April 2009 | Vol. VII No. 8

One Civilized Reader Is Worth a Thousand Boneheads

The Center for Against the Grain: the Humanities Advisory Board Modern Times and the Humanities 2008–2009 Nancy Berg Associate Professor of Asian and Near There’s an evenin’ haze settlin’ over town house-price bubble, and spent billions of dollars on Eastern Languages and Literatures advertising campaigns to persuade Americans to Ken Botnick Starlight by the edge of the creek Associate Professor of Art increase their mortgage-related debt” (“Crisis in the Gene Dobbs Bradford The buyin’ power of the proletariat’s gone down Heartland,” New Left Review 55, January–February Executive Director Jazz St. Louis Money’s gettin’ shallow and weak 2009, newleftreview.org). I found Gowan’s article Lingchei (Letty) Chen difficult to read, but I recommend it for the way it Associate Professor of Modern Chinese Well, the place I love best is a sweet memory Language and Literature goes against the grain of the mainstream accounts Elizabeth Childs It’s a new path that we trod of the origins of the global financial crisis and Associate Professor and Chair of Department of Art History and They say low wages are a reality throws light on the darker corners of the mess we Archaeology find ourselves in. Mary-Jean Cowell If we want to compete abroad Associate Professor of Performing Arts What brought me to want to step beyond the nor- The lyrics are from Bob Dylan’s “Working Man’s Phyllis Grossman mal boundaries of analysis is an article by Patricia Retired Financial Executive Blues #2,” a track on his 2006 CD entitled Modern Cohen in the Times entitled “In Tough Michael A. Kahn Times. I know this because my husband played the Author and Partner Times, the Humanities Must Bryan Cave LLP CD every Sunday morning Justify Their Worth” (Febru- Chris King for months. Given the topics Only intense commitment Editorial Director ary 25, 2009). Cohen’s anal- The St. Louis American Newspaper of some of the other songs to the values of a shared ysis is built on mainstream Olivia Lahs-Gonzales on this CD it is probably no Director humanity can enhance our views. In response to the Sheldon Art Galleries accident that it has the same faltering economy, Cohen Paula Lupkin title as the 1936 Charlie lives by more than what has Assistant Professor of Architecture casts doubt on the tradi- Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts Chaplin movie about one practical and economic value. tional liberal arts education Erin McGlothlin man’s struggle to adapt to an Associate Professor of German And that is precisely what because “in this new era of Steven Meyer industrialized world. Chap- the humanities do. lengthening unemployment Associate Professor of English lin’s film was a comment on Joe Pollack lines and shrinking uni- the desperate employment Film and Theater Critic for KWMU, versity endowments, ques- Writer and fiscal conditions many people faced during the Anne Posega tions about the importance of the humanities in a Great Depression—conditions created, in Chaplin’s Head of Special Collections, Olin Library complex and technologically demanding world have Qiu Xiaolong view, by the efficiencies of modern industrializa- taken on a new urgency.” The questions that Cohen Novelist and Poet tion. Since we have outsourced most of our indus- Sarah Rivett identifies as having urgency are the usual suspects, try, the “new path” of desperate employment and Assistant Professor of English because the humanities are not intended to pre- Henry Schvey fiscal conditions we trod these days was created by Professor of Drama pare students for specific vocations, let alone those “efficiencies” of the financial industry. And this too Wang Ning engineers and scientists essential to an economic re- Professor of English, Tsinghua University may have been no accident. As Peter Gowan points covery. So the humanities will take the hardest hits James Wertsch out in New Left Review, “there is evidence that Marshall S. Snow Professor of Arts and in faculty hiring and the largest decreases in student Sciences the Wall Street banks quite deliberately planned a Director of International and Area Studies Ex Officio Ralph Quatrano Interim Dean, Faculty of Arts & Sciences Zurab Karumidze visit our blog site at http://cenhum.artsci.wustl.edu/pubs/blog.htm Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia editor’s notes continued enrollment. Responses from interviewees regulated. But the issue is not whether include remorse for not having adver- growth is controlled; rather it is the kind tised the fact that students