Scarsdale Adult School Catalog Winter 2024
Shakespeare's Othello Othello is a literary cousin of Shylock. Venice was long a center of the medieval African slave trade; slave merchants came to Shylock for financing, though they despised him as a Jew. Venice’s leaders also need battle-tested Othello to take charge of its military in time of crisis, but resentment towards “the Moor,” who had once been sold into slavery, arises when he marries a noble, young, white woman. What follows is Othello’s tragedy, though dramatically it is Iago’s play. Both characters always seem timely; now, they are particularly so. They compel us to witness and examine the corrosive nature of hate, prejudice, and stereotyping. Class focus is always on the text in a format that is partly lecture, partly group discussion, with consideration of critical commentary and videos of at least two recent British productions. Please use the Arden Shakespeare Third Series, Othello (E.A.J. Honigmann, ed. 2nd Edition 2016), containing the introduction by A. Thompson.
ROBERT HERMANN spends the best part of his summers in the post-graduate Shakespeare program at Cambridge University and leads courses for SAS during the academic year on Shakespeare's plays. He majored in English, received a BA from Dartmouth College and an LLB from Yale Law School, and has been practicing in the field of litigation, public interest law, and governmental law for many years in addition to teaching at NYU Law School. 6 Sessions, starting Thursday, February 8 (no class 2/22) • 3:00pm-4:30pm • Online • Course 12408 • $180
Survey of Postmodern Literature and Culture
Disneyland, Asteroid City, contemporary fiction, graphic novels, sampling in pop music: each has informed and been informed by the shifting phenomenon of postmodernism. Whether we like it or not (whether we understand it or not), we are constantly bombarded by the products, processes, and ideals of our cultural age. Beginning with the attempt to determine where modernism ends and its successor begins, try to make headway into the dense cultural network of the postmodern, eventually reaching a firmer understanding of its definitions and resonances. Readings for class will hinge on short pieces that grant us glimpses into various niches of postmodernism. However, while literature will be central to
our focus, this course is an interdisciplinary survey of many different artistic and cultural artifacts (art, architecture, music) that have been labeled (correctly or not) as postmodern. Because of the importance of building community in this online discussion class, all participants are expected to have their cameras on. Zooming while driving is not permitted. JOSHUA GAYLORD received a PhD in English at New York University, specializing in twentieth century American and British literature. He has taught at Scarsdale High School since 2021, and, prior to that, he taught at Ramaz Upper School in Manhattan for two decades. He has also taught literature and cultural studies courses as an adjunct professor at New York University, the New School, the Center for Fiction, and Catapult. 6 Sessions, starting Tuesday, January 16 (no class 2/20) • 4:30pm-6:00pm • Online • Course 12386 • $180
www.ScarsdaleAdultSchool.org • (914) 723-2325
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