditions for the possibility of a speech, however, cannot be given along with the content of the speech-at least not in the same, linear, thematic way. Hence the logical necessity for a two-faced mode of speaking: one aspect to declare what one wants to say, the other aspect to show that one knows exactly how and why one can say it. Such a two-faced mode of speech is properly called ironic because it cannot state all that it means at once, though it is not thereby prevented from evoking the wholeness of the understanding it articulates--on the condition, that is, of a generous listener with an eye for reading between the lines. Failure to appreciate that philosophy requires at least this sort of irony easily leads to measuring its discourse by a mathematical standard, since the latter is a reasonable measure for interim, though never for primary, insightfulness. Similar failures have also been responsible for many a foolish trek across the transcendental desert in search of presuppositionless beginnings. One further consequence is that philosophical speech, because both primary and comprehensive, cannot be univocal in principle. This is the deep ground of philosophy's ancient quarrel with poetry and why metaphorical speech is so emphatically integral to the texture of Plato's dialogues. 11/20/98 �CARL PAGE THE POWER & GLORY OF PLATONIC DIALOGUE PAGE-15 I have just argued that fundamental speech, and this would be in whatever situation we find ourselves moved to give it, has to be two-faced. It follows that univocal speech-i.e., the speech that gives the appearance of managing to say all that it means-is not only secondary but also contingent upon that primary equivocation. Univocal speech is therefore radically unstable, bounded and made possible in its qualified way by a tacit agreement not to press inquiry beyond a certain point. Part of our human experience of this fact is the disturbing discovery that plausible arguments can apparently be made on both sides for virtually anything-the so-called dissoi logoi of the ancient sophists-and that almost no one is ever persuaded by rational, i.e., purely univocal, words alone. In the absence of philosophy or fundamental speech, any assertoric stand thus depends as much on the will to maintain it, on agreement to abide by the axioms that make it possible, as it does on the content of those axioms themselves. Perversely, then, it becomes possible to take a stand in words without the corresponding insight and so too without the corresponding resolve or choice that deemed the axiom worthy--or, rather, one takes a stand with an alternative, unspoken resolve. That's why Aristotle said that the difference between the sophist and philosopher lies in their resolve, their proairesis, not in the arguments they give. Yet note that even philosophy cannot logically repair the breach caused by any such willful detachment of speech from the soul's orientation and insight. In other words, philosophy cannot in words alone compel the sophist to come out of hiding. This is an important lesson of Plato's Sophist and it is also the reason Thrasymachus blushed. That is, Thrasymachus eventually had to betray his sophistry once he had committed himself to the theoretical probity of "precise speech." It was a noble and educative blunder. In sum, therefore, human logoi can never by themselves reveal the soul that makes them-and so we must pay as much attention as we can to deeds as well. One of the most important resources of Platonic dialogue is, I suggest, their ability to let us see how speeches are anchored in a soul's resolve, despite the fact that a soul's true love cannot in principle be deduced from the things it says. TRANSITION. Philosophical insight depends on a complex of conditions, both extrinsic and intrinsic, to which I have pointed under the topics of work, pedagogy, guardianship, and civics. In their light, I have sketched several ways in which irony is native to how philosophy must deal with what is non-philosophical, with what is potentially philosophical, and with the truth itself. Unlike Athena, human wisdom does not actually spring fully formed from the head of Zeus-though what the myth means to say is that wisdom, once she has arisen, cannot be fully explained in terms of genealogy alone. Also unlike Athena, human wisdom has no nectar and ambrosia with which to fortify itself against the many forms of mortal decay. This means that no matter how like a goddess, pure theorizing on its own is by definition irresponsible. It also follows that no part of erotics can be set aside on the plausible yet mistaken grounds that eidetics are philosophy's only proper concern. Socrates' erotic science may be shady and ironic, yet it nevertheless belongs to philosophical life quite as essentially the rest. With this granted, however, it will always remain to consider when and to what extent one need or ought to talk out loud about such things. I accept, therefore, that my entire speech, no matter how correct it may be, remains 11/20/98 �CARL PAGE THE POWER & GLORY OF PLATONIC DIALOGUE PAGE-16 vulnerable to being judged either tactless, or trivial-to the extent that it does not emphasize eidetic content. WHY PLATO WROTE DIALOGUES Philosophical truth-telling,. the sustaining activity of philosophical life, has to be twofaced. Hegel's impressive dialectical logic is a concerted effort to smooth out this acknowledged need for irony, an attempt to resolve self-illuminating insight into a special sort of discursive linearity, into a proof that manages to demonstrate its axioms as it deduces its theorems. His experiment in philosophical discourse is weak, however, on two main counts. First, the logic of Hegel's proof is in the end not as methodical as hoped for, indeed required. Ingenuity is still needed in order to make the crucial transitions, an ingenuity that Hegel from time to time facilitates with quite remarkable philosophical poetry. A further sign of this same weakness is his embarrassment over giving introductions, which he knows he should not in all strictness use but which he writes anyway. Moreover, since the introductions are where Hegel encodes the suppressed erotics of his philosophic art, i.e., what he means to be doing as a man here and now in love with philosophy, that's exactly \vhy everyone finds them so intriguing and often more interesting than what follows. Plato avoids the dialectical inconsistency of such introductions, remaining truer to Hegel's own insight that philosophy cannot ever in principle begin to prove itself, that it cannot put itself on trial before the tribunal over which it presides as judge. Perhaps Hegelian dialectic comes as dose as philosophical discourse ever can to an exhaustive, rationally systematic, univocal self-explicitation. The question, though, is when or whether we really need such a thing. Plato wrote a defense speech for philosophy, but he quite deliberately named it after Socrates, not himself. The second major weakness of Hegelian dialectic is it's being so forbidding and dull. This is an important criticism. It says that H egel's philosophy by and large fails, as I noted earlier, to seduce, fails to enflame theoretical eros, fails sufficiently to help us make insight our own. Platonic dialogue, in contrast, is remarkably seductive-the unattractive patches notwithstanding. In fact, part of its seductiveness is to make itself confusing and exciting by turns, whereas Hegelian dialectic plods along in the same old difficult way page after page. Knowing that Plato can be wonderfully lucid and inspiring from time to time, forces the reader to seek a reason and so too a meaning for the times when the text is experienced differently. There is nothing more inspiring than the suspicion of a hidden life, 1me vie inconnue, half-hidden depths in which we might swim if only we can prove strong enough. Platonic dialogue is a complex three-dimensional speech, rather than a linear, discursive one. Its axes are drama, argument, and character, all three of which follow their independent but mutually interpenetrating logics. Take book one of the Republic. Why does Polemarchus interrupt? How does his account of justice follow up on the account his father, Cephalus, seemed to give? What is the relationship between Polemarchus and Cephalus? Who is the better man and why? What things seems good and best to Polemarchus? What things most noble? What is there in a man like Polemarchus that inclines him to think of justice and friendship in the way he does? H ow exactly did he get 1 1 / 20 / 98 �CARL PAGE THE POWER & GLORY OF PLATONIC DIALOGUE PAGE-17 talked into agreeing that justice is trivial and base? Are his mistakes consistent with the partial goods for which he stands? What do Socrates' examples tell us about Polemarchus's mistakes? What is Socrates trying to do for Polemarchus? To what extent, if any, is he successful? Why does he care about Polemarchus at all? Why does Socrates argue so fallaciously in proving that justice does no injury? What did he understand about Polemarchus to know he could get away with the fallacy? Why is Polemarchus so enthusiastic in his final agreement to be a "partner in battle" with Socrates? How does all this relate to Polemarchus's action at the very beginning, when he waylays Socrates and Glaucon? How does it fit with his later interruption, in book five, when he objects to women and children in common? What is Plato showing 11s about the limits of Polemarchus's understanding of justice? About its merits? Why is Polemarchus there, between Cephalus and Thrasymachus? And so on. Not until you have some reasonable answer to all of these sorts questions, and scores besides, can you have begun to understand Plato's meaning, his logos, in these four or five pages. You need to become proficient in a multivariable calculus that simultaneously integrates along the three dimensions of drama, argument, and character to produce a shimmering hologram of meaning. This dimensional complexity allows the dialogue to mean more than what it says in its arguments and to reveal more than its narrative depicts. It opens up a maximum of triangulation between uncertain souls and their shifty speeches. Aporia, then, is superficial. It belongs to only one or two of the relevant dimensions and is therefore only an aspect of the whole. The characters may be in perplexity, and maybe the reader is too, but Plato is not. His pictures of perplexity are too finely drawn to be themselves expressions of the depicted anxieties; they are too precisely located and elaborated not to be the subject of a higher-order interpretation. What foolishness would impel Ol!JOne to spell out ignorance and error so intricately, and with such great pains at so great a cost of time, if he did not have a view of what they meant? For all the reasons examined above Plato conveys his interpretations obliquely, but that does not mean the dialogues bear out no logos. On the other hand, Plato's logos is a delicate and subtle thing, not easily separable from the theatre it animates. It is a sure sign of having failed to understand Plato fully when one is forced to leave or dismiss any single part of the dialogue as incidental, as wrapping, as form rather than content. Plato does not dress up otherwise independent, philosophically sober propositions in gaudy, entertaining dramatic garb, as if through some aesthetic quirk he liked to do it that way. There is indeed the thing that he means to say, but it is not captured by the naked propositional bodies you might take to be under the theatrical fancy-dress. As I have just indicated, for example, the philosophical meaning of Polemarchus is more than the partially correct proposition that justice is doing good to friends and harm to enemies. Among other things, he casts significant light on how and why the proper discipline of spiritedness is integral to philosophy, and why friendship is the soul of justice. Quite in accord with a principle Socrates announces in the Phaedms, everything in the dialogue is meaningful and everything serves the overall meaning Plato would communicate. 11/20/98 �CARL PAGE THE POWER & GLORY Of PLATONIC DIALOGUE PAGE-18 This raises yet another matter of philosophical tact. According to what I have just said, it should be possible to spell out Plato's meaning in non-dramatic terms. To be a correct translation, part of such an exposition would have to be ironical and it would have to encompass at least the sense of all the implied erotic elements as well as the eidetic ones. Nothing obvious prevents such a gloss, yet even if correct, it remains to ask whether such a flattened out account could do all or even much of the work Plato intended and which the dialogues have, in fact, done and continue to do. The answer would have to be, I think, no. In one sense, Ideas-by which I mean the fundamental an:hai and intelligible structure of all things-are just not a problem; the predicament is that human souls for the most part fail to be ruled by them. That's something no amount of theory can fix. I asked the question: what, if anything, calls for the strangeness of Plato's dialogues, what could justify their indirection? A natural instinct, on first hearing such a question, is to look for reasons that might force or compel the response, reasons why things could not be done in any other way. In the present case, however, the instinct is misleading. The serious grounds for Platonic indirection I have considered do not, I think, necessitate the dialogue form. Without being necessitated, however, Plato's dialogues are a beautifully effective response to the many things philosophy always finds needing to be done. In my own view, they are the most beautifully effective response we have yet witnessed. A beautiful, noble, and effective response to abiding necessities is certainly grounds for praise, but this is not all there is to admire. By the ambiguous testimony of his letters and by the seamless consistency of his dialogical irony, Plato could not have been writing as an intellectual to express his thoughts or as a scientist to circulate his results. Perhaps it is hard to imagine there could be any reason for writing left, besides vanity or madness. Yet, Plato worked at something, and no one has ever doubted, despite the derangement and indirection of the texts, that they are all somehow for the sake of philosophy. I add: for the sake of keeping philosophy alive and well. Plato wrote for the love and care of philosophy, for its realization and well-being in living souls as well as in real cities. He saw clearly