can apply of control that matters. To believe that abilities learned in humanities courses science and technology alone can solve to the world of work (e.g., writing and our problems is wrong because it ignores analytical skills) and hope for return- the interests that science and technol- ing to the classic version of humanities ogy currently serve. Computer models courses as imparting the values of a that exploit the financial marketplace or life worth living. Cohen’s conclusion is consumerist models of science that profit equally predictable: “As money tightens, from cosmetic surgery, pharmaceutical the humanities may return to being what solutions, and gene therapy as paths to- they were at the beginning of the last ward human perfection are superficially century when only a small portion of the exciting but hollow at their cores. Only population attended college, namely, the intense commitment to the values of a Modern Times, Charlie Chaplin, 1936 province of the wealthy.” In Cohen’s ver- shared humanity can enhance our lives sion of our modern times, the humani- by more than what has practical and ties are in danger of becoming a luxury corner analysis must illuminate. We have economic value. And that is precisely that many cannot afford “if we want to lost sight of the fact that our heteroge- what the humanities do. compete abroad.” neous societies rest on at least a watered- It seems that every generation or Cohen’s analysis raises at least three down version of these values. We have two we need to be reminded that easy issues. First, can an educational sys- forgotten that there is something distinc- money, luxurious houses, good jobs, and tem survive if it offers only vocational tive about being human that makes the benefits of the consumer economy training for the majority who can afford special demands of education. Without are not all there is to living. The Boom- little else, and the “privileged” study philosophy, literature, history, ethics, ers need to be reminded that they of what it means to be human for only poetry, art, and music, we might as well cannot simply pull the rip cord on their the few who can afford anything they be machines on Chaplin’s cinematic retirement parachutes without leaving want? Second, rather than ask what one assembly line rather than his little tramp something behind in the passenger com- can do with a major in the humanities, struggling for human dignity. partment for younger generations. The she should be asking what humani- It is time to go beyond our normal young need to understand that all those ties majors can do. Thanks to the skills analyses of both the humanities and the things that make life worth living must taught in humanities curricula, the economic ideologies that seek to corrupt be perpetually fought for, and can be lost answer is almost anything. Third, the our humanism. Rather than seeing the in the blink of an eye. So, here we are at economic mess that she sees confront- current meltdown as a particularly harsh another crossroads, much like Chaplin’s ing the humanities is, in fact, partly rerun of the economic downturns of the little tramp and his sweetheart at the end the result of our failure to teach those past twenty to thirty years, we might of Modern Times. She has all her worldly humanistic values, ethics, and traditions want to view it as a fundamental shift possessions tied in a small bundle and to all students, rich or poor, no matter in the growth model we created over the cries out to him: “What’s the use of try- what their vocations or majors may be. last fifty years. Our planet’s resources are ing?” He says, “Buck up—never say die. The decline in support for the humani- limited; our ability to pollute and poison We’ll get along!” He shows her how to ties that Cohen traces is not simply due seems endless. We ought to ask our- put a smile on her face while a tune (the to their lack of economic value in the selves what it means if our current idea tune we now know as “Smile”) plays in face of the meltdown; it is deeper than of the good life is something no longer the background. And in the final, most that. Humanity is losing its salience. As sustainable economically and ecologi- memorable scene, Stanley Fish notes in the same newspa- cally. The question is not out of bounds; they walk optimisti- per a few weeks after Cohen’s article, “in the magnitude of the global economic cally down the dusty the passage from a state in which actions mess means we have to change the way road toward the fu- are guided by an overarching notion we live. But how should we change? In ture, toward modern of the public good to a state in which time, we will recover. Jobs will re- times. individual entrepreneurs freely pursue turn, although income levels may not. their private goods, values like morality, Houses will again be bought and sold. justice, fairness, empathy, nobility and Retirement accounts will regain some love are either abandoned or redefined measure of their former levels. And of Jian Leng in market terms” (New York Times, course there will be a promise that this Associate Director March 9, 2009). That is the dark time growth will be “controlled” and Center for the Humanities book of the month by Gerald Early

