Literature   

LIT-04-Z (distance-delivered)
Session II: Mar. 19, 26, Apr. 2, 9, 16
Thursdays 12:00 - 1:00 pm (5 weeks)
We will end up reading five books: two about the race for the North and South Poles; two about the search for the Northwest Passage. The fifth book will be a philosophical novel about exploration.
Instructor Toby Widdicombe specializes in Tolkien studies, American and British literature, Shakespeare, textual studies, critical theory, film, and utopianism. He has published books on (among others) Tolkien, Edward Bellamy, Utopianism, Shakespeare, Shakespeare and film, Raymond Chandler, Max Nettlau, and Anglo-American travel writing. One of his current projects studies the rhetoric of polar exploration. 

LIT-03-Z (distance-delivered)
Session II: Mar. 17, 24, 31, Apr. 7, 14
Tuesdays 12:00 - 2:00 pm (5 weeks)
Our discussions of several "tales of best sentence and most solaas" (i.e., instruction and entertainment) by Geoffrey Chaucer will mostly feature modern-English translations. Nevertheless, I encourage frequent exposure to the original Middle-English text; its verbal grace and vibrant nuances are charming. David Wright's excellent verse translation is in Oxford World's Classics. Online is poetryintranslation.com. Original and translated texts are side-by-side in librarius.com. Bantam Classic paperback (2006), edited by Peter G. Beidler, has facing-page versions. Other expert options are in W.W. Norton, Penguin, Signet, Hackett, Vintage, and Insignia.
Instructor Joe Dupras, Professor Emeritus of English (UAF 1979-2010), has taught OLLI classes featuring novels as well as surveys of poetry.