Classes

Ludwig van Beethoven, one of the greatest composers in music history, was inspired by the philosophical and moral principles developed by the Enlightenment.

Beethoven’s evolution as a composer takes us from the height of musical classicism, exemplified by Mozart’s mature works, to early German Romanticism. Beethoven wrote his beautiful and innovative late string quartets and piano sonatas despite his near deafness. In fact, because of his deafness, during his last creative surge Beethoven tapped into a unique world of his own. He soared into completely uncharted territories, unencumbered by any musical influences and guided only by his unique fantasy and intuition.

We will follow Beethoven’s progress as a composer from the “heroic” phase of his creative life, which includes his Symphonies #3 and #5, his piano sonata “Appassionata” and other works, to his late piano sonatas and Symphonies #6 and #9.

Enjoy in-class performances of Beethoven’s most popular piano sonatas – “Pathetique,” “Moonlight,” “Waldstein,” “Appassionata,” and other less known sonatas, plus early Romantic compositions by Schubert and Schumann, and late Romantic pieces by Brahms.

How to Transform Personal Experience into Creative Expression

There are many ways to approach truth in writing. Where memory is concerned, we can likely never get back to the “absolute” truth of an event. But for creative writing, do we want or need to get back to that absolute truth? Isn’t it the writer’s job to turn truth into story? Explore various ways to approach your truths and “slant” them into effective and powerful writing. Learn to hone your powers of observation and to use everyday observation as seeds for your writing. We will begin with a discussion of the Emily Dickinson poem from which the title of the course is taken and from there move on to topics to include:

• Approaches to truth in writing
• Connecting with our inner story teller
• Taking risks in writing
• Creating story by injecting conflict into observed events
• Writing the fine line of difficult subject matter
• How to say more with less
• Telling our own truths slant
• Shadow and light: using the tricks of the cinematographer
• From vision to revision

This course is geared toward all writers—fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction/memoir/essays—and all levels of writing experience. It will include writing exercises both in class and as assignments, handouts of and links to examples of published works, and group and instructor feedback.

Shakespeare’s plays are full of extraordinary women: Portia, Cleopatra, Lady Macbeth, Beatrice, Juliet, Kate, Ophelia – the list goes on and on. We will explore several of these unique characters by reading scenes from the plays, watching recorded famous performances, exploring other art inspired by the characters, and enjoying visits from Rogue Theatre actresses who have portrayed some of the characters. Each class period will be devoted to at least two characters as we discover what is central to Shakespeare’s women.

The Rise and Fall of a Friendship

Tucson Session

F, Scott Fitzgerald, already a popular author in America, first met Ernest Hemingway, a promising young writer, in April, 1925, at the Dingo Bar, rue Delambre in Paris over drinks. Their friendship was a roller-coaster relationship, fraught with differing emotions of fondness, respect, admiration, intimacy but also vanity, ego-gratification, and a powerful spirit of competition which lasted throughout the years up until Fitzgerald’s early death in 1940.

Matthew J. Bruccoli, in his scholarly Fitzgerald and Hemingway: A Dangerous Friendship (1994), states: “The mortality rate of literary friendships is high. Writers tend to be bad risks as friends– probably much for the same reason they are bad matrimonial risks. They expend the best parts of themselves in their work. Moreover, literary ambition has a way of turning into literary competition.”

In Jed Kiley’s Hemingway: A Title Fight in Ten Rounds, he quotes F. Scott Fitzgerald as saying about Hemingway: “He is a great writer. If I didn’t think so I wouldn’t have tried to kill him….I was the champ and when I read his stuff I knew he had something. So I dropped a heavy glass skylight on his head at a drinking party. But you can’t kill the guy. He’s not human.”

In his A Moveable Feast (1964), Hemingway writes about Fitzgerald’s gradual decline: “I saw him rarely when he was sober, but when he was sober he was always pleasant and he still made jokes about himself. But when he was drunk he would usually come to find me and, drunk, he took almost as much pleasure interfering with my work as Zelda did interfering with his. This continued for years but, for years too, I had no more loyal friend than Scott when he was sober.”

Join Dr. Bill Fry for this literary visit with friends Scott and Ernest as viewed from their works as well as from works by major scholars.

FDR, The new Deal and The World Crisis, 1932-1945

The New Deal continues to resonate in American life and politics. Proposals for a “Green New Deal” elicit howls of protest from opponents who see it as a misguided effort to expand “big government” and the “nanny state.” Proponents describe it as vital to mitigate climate change and economic inequality. Both sides of the argument often mis-remember or misunderstand what the “real” New Deal intended and achieved, at home and abroad during the tumultuous 1930s and 1940s. In four two hour meetings we will examine the collapse of the “old order,” the rise of FDR, the initially limited but eventually expansive economic and social agenda of the New Deal, creation of the New Deal political coalition, the movement’s impact on organized labor, the environment, popular culture, and minorities. We will explore the New Deal’s achievements and failures, and, finally, how U.S. participation in the Second World War shaped, limited, and expanded the New Deal at home and abroad.

Week 1: The Collapse of the Old Order
The interlocking global economic and political fractures that began in 1929 and quickly engulfed the entire world; the failure and inability of the U.S. government and its institutions to understand and respond creatively to the crisis. The “tragedy” of Herbert Hoover and the rise of Franklin Roosevelt and the “forgotten man.”

Week 2: The birth of the New Deal Order, 1932-1936
Creating a New Deal: Reinventing government and forging the structure of the welfare state. The role of Eleanor Roosevelt and her circle of feminist and labor activists. From emergency recovery programs to long-term solutions for agriculture, industry, banking and labor. Political battles, court packing, and compromised victories.

Week 3: The New Deal at High Tide, 1937-1940 Creating a liberal Supreme Court; the Fair Labor Standards Act; a New Deal for the Arts and popular culture; the conservative revolt against reform – creation of the Republican and Southern Democratic anti-New Deal coalition.

Week 4: The New Deal at War, 1940-1945.
The belated U.S. response to global aggression. Taking the U.S. into the world war. Dr. “Win -the-War in the White House, 1941-45. Liberalism abroad and the struggle for post-war justice; the economic bill of rights, the GI Bill, and the foundations of post-war liberalism at home.

The Art and Times of Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Joan Mitchell, Helen Frankenthaler and Grace Hartigan.

Mid-Century New York was the fast-moving center of the Modern Art movement and home to a remarkable community of experimental artists who would revolutionize the way we look at art. Five women stood out in the predominately male group, for their talent, determination and guts. Follow their stories and learn their important works and legacy in a 3- session survey covering the dozen years that marked the turning point in American Modern Art. Guest speakers from the Tucson arts community.