The Strong Man: John Mitchell and Mitchell could not prevent Nixon’s own the Secrets of Watergate downfall. (It must be remembered that By James Rosen Mitchell was never accused of, nor was he convicted of, committing any crimes Doubleday, 2008, 609 pages with while he was attorney general. Watergate index, endnotes, and photographs and the Vescoe influence-peddling trial Nixon occurred after Mitchell had resigned as Nixon’s attorney general. He was “[Mitchell] goes in and he takes re- charged with, in one instance, trying to sponsibility for it. He understands that, derail an SEC investigation and, in the doesn’t he?” asked his other, with planning and covering up a chief of staff, H. R. Haldeman, shortly crime. Both were as a private citizen, not after John Mitchell resigned as the a government official.) The Strong Man, director of Nixon’s reelection campaign as Mitchell was known in White House in the summer of 1972, right after the inner circles, was not strong enough to Watergate break-in story broke across the protect Nixon. As it turned out, Nixon country. Nixon was always tormented might as well have believed in Mitchell, by the question, did Mitchell do it? Did been loyal to him, since not believing have run John Kennedy’s campaign. he order the Watergate break-in? In the didn’t save his presidency. Martha end, Nixon believed that Mitchell did, something that pained him later after Nixon toasted Mitchell that day in Or perhaps Mitchell most regret- Mitchell left prison in January 1979, the San Clemente, saying, “John Mitchell ted marrying Martha Beall in 1957 former attorney general becoming the has friends and he stands by them.” just eleven days after he divorced his highest ranking government official ever Mitchell continued to call Nixon first wife. (Clearly, Martha began as an convicted and imprisoned in the United “Mr. President.” (In private, Mitchell extramarital affair that probably should States. Guilt wracked Nixon as he real- sometimes spoke of Nixon’s lack of have stayed as such.) A self-centered, ec- ized by then that Mitchell probably intelligence and his lack of resolve. He centric southern belle with an enormous hadn’t approved the break-in at all, that sometimes referred to the ex-president as capacity for drink, Martha Mitchell was he had remained loyal to the president Milhous, the middle name Nixon hated. nearly as famous as her husband dur- to the end, but was really the fall guy It was not a relationship of equals. Nixon ing his days as attorney general under Nixon wanted and needed him to be. As was always far more impressed with Nixon (1969–72). Her outspoken, often it turned out, Mitchell was not enough. Mitchell than Mitchell was with Nixon.) tactless, sometimes bizarre statements Nixon knew that federal prosecutors As Rosen writes, “That Mitchell made her a favorite with the press, espe- always want big fish, and Mitchell, after resumed his friendship with Nixon cially , who baited her for all, one of the most famous (or infa- bespoke an extraordinary capacity for quotes whenever Thomas needed to fill mous, to the left) public figures in the forgiveness. Nixon, after all, had sur- out column inches on a slow news day. country in the late 60s and early 70s, reptitiously taped his old friend and law There were some who tried to argue that was a big fish. But why stop with a for- partner—for years—and encouraged Martha Mitchell was a liberated woman mer attorney general when one can get a others to do so, repeatedly bad-mouthed because she spoke without inhibition, president as well? him on those tapes, and spent several but this was a silly misreading of the Nixon threw a party for Mitchell the weeks in the spring of 1973 scheming day. Liberation is not measured by one’s following Labor Day weekend 1979, on to make him take the rap for a crime in ability to shoot off one’s mouth without the occasion of Mitchell’s 66th birthday. which Mitchell bore no