in what senses its husbandry, preservation, defense, and even its central truth-telling activity called for-though without necessitating-something like his two-faced books. Among other things, he aimed at philosophy's survival as a cultural entity in the tradition we think of as Western civilization. In this he was successful. Unbelievably successful, as may be seen in the fact that two-and-a-half thousand years later: here we all are, still vitally interested in what Plato had to communicate, in what a man like Plato understood the life of wisdom to be. Moreover, we keep being affected by his enigmatic communication, both directly as we study and through myriad historical reverberations at work behind the scenes of our own present educations. Even after all this time, we keep taking good things away from his amazing gift. The dialogues, then, are the instruments of Plato's mega!opsuchia, the unhurried means of a rare but great and noble deed, the sort of deed yearned for by all men of the highest human excellence. Plato's great-souled project was to create the real, on-going world in which we are all now able to carry on with philosophy; he cleared the space, he gave the laws, he holds up the firmament. ll /2 0 i 98 �CARL PAGE THE POWER & GLORY OF PLATONIC DIALOGUE PAGE-19 As a great-souled man, all honour and praise are Plato's due but we cannot expect him to be impressed by such external rewards. His ambition was for a deed large, beautiful, and impressive in itself. The reward for such deeds is the overwhelming pleasure of actually doing them, though that too is hardly the central reason for which they are undertaken. No great-souled deed can be great, if it cannot be described in terms of a single-minded devotion that transcends selfish purpose. Yet it does not follow from this that devotion to such an end is purely selfless. The great-souled man is himself fi1!filled by his devotion to what transcends ordinary ambition. Thus, Plato wrote not only for others. He also wrote for the love and care of philosophy in regard to himself, in regard to his own glories and satisfactions as a wise, superior, and fortunate man. He also wrote his dialogues as an exhibition of prowess, and for the sake of joy in the exhilarating exercise of his own powers and command. In the end, Plato wrote dialogues for the same reason God created the world: because he co11/d. No one, absolutely no one, has come anywhere near matching him since. 11 /2 0 / 98 � Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Description An account of the resource Items in this collection are part of a series of lectures given every year at St. John's College. During the Fall and Spring semesters, lectures are given on Friday nights. Items include audio and video recordings and typescripts.<br /><br />For more information, and a schedule of upcoming lectures, please visit the <strong><a href="http://www.sjc.edu/programs-and-events/annapolis/formal-lecture-series/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">St. John's College website</a></strong>.  <br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="Formal Lecture Series" href="https://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=5&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CDate&amp;sort_dir=d">Items in the St. John's College Formal Lecture Series—Annapolis Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection.<br /><br />A growing number of lecture recordings are also available on the St. John's College (Annapolis) Lectures podcast. Visit <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/st-johns-college-annapolis-lectures/id1695157772">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6GDsIRqC8SWZ28AY72BsYM?si=f2ecfa9e247a456f" title="Spotify">Spotify</a> to listen and subscribe. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Title A name given to the resource St. John's College Formal Lecture Series—Annapolis Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context formallectureseriesannapolis Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Page numeration Number of pages in the original item. 19 pages Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Power and Glory of Platonic Dialogue Description An account of the resource Audio recording of a lecture delivered on November 20, 1998, by Carl Page as part of the Formal Lecture Series. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Page, Carl, 1957- Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1998-11-20 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Permission has been given to make this available online. Type The nature or genre of the resource text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Subject The topic of the resource Plato. Dialogues Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context LEC_Page_Carl_1998-11-20 Friday night lecture Tutors https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/1176638aef26848076e4450c2e331fc9.mp4 fb1925d797cb535111e69991a235216a Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Description An account of the resource Items in this collection are part of a series of lectures given every year at St. John's College. During the Fall and Spring semesters, lectures are given on Friday nights. Items include audio and video recordings and typescripts.<br /><br />For more information, and a schedule of upcoming lectures, please visit the <strong><a href="http://www.sjc.edu/programs-and-events/annapolis/formal-lecture-series/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">St. John's College website</a></strong>.  <br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="Formal Lecture Series" href="https://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=5&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CDate&amp;sort_dir=d">Items in the St. John's College Formal Lecture Series—Annapolis Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection.<br /><br />A growing number of lecture recordings are also available on the St. John's College (Annapolis) Lectures podcast. Visit <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/st-johns-college-annapolis-lectures/id1695157772">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6GDsIRqC8SWZ28AY72BsYM?si=f2ecfa9e247a456f" title="Spotify">Spotify</a> to listen and subscribe. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Title A name given to the resource St. John's College Formal Lecture Series—Annapolis Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context formallectureseriesannapolis Moving Image A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data mp4 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 00:46:55 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Difference and Belonging in the Histories of Herodotus Description An account of the resource Video recording of a lecture delivered on October 14, 2022, by Angel Parham as part of the Formal Lecture Series. Ms. Parham is an associate professor of Sociology and Senior Fellow, Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia. She offers this description of her lecture: "One of the great gifts of antiquity is that its writers provide a window for us into ways of seeing the world that differ from what we take for granted today. In this lecture we consider how the chronicles and stories of Herodotus frame ways of thinking about difference and belonging that provide insight into human societies both past and present." Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Parham, Angel Adams Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2022-10-14 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource A signed permission form has been received stating: "I hereby grant St. John's College permission to: make a recording of my lecture, and retain copies for circulation and archival preservation at the St. John’s College Greenfield Library; make a recording of my lecture available online; make typescript copies of my lecture available for circulation and archival preservation at the St. John’s College Greenfield Library; make a copy of my typescript available online." Type The nature or genre of the resource moving image Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource mp4 Subject The topic of the resource Herodotus. History Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context LEC_Parham_Angel_2022-10-14_ac Friday night lecture https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/cb419a5275865e20fbbe643c2a28d2c1.mp3 c40ba7150f5c025151279f9625670df0 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource St. John's College Lecture Recordings—Santa Fe Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Meem Library Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Santa Fe, NM Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data m4a Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 00:53:27 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Understanding understanding Description An account of the resource Audio recording of a lecture given by tutor Peter Pesic on January 27, 2023 as part of the Dean's Lecture & Concert Series. The Dean's Office has provided this description of the event: "What does it take to understand something, especially something you feel you can’t understand? Is it possible to really understand something (or someone) yet still not agree with them? This lecture tries to make a tiny step toward these questions." Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Pesic, Peter Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Santa Fe, NM Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2022-01-27 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Meem Library has been given permission to make this item available online. Type The nature or genre of the resource sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource mp3 Subject The topic of the resource Understanding Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SF_PesicP_Understanding_Understanding_2022-01-27 Friday night lecture https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/21237d1bcd253bc78975d15756cec260.mp3 7eb20692c0a85bfb1a70b4f97ae47899 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource St. John's College Lecture Recordings—Santa Fe Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Meem Library Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Santa Fe, NM Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data m4a Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 01:18:28 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource On the Question of Whether Plato’s Phaedo Displays Philosophy in Two Registers: Benardetean Reflections Description An account of the resource Audio recording of a lecture given by Patrick Goodin on December 9, 2022 as part of the Dean's Lecture & Concert Series. The Dean's Office has provided this description of the event: "Quite early in the Phaedo Socrates famously describes philosophy, correctly understood, as the practice of dying and being dead, after which he goes on to discuss its meaning in detail. Out of this discussion emerge the two well-known arguments for the immortality of the soul: reincarnation and recollection. The two primary interlocutors, Cebes and Simmias, however, raise two powerful objections that compel Socrates to revise his understanding of philosophy. The question I wish to explore in this talk is whether the revised understanding is consistent with the first or constitutes philosophy in a different register and what is the relationship between the two?" Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Goodin, Patrick Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Santa Fe, NM Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2022-12-09 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Meem Library has been given permission to make this item available online. Type The nature or genre of the resource sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource mp3 Subject The topic of the resource Plato. Phaedo Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SF_GoodinP_On_the_Question_of_Whether_Platos_Phaedo_Displays_Philosophy_in_Two_Registers_2022-12-09 Friday night lecture https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/8696587ff8184ae8400bc6ef63b9a9d8.mp3 48d08e0f09f232556ea306a2b89c845d Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource St. John's College Lecture Recordings—Santa Fe Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Meem Library Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Santa Fe, NM Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data mp4 Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 01:36:29 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Tribal Nations & Trade: A History and Outlook for New Mexico Description An account of the resource Audio recording of a lecture given by Patrick Schaefer on December 7, 2022 as part of the Dean's Lecture & Concert Series. The Dean's Office has provided this description of the event: "While trade flows inherently serve to unite distant communities, they also generate great divisions. In New Mexico, Tribal Nations now stand at the center of Transpacific and North American commerce, at the leading edge of current global trade dynamics. Yet, for Tribal Nations, fractures and divisions are present, and mitigating the challenges or seizing the opportunities arising from these trade flows can often remain elusive. As trade volumes continue to increase across all of New Mexico, finding evolving and responsive ways to coordinate across the state’s multiple tribal, state, and federal sovereigns grows in importance. This lecture, by mapping the history and current state of trade flows in New Mexico, specifically through Tribal Nations, and by examining the comparative legal theories that have governed sovereignty and trade in the region, discusses the conditions and structures needed to increase collaboration and resilience throughout the state’s communities." Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Schaefer, Patrick Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Santa Fe, NM Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2022-12-07 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Meem Library has been given permission to make this item available online. Type The nature or genre of the resource sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource mp3 Subject The topic of the resource Tribal Nations -- New Mexico Commerce Global trade Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SF_SchaeferP_Tribal_Nations_and_Trade_2022-12-07 Friday night lecture https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/d886cae8c74f5f07e14d544240d64998.mp3 76c76a4dedbd11273146587974834948 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource St. John's College Lecture Recordings—Santa Fe Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Meem Library Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Santa Fe, NM Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data m4a Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 00:52:34 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Petrarch’s Climb and the Crisis of the New Description An account of the resource Audio recording of a lecture given by tutor David McDonald on November 18, 2022 as part of the Dean's Lecture & Concert Series. The Dean's Office has provided this description of the event: "In a letter often called “The Ascent of Mt. Ventoux,” the poet Petrarch tells of climbing a mountain in the year 1336, in what is now southern France. This is the first documented instance in the West of taking a hike just to see the sight. Having taken in the view from the mountaintop, Petrarch imitates Augustine’s conversion by opening a book at random. But his conversion is unlike Augustine’s. It takes a peculiar turn, toward inwardness and away from religion. We’ll discuss Petrarch’s climb in quest of the new and its relation to modernity, curiosity, sightseeing, the divided self, romantic love, and divination by books and other means." Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource McDonald, David Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Santa Fe, NM Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2022-11-18 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Meem Library has been given permission to make this item available online. Type The nature or genre of the resource sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource mp3 Subject The topic of the resource Petrarch. Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SF_McDonaldD_Petrarchs_Climb_and_the_Crisis_of_the_New_2022-11-18 Friday night lecture https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/4cf2d001991ea4fced6e2ff9f66e25c0.mp3 c39b5cf879c26518d77b0f616d64de74 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Description An account of the resource Items in this collection are part of a series of lectures given every year at St. John's College. During the Fall and Spring semesters, lectures are given on Friday nights. Items include audio and video recordings and typescripts.<br /><br />For more information, and a schedule of upcoming lectures, please visit the <strong><a href="http://www.sjc.edu/programs-and-events/annapolis/formal-lecture-series/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">St. John's College website</a></strong>.  <br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="Formal Lecture Series" href="https://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=5&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CDate&amp;sort_dir=d">Items in the St. John's College Formal Lecture Series—Annapolis Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection.<br /><br />A growing number of lecture recordings are also available on the St. John's College (Annapolis) Lectures podcast. Visit <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/st-johns-college-annapolis-lectures/id1695157772">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6GDsIRqC8SWZ28AY72BsYM?si=f2ecfa9e247a456f" title="Spotify">Spotify</a> to listen and subscribe. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Title A name given to the resource St. John's College Formal Lecture Series—Annapolis Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context formallectureseriesannapolis Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data audiocassette Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 00:50:31 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Virtuality Is Its Own Reward Description An account of the resource Audio recording of a lecture delivered on September 12, 1997, by Sven Birkerts as part of the Formal Lecture Series. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Birkerts, Sven Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 1997-09-12 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Permission has been given to make this available online. Type The nature or genre of the resource sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource mp3 Subject The topic of the resource Digital media--Social aspects Literature and technology Books and reading--Technological innovations Internet--Social aspects Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context LEC_Birkerts_Sven_1997-09-12_ac Friday night lecture https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/9e8c2a7475ccf64ec3d811b06b215567.mp3 4cbae20b13c2cd4b18d0fb84fb8bf4d5 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource St. John's College Lecture Recordings—Santa Fe Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Meem Library Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Santa Fe, NM Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data m4a Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 00:53:36 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource War and Beefs: Gang Violence in The Illiad Description An account of the resource Audio recording of a lecture given by Jill Leovy on November 18, 2022 as part of the Dean's Lecture & Concert Series. The Dean's Office has provided this description of the event: "The Iliad supplies a detailed and recognizable description of what the Italian mafia scholar Maurizio Catino has dubbed “horizontal” governance -- that is, lateral rule by peers rather than top-down rule by a centralized authority. The same style of order is found the world over -- in feud societies, bandit cultures, and the various small-scale and “stateless” societies studied by anthropologists. It’s also the surprisingly uniform ordering principle of street gangs, criminal groups and paramilitaries in contemporary urban societies. What can we learn about horizontal orders by reading Homer? To what extent can his descriptions shed light on this seminal form of social organization, also known as the protection racket? By the same token, how can an understanding of urban street violence illuminate The Iliad?" Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Leovy, Jill Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Santa Fe, NM Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2022-11-18 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Meem Library has been given permission to make this item available online. Type The nature or genre of the resource sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource mp3 Subject The topic of the resource The Iliad Social interaction Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SF_LeovyJ_War_and_Beefs_2022-11-18 Friday night lecture https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/2a1f3f1923aa650290344db167384795.mp3 b01d49b7078aee6e0fa84b1e86415a86 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource St. John's College Lecture Recordings—Santa Fe Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Meem Library Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Santa Fe, NM Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data m4a Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 00:58:11 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource The Epic Narrative of the Book of the Torah: The Story of Creation and the Story of Abraham: Their Literary Character and Teaching Description An account of the resource Audio recording of a lecture given by Hillel Fradkin on November 11, 2022 as part of the Dean's Lecture & Concert Series. The Dean's Office has provided this description of the event: "This lecture will explore the literary character of the Torah and follow that with literary and substantive interpretations of its first two stories – The Story of Creation and The Story of Abraham." Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Fradkin, Hillel Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Santa Fe, NM Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2022-11-11 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Meem Library has been given permission to make this item available online. Type The nature or genre of the resource sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource mp3 Subject The topic of the resource Torah Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SF_FradkinH_Epic_Narrative_of_the_Book_of_the_Torah_2022-11-11 Friday night lecture https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/240eeebce2851204177180776f88574a.mp3 abc330406cf066189ff6aff65542d50a Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource St. John's College Lecture Recordings—Santa Fe Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Meem Library Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Santa Fe, NM Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data m4a Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 01:00:52 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Xenophon’s Cyropaedia: The Limits of Political Excellence Description An account of the resource Audio recording of a lecture given by tutor Janet Dougherty on November 4, 2022 as part of the Dean's Lecture & Concert Series. The Dean's Office has provided this description of the event: "Cyrus, Xenophon tells us in the first chapter of the Cyropaedia (The Education of Cyrus), knew how to rule humans, animals who are notoriously difficult to govern. In his manner of ruling Cyrus seems to combine the just with the fitting – he alone is fit to rule, and his subjects willingly obey. His rule extends over all the inhabitable world and leaves no room for dissent. Unlike his subjects, Cyrus reveres neither god nor country. He loves no one. For him the political horizon is complete. But Cyrus’s conquest of Croesus, his final great victory, points to the limitations of Cyrus’s government. When Croesus claims to have learned self-knowledge in his conquest by Cyrus and to look forward to being “blessedly happy” under Cyrus’s rule, he dissembles, displaying his prudence. He is so careful that Cyrus is “amazed at his good spirits” after his defeat. But, Xenophon observes, Cyrus took the defeated Croesus wherever he went “…either because he believed that he was somehow useful or because he held it to be safer in this way”. Cyrus’s distrust of Croesus indicates that within the horizon of politics there is no room for individual virtue. While Cyrus exhorts others to be “noble and good,” it is obedience that he rewards. Xenophon’s study of politics points beyond Cyrus and beyond politics, to a study of the human soul that politics cannot comprehend. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Dougherty, Janet A. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Santa Fe, NM Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2022-11-04 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Meem Library has been given permission to make this item available online. Type The nature or genre of the resource sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource mp3 Subject The topic of the resource Xenophon. Cyropaedia Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SF_DoughertyJ_Xenophons_Cyropaedia_2022-11-04 Friday night lecture https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/0cd44368a36a0a54444005da3647e0a7.mp3 8584eb2b4c5290785d5220db26a9ae87 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource St. John's College Lecture Recordings—Santa Fe Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Meem Library Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Santa Fe, NM Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data m4a Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 00:52:14 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Faustian Phenomena: Goethe on Plants, Animals, and Modern Biologists Description An account of the resource Audio recording of a lecture given by tutor John Cornell on October 28, 2022 as part of the Dean's Lecture & Concert Series. The Dean's Office has provided this description of the event: "Goethe’s character Faust – based on the medieval legend about a man who makes a pact with the Devil -- is an archetype of the Western soul. Dissatisfied with life, Faust pursues the most intense adventures while remaining blind to the destruction he leaves in his path. But Goethe understood Faustian striving not just as a human affair but as characteristic of all living things. The theme runs through his extensive scientific writings, in particular, his accounts of the metamorphosis of plants and of the evolution of animals, including man. This talk will consider some of the poet-naturalist’s essays and the light they throw upon modern methods in biology." Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Cornell, John F. Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Santa Fe, NM Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2022-10-28 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Meem Library has been given permission to make this item available online. Type The nature or genre of the resource sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource mp3 Subject The topic of the resource Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 1749-1832 Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SF_CornellJ_Faustian_Phenomena_2022-10-28 Friday night lecture https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/659e0661f82854cf0faf805a3ef4b506.mp3 32e08662420be58d7ee1c2a98dfe511d Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource St. John's College Lecture Recordings—Santa Fe Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Meem Library Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Santa Fe, NM Sound A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data m4a Duration Length of time involved (seconds, minutes, hours, days, class periods, etc.) 00:57:01 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Plato and the Poets Description An account of the resource Audio recording of a lecture given by Elaine Scarry on October 21, 2022 as part of the Dean's Lecture & Concert Series. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Scarry, Elaine Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Santa Fe, NM Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2022-10-21 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Meem Library has been given permission to make this item available online. Type The nature or genre of the resource sound Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource mp3 Subject The topic of the resource Plato Poetry Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context SF_ScarryE_Plato_and_the_Poets_2022-10-21 Friday night lecture https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/sjcdigitalarchives/original/b1025d8e4bfcbb52bc6895a8529005d0.pdf 79685e97afd3bd2affa6b8f365b90fe6 PDF Text Text HOW OPERA BEGAN (AND WHY IT BEGAN IN FLORENCE) Note: Numbers in red refer to the accompanying powerpoint slides; the symbol [+] indicates an addition to the preceding slide. [ 1] My goal today is to acquaint you with the circumstances leading to the advent of opera and to discuss the culture and events that surrounded its origins in Florence around the year 1600. But, in addition to summarizing HOW opera began (a subject which has already been very well documented in print), I should also like to explore a question that is less often asked - [2] that is, WHY opera began. And more specifically, [+] Why did it begin in Florence? and [+] Why did it begin when it did, at the end of the Renaissance? [3] The Florentine composer Marco da Gagliano (maestro di cappella to the Medici court from 1609 until his death in 1643) provides a useful and accurate outline of "how." [+] In the preface to his opera La Dafne, performed and printed in 1608, he relates the circumstances ofthe genre' s experimental beginnings.' La Dafoe was Gagliano' s own first effort in the new genre, examples of which he called, simply, spettacoli. (The word opera, which means "work" in Italian, only came into use later.) [4] His Dafne was a reworking and expansion of an earlier Dafoe, from the previous decade-the first completely sung musical play. Gagliano relates how that first Dafne came about. He says that, after a great deal of discussion took place concerning the way the ancients had performed their tragedies and about what role music had played in them, the court poet Ottavio Rinuccini began to write the story ([avo/a) of Dafoe, [+] and the learned amateur Jacopo Corsi composed some airs on part of it. In order to see what effect a completely sung work would have on the stage, [+] Rinuccini and Corsi approached the skilled composer and singer Jacopo Peri, who finished writing the music and probably premiered the role of Apollo at the first performance. Gagliano tells us that it took place at "an evening entertainment" during the Carnival season of 1 �1597/8. In the invited audience on that occasion were Don Giovanni de' Medici and (he says) "some of the principal gentlemen" of Florence? [5] Let me quickly fill in the events between 1598 and 1608. Encouraged by the success of the experiments that resulted in La Dafne, [6] in 1600 Rinuccini and Peri collaborate on a second production, which is first performed during the festivities honoring the maniage of Maria de' Medici to Henry IV ofFrance? [+] Rinuccini ' s libretto for this work, L 'Euridice, is printed first, probably as a souvenir of the occasion, and it tells the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. [+] In his preface (dated 4 October), Rinuccini explains that the work was partly motivated by the belief of some scholars that the ancient Greeks and Romans sang their tragedies on stage in their entirety. We understand from this (and other things he and Peri say) that they are interested more in the manner of performance of the new genre- its rhetorical delivery- than in reproducing the content of the ancient plays. We also recognize that their ambition is no less than the revival on stage of the ancient manner of declamation. Now another singer-composer also has a hand in composing L 'Euridice for the wedding celebrations-namely Giulio Caccini, the protege of Count Giovanni dei Bardi; and he has already been promoting a new rhetorical singing style since the meetings of Bardi's Camerata in the 1580s, decades earlier. The rivalry between Caccini and Peri becomes so intense that, [+] at the first performance of L 'Euridice (October 6), Caccini does not allow his pupils to perform any music composed by Peri. The result is that Peri, in the role of Orfeo, sings music that he wrote while his bride, Euridice, sings Caccini's music! (Not a very good start to a marriage patinership! No wonder Orfeo couldn't keep his bride!) [7] Meanwhile, around this same time, Emilio de' Cavalieri, supervisor of the Florentine festivities, [+] publishes his score of the Rappresentazione di Anima e di Corpo) [+] performed earlier that year in Rome; and by the way, take special note of the generic title- Rappresentazione- which I' ll come back to) . But despite Cavalieri' s claims of primacy, this 2 �work is usually discounted in nanatives of opera' s origins because, even though it is sung throughout, its style is far from Peri's declamatory recitar cantando (the Italian expression for what we now call recitative- a style of singing midway between speech and song) and it has a spiritual subject (a 4 dialogue between the Soul and the Body). Such subjets later became the purview of oratorio. [8] A few days after L 'Euridice, [+] Caccini' s opera Il rapimento di Cefalo is premiered (set to a libretto by another prominent com1 poet, Gabriella Chiabrera). This work is, by all accounts, the blockbuster event of the weeklong festivities, but its grandness is not well suited to Caccini's intimate style of solo singing, so it is not favored with publication and is now lost except for the libretto. [9] Not to be outdone, however, [+] Caccini quickly finishes his setting of L 'Euridice and rushes it into print a month before [+] Peri's score gets published early in 1601. 5 [10] But Caccini' s completed version doesn't premiere [+] until late in the following year (1602), after his collection of solo songs, [+] Le Nuove musiche, puts him on the map as a composer. Then, Rinuccini goes to France in the entourage of Maria de' Medici, Cavalieri stays in Rome, and Peri and Caccini remain in Florence, which soon takes a back seat in operatic developments. But their personal rivalries, fueled by the printers who quickly published their works, and the public competition among p1inces to garner attention with their patronage, are some of the factors that fostered the endurance of the first completely sung musical tales and their spread to other urban centers- Mantua, Rome, Venice, and elsewhere, both inside and outside the Italian peninsula. [11] Within the decade, the masterful madrigal composer Claudio Monteverdi (156?-1643) [+] makes his debut in the field with Lafavola d'Orfeo (1607), in Mantua, the first opera to achieve a place in the modern repertory. [1 2] The following year, Rinuccini, by this time back from France, collaborates with Monteverdi to create [+] L 'Arianna-now lost except for the Lament, which was destined to become the most famous piece of music of the seventeenth century. L 'Arianna completely eclipses 3 �L 'Orfeo; judging by all the descriptions of its performance, it is the work that brings the development of opera to its first great peak after only one brief decade, and makes all previous efforts look pale by comparison. [An aside: I don't know how many of you saw NY Times critic Anthony Tommasini's list of his top ten classical composers published in the Times earlier this year, but Monteverdi didn't make it onto the list; no composer before Bach did. In an effmi to placate some outraged readers, though, Tommasini conceded Monteverdi' s greatness, saying "Though Monteverdi did not invent opera, he took one look at what was going on in Florence in 1600 and figured out how this opera thing should really be done."] [13] Let's now hear the opening section of Monteverdi ' s Lament of Arianna, the only surviving piece from the opera. Listen especially to the way Monteverdi allows the phrases of text to dictate the contours and rhythms of the melody-expanding the range of the second phrase for emphasis; and in the next phrase, how he makes the melody rise Gust as in speech) to express Arianna 's rhetorical question (Who can console me); and on the return ofthe opening words, how Monteverdi rubs our noses in what was for its time a very strong dissonance between voice and bass to express the rawness of Arianna' s emotion. [Play] The Lament continues for another 7 or 8 minutes, during which Arianna conveys a gamut of emotions ranging from anger and scorn at Theseus ' s betrayal to tenderness and resignation. [ 14] So now, having seen that Florence was the birthplace of opera, let' s ask why. [1 5] Why Florence? [+] First of all, Florence had a long tradition of musical theater in the sixteenth century, principally in the productions known as intermedi that were staged between the acts of spoken plays. Intermedi were only one of many types of theatrical entertainment produced by courts all over Europe. [+] But the Medici outdid all the rest in 1589 by staging the most magnificent and extravagant spectacle ever seen in order to celebrate the marriage of Grand Duke Ferdinanda of Tuscany to the French Princess Christine of Lonaine, a union that had been in negotiation for nearly 4 �a year. The intermedi that were produced for this event climaxed a monthlong sequence of public and courtly pageantry that combined all the intellectual, artistic, and administrative forces of Tuscany at the height of its wealth, power, and cultural prestige. One court chronicler wrote, "Their splendor cannot be described, and anyone who did not see [the production] could not believe it." [ 16] Next, unlike other cities, Medicean Florence also had a particularly rich history of [+] "civic humanism" 6-which means that its more educated citizens were involved in a network of formal and informal academies that were engaged in studying the Greek and Latin texts of the ancients. [1 7] Bardi' s so-called Florentine Camerata, where Caccini was groomed, was only one of many such groups. Bardi was also a member of the Alterati, to which Rinuccini and Corsi belonged, and Corsi probably also had his own circle, the group that ultimately produced the first Dafne . We can think of them as satellite courts, surrounding and drawing inspiration from the brlliant Medici rulers. And their members all interacted in the planning and production of the 15 89 intermedi, which was largely Bardi' s brainchild but which required everyone else to contribute their efforts as well. [18] Finally, as Gary Tomlinson and others have suggested, [+] Florence was the center of a particular Renai ssance worldview that saw music as having a "magical" role in the cosmos and in mankind 's interaction with it. 7 This particular worldview was rooted in Platonic thought, which held that the individual was connected to the entire universe through harmony. [+] Therefore, it followed that the best way to express this connection was by giving voice to song. So, in the court culture of Florence during the late fifteenth century and throughout the sixteenth, singing-and especially solo singing- took on very special significance. Before moving on, I want to look more closely at each of these three elements- intermedi, humanism, and musical magic- in order to see how they came together at the end ofthe sixteenth century and resulted in Florence becoming the birthplace of opera. 5 �[19] The Florentine intermedi were lavishly produced pageants involving sumptuous costumes, special effects, instrumental music, dance, and song. They were produced as entr' actes to comedies or pastoral plays at court and served to separate the divisions of the spoken drama, since there was no curtain to be dropped. The 1589 intermedi were planned and rehearsed months in advance, and their cost and impact dwarfed that of the main drama [Bargagli 's play La Pellegrina] , so that absolutely no doubt remained in the minds of the invited guests about their host's wealth, . an d power. 8 generosity, [20] A huge team of artists, artisans, poets, musicians, architects, and technicians was assembled under the intellectual guidance of the prominent Florentine aristocrat and military leader [+] Giovanni de ' Bardi (1 53 4-1612), who formulated the underlying conception of the inte1medi, 9 served as stage director, and coordinated all the thematic and antiquarian aspects of the project. As the moving spirit behind the program, Bardi worked closely with the court poets, [+] principally Ottavio Rinuccini ( 1562- 162 1), who wrote most of the text of the intermedi and later wrote the verse for the first opera libretto, La Dafne. 10 [+] Emilio de ' Cavalieri (c.1550-1602), the recently appointed superintendent of music at the ducal court who had been in F erdinando ' s retinue while he was still a cardinal residing in Rome, became the show's musical director. [+] The court architect-engineer Bernardo Buontalenti (c.1531-1608), who had constmcted for the Medici the first permanent indoor theater with a modem proscenium arch only a few years earlier, remodeled it for the occasion, and designed the sets and costumes. 11 [ +] The music was largely composed by court organist Cristofano Malvezzi and madrigalist Luca Marenzio, with individual contributions by the young composersinger Jacopo Peri (1561 -1633), by Bardi' s protege Giulio Caccini (15 5 1- 1618), and by Bardi himself, among others. 