Literature Classes in NYC, New York

Kaytlin has just finished an early and unpolished draft of her second one woman show. This piece is an irreverent mad dash through 10,000 years of sex work history in 60 Minutes. Kaytlin will be reading a draft of the show and then hosting a talk back discussion.

Join charismatic actor and teacher Leo Schaff as he breathes life into Shakespeare’s words, acting out portions of the play and offering illuminating insights into the Bard’s language, plot lines, historical context and eternal relevance, all with a generous sense of humor. The Tempest - January 8 The magic hand of Prospero guides us through...

Enjoy the stunning work of these authors from around the world. Please read Natalia Ginzburg’s Happiness, as Such for the first class, Kobo Abe’s The Woman in the Dunes for the second, the first half of Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook for the third, the second half of Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook for the fourth, and Anna Burns’...

Complete Course Title: A Ruthless Criticism of Everything Existing: an Introduction to Marx In the mid-nineteenth century, a young Karl Marx wrote, in the form of a published open letter to Arnold Ruge: “But if the designing of the future and the proclamation of ready-made solutions for all time is not our affair, then we realize all the more clearly...

Experience the creative genius of some of the nation’s most gifted authors, both past and present. Please read Jean Toomer’s Cane for the first class, Flannery O’Connor’s Wise Blood for the second, the first half of William T. Vollmann’s Europe Central for the third, the second half of William T. Vollmann’s Europe Central for the fourth,...

This course on Shakespeare’s Henriad will largely focus on two plays, Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry V, along with excerpts from a third, Henry IV, Part 2. We will follow the development of prince Hal, a prodigal and scamp, into King Henry V, a conquering hero and majestic—and Machiavellian—ruler. We’ll also follow the rise and fall of one of...

Work through selected chapters of Ulysses and discovery what makes the novel resonate today, with Michael Groden, editor of the James Joyce Archive

James Shapiro, Larry Miller Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia and author of Shakespeare in a Divided America and The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606, leads participants through the plays that the Public Theater will stage this summer in Central Park, offering insights into their language, style and performance histories....

What kind of writer was Philip Roth? His fiction deals unquestionably with problems of Jewish cultural difference: parochialism, assimilation, conversion, anxiety, whiteness. Yet, Roth famously disavowed the categorization “Jewish-American.” For others, Roth is a quintessentially all-American literary icon—a novelist who, in dealing forcefully...

Our personal stories are a vital part of who we are. When we explore our stories by writing memoir, we have the opportunity to understand our experiences more deeply and give others a chance to reflect on theirs. In this course, students will produce and share original autobiographical work, examine aspects of craft such as voice, structure and narration,...

Madwomen, ghosts, witches, monsters—the gothic genre has long been a vehicle for representing female characters deemed too transgressive for inclusion in “respectable” fiction. Indeed, much of what makes the gothic dark and mysterious, what inspires dread, is how it reckons with thwarted female autonomy, repressed desire, and past injustice....

Composed sometime between the seventh and eighth centuries B.C., Homer's Odyssey is one of the oldest works of world literature and the ancestor of virtually every narrative that involves a difficult journey home. The longing to return home is for Odysseus is the longing of a man to recover his identity as a king, husband, and father after having...

From zero-sum games and the “prisoner’s dilemma” to rational actors and the Nash equilibrium, game theory has grown from a bold conjecture into a deeply influential mode of analysis in political science, economics, psychology, business, mathematics, and even military strategy. Based on a theory of simple card games developed by John Von Neumann...

This class is an in-depth look at Virginia Woolf’s masterpiece. Each session will focus on different issues raised in the book.  Topics covered will include:  family and individual identity different ways of living in the past and future literary form and personal psychology natural cycles and personal choices gender roles and individual...

What makes Dante’s Divine Comedy such essential reading today, even though it was written seven centuries ago? This course will explore the fascinating world of Dante’s epic poem in all its cultural and historical richness, as we consider Dante’s relation to his beloved hometown of Florence, his lacerating experience of exile, and his...