responsibility.” discretion or judgment. Martha would What Nixon really wanted to celebrate, One wonders if Mitchell ever regretted not have attracted any attention had her as Mitchell biographer James Rosen that New Year’s Eve Day in 1966 when husband not been John Mitchell and had points out in The Strong Man: John his law firm merged with Nixon’s, which she not lacked the discipline and self- Mitchell and the Secrets of Watergate, was marked the beginning of the two men’s possession of a Pat Nixon. Being a politi- his former law partner’s prison release. professional relationship. One wonders cal wife is a demanding job, a veritable Nixon, himself in disgraced exile in San if Mitchell, shortly before he died, was art that requires intelligence and skill; Clemente, the only president ever forced really serious when he told his former one is not simply an appendage to the to resign from office, knew, in the end, press secretary Jack Landau that in 1960 man or even merely an enabler. The wife that Mitchell “took the weight,” as they Bobby Kennedy came to his office and is essential for the career to succeed, the say in street parlance, but that the force audaciously asked Mitchell to run his partner in and planner of the enterprise, of Watergate, one of the worst (and most brother John’s presidential campaign. He and the manager of the family, the lame-brained) political scandals of the threw Kennedy out of his office. He said institution of bourgeois respect- twentieth century, was so fierce that if he had to do it all over again, he would ability that the man of affairs book of the month continued

making fat fees denigrat- most dangerous force, obviously, because ing Richard Nixon and the left openly threatened it with politi- his administration. He cal and actual destruction. Mitchell, as could have easily done attorney general, went after that faction’s so, as most colleges were most radical elements with great energy (and are) suckers for and purpose, creating a campus rebellion any hustler with a line task force and reviving the Department against Republicans, of Justice’s Internal Security Division. conservatives, the right- The left saw Mitchell as Nixon’s hit man, wing in general; big and he became the most reviled person From left, Richard A. Moore, Nixon, Mitchell, and Vice President business or capitalism; in the country not only among the left George H. W. Bush at a party, circa 1986. Courtesy Jill Mitchell-Reed the military; the United but among many liberals as well. It is cannot do without. Liberation, in this States as an evil empire; Rosen’s argument that Mitchell actually instance, is the successful execution of Americans as selfish, planet-destroying, protected DOJ from the White House responsibility as one chooses to define monocultural hicks; or some such mat- and that Mitchell’s lawyers operated it and assume it. The “dutiful” political ter. And Mitchell could have used the without interference from Nixon. But wife is more liberated than most revolu- money, as he was broke, disgraced, and the crackdown on the left was necessary tionaries and reformers. disbarred. Finally, Mitchell, most merci- for the stability of the country. Ac- fully, did not “find God,” or accept Jesus cording to Rosen, Mitchell was wholly This unhappy, unbalanced, alcoholic Christ as his Lord and Savior. That bit of unaware of one of the most aggressive woman, who was equally lionized and honesty ought to earn him the everlast- of the internal surveillance programs, reviled at the height of her fame, was ing gratitude of his most virulently bitter COINTELPRO, an infiltration and certainly a unique presence as the wife of and unforgiving enemies. Anyone has disruption operation aimed at groups a public figure. Cruelly used by the press to have grudging respect for a man who including the KKK, Black Panthers, and (whose attention fed her ego), unhinged refused to repent either politically or Socialist Workers of America. Mitch- by the pressures and expectations of be- spiritually. Whatever else Mitchell was, ell was sickened by the deaths of four ing a famous man’s wife, she was a severe he was not, in the end, a hypocrite or an students at the hands of nervous national burden for Mitchell, who, by all ac- opportunist. guardsmen at Kent State University in counts, loved her very much. Nixon was 1970. He spoke to black students after convinced that Martha caused Watergate Rosen’s biography tells the story of the the deaths of two students by police at in the sense that Mitchell’s attention rise and fall of the successful Wall Street Jackson State