6 �[21] Bardi conceived the set of six intermedi as "a sort of mythological history ofmusic," 12 very suitable for a wedding celebration because it depicts the descent of Harmony as a gift from the gods and predicts a new Golden Age to be inaugurated by the newlyweds. Moreover, the individual tableaux are loosely unified by the literary theme of the power of music, a topic of longstanding interest to the Florentines, as we shall see. The opening intetmedio contemplated the harmony of the spheres. The next, by representing a song contest between the Muses and their rivals the Pierides, dwelt on the virtues and virtuosity of song. [22] The third enacted the combat between Apollo and the Pythic serpent, prefiguring the opening scene from Rinuccini ' s and Peri ' s first opera, La Dajne. So it actually introduced the first operatic hero, [23] Apollo-god of music and of the sun, and, according to some accounts, father of the legendary musician Orpheus, who became in tum the protagonist of several early opera libretti. (That' s Apo llo swooping down to attack the dragon.) [24] The fifth intetmedio gave a prominent role to Jacopo Peri, who composed and performed his first piece for solo voice to portray another poet-musician of antiquity, Arion; according to myth, Arion was saved from drowning by a dolphin attracted by the dazzling power of his song. [25] In the concluding intetmedio, harmony and rhythm are given to mere motials, represented by the nymphs and shepherds of Arcadia, who are instructed by the gods in the mi of dancing during an elaborately choreographed ballo. [26] The 1589 intermedi had many of the same players and almost all the ingredients of opera-gorgeous costumes and scenery, [27] stage effects (for example, the life-size fire-spitting dragon slain by Apollo), 13enthralling solo singing, colorful instrumental music, large concerted numbers, dance-everything except a unified action and the rhetorical style of dramatic singing yet to be created. It remained for a few pioneering individuals to shape these elements into opera, a new 7 �and quite "noble style ofperfmmance" 14 that, by emulating ancient theater, would revive the power of modem music to move the emotions. [28] Now let' s turn our attention to the second of the three elements that contributed to making Florence the birthplace of opera: [+] HUMANISM. In its narrowest sense, humanism was an interest in the culture and texts of antiquity on the part ofthe city' s more educated or elite citizens- those who joined the network of academies I mentioned earlier. As we' ve seen, the first opera librettist, Rinuccini, maintained that his joint experiments with Corsi and Peri were motivated by the belief of some scholars that the ancient Greeks and Romans sang their tragedies on the stage in their entirety. 15 In fact, Renaissance scholars disagreed among themselves about the role of music in ancient tragedy, but what matters in our narration is that Rinuccini and his associates gave credence to the idea. [29] A modem scholar of musical humanism (Gary Tomlinson) has called attention to three different but related types of humanism. There was philological humanism, which fostered the transmission, translation and interpretation of ancient texts. [+] The person who comes to mind in this regard is Girolamo Mei, the very erudite philologist who transmitted his ideas about language and ancient music to Bardi and became a sort of mentor to the Florentine Camerata. [+] Then there was rhetorical humanism, modeled on the principles of persuasive oratory, which Renaissance men of letters adapted to their own debates and writings. [+] An example of this type of humanist might be Vincenzo Galilei, who wrote his treatise for the Camerata (Dialogo della musica antica e della moderna, 1581) in the conventional Renaissance fmm of a dialogue-a conversation between two friends (one of whom is named after Count Bardi) debating the merits of ancient and modem music . (More about this in a moment.) [+] And finally, there was what Tomlinson calls " ordinary-language humanism," - a view that underlay "the whole late-Renaissance exaltation of music 's affective 8 �powers"; 16 and, in one way or another, this view accounts for the great importance that all of Renaissance musical culture placed on expressing the meaning of the text. Ordinary-language humanism credited language itself- the very sound and shape of the words rather than the eloquence with which they were arranged-with the ability to communicate meaning and emotion. Now, it must have been possible to subscribe to all three types of humanism, and no doubt someone like Mei did. [+] But it seems to me likely that the court poet Rinuccini, and his collaborators Corsi and Peri, who did not know Greek or Latin and were not trained as scholars, nevertheless adopted this ordinary-language humanism as their type of Greek revivalism, and one that motivated them to create the first opera. Where did these ideas come from? [30] Rinuccini belonged to the Alterati Academy- its very name (Academy of the Altered Ones) acknowledged the ability of ideas to effect change in human beings. The Alterati membership included the widely read and accomplished Count Bardi, already a member of long standing by the time Rinuccini was initiated in 1586, three years before they collaborated on the elaborate wedding intermedi. Another member was the remarkable scholar Girolamo Mei (1519-94), who was Florentine by birth, but worked in Rome and made known the results ofhis research into Greek music in his letters to Bardi and the other academy members. A brilliant philologist, Mei promoted theories about language that were in fact as central to the genesis of the new dramatic style of singing as his convictions about Greek music were essential to the origins of opera; for Mei believed not only that poems and plays were always sung in ancient times, whether by soloists or chorus, but also that they were sung monophonically- using one melody at a time, without competing lines-so that the words as sounding structures could act on the listeners' souls. And finally, the Alterati also counted among its members another Florentine nobleman, Jacopo Corsi (1561-1602), 17 the enthusiastic amateur who partially composed, and fully sponsored, 9 �the production of the first completely sung play, La Dafne, in 1597/8. 18 [+] So it is with good reason that the Alterati of Florence have been called by one modem scholar (Claude Palisca) "pioneers in the theory of dramatic music." 19 [3 1] Now, Count Bardi also had his own circle of friends with similar humanist and musical interests, a more informal academy that met in his palace and came to be known as the (Florentine) Camerata. 20 As the coruiier chiefly responsible for organizing entertainments for the Grand Duke, Bardi naturally became interested in theatrical or dramatic music and eagerly cultivated his relationship with Mei.21 [32] These two, then, were key players in both the Alterati Academy and the Camerata, and it is obvious that both groups shared a concern with musical humanism. Bardi 's inner circle also included the singer-lutenist-composer Giulio Caccini (whom he involved in the 1589 intermedi) as well as Vincenzo Galilei (ca. 1530-9 1), another talented singer-lutenist-composer in his employ. Galilei, father of the revolutionary thinker and astronomer Galilee, had studied with the most famous counterpoint teacher of the age, Gioseffe Zarlino, and had already published a text on how to arrange polyphonic music for so lo voice and lute til Fronimo, 1568), a medium that became increasingly popular during the last quarter of the century. 22 Under the influence ofBardi and Mei, [33] Galilei wrote his Dialago della musica antia e della moderna, 1581 ,23 which soon became the Camerata' s radical manifesto, for it ruiiculated the principles of ordinary-language humanism in the most radical way imaginable for a sixteenth-century musician: do away with vocal counterpoint altogether and revert to a type of nonpolyphonic composition combining words, melody, and simp le accompaniment (which we now call monody). Galilei reasoned that only monody was capable of imitating nature- that is, the "natural language" of speech, through which a person's character and states of soul are reflected. Mei, his mentor, taught that ancient music had always presented a single affection embodied in a single 10 �melody.24 He believed that melody alone could convey the message of the text through the natural expressiveness of the voice-via the register, rhythms, and contours of its utterance-and it could do this far better than the contrived delivery of a polyphonic texture? 5 Like Mei , Galilei was convinced that counterpoint was ineffective because it presented contradictory infmmation to the ear. When several voices simultaneously sang different melodies and words-pitting high pitches against low, slow rhythms against fast, rising intervals against descending ones- the resulting web of sotmds was incapable of projecting the semantic meaning or emotional message of the text. Only by returning to an art truly founded on the imitation of human nature rather than on contrapuntal artifice would it be possible for modem composers to realize the acclaimed effects of ancient music. Plato had taught that song (melos) was comprised of words, rhythm, and pitch, in that order. From that concept followed two important humanist ideas. First, music and poetry were two sides of a single language; second, song arose from an innate harmony within the words that was muted in normal speech but manifest in heightened speech. [34] For this reason, Galilei advocated the art of rhetoric as a model for modem musicians, urging them to imitate the manner in which successful actors delivered their lines on stage: Kindly observe in what manner the actors speak, in what range, high or low, how loudly or softly, how rapidly or slowly they enunciate their words ... how one speaks when infuriated or excited; how a married woman speaks, how a girl, how a lover ... how one speaks when lamenting, when crying out, when afraid, and when exulting with joy?6 For Galilei, it is clear that "how one speaks" (or declaims) the words reveals their underlying emotion. For the composers of monody and theatrical song, by extension, it then became a question of" how one sings" the words to disclose their innate significance? 7 (35] In order to see the important role that singing had in Florentine culture, I want to return to the third element in my discussion of why Florence was the bitthplace of opera: [36] Musical 11 �Magic. More than a century before the first experiments in opera, [+] Angelo Poliziano had dramatized the myth of Orpheus for the Florentine cultural elite. His Orfeo (1480), the earliest secular play in Italian, received numerous editions during the sixteenth century and became, in effect, a Medici literary classic, popularizing through the Orpheus legend the marvels of ancient music and musicians. 28 [+] The musicianpar excellence of antiquity, Orpheus had been able to tame the beasts of nature and charm the infernal gods into allowing him to lead Eurydice out of the Underworld-all by means of the power of his spellbinding incantation. [37] Poliziano himself was a member ofthe Neoplatonic circle (+] sunounding Lorenzo de' Medici (known as the "Magnificent" because ofhis brilliance and erudition). The main intellectual figure in his informal academy was [+] another erudite Florentine, Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499), a humanist well versed in Platonic thought. As early as 1489, Ficino postulated a "music-spirit" theory which explained the peculiar power of music by the fact that sound, unlike other sensual stimuli, is canied by air and is therefore similar to spiritus, the substance that mediated between body and sou1. 29 Ficino also believed that the human voice, through music, provided the link between the earthly world and the cosmos. Because Platonic thought held that the individual was connected to the entire universe through harmony, it followed that the artful singer could express psychological and moral reality through his voice and could use his rhetorical powers to make that reality present to others. 30 By employing certain patterns of conespondence between micro- and macrocosm, between the motions of the human soul and the hidden harmony of the cosmos, the singer could manipulate the listener's responses- a notion very much in keeping with the Aristotelian concept of imitation or mimesis. The composer-singer, then, in the guise of the legendary Orpheus, became the expressive agent of that artistic power. And Florentine Neoplatonism, in the artistic manifestation ofPoliziano' s Orfeo- 12 �a spoken drama with interpolated song3 1-helped to stimulate a century-long fascination with the expressive powers of music. So, in the court culture of Florence during the late fifteenth century and throughout the sixteenth, singing-and especially solo singing- took on very special significance and it is easy to understand how Mei, Bardi, Caccini, Peri, and Rinuccini, being products of a culture steeped in Neoplatonic musical thought, were heirs to these Renaissance ideas about the magical effects of song. Mei shared some of Ficino ' s "music-spirit" theories, particularly those which held hearing to be superior to the other senses in its ability to act on the soul ' s passions. 32 As we have seen, Bardi' s program for the 1589 intermedi revolved around the power of song while his protege, Caccini, revitalized the Renaissance ideal of incantatory solo singing for the Camerata in his madrigals for solo voice he later collected and published as Le nuove musiche (1602). 33 ln creating the first opera libretto, Rinuccini, under the weight of Florentine and Medicean tradition, [+] looked back to Poliziano 's fable of Orfeo. Not only was Orpheus a fitting protagonist for a completely sung music drama aiming to demonstrate the power of song, but also, as Tomlinson points out, the fable ' s outcome and that of the other earliest tales of opera [quote] "vindicated the occult harmony of the cosmos . . . : [38] in the answer to Daphne' s just prayers by her magical transformation [into a laurel tree] , [39] in the alleviation of Ariadne' s woes by the miraculous descent of Bacchus, [40] and in the transformative power of song in . .. [the] Orpheus librettos." 