Professor of English Emeritus Paul Mariani has spent 50 years writing poetry that celebrates the vibrant sacramentality of life in the twilight of Modernity. His new book, The Mystery of It All: The Vocation of Poetry in the Twilight of Modernity (Paraclete Press, 2019), is a life-spanning collection of his prose explorations of what it means to be a person of wonder and imagination. Mariani is the author of 18 books, including biographies of poets Robert Lowell, John Berryman, Hart Crane, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and William Carlos Williams. His biography of Crane, The Broken Tower, was made into a film directed by and starring James Franco. Earlier this year, Mariani was honored with the Flannery O’Connor Lifetime Achievement Award.
The twilight of Modernity
Twice ordained
John R. Willis, S.J., (1917-2001) was a popular professor of history at Boston College who was known for his humility, sense of humor, and eclectic interests, which ranged from opera to movies to motorcycles. He also served as dean of BC’s College of Arts & Sciences and was devoted to prison ministry. Before he entered the Society of Jesus, Fr. Willis had been a Congregationalist minister. A memoir written by Fr. Willis was recently unearthed from a forgotten moving box. Fr. Willis’ friend of 40 years and fellow Jesuit Harvey Egan, S.J., edited and published the memoir under the title Twice Ordained. The volume offers an intimate view of a person dealing with the deaths of his parents and with religious bigotry after he was received into the Roman Catholic Church, as well as his musings on Jesuit academic life, music, and his travels. According to Fr. Egan, Fr. Willis’ book “shows a person unafraid to reveal his intimate longings, loves, joys, friendships, hopes, fears, mistakes, and disappointments.”
Hart: Reconsider what you think you know about drugs
Columbia University’s Ziff Professor of Psychology Carl Hart, whose expertise is in neuropsychopharmacology and behavioral neuroscience, will speak on “Drug Use for Grownups: A Human Rights Perspective” on Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. in Gasson Hall, room 100. Hart is the author of High Price: A Neuroscientist’s Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know about Drugs and Society, which was named winner of the 2014 PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. High Price is a groundbreaking memoir about Hart’s journey from violence, crime, and drugs to become a cutting-edge neuroscientist bringing a discerning eye to the study of addiction and shedding new light on topics of race, poverty, drugs, and drug policies. This lecture is presented by the Lowell Humanities Series and co-sponsored by the Park Street Corporation Speaker Series.
Ricco Siasoco returns
Writer and educator Ricco Villanueva Siasoco will read from his short story collection, The Foley Artist, on Nov. 13 at 4:30 p.m. in Devlin Hall, room 101. Siasoco is a member of the board of trustees at Kundiman, a national organization dedicated to Asian American literature, and is director of equity and inclusion at the Chadwick School in California. He previously taught writing and literature at BC. Sponsors: Asian American Studies, Creative Writing, and the English Department.
Posted in Guest Authors
Tagged Asian American writers, English Department, short stories
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World Drawing God Day
In the new book, Drawing God (Paraclete Press), Emma decides to draw something beyond spectacular. She chooses to draw God. Drawing God author Karen Kiefer, who directs the Church in the 21st Century Center at Boston College, invites everyone to create their own work of art on November 7 for World Drawing God Day. Participants are encouraged to share their artwork using the hashtag #DrawingGod. Need some inspiration? Check out the idea kit on the Drawing God website.
Posted in Alumni Authors, Boston College Authors
Tagged art, Church in the 21st Century Center, faith
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Civic Shakespeare
“Portrait of Shakespeare” by Thomas Nast (1840-1902), from the Folger Digital Image Collection
Michael Witmore, director of the Folger Shakespeare Library, will give a talk on Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. in Gasson Hall, room 100. Witmore is a scholar of Shakespeare and early modern literature as well as a pioneer in the digital analysis of Shakespeare’s texts. Based in Washington, DC, the Folger Shakespeare Library is the world’s largest Shakespeare collection. Witmore’s publications include Landscapes of the Passing Strange: Reflections from Shakespeare, with Rosamond Purcell, Shakespearean Metaphysics, Pretty Creatures: Children and Fiction in the Early Renaissance, and Childhood and Children’s Books in Early Modern Europe, 1550-1800. Sponsor: Lowell Humanities Series.
Posted in Guest Authors, Lowell Humanities Series
Tagged digital humanities, Shakespeare
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Chocolate chip sea stars
Boston College alumna Jenna Grodzicki introduces readers to some of “wackiest creatures under the sea” in her new children’s book, I See Sea Food: Sea Creatures That Look Like Food (Millbrook Press, 2019). The egg yolk jellyfish, the lettuce sea slug, the chocolate chip sea star are among the creatures featured in Grodzicki’s book. A former teacher and library media specialist, Grodzicki also is the author of Finn Finds A Friend and Pixie’s Adventure.
The FBI, cybersecurity, and American higher ed
The synergy between academy, industry, and government that led to the successful M.S. in Cybersecurity Policy & Governance Program at Boston College’s Woods College of Advancing Studies is outlined in a chapter of the new Routledge International Handbook of Universities, Security, and Intelligence Studies, in which case studies from leading academic and practitioner authorities on security and intelligence provide an essential and authoritative guide for researchers and policymakers looking to understand the relationship between universities, the security services, and the intelligence community. The chapter, co-written by Kevin R. Powers, the M.S. program’s founding director, is titled “The FBI, Cyber-Security, and American Campuses: Academia, Government, and Industry as Allies in Cybersecurity Effectiveness,” and is drawn from his presentation on the topic at the University of Oxford in 2017.
Book launch Oct. 30 for A Russian Immigrant
Professor of Russian, English, and Jewish Studies Maxim D. Shrayer will launch his new book, A Russian Immigrant: Three Novellas, at a campus event on Oct. 30 from 7 to 9 p.m. in Devlin 101. The event will include a reading and discussion with BC Professor of English Andrew Sofer, followed by a book signing and reception. In A Russian Immigrant, Shrayer’s Boston-based protagonist Simon Reznikov is prevented from putting down roots in his new country; he has unresolved feelings about his Jewish and American present, and his Russian and Soviet past. With elements of suspense, mystery, and crime, the three interconnected novellas gradually reveal many layers of the characters’ Russian, Jewish, and Soviet identities, as Reznikov moves from adolescence to early adulthood. [The Moscow Times calls Shrayer’s book “riveting” and “powerful.”] The event is sponsored by the departments of English and Slavic and Eastern Languages, and the Jewish Studies Program. More from BC News | Brookline Tab.
Posted in Boston College Authors
Tagged fiction, identity, immigrants, Jewish, Russian
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A conversation with Quan Zhou
Graphic novelist Quan Zhou will talk with BC Professors Min Song and Mary Kate Donovan about Asian immigration, art, and representation on Oct. 29 at Boston College. Zhou, who was born in Spain and is ethnically Chinese, explores the topic of identity in her work. The conversation is free and open to the public and will take place in Stokes S295 beginning at 4:30 p.m.
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