University, only a few days diverted from Jeb Magruder, John Dean, lawyer and municipal bond innovator after Kent State. But the government’s Gordon Liddy, James McCord, and the who grew to know many politicians and efforts, combined with the winding other Watergate actors by the increasing political operators but who remained down of the war, eventually broke the demands of trying to control his men- strictly apolitical himself. It was Nixon, back of the left in its attempt to seize the tally ill wife. She died of cancer in 1976, attracted by Mitchell’s political con- country by revolution. after Mitchell divorced her. It might be nections, judgment, and management said that she was another victim of Wa- skills, who convinced him to run his More school desegregation occurred tergate, as her husband’s legal troubles 1968 presidential campaign. And it was under Mitchell than any other attorney pushed her even more over the edge. Mitchell who was able to hold off Wal- general. The Nixon administration vig- Nixon had to ask Mitchell twenty-five lace’s white southern insurgency, keeping orously endorsed affirmative action, or times after the 1968 presidential elec- enough of the white south together in at least used it to defang black radicals. tion to become attorney general before order to ensure Nixon’s victory. Mitchell got Nixon to renew the Voting he would accept. He hesitated because of Nixon ran, in part, on a law-and- Rights Act with a nationwide ban on Martha. He felt she could not emotion- order platform, easy enough to sell in a literacy tests. All of this is odd because ally endure the Washington hothouse, country seething with urban street crime neither Mitchell nor Nixon and his and he turned out to be right. and nearly on the brink of political administration particularly liked blacks and were certainly not beholden to them Big John chaos—with assassinations; huge, some- times violent demonstrations against politically; indeed, they frequently used It just repels [Mitchell] to do these hor- the Vietnam War; violent rebellions by them in veiled rhetorical ways to drum rible things, but they’ve got to be done. blacks in many of the major cities in up white ethnic support and generate —President Richard Nixon, 1971 this country; campus takeovers by leftist (white) southern solidarity. Yet, on the whole, black interests advanced con- John Mitchell was the only Water- revolutionaries; and backlash violence by siderably under Nixon, with the clear gate defendant not to write a book. the right wing against convulsive social exception of Nixon’s appointments to He did not tour college campuses change that gripped the country. The the Supreme Court, which were, by after his release from prison, establishment identified the left as the Events in St. Louis County Library Foundation presents Au- and large, disliked by blacks and liber- gusten Burroughs, author of A Wolf at the Table, als. How jumbled left and right become who will read and sign his book. Books available in the real world of human interaction! April through Left Bank Books. 7pm, SLCL–Headquarters Indeed, Nixon himself was surprised Branch, 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd., 994-3300. when he discovered that the internal spy- The Book Bunch will discuss Mistress of the Art ing and leaking that was so rampant in All events are free unless otherwise indicated. Author of Death by Ariana Franklin. Registration required. his government (that caused him to create events generally followed by signings. All phone num- 7pm, SLCL–Grand Glaize Branch, Meeting Room 1, 1010 Meramec Station Rd., 636-225-6454. the Plumbers group that led to Water- bers have 314 prefix unless otherwise indicated. gate) was not caused by Jews (Nixon was New York Times best-selling mystery author Harlan Wednesday, April 1 Coben, whose new book is Long Lost, teams up with incredibly anti-Semitic) or by the left but The Thornhill Book Chat group invites you to dis- singer–songwriter Missy Higgins for a book read- rather by the right, namely the military, cuss Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in Amer- ing, signing, and concert. Tickets ($8) are available which did not trust a government that ica by Barbara Ehrenreich. 10:30am, SLCL–Thornhill at Left Bank Books. 7pm, Mad Art Gallery, 2727 S. was getting out of Vietnam, opening up Branch, 12863 Willowyck Dr., 878-7730. 12th St., 367-6731. relations with China, and launching dé- The Performing Arts Department invites you to the tente with the Russians. Looked at in this Helen Clanton Morrin Lecture featuring Professor Tuesday, April 7 light, one is surprised that the left ever Tracy Davis, speaking on “The Witness Protection Machacek Book Discussion Group welcomes new members. 