34 Like Ovid' s tales of metamorphoses from which they were drawn, these early opera were fabrications or fables (favole) and, by focusing on timeless myths involving love and loss, they sought to dramatize, externalize, or represent human sentiment. And what better way was there of realizing the transformative power of song and Orfeo' s vocal magic than through musical speech? This was at the heart of the notion of the representational style (stile rappresentativo). Peri' s invention of the dramatic and rhetorical style of singing known as 13 �recitative, then, was rooted in the conviction that musical speech was capable of transmitting an inner, emotional reality and could therefore represent human affections on stage. The communication of affections on stage in opera by singing and acting bodies can only be experienced in the presence of both actors and listeners; and it can only be explained in the context of the location and the actual moment of the performance- the rappresentazione. The defining nature ofthe location or space makes the listener a component part of the musical process. In this way, early opera depended on both the sense of sight and hearing as no other musical art form (except the intetmedi and court ballets) had done before. In fact, only a few years before the 1589 Florentine intermedi, [41] the court architect-engineer Bemardo Buontalenti had constructed for the Medici the first petmanent indoor theater with a modem proscenium arch. This is significant because the proscenium arch not only frames a view into the illusionary depths ofthe representation, but also allows the performance taking place to be directly addressed to the viewer. And this is precisely what painting had been striving to do since the advent of perspective in the Renaissance. All of which finally brings me to the last of my concerns: [42] why opera began when it did- f+] around the year 1600, at the end of the Renaissance. The short answer (but one that r will elaborate upon in the remaining time) is this: it was the consummation of an idea that reigned supreme during the Renaissance- namely, that the sister arts of painting, music, and poetry all had the ability, through imitation, to portray some sort of psychological and moral reality; what's more, they all had the power-even the obligation-through rhetorical means to make that reality present to others. This view had long been held about the verbal arts, but the rivalry between poetry and painting during the sixteenth century, deriving from Horace's famo us simile ut pictura poesis (as painting is, so is poetry), led painting to acquire the status of a liberal art, one that deserved equally serious consideration as that given to poetry. [43] Roger de Piles (1635-1709), one of the most influential art 14 �theorists of the next century, was unequivocal in this matter: "One must think of painting as a kind of stage on which each figure plays its role." He also tells us that the "principal end" of the painter is "to imitate the mores and actions of men. " 35 And we have seen that humanism demanded no less from composers and musicians. A moment ago, I remarked that the communication of affections on stage, in opera, by singing and acting bodies, can only be experienced in the presence ofboth actors and listeners or viewers, and now I want to concentrate on the viewers. For, if the aim of the sister arts was to communicate the affections or passions-to imitate or represent affections in order to stimulate passions in the viewer-then the audience was clearly an important part of the process. It seems to me that painting offers a very instructive example of how all the arts, but especially opera at the beginning of the I i 11 century, defined themselves by the effect they had on the spectators. [ 44] In a book about The Origins of the City of Florence and Its Famous Citizens (De origine civitatis Florentiae et eiusdem famosis civibus, 1381 -2), the Florentine humanist and chronicler Filippo Villani describes the many-faceted accomplishments of Florentine culture. His main theme was that this culture had declined in his own age (late 14th century), and that Florentines needed to be reminded of the greatness of such earlier citizens as Dante and Giotto and others of their generation. But Villani also included an entire chapter on painters and what I find noteworthy is that his remarks about Giotto make clear his belief that painting should aspire to the condition of theater: [+] Images formed by [Giotto 's] brush agree so well with the lineaments of nature as to seem to the beholder to live and breathe; and his pictures appear to perform actions and movements so exactly as to seem from a little way off actually speaking, weeping, rejoicing, and doing other things, not without pleasure from him who beholds and praises the talent and skill of the a11ist. [45] Villani could have been talking about this painting from the series by Giotto in the Arena chapel. 15 �Two generations later, in Florence, Leon Battista Alberti wrote a famous treatise on painting (Dellapittura, 1435-6), which reveals that his conception ofthe art grows directly out ofrhetorical humanism. [46]He bases his theory of pictorial composition-the way in which a painting can be organized so that each plane surface and each object plays its pmi in the effect of the whole--on the model of rhetorical compositio, or the way that a sentence is built up from a hierarchy of elements. Words are fitted together to make phrases, phrases to make clauses, and clauses to make sentences. In pictorial composition [use pointer], the pmis of the nanative are bodies, the parts of the body are members, and the members are made up of plane surfaces. Compositio, according to Alberti, is that method of painting which composes or puts all these interdependent elements together in the work of mi. And again, his way of speaking of the work suggests a theatrical performance: [47] "In my view," he says, " there is no painted nanative so filled with so great a variety of events that nine or ten persons will not be capable of acting them out quite fittingly." 36 Alberti hirnselfrefers his readers back to Giotto 's work, but the mid-fifteenth-century painter perhaps most influenced by Alberti [48] was Andrea Mantegna, who produced the finest visual models of Alberti ' s ideas about composition. One of them is this engraving of the Entombment. The maximum ten figures are evident. Their planes or gatherings of drapery are formed into members- their various limbs or body parts; the members are hmmonized to create bodies or whole figures ; and the ten different bodies are intenelated to form the nanative. Now, it was also the Florentine school of painting that worked out the principles of linear perspective, and their fust theorist was again Alberti. [49] Here ' s a medieval Last Supper, a manuscript illustration from about the year 1200. Its two-dimensional style of spatial representation makes the picture face the viewer like a flat wall, generally excluding us from what appears as a selfcontained, closed world. [50] With central perspective, however, the relation to the viewer changes. 16 �In Leonardo 's Last Supper, painted in the last decade of the fifteenth century, the figure of Christ is placed in the center of the composition, which is at the same time its vanishing point. The frontally oriented table and back wall support the majesty and stability of the principal figure, whereas "the side walls and ceiling swing outward, as though in a gesture ofrevelation." 37 [51] A modem diagram of the painting's perspective makes it clear that the principal structural lines are a system of beams coming from a focus within the picture space and breaking through the frontal plane as they move forward, opening the picture like a flower toward the viewer. This explicit acknowledgment of the viewer is the visual expression of the fact that the world represented in the picture is being sighted. In other words, the image presents a world seen from the viewpoint of an individual observer, and therefore changes the pictorial conception of space in a way that invites a new level of awareness on the part of the spectator. [52] The Renaissance architect Palladia detennined that the vanishing point should be placed in the center in order to give any picture maesta and grandezza, and indeed the symmetry of Leonardo' s painting lends a certain gravitas to its style and subject. But as the stylistic outlook changes in the later sixteenth century, so does painting's relation to the viewer. Perhaps the painter most emblematic of the style changes that took place in the early seventeenth century was Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571 -1610). [56] Among his very early works, Boy Bitten by a Lizard dates from approximately the same years as Peri' s and Caccini's first operas, La Dafne and L 'Euridice. Scholars explain the picture mainly as a study of extreme expression, and essentially realistic in its intent. Indeed, the painting should more appropriately be called Boy Being Bitten by a Lizard because [57] it depicts the very instant when the lizard emerges from the fruit on the table to bite his finger and, at the same time, demonstrates the artist's skill in representing (and I use that word very purposefully) the fleeting moment of the boy's reaction, as his 17 �expression registers the surprise and sharp pain ofthe lizard ' s attack. [58] The painting is therefore a study of both physical action and psychological reaction- as are many Baroque representations that portray instantaneous and violent action as well as the expression of the emotions resulting from that action. We need only think of Eurydice' s death by snakebite and Orfeo' s subsequent stunned reaction to fmd fitting parallels. Just as Caravaggio captured the immediacy of the boy' s reaction, Peri, Caccini, and (of course) Monteverdi in their footsteps, managed to convey Orfeo's intense emotion in the expressive recitative which he sings ("Non piango, e non sospiro ") in reaction to Eurydice's death. Modern commentators have stressed the forcefulness with which Caravaggio's paintings at all stages of his career thematize or otherwise draw attention to their relation to the viewer. I suggest that the early operas similarly thematize or draw attention to their relation to the listener-by representing both action and reaction, making them present to the listener via the new musico-theatrical device of recitative. It is as though atiists and musicians are exploring the whole issue of spectatordom in both painting and music at precisely the same historical moment, around the year 1600. [59] Another work from this period that calls attention to the depiction of action and reaction as well as to the issue of spectatordom is Judith Beheading Holo.f§r_nes (ca. 1620) by Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653). In the destabilizing flow and counterflow ofthe painting, Judith's maidservant (in the center) struggles with the victim' s thrusting arms as Judith herself concentrates on her deadly action; she performs the deed at arm's length as though she were at the same time reacting by distancing herself in disgust from her victim 's gushing blood. [60] Notice how similar are Judith' s features to Artemisia' s, which we see in the painter' s self-portrait. That allows us to think of Judith-the-executioner as a stand-in for Artemisia the painter-not only because they look alike but also because they are both initiating their actions (Judith is slaying Holofernes, Artemisia is 18 �painting her own portrait). [6 1] We also see how Holofemes is looking out at us, as though pleading with us to intervene as we try to avoid being splattered with his blood. In this way, we viewers are being drawn into the action as well. What I'm suggesting, therefore, is that the work itself masterfully evokes both the making and the viewing of the picture, both for the benefit of the spectator. And in this way, by so forcefully merging their subjects with the viewer's environment, early modem artists sought to act upon and move the emotions of the spectator. The key phrase here is "merging the subj ect with the environment," creating the illusion that the spectator is part of the action or even part of the scenery. [62] The court architect Buontalenti had already achieved this when he completed in the 1580s and 90s the spectacular grotto for the Medici princes in the Boboli gardens behind their apaJtments in the Pitti Palace. f63 ] Here, a decade before opera began, is a bucolic fantasy land, a retreat full of partly sculpted and partly frescoed images replicating the pastoral grottoes of Tasso 's Aminta or the Pastor jido (the Fait~fitl Shepherd by Guarini). [64] The spectator enters through the fa9ade, under the Medici coat of arms, and [65] steps into a mythical world fabricated for the imagination, in which the viewer becomes a faithful shepherd or a sylvan nymph, surrounded by the companions of Arcadia. [66] He or she is completely contained within an illusory world. [67] As far as I know, the grotto was never used as a theater; rather, it was a playground for the courtiers and their guests, who could take refuge from the f68] garden ' s midday sun and refresh themselves in the grotto' s cool shade. [68] In his important book From Art to Theatre, George Kernodle states that "modern theatre grew out of the desire to see and hear with living actors the romantic stories and allegorical fancies already portrayed by the painters." 38 [69] If we substitute (+] the words early opera and [+] singing actors, we can understand how the new favola tutta in musica was also an entirely logical outcome of the whole development of Renaissance rut and music in Florence. In other words, opera was the sonic 19 �realization in three dimensions of the fonns and conventions of its painting, sculpture, poetry, and song. The Florentine school had worked out the principles of linear perspective in two dimensions; [70] Renaissance architects like Baldassare Peruzzi (whom Vasari credits with the development of perspective scenery) reproduced the effects of painting in three dimensions, bringing the settings and backgrounds of the pictures to life on stage. The resulting illusionistic set designs, when framed by the new proscenium arch, reproduced a spectacular and complex unified painting through which the action could be addressed directly to the viewer. An exact relation, unknown before, was established between audience, actor, and setting which promoted the spectator's sense of being surrounded by or merging with the theatrical setting, an effect that Buontalenti later realized in the Boboli grotto. And when the scenery enclosed actors who were presenting the new recitative forged by Florentine composers and singers-that sui generis style of solo singing that heightened the delivery of speech but was more naturalistic than song-they realized Galilei's ideal of the actor who delivered his lines so as to reveal the emotions that lay behind the words, engaging the listener as never before. So, the integration of the sister arts in this way invested the new art fmm with a rhetorical power that could not be matched by any ofthem individually. [71] Since we don' t have any sets that survive from the earliest court operas, I'd like to close by looking at a much earlier painting sometimes attributed to the young Titian, and dating from the early 16111 century, but depicting the same subject as that which interested the early opera poets and composers. Eurydice appears in the foreground, having been stopped in her tracks by the serpent' s venomous bite. [72] I suggest that the shepherd in the middle ground is Aristaeus, from whom Eurydice was fleeing in Ovid's original story. Further to the right is perhaps one of Eurydice' s companions, who is running off to tell Orpheus about his sudden reversal of 20 �fortune. Of course, [73] the bucolic scene presents an entirely