Literature Course
WINTER 2012
SOLD OUT!
The John Adams Institute presents our literature course:
Southern Gothic Fiction
What is the American South? Why are Tennessee and Mississippi so different from New York and California? In this six-week course you will plunge into this literature-rich part of America that is often hidden away from the rest of the world.
Classic authors like William Faulkner and Flannery O’Connor constructed painfully vivid scenes of the grotesquely real in the South, a region where simple did not mean easy. Modern authors like Larry Brown have continued the tradition, with graphic portrayals of intense, inward-looking characters. And John Grisham, best known for his courtroom dramas, can also get down into the southern dirt.
The course, taught by Mississippi native Matt Luna, will examine the harsh settings and unique language found in these works. We’ll look at how extreme situations give birth to grotesque characters, and try to find out how close they are to reality. Come and explore a mythic literary landscape in which racism, family, nature, religion and pride dictate the destiny of powerful characters.
About the Teacher:
Matt Luna grew up in Mississippi and studied in Faulkner’s hometown of Oxford at the University of Mississippi. A graduate of the University of North Florida with studies in literature and sociology, Matt has served in the U.S. and in Asia as a communications specialist in the United States Marine Corps. He spent a decade living in Paris working in editorial for the International Herald Tribune and as an English language teacher. He is currently writing and editing freelance in the Netherlands.
The items below are to be the primary texts to be used in the course
- Joe by Larry Brown
- A Painted House by John Grisham
- A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor
- Big Woods: The Hunting Stories by William Faulkner
- Ford Country by John Grisham
- Fay and Dirty Work by Larry Brown
- I Am Charlotte Simmons by Tom Wolfe
When:
Tuesdays 31 January, 7, 14 21 and 28 February, and 6 March 2012
Time: 8:00pm – 9:30pm
Where: ABC Treehouse, Voetboogstraat 11 Amsterdam
Price: €238 p/person (tax included)
Register, before 16 January 2011, at: info@john-adams.nl.
For more information please contact Maarten van Essen essen@john-adams.nl or call 020-624 72 80
The John Adams Institute and De Rode Hoed present our literature course FALL 2011
Crossing Boundaries:
Storytelling in the 21st Century
Television shows like "The Sopranos" and "The Wire" have taken the place of the serialized fiction that novelists like Charles Dickens used to write. And novelists today are often screenwriters as well, and in turn write books that seem written specifically for film adaptations. This six-week course, offered by the John Adams Institute and taught by Dan Hassler-Forest of the University of Amsterdam, will explore the way today's narrative media have grown increasingly convergent. We'll focus on individual authors and filmmakers, such as Charlie Kaufman, Jane Campion and David Cronenberg, whose work continually crosses the boundaries between narrative media.
When 4,10,18,25 October and 1, 8 November
Time 8:00pm - 9:30pm
Where De Rode Hoed, Keizersgracht 102 Amsterdam
Price: € 238
Register at info@john-adams.nl
Article in NRC Handelsblad 5-Oct-2011