10am, SLPL–Machacek Branch, 6424 hated Nixon quite as much as it did. The Program: Making Theatre, Everyday.” RSVP 935- 5858 or [email protected]. 4pm, Hurst Lounge Scanlan Ave., 781-2948. left, I think, should have been more out- (Room 201), Duncker Hall, WU Danforth Campus. Webster Groves Public Library Book Discussion raged by Nixon’s cynicism than anything Border’s Book Club in Sunset Hills will meet in the Group will meet to discuss Rabbit, Run by John Up- else, by his hollowness and opportunism cafe to discuss Songs in Ordinary Time by Mary Mc- dike. 6pm, 301 E. Lockwood, 961-3784. rather than his right-wing-ism, which was Garry Morris. 7pm, Borders Sunset Hills, 10990 Sun- Join the Meramec Valley Adult Book Discus- only Nixon’s means to an end. set Hills Plz., 909-0300. sion Group as they discuss Under the Tuscan Sun Rosen’s book is a complete account StudioSTL and Left Bank Books present a mys- by Frances Mayes. 7pm, SLCL–Meramec Valley Branch, 625 New Smizer Mill Rd., 636-349-4981. of the Watergate trials, with new, previ- terious treasure hunt through the maze of their new building, with a reading and book signing with Scott ously unpublished and unavailable notes Popular, award-winning author Walter Mosley, au- Philips, author of The Ice Harvest. Visit studiostl.org thor of the Easy Rawlins mystery series, introduces and transcripts; the Gemstone meetings for tickets. 7pm, Centene, 3547 Olive, 367-6731. a new series that begins with The Long Fall. Call that led to the Watergate break-in; the co-host Left Bank Books for details, 367-6731. 7pm, Pentagon Papers episode; the Vescoe case, Thursday, April 2 SLPL–Central Branch, 1301 Olive St. where Mitchell was acquitted of influ- Mystery Lover’s Book Club will discuss Down River ence peddling; and Mitchell’s days in by John Hart. 10am, SLCL–Headquarters Branch, Wednesday, April 8 prison and his life after release. Rosen is East Room, 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd., 994-3300. Bookies Book Discussion Group will feature this persuasive in pointing out the consider- The Writing Program invites you to a reading with month The Boy in Striped Pajamas by John Boyne. 2pm, SLCL–Oak Bend Branch, 842 S. Holmes Ave., able inconsistencies in the testimonies of poet David Lehman, who will read from his work. 8pm, Hurst Lounge (Room 201), Duncker Hall, WU 822-0051. Magruder and Dean, who were clearly Danforth Campus, 935-5190. Boone’s Bookies will discuss Into the Wild by out to implicate Mitchell in order to Jon Krakauer. 2pm and 7pm, SLCL–Daniel Boone save their own skins. The evidence never Friday, April 3 Branch, 300 Clarkson Rd., 636-227-9630. supported the notion that Mitchell gave St. Charles Community College English Depart- the order for the Watergate break-in. And ment and Student Services host the SCC Coffee- Thursday, April 9 Rosen argues well that Mitchell was in- house, a literary open-mic evening. 7pm, Daniel J. The Murder of the Month Book Club invites you Conoyer Social Sciences Auditorium, 4601 Mid Riv- nocent of several of the charges of which to join them; their next book is Dragonwell Dead by ers Mall Dr., 636-922-8407. Laura Childs. 3:30pm, 8400 Delport Dr., 428-5424. he was convicted. The research is both rich and deep here, amazingly thorough Public Contemplation: A Philosophy and Reli- Saturday, April 4 gion Book Discussion Group will discuss Taking and professional. Rosen spent twenty The Mystery Lover’s Book Club at the Carondelet Ourselves Seriously and Getting It Right by Harry years working on this book. As Byzantine Branch Library invites you to their discussion; please Frankfurt. To reserve a copy, call 772-6586. 7pm, as the Watergate case is, with its strange call for selection. 10am, SLPL–Carondelet Branch, SLPL–Carpenter Branch, 3309 S. Grand Blvd. 6800 Michigan Ave., 752-9224. and extensive cast of characters, it prob- Spoken word poet and activist Staceyann Chin ably would take at least half that long to Monday, April 6 discusses and signs her memoir, The Other Side of write a first-rate biography of either of its Paradise. This event will be co-hosted by Left Bank Authors @ Your Library presents Jane Smiley, Books. 7pm, Mad Art Gallery, 2727 S. 12th St. two major players, Nixon and Mitchell. who will read from and sign the book The Moon- Regardless of whether one is unnerved by flower Vine by Jetta Carleton. Smiley, who wrote a Friday, April 10 or hostile to a defense of Mitchell, this is new introduction for the classic, recently put the book Great Expectations Discussion Group will discuss a good and needed biography that ought on her list of 100 great novels in her book Thirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel. Books available for Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier. 10am, SLCL–Rock to be read by those who lived through the purchase courtesy of Left Bank Books. 7pm, SLPL– Road Branch, 10267 St. Charles Rock Rd., Watergate years and especially by those Central Branch, 1301 Olive St., 241-2288. 429-5116. who didn’t. st. louis literary calendar continued

