Kidder talk postponed
Please note: The talk by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tracy Kidder at Boston College scheduled for Feb. 5 has been postponed due to weather. A new date is TBD. Sponsor: Lowell Humanities Series
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Mapping the invisible nature of theater
Meditations on those entities that a theater audience doesn’t see—and their significance—are offered by Boston College Associate Professor of English Andrew Sofer in Dark Matter: Invisibility in Drama, Theater, and Performance (University of Michigan Press). In mapping the invisible dimension of theater—whose effects are felt in performance and focus an audience’s experience—Sofer examines phenomena such as hallucination, offstage character and action, technology and trauma. He illuminates the invisible in periods of postclassical western theater and drama, pinpoints new facets of drama and performance that escape sight, and provides case studies that show how dark matter is woven into the fabric of theatrical representation. A colleague writes that, to his knowledge, “No one has undertaken a book-length study of the important phenomenon of unseen objects, people and actions as Sofer has done, and certainly no one has applied to the phenomenon the rich body of theoretical discourse, drawn not only from theater, but from the sciences and social sciences….”
Kidder on “Another Set of Eyes”
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tracy Kidder will present “Another Set of Eyes” at Boston College on Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. in Gasson Hall, room 100. Kidder is the author of House, Among Schoolchildren, Old Friends, Home Town, My Detachment, Strength in What Remains, Mountains Beyond Mountains and The Soul of a New Machine, which won a Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award. His newest book, Good Prose, is about creating good nonfiction as well as the 40-year association between Kidder and editor Richard Todd, who co-authors Good Prose. From the publisher: “Kidder and Todd draw candidly, sometimes comically, on their own experience—their mistakes as well as accomplishments—to demonstrate the pragmatic ways in which creative problems get solved…They talk about narrative strategies (and about how to find a story, sometimes in surprising places), about the ethical challenges of nonfiction, and about the realities of making a living as a writer.” Sponsor: Lowell Humanities Series | Video of Kidder and Dr. Paul Farmer, the subject of Mountains Beyond Mountains, at Boston College in 2004.
Posted in Guest Authors
Tagged Lowell Humanities Series, nonfiction, Pulitzer Prize winner
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Review by Fr. Ken Himes
Theology Associate Professor Fr. Kenneth Himes reviews Offering Hospitality: Questioning Christian Approaches to War by Caron E. Gentry for America magazine. According to Fr. Himes, Gentry’s book is “a work that adds another voice to the chorus calling for Christians not just to avoid war or practice it with restraint, but to build peace.”
Cultural exports
In her new book, Through a Screen Darkly: Popular Culture, Public Diplomacy, and America’s Image Abroad (Yale University Press), Martha Bayles shows how America’s in-your-face entertainment became our country’s de facto ambassador. Based on interviews she conducted in 11 countries, Bayles argues that this distorted picture of America has been a most influential export. She cites many objections to the violence and vulgarity pervading today’s American popular culture, but also a deeper complaint: namely, that America no longer shares the best of itself. Far from finding fault, Bayles hopes her work can help to chart a positive path for the future. Listen to her talk about her new book on NPR’s “On Point.” Bayles teaches in the College of Arts & Sciences Honors Program. She is also the author of Hole in Our Soul: The Loss of Beauty and Meaning in American Music.
Posted in Boston College Authors
Tagged College of Arts & Sciences, media, pop culture
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Honors for Shrayer
Congratulations to Maxim D. Shrayer whose book, Leaving Russia: A Jewish Story (Syracuse University Press), was named a finalist for a 2013 National Jewish Book Award in the category of Modern Jewish Thought and Experience. Now in its 63rd year, the National Jewish Book Awards is the longest-running North American awards program in the field of Jewish literature. Established to recognize outstanding books of Jewish interest in various categories, it has earned its place as one of the nation’s premiere literary honors.
Review of Global Justice
America magazine has published a review of the newest book by J. Donald Monan, SJ Professor of Theology Lisa Sowle Cahill. The book, Global Justice, Christology and Christian Ethics (Cambridge University Press), “demonstrates why just action is necessarily a criterion of authentic Christian theology, and gives grounds for Christian hope that change in violent structures is really possible,” according to the publisher. In his review, T. Howland Sanks, SJ, calls Global Justice “rich and rewarding.”
Talking about Hope
Rev. Richard Lennan and Nancy Pineda-Madrid, editors of Hope: Promise, Possibility, and Fulfillment, were interviewed for a Boston College Chronicle article about their new book. Hope features essays on the theology of hope from 16 faculty members from the School of Theology and Ministry.
Posted in Boston College Authors
Tagged Christianity, School of Theology and Ministry, theology
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BC Bookmarks 