Event Phone: (215) 732-1600
Poet Marianne Moore broke free of tradition and reassembled the pieces in a new and sometimes confounding way. In this tour, we will study her letters, clippings and the objects she surrounded herself with to find out more about the sources for her revolutionary and groundbreaking work.
The bestselling novels of the Victorian era are not what you think they are. Beneath the appearance of public respectability, the Victorians devoured novels of mystery, bigamy, madness, the supernatural, seductions, arsonists, and addicts. These now-forgotten novels kept the Victorians reading far into the night, too terrified to blow out the bedside candle. This genre, known as Sensation Fiction, became the best-selling, blockbuster novels of the 19th Century and outsold Dickens, Trollope, and the Brontes.
We’ll read and learn about five plays—all different types, all of major importance—that are being performed on stage in Philadelphia this season This will give us a chance to interpret the work and then interpret the production (not necessarily in that order). Each meeting will begin with a short lecture providing background and context, followed by a film clip, followed by conversation.
There are infinite routes through James Joyce’s dense, funny, thrilling, frustrating masterpiece Ulysses. If you’ve always wanted to read it, this is a great way in: with good company and monthly conversation. If you’ve read it before, join us to discover something new again in the novel.
This course won’t be anything close to a comprehensive survey of Melville’s writings. Yet by setting aside his behemoth, Moby-Dick, we will acquire depth into key texts that help us gain perspective on his career and, even more importantly, insight into his arguments about politics, power, self-deception, and modernity.
With a warm heart for human nature and a cold eye for the human condition, Herman Melville was ahead of his time. Join us for an exploration of Melville’s significance to the 21st century, with a focus on themes like social justice, globalization, and more.
James Baldwin, one of the leading writers of the 20th century, portrayed passionate truths about poverty, racism, religion, homophobia, and the struggle for justice in America in his essays, his novels, his stories, his plays—as well as in his lectures and in the recording the life of his mind, heart and spirit.
Author Joshua Specht joins us to discuss his book Red Meat Republic: A Hoof-to-Table History of How Beef Changed America.
Calling all pre-schoolers! Come play with us on the last Thursday morning of every month. We’ll read a story together and then embark on a treasure hunt through the Rosenbach brothers’ glitzy Rittenhouse Square home to discover things that relate to the story. Afterward, families are welcome to join us in our activity room for hands-on art making activities, creative play, music and snacks.
With a warm heart for human nature and a cold eye for the human condition, Herman Melville was ahead of his time. Join us for an exploration of Melville’s significance to the 21st century, with a focus on themes like social justice, globalization, and more.