Nathaniel Hawthorne & Frederick Douglass
Two seminal 19th-century works – both significant in the evolution of American thought and writing, but rarely considered in relation to one another – are the focus of a Burns Library exhibition, “Nathaniel Hawthorne and Frederick Douglass: Texts and Contexts.” The exhibition, on display through Jan. 24, showcases Hawthorne’s The Blithedale Romance (1852) and Douglass’ “The Heroic Slave” (1853). Blithedale, Hawthorne’s third major novel, is set in a Utopian socialist community that is undermined by the self-interested behavior of its members. Douglass’ novella follows the development of an enslaved man who first escapes from bondage and then leads a rebellion on board a slave ship. “While Hawthorne’s novel is meditative and ambiguous and Douglass’ story is direct and argumentative, each draws on actual events and features characters who attempt to reform or escape unjust systems,” explains Professor of English Paul Lewis, the exhibition curator. “Juxtaposed, the works suggest different ways in which literature absorbs, reflects, engages and contributes to contemporaneous social, economic, political, and cultural life.” More from Boston College Chronicle.
Grief and gratitude at Thanksgiving
“It is ok to grieve on Thanksgiving, because when we grieve we feel how much the love is between ourselves and those whom we lost,” writes Canisius Professor James Keenan, SJ, in an essay for Commonweal magazine’s blog. “When we feel that love, we are grateful for that gift. They go hand in hand. I am as grateful for the grief as I am for the love.” Fr. Keenan is the director of BC’s Jesuit Institute and Gabelli Presidential Scholars Program. Read more of his essay, “Grief and Gratitude at Thanksgiving.”
School of Social Work magazine
The fall 2015 issue of the Boston College School of Social Work magazine features the work of junior faculty members Rocio Calvo, Jessica Black, Summer Hawkins and Erika Sabbath as well as the contributions of James Lubben to the Grand Challenges to Social Work initiative, an agenda for the next generation of social workers to solve some of society’s most pressing social ills. Read these stories and many other articles.
Working for a better world
President & CEO of Catholic Relief Services Carolyn Y. Woo will present “Working for a Better World: The Story of Catholic Relief Services and Carolyn Woo,” on Nov. 30 at 6 p.m. in Gasson 100. Woo joined Catholic Relief Services, the official international humanitarian agency of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, after a long career in higher education. She will discuss CRS’ growth and development, and her own experiences and impressions as its head. Her faith journey and work at CRS are recounted in her new book, Working for a Better World (Our Sunday Visitor, 2015). Sponsors: Church in the 21st Century Center, University Mission and Ministry.
Dead Ringer
Why is everyone staring at Laura Rivers? That’s just the beginning of the mystery; turns out, Laura has a doppelgänger, and it isn’t just anyone. So begin the twists and turns of Dead Ringer (Full Fathom Five, 2015), a debut novel by Boston College alumna Jessie Rosen. Time magazine named Rosen among its 25 Best Bloggers of 2013, noting that Rosen “has been writing about 20-something life with disarming candor, humility and wonder since long before Lena Dunham’s ‘Girls’ debuted.” Read an excerpt from Dead Ringer.
A happy kid
Katie Hurley, a child and adolescent psychotherapist, shows parents how happiness is the key to raising confident, capable children in her new book The Happy Kid Handbook: How to Raise Joyful Children in a Stressful World (Tarcher, 2015). According to Hurley, happiness is about parenting the individual, because not every child is the same, and not every child will respond to parenting the same way. By exploring the differences among introverts, extroverts, and everything in between, The Happy Kid Handbook offers parents specific strategies they need to meet their child exactly where he or she needs to be met from a social-emotional perspective. Hurley, a Boston College alumna, practices psychotherapy in Los Angeles and is a freelance writer for many online publications, including EverydayFamily, Momtastic, mom.me, Yahoo Parenting and The Huffington Post.
American Jesuits and the world
John T. McGreevy, the I.A. O’Shaughnessy dean of the College of Arts and Letters and professor of history at the University of Notre Dame, will present “American Jesuits and the World: Toward a More Global Religious History” on Nov. 19 at 5 p.m. His address is the inaugural installment of the Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies’ Lecture Series on Jesuit Studies, which seeks to bring the world’s preeminent scholars in the field of Jesuit studies to Boston College for engagement with the University and the general public. McGreevy’s lecture will be held in Fulton Hall 511. He is the author Parish Boundaries: The Catholic Encounter with Race in the Twentieth Century Urban North and Catholicism and American Freedom: A History. His forthcoming book, American Jesuits and the World: How an Embattled Religious Order Made Modern Catholicism Global (Princeton University Press), will be published this spring.
Beatlebone
Irish author Kevin Barry will read from his new novel, Beatlebone (Canongate, 2015), on Nov. 18 at 1 p.m. in Connolly House at 300 Hammond St. Beatlebone imagines a trip by former Beatle John Lennon to Ireland’s west coast in 1978. Earlier this month he won the 2015 Goldsmiths Prize for Beatlebone. The prize, established in 2013, honors British and Irish writers for “fiction that breaks the mold or opens up new possibilities for the novel form.” Barry’s previous work includes City of Bohane, which won the 2013 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Registered is requested. Sponsor: Irish Studies Program.
Novelists and politicians
Boston College’s Burns Visiting Scholar in Irish Studies James H. Murphy will present “Novelists and Politicians in 19th-Century Ireland” on Nov. 18 at 4:30 p.m. in the Thompson Room of Burns Library. Murphy is a leading scholar of 19th-century Ireland who has authored, or edited, more than a dozen books, including Abject Loyalty: Nationalism and Monarchy in Ireland During the Reign of Queen Victoria and Irish Novelists and the Victorian Age. He is a professor of English and a former director of Irish Studies at DePaul University, Chicago. A reception will follow in the Irish Room of Burns Library. Sponsors: Center for Irish Programs and BC University Libraries. Read a Q&A with him in the Boston College Chronicle.
Posted in Guest Authors
Tagged BC Libraries, Center for Irish Programs, Ireland, Irish Studies
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