different problem in terms of perspective than an urban setting. Titian tried to create a sense of depth by duplicating a series of similar forms on successive planes of the picture, one behind the other. So the central cavernous structure which seems to be inhabited by ghostly heads is repeated further back, where its fiery opening certainly suggests Hades and behind that one, another furnace-like structure smokes in the distance. Did Titian imagine that Orpheus would have to go through a series of Underworld landscapes to retrieve his bride? Granted, Titian's painting is not a stage set; but if you were trying to reproduce it or any sort of pastoral setting in the theater, you can see the problems that might present themselves. [74] The absence of a single strong focal point of the sot1 that court architects could devise for their street settings, which brought the viewer into the actors' illusory world-the absence of such a focal point might lead you to rely more urgently on the sense ofhearing than the sense of sight in order to sunound the viewer. [75] Therefore, the representation of an entirely sung play in an Arcadian setting (such as La Dafoe or L 'Euridice) may in part have been motivated by the desire to surround the spectators with a sonic environment-a rappresentazione tutta in musica- that helped to bridge the gap between reality and the mythical world they were being invited to experience. In conclusion, I want to leave you with the idea that opera was, from its beginnings in Florence around the year 1600, a socially shared experience irt which acting and singing-and particularly singing in the new, recitative style, about love and loss-was the culmination of a certain rhetorical type of speaking picture that had long been nurtured by the Renaissance imagination. Its aim was to revive the humanist ideals of incantatory singing so admired by the Florentine Neoplatonists and the style of theatrical declamation believed to have been so effective in ancient drama. It brought the spectator into a new relationship with the stage, heightening the immediacy of 21 �its illusions and acting on the emotions through the sense of hearing as well as seeing. With Monteverdi, it spread to Venice and then throughout the Italian peninsula as well as elsewhere in Europe and the Americas. The collaborators of the first operas believed they were creating a geme in which music and poetry, in order to serve the drama, were fused into an inseparable whole, a language that was in a class of its own-midway between speaking and singing. Looking ahead, briefly, to the decades and centuries that followed, an increasing separation between recitative and aria (or between musical declamation and outright song)-with recitatives becoming more perfunctory and arias more elaborate-the balance between these elements repeatedly shifted to favor music and singing at the expense of text and dramatic integrity, only to be brought back into relative equilibrium by various "reforms." But in the main, opera as it was envisioned at the dawn of the seventeenth century by a few Florentine noblemen and musicians has endured, uninterrupted, in Western culture for 400 years and counting. Barbara Russano Hanning March 25, 2011 ' Marco da Gagliano, preface to La Dafne (Florence, 1608; facs. Bologna, 1970). The translation used here is based on that of Carol MacClintock, Readings in the History of Music in Performance (Bloomington and London: Indiana University Press, 1979); see 188. 2 Gagliano, ibid; see MacClintock, 188-89. The full text with an English translation (by Tim Carter) may be seen in Composing Opera: From "Dajne" to "Ulisse errante," ed. Tim Carter and Zygmunt Szweykowski (Cracow: Musica Iagellonica, 1994), 46-67. 22 �3 Claude V. Palisca, "The First Performance of Euridice," in the Twenty-fifth Anniversary Festschrifl (193 7-62) [of Queens College], ed. Albert Mell (New York: Queens College of the City University of New York, 1964), 1-23; repr. with a new introductory headnote in Palisca, Studies in the History of Italian Music and Music Theory, 432-51 . Further on Euridice see, inter alia, T. Carter, " Jacopo Peri 's Euridice (1600): A Contextual Study," The Music Review 43 (1982) 83-103, repr. in Carter, Music, Patronage, and Printing; Kelley Hamess, "Le tre Euridici: Characterization and Allegory in the Euridici of Peri and Caccini," Journal ofSevententh-Century Music 911 (2003) http://sscmjscm.press.uiuc.edu/jscm/v9no 1; Bojan Bujic, " Figura poetica molto vaga": Structure and Meaning in Rinuccini 's Euridice," Early Music History 10 (1991), 29-62; and Gaspare de Caro, Euridice: Momenti dell ' Umanesimo civile fiorentino. 4 La rappresentazione di anima, et di corpo novamente pasta in musica dal sig. Emilio del Cavalieri per recitar cantando (Rome, 1600). This judgment of Cavalieri's work was suggested by the Florentine man of letters Giovanni Battista Doni (1595-164 7), perhaps the first historian of early opera. Further on Cavalieri see Claude V. Palisca, "Musical Asides in the Diplomatic Correspondence of Emilio de' Cavalieri," Musical Quarterly 49 (1963), 339-55, repr. in Palisca, Studies in the History of Italian Music and Music Theory, 389-407. For a defense of Cavalieri' s contribution to the creation of opera, see Warren Kirkendale, Emilio de' Cavalieri, 'Gentiluomo Romano ': His Life and Letters, His Role as Superintendent ofAll the Arts at the Medici Court, and His Musical Compositions (Florence, 2001 ), 185-212. 5 L 'Euridice composta in musica in stile rappresentativo da Giulio Caccini detto Romano (Florence, 1601 ; facs. Bologna, 1968). In the dedication to Bardi, Caccini lays claim to "having been the first to give to the press like kind of songs, and the style and manner ofthem, .. . composed by me more than fifteen years ago at various times, since I have never used in my works any other a11 than the imitation of the sentiments of the words, ..." (referring to his new score as well as to the monodies yet to be published in Le nuove musiche). The dedication is printed and translated in Carter, Composing Opera, 35-41 , and trans. in Strunk, Source Readings, 606. Caccini' s complete score, however, was not performed in its entirety until 1602. (The 1600 performance had been largely of Peri' s music.) 6 The concept of civic humanism was elaborated in Hans Baron, The Crisis of the Early Italian Renaissance, 2 vols. (Princeton, 1955; rev. 1966) and Eugenio Garin's Italian Humanism : Philosophy and Civic Life in the Renaissance, trans. Peter Munz (New York, 1965); see Gary Tomlinson, "Renaissance Humanism and Music," European Music, 1520-1640, ed. James Haar (Woodbridge, UK; Rochester, NY: Boydell Press, 2006), 1-19, esp. 9-10. Also see the more recent study of Florentine civic humanism as it concerns the birth of opera: Gaspare De Caro, Euridice: Momenti dell 'Umanesimo civile fiorentino (Bologna: Ut Orpheus edizioni, 2006). 7 Gary Tomlinson, " Pastoral and Musical Magic in the Birth of Opera," Opera and the Enlightenment, eds. Thomas Bauman and Marita McClymonds (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995), 7-20. Also see D. P. Walker, Spiritual and Demonic Magic from Ficino to Campanella (London: The Warburg Institute, University of London, 1958) and Ruth Katz, Divining the Powers of Music: Aesthetic Theory and the Origins ofOpera (New York: Pendragon Press, 1986), esp. 87ff. 23 �8 James M. Saslow, The Medici Wedding of 1589: Florentine Festival as "Theatrum Mundi" (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1996), 2. For a summary account of the intermedi, see Alois M. Nagler, Theatre Festivals of the Medici (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1964, 58-69. The relevant documentation is also illustrated in a recent exhibition catalogue: Maria Adelaide Bartoli Bacherini, "Per un regale evento ": Spettacoli nuziali e opera in musica alia corte dei Medici (Florence, 2000). For an edition, see Les Fetes du marriage de Ferdinand de Medic is et de Christine de Lorraine (Florence, 1589), I: Musique des intermedes de "La Pellegrino," ed. D.P. Walker (Paris, 1963 ). 9 Further on Giovanni de' Bardi, see Tim Carter, "Per cagione di bene, et giustamente vivere: Some Thoughts on the Musical Patronage of Giovanni de' Bardi," Neoplatonismo, musica, letteratura nel Rinascimento: I Bardi di Vernia e l'Accademia della Crusca; atti del Convegno lnternazionale di Studi, Firenze-Vernio, 25-26 settembre 1998. Edited by Piero Gargiulo, Alessandro Magini and Stephane Toussaint (Paris: Societe Marsile Ficin, 2000) 137-46; Claude V. Palisca: "The Musical Humanism of Giovanni Bardi," Poesia e musica nell'estetica del xvi e xvii secolo, ed. H. Meyvalian (Florence, 1979), 45-72; and Wanen Kirkendale: The Court Musicians in Florence during the Principate oft he Medici (Florence, 1993). 10 On Ottavio Rinuccini see, inter alia, Barbara Russano Hanning, Of Poetry and Music's Power: Humanism and the Creation of Opera (Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press, 1980), esp. chap. I (119): "Rinuccini and the Power of Music"; and Hanning: "Glorious Apollo: Poetic and Political Themes in the First Opera," Renaissance Quarterly 32 (1979), 485-513. 11 Detlef Heikamp, "Il Teatro Mediceo degli Uffizi," Bolle tina del Centro lnternazionale di architettura Andrea Palladia !6 (1974), 323-32; Nino Pin·otta and Elena Povoledo, Music and Theatre from Poliziano to Monteverdi (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982; Italian orig., Turin, 1969, rev. 1975), 365-83. 12 The phrase is Richard Taruskin's; see his Oxford History of Western Music, 6 vols. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005). 13 The pythic creature is described as greenish-black and covered with sparkling minors. It "was constructed in separate units of papier-mache modeled over clay forms and assembled on a wooden framework," and it was operated by a stagehand from inside (Saslow, 231-32). 14 Rinuccini's phrase ("si nobil maniera di recitare"), from the dedication (to Maria de' Medici) of his libretto L 'Euridice (Florence, 1600); Italian text and translation in Carter, Composing Opera, 16-17. 15 Le musiche di Jacopo Peri sopra L 'Euridice (Florence, 1600 [but 1601, modern style]), facs. Rome, 1934 and Bologna, 1969; performing edition, ed. Howard Mayer Brown (Madison, WI: A-R Editions, 1981 ). 16 Tomlinson, "Renaissance Humanism," 18. 17 On Jacopo Corsi see Tim Carter, "Music and Patronage in Late Sixteenth-Century Florence: The Case ofJacopo Corsi (1561-1602)," iniTatti Studies: Essays in the Renaissance I (1985), 57-104, 24 �repr. in Carter, Music, Patronage and Printing in Late Renaissance Florence (Variorum Collected Studies Series), (Aldershot and Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2000). 18 William V. Porter, "Peri and Corsi's Dajne: Some New Discoveries and Observations," Journal of the American Musicological Society 18 (1965), 170-96. 19 Claude V. Palisca, "The Alterati of Florence, Pioneers in the Theory ofDramatic Music," in William W. Austin, ed., New Looks at Italian Opera: Essays in Honor of Donald J Grout (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1968), 9-38; repr. in Palisca, Studies in the History of Italian Music and Music Theory (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994), 408-31. 2 ° Claude V. Palisca, The Florentine Camerata: Documentary Studies and Translations (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989); esp.l-11. 21 Mei's correspondence to the Camerata is published in Claude V. Palisca, Girolamo Mei (15191594): Letters on Ancient and Modern Music to Vincenzo Galilei and Giovanni Bardi: A Study with Annotated Text (Musicological Studies and Documents, American Institute of Musicology, 1960, 2/1977). 22 Claude V. Palisca, "Vincenzo Galilei's Arrangements for Voice and Lute", in Essays in Musicology in Honor of Dragan Plamenac on His 701h Birthday, eds. Gustav Reese and Robert .T. Snow (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1969), 207-32; repr. in Palisca, Studies ... , 36488. 23 Vincenzo Galilei, Dialogo della musica antica e/ della moderna (Florence, 1581 ); repr. Monuments of Music and Music Literature in Facsimile, second series, no. 20 (New York: Braude Brothers [1967]); English trans. with introduction and notes, by Claude V. Palisca (New Haven: Yale University Press, c.2003). 24 Mei had definitively established that the ancient Greek modes were different from the church modes by being essentially the same arrangement of tones transposed higher or lower on the Greek gamut; thus, depending on their register, some modes were more relaxed, others more intense, much like our modern scales. See his "Letter to Vincenzo Galilei, 8 May 1572," in Palisca, The Florentine Camerata, 66-67. 25 Further on Mei's theories, see Hanning, OfPoetry and Music's Power, 31-41. 26 Translated excerpts from Galilei's Dialogo may be found in Oliver Strunk, ed., Source Readings in Music History, rev. ed. by Leo Treitler (New York and London, 1998), and in Piero Weiss and Richard Taruskin, Music in the Western World: A History in Documents (New York: Schirmer, 1984), 166-68. The passage quoted above is taken from the latter, 167-68. 27 Compare the following passage from Bardi's Discourse on Ancient Music and Good Singing (Sopra Ia musica antica e 'l cantar bene) addressed to Caccini: "Those great philosophers and connoisseurs of nature understood well that in the low voice is slowness and sonmolence, in the 25 �medium quiet, majesty, and magnificence, and in the high shrillness and lament. Now who does not know that the drunken and the somnolent usually speak in a low tone and slowly, and that men of great affairs converse in a medium voice, quiet and magnificent; ... that in the rhythms are the portraits of anger, mildness, strength, temperance, and of every other moral virtue, as well as of all those qualities which are their contraries, ... " (quoted and translated in Hanning, Of Poetry and Music's Power, 37-38). The entire discourse is printed and translated in Palisca, The Florentine Camerata, 90-131. Further on Caccini' s relations with Bardi, see Claude V. Palisca, "The Camerata fiorentina: A Reappraisal," Studi musicali I (1972), 203-36. 28 Pirrotta, "Orpheus, Singer of strambotti," in Music and Theatre, 3-36. 29 See D.P Walker, "Ficino's Spiritus and Music," Annates musicologiques I (1953), 131-50. For a more extensive treatment of these ideas, see Gary Tomlinson, Music in Renaissance Magic: Toward a Historiography of Others (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993), esp. I 01-44. °Ficino wrote: "Remember that song is the most powerful imitator of all things. 3 For it imitates the intentions and affections of the soul ... "; quoted and trans. by Walker from the third book ofFicina's De triplici vita in "Ficino's Spritus and Music," 139. 31 On the precise role of music in Poliziano's Oifeo, see Pirrotta, "Orpheus," 19-36. 32 Hanning, Of Poetry and Music's Power, 27. 33 Giulio Caccini, Le nuove musiche (Florence, 1601 [1602, modern style]), facs. Rome, 1934; critical and performing edition, edited with a translation ofCaccini's important Preface by H. Wiley Hitchcock in Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era, vol. 9 (Madison, WI: A-R Editions, 1970). 34 Tomlinson, "Pastoral and Musical Magic," 17. Tomlinson also argues that "early opera was not a specific version of pastoral drama"; rather, both genres "arose from a culture whose world still offered magical realms' and grew out of 'the esotericism that burgeoned in Renaissance thought in the wake of the fifteenth-century revival ofNeoplatonism" (Joe. cit.). 35 Quoted in Christopher Braider, Refiguring the Real: Picture and Modernity in Word and Image, 1400-1700 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993), 156. 36 Leon Battista Alberti, Dells Pittura [On Painting], trans. John R. Spencer (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1966/R\971); see especially 72-76. 37 Rudolf Arnheim, Art and Visual Perception: A Psychology of the Creative Eye, the New Version (Berkeley: Univsity of California Press, 1974/R 2004), 295ff. 38 George R. Kernodle, From Art to Theater: Form and Convention in the Renaissance (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1944), 216. 26 �HOW OPERA BE6AN Agostino Carracci, Orpheus and Euridice 1594-97 HOW OPHRA BH6AN AND WHY OPHRA BH6AN Florence -why THERE? ca.1600 - why THEN? �Marco da GAGLIANO 1608: Wrote Preface describing opera's origins 3 1597/98: Favola by Ottavio RINUCCINI (conrt poet) Music begun by Jacopo CORSI ("learned amateur") Completed by Jacopo PERI ("skilled composer and singer") 1608: Marco da GAGLIANO Expanded original libretto Composed new music Wrote Preface describing opera's origins 4 �1597198: Rinuccini I Peri I Corsi La Dafne 1608: Gagliano I Rinuccini La Dafne 5 1597198: Rinuccini I Peri I Corsi La Dafne 1600 Marriage of Marie de' Medici Oct. 4 Rinuccini, L 'Euridice libretto printed (Preface) Oct. 6 Peri I Caccini, L 'Euridice first performed 1608: Gagliano I Rinuccini LaDafne 6 �1597198: Rinuccini I Peri I Corsi La Dafne 1600 Feb. Cavalieri's La Rappresentatione di anima et di corpo in Rome Oct. 4 Rinuccini, L 'Euridice libretto printed Oct. 6 Peri I Caccini L 'Euridice first performed Oct. 6? Cavalieri's Rappresentatione score published 1608: Gagliano I Rinuccini, La Dafoe 1597198: Rinuccini I Peri I Corsi La Dafne 7 1600 Feb. Cavalieri's La Rappresentatione di anima et di corpo in Rome Oct. 4 Rinuccini, L 'Euridice libretto printed Oct. 6 Peri I Caccini L 'Euridice first performed Oct. 6? Cavalieri's Rappresentatione score published Oct. 9 1608: Caccini, II rapimento di Cefalo performed Gagliano I Rinuccini, LaDafne 8 �1597198: Rinuccini I Peri I Corsi 1600 Feb. Oct. 4 Oct. 6 Oct. 6? Oct. 9 Rinuccini, L "Euridice libretto printed Peri I Caccini L 'Euridice first performed Cavalieri's Rappresentatione score published Caccini, II rapimento di Cefalo performed La Dafne Cavalieri's La Rappresentatione di anima et di corpo in Rome 1601 Jan. Caccini L 'Euridice score published Feb. Peri L 'Euridice score published 1608: Gagliano I Rinuccini, LaDafne 1597198: Rinuccini I Peri I Corsi La Dafne 9 1600 Feb. Cavalieri's La Rappresentatione di anima et di corpo in Rome Oct. 4 Oct. 6 Oct. 6? Oct. 9 Rinuccini, L 'Euridice libretto printed Peri I Caccini L 'Euridice first performed Cavalieri's Rappresentatione score published Caccini, II rapimento di Cefalo performed 1601 Jan. Caccini L 'Euridice score published Feb. Peri L 'Euridice score published 1602 Feb. Caccini, Le nuove musiche Dec. 5 Caccini, L 'Euridice first performed 1608: Gagliano I Rinuccini, LaDafne 10 �1597/98: Rinuccini I Peri I Corsi La Dafne 1600 Feb. Cavalieri's La Rappresentatione di anima et di corpo in Rome Oct. 4 Oct. 6 Oct. 6? Oct. 9 1601 Jan. Feb. 1602 Feb. Dec. 5 Rinuccini, L 'Euridice libretto printed Peri/ Caccini L 'Euridice first performed Cavalieri's Rappresentatione score published Caccini, 11 rapimento di Cefalo performed Caccini L 'Euridice score published Peri L 'Euridice score published Caccini, Le nuove musiche Caccini, L 'Euridice first performed 1607 Monteverdi I Striggio, Lafavola d'Orfeo 1608: Gagliano I Rinuccini, LaDafne 11 1597/98: Rinuccini/ Peri/ Corsi LaDafne 1600 Feb. Cavalieri's La Rappresentatione di anima et di corpo in Rome Oct. 4 Oct. 6 Oct. 6? Oct. 9 1601 Jan. Feb. 1602 Feb. Dec. 5 1607 Rinuccini, L 'Euridice libretto printed Peri/ Caccini L 'Euridice first performed Cavalieri's Rappresentatione score published Caccini, II rapimento di Cefalo performed Caccini L 'Euridice score published Peri L 'Euridice score published Caccini, Le nuove musiche Caccini, L 'Euridice first performed Monteverdi/ Striggio, L '01jeo 1608 1608: Monteverdi/ Rinuccini, L'Arianna LaDafne Gagliano I Rinuccini, 12 �Lasciatemi morire, Let me die, lasciatemi morire; e che volete voi che mi conforte in cosi dura sorte, in cosi gran martire? Let me die! And who do you think could console me in so dreadful a fate, in such great torment? Lasciatemi morire, Lasciatemi morire. Let me die! Let me die! 13 WHY FLORENCE? 14 �WHY f'LORENC£? 1. Long tradition of musical theater - INTERMED I 15 �WHY f'LOR£NC£? 1. Long tradition of musical theater- INTERMEDI 2. Network of academies- CIVIC HUMANISM Bardi's Camerata 0 Alterati Academy Medici court Corsi's circle 0 17 �1589 INT£RSM£DI The Team: Giovanni de' Bardi, artistic director Ottavio Rinuccini, poet Emilio de' Cavalieri, musical director Bernardo Buontalenti, costume and stage design Music by Cristofano Malvezzi and Luca Marenzio, with contributions from Jacopo Peri, Giulio Caccini, and Giovanni de' Bardi 20 �1lNT£RM£DI '1 (1: 1lNT£RM£DI �INT£RM£DI INT£RM£DI 24 �IlNT£RM£DI IlNT£RM£DI 26 �IlNJTERSMEDI 27 , __ : _.,_.-_-_, :·: _""--' _: __ --,,-_ ':~::_-:::~ ~c:: c:·:____ ---~----=-=-=-":~-':~':_.:'_:O..:_~===-=:=o_ ----- 0o __ ~co_ ~c_,__ ,,,- ,-.~'- ''- -=--~--=====--=--== -~~-~-··__'_,_·--~~~_:_~~ -- .. _c_, _________________ -'----------- --· -~---------~------- -~---- =---'--- __ __:__::-c,.::c:.:.::.::·:c•·· - -- _---------------------_ _ _ _ _ _ ,_____c.:_ _______ :_ _ _:c:.:..:c --------------------------- __ ]:_•·---·-------'-------·----'----'-'-=--'--' ---- - - - . ----------------------- =· ~:--=Nernrol'K"~:£ac:auemie-'S::=~-c~me~J.rMWN1BME~~ -,-_----------------------------------c··c-:,o,'-----'---'--·----,---------';-'----:o':_c· - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ----------------------------------- - - - - - - -~'-'--'--'-'------'----"-----'----'-----~--,-,------,---- -.---;----..-,-------·-· ---"--'----'------'--'--·--'----------"'' "'-"-------=--'-----------'-------- -·-~-.·------'----'-~--~--~-c ·----------------~--- -----~----"--------- --------- - --,----,---------,-,----,----,---,------.. -.. -- ----,--------~---,- ----------------------------- -c--·- - " -·--'-----'---·-- -----'-- ---~------;-------.--,-,--------,--, -,------"--------.-. -"c-= ... - .. ---,----------~-------.-- ----c=-~-- �HUMANISM Gary Tomlinson, "Renaissance Humanism and Music," European Music, 1520-1640 1. Philological humanism Girolamo Mei 2. Rhetorical humanism Vincenzo Galilei 3. Ordinary-language humanism Rinuccini, Corsi, and Peri29 HUMANISM Alterati (Academy of the Altered Ones) Giovanni de' Bardi Girolamo Mei Ottavio Rinnccini Jacopo Corsi "Pioneers in the theory of dramatic music" 3o �HUMANISM Camerata Giovanni de' Bardi Girolamo Mei Vincenzo Galilei Giulio Caccini 31 HUMANISM Camerata Vincenzo Galilei Giulio Caccini 32 �ViNCENZO 6ALII.m, DIALOGO D£l.J..A MUSICA ANTICA E D£l.J..A MODERNA, t5e 1 Do away with vocal counterpoint. Adopt monody (melody with simple accompaniment). Imitate nature (by following the patterns of speech) 33 ViNCENZO 6ALII.m, DIALOGO D£l.J..A MUSICA ANTICA E D£l.J..A MODERNA, 1581 "Kindly observe in what manner the actors speak, in what range, high or low, how loudly or how softly, how rapidly or slowly they enunciate their words ... how one speaks when infuriated or excited; how a married woman speaks, how a girl, how a lover ... how one speaks when lamenting, when crying out, when afraid, and when exulting with joy." 34 �WH1f FLORENCE? I. Long tradition of musical theater -INTERMEDI 2. Network of academies- CIVIC HUMANISM 3. Particular Renaissance worldviewMUSICAL MAGIC 35 MUSICAL MA6IC Angelo Poliziano, Orfeo (1480) 36 �MUSICAL MAGIC Neoplatonism Lorenzo de' Medici (The ~nu.5.u.u• Marsilio Ficino (1433-99) "music-spirit theory" Angelo Poliziano, Orfeo (148 �Titian Bacchus descending to rescue the abandoned Ariadne from her fate 1522-23 �41 HOW OPERA BE6AN AND WJn1 OPERA BE6AN Florence -why THERE.? ca.1600 -why THEN? �Roger de Piles, Abrege de Ia vie des peintres (1699) "One must think of painting as a kind of stage on which each figure plays its role." 43 Filippo Villani, DE ORI6J.NE (1381-2) Images formed by [Giotto's] brush agree so well with the lineaments of nature as to seem to the beholder to live and breathe; and his pictures appear to perform actions and movements so exactly as to seem ([when seen] from a little way off) actually speaking, weeping, rejoicing, and doing other things, not without pleasure from him who beholds and praises the talent and skill of the artist. 44 �Giotto, Lamentation (1303-6), fresco from the Arena Chapel, Pad11a ALBERTI'S COMPOSJTJO from Della pittura, 1435-36 Period /\ Clause + Clause PhrAase Aord Picture Bod~y 1\ 11ember + 11ember Plan/.\ane 46 �Alberti: "In my view, there is no painted narrative so filled with so great a variety of events that nine or ten persons will not be capable of acting them out quite fittingly." ~Della pittura 47 �The Last Supper, ca. 1200 Psalter illumination (Musee Conde, Chantilly) 49 ILeon:ardo da Vinci, The Last Supper, 1495-97 (Milan, Santa Maria delle Gn1zie:)l after restoration, 1997-2001 50 �after restoration, 1997-200 I 52 �Jacopo Tintoretto, The Last Supper, 1592-94 53 (San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice) 54 �55 Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio Boy Bitten by a Lizard, c. 1597 (London, National Gallery) �Boy Bitten by a Lizard, detail 58 �Artemesia Genti1eschi Judith Beheading Holofernes, c. 1620 (Uffizi Gallery, Florence) Artemisia Genti1eschi SelfPortrait as La Pittura, c. 1630 �61 Nympha<:um (1583-93), by Bernardo Buontalenti, Florence ��66 �67 George Kernodle, ?W#t ~to 7~ (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1944.) "Modem theatre grew out of the desire to see and hear with living actors the romantic stories and allegorical fancies already portrayed by the painters." 68 �Frank Kernodle, ';'UJ#t ,rt.a ta 7/eeattze (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1944.) "Early opera grew out of the desire to see and hear with singing actors the romantic stories and allegorical fancies already portrayed by the painters." Baldassarre Peruzzi (!481-1537), stage design 69 ���� Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Description An account of the resource Items in this collection are part of a series of lectures given every year at St. John's College. During the Fall and Spring semesters, lectures are given on Friday nights. Items include audio and video recordings and typescripts.<br /><br />For more information, and a schedule of upcoming lectures, please visit the <strong><a href="http://www.sjc.edu/programs-and-events/annapolis/formal-lecture-series/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">St. John's College website</a></strong>.  <br /><br />Click on <strong><a title="Formal Lecture Series" href="https://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/browse?collection=5&amp;sort_field=Dublin+Core%2CDate&amp;sort_dir=d">Items in the St. John's College Formal Lecture Series—Annapolis Collection</a></strong> to view and sort all items in the collection.<br /><br />A growing number of lecture recordings are also available on the St. John's College (Annapolis) Lectures podcast. Visit <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/st-johns-college-annapolis-lectures/id1695157772">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/6GDsIRqC8SWZ28AY72BsYM?si=f2ecfa9e247a456f" title="Spotify">Spotify</a> to listen and subscribe. Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource St. John's College Greenfield Library Title A name given to the resource St. John's College Formal Lecture Series—Annapolis Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context formallectureseriesannapolis Text A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text. Original Format The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data pdf Page numeration Number of pages in the original item. 64 pages Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource How Opera Began (And Why It Began in Florence) Description An account of the resource Typescript of a lecture delivered on March 25, 2011, by Barbara Hanning as part of the Formal Lecture Series. Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Hanning, Barbara Russano, 1940- Publisher An entity responsible for making the resource available St. John's College Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Annapolis, MD Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource 2011-03-25 Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource A signed permission form has been received stating: "I hereby grant St. John's College permission to: make a recording of my lecture, and retain copies for circulation and archival preservation at the St. John’s College Greenfield Library; make a recording of my lecture available online; make typescript copies of my lecture available for circulation and archival preservation at the St. John’s College Greenfield Library; make a copy of my typescript available online." Type The nature or genre of the resource text Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource pdf Subject The topic of the resource Opera. Italy. Florence. History and criticism. Language A language of the resource English Identifier An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context LEC_Hanning_Barbara_2011-03-25 Relation A related resource <a href="https://digitalarchives.sjc.edu/items/show/30" title="Audio recording">Audio recording</a> Friday night lecture