Read St. Louis and Left Bank Books present in- The Foreign Literature Book Group will discuss call 636-451-3232. ternationally acclaimed author Sandra Cisneros, Theodor Fontane’s novel Effi Briest. 7:30pm, WU celebrating the 25th anniversary of her classic work West Campus, 7450 Forsyth Blvd., 727-6118. Monday, April 20 of fiction, The House on Mango Street. 7pm, SLCL– You are invited to join the Thornbirds Book Group Headquarters Branch, 1640 S. Lindbergh Blvd., 994- Wednesday, April 15 for a lively talk about Loving Frank: A Novel by Nancy 3300. Pageturners Book Club meets to discuss The Dou- Horan. 2pm, SLCL–Thornhill Branch, 12863 Willow- Saturday, April 11 ble Bind by Christopher A. Bohjalian. 2pm, SLCL– yck Dr., 878-7730. Tesson Ferry Branch, 9920 Lin-Ferry Dr., 843-0560. You are invited to the River Styx reading series with Romance Readers Book Club will discuss Blind In- Join the Eureka Hills Book Discussion Group to Brian Turner and Stacey Lynn Brown. All readings stinct by Fiona Brand. 10am, SLPL–Buder Branch, discuss Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns. 6pm, start at 7:30pm, Duff’s Restaurant, 392 N. Euclid. 4401 Hampton Ave., 352-2900. SLCL–Eureka Hills Branch, 103 Hilltop Village Ctr., Sunday, April 12 636-938-4520. Tuesday, April 21 Authors @ Your Library presents William Stage, Machacek Book Discussion Group welcomes new SLCL–Mid-County Branch is pleased to sponsor a who will discuss and sign his new book, Fool for Life. members. Call for the current selection. 10am, SLPL– new book club, which will meet every other Wednes- 7pm, SLPL–Schlafly Branch, 225 N. Euclid Ave., Machacek Branch, 6424 Scanlan Ave., 781-2948. day at 7 p.m. Most books will be discussed over two 367-4120. meetings. First up: part 1 of Three Cups of Tea. 7pm, The Kingshighway Branch Book Discussion 7821 Maryland Ave., 721-3008. Wednesday Night Book Discussion Group will Group will meet to discuss Kitchen by Banana discuss The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel So- Yoshimoto. 6:45pm, SLPL–Kingshighway Branch, Monday, April 13 ciety by Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows. 7pm, 2260 S. Vandeventer Ave., 771-5450. Authors @ Your Library presents Sylvia Duncan, SLCL–Cliff Cave Branch, 5430 Telegraph Rd., 487- The Tuesday Night Writers’ Critique group will meet who will discuss “Spontaneous Writing,” a technique 6003. on to read and critique one another’s work. Writers that she and her coauthors used in their anthology of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry are welcome. 7pm, of poems and essays, In the Moment: Writing from a Thursday, April 16 B&N Crestwood, 9618 Watson Rd., 9p4a-p8bp@ Spacious Mind. The authors will read from this book. Left Bank Books invites you to a discussion and dea.spamcon.org. 7pm, SLPL–Machacek Branch, 6424 Scanlan Ave., book signing with Stefan Merill, author of The Story The Bridgeton Trails Book Discussion Group will 781-2948. of Forgetting. 7pm, 399 N. Euclid Ave., 367-6731. discuss Imperfect Presidents: Tales of Misadventure SLPL invites you to National Library Week: St. and Triumph by Jim Cullen. 7pm, SLCL–Bridgeton Tuesday, April 14 Louis Folklore. Join local folklorist and author John Trails Branch, 3455 McKelvey Rd., 291-7570. Tuesday Afternoon Book Discussion Group. 2pm, Oldani as he talks about the traditions, superstitions, Prairie Commons’s Book Club will discuss Girl in Hy- SLCL–Cliff Cave Branch, 5430 Telegraph Rd., 487- rituals, and folk beliefs of our own hometown. Copies acinth Blue by Susan Vreeland. 7pm, SLCL–Prairie 6003. of his book Passing It On: Folklore of St. Louis will be Commons Branch, 915 Utz Ln., 895-1023. Join the Grand Glaize Library Book Discussion available. 7pm, SLPL–Buder Branch, 4401 Hampton Group as they discuss The Whistling Season by Ivan Ave., 352-2900. Wednesday, April 22 Doig. 2pm, SLCL–Grand Glaize Branch, 1010 Mer- Read St. Louis presents a discussion of House on The Central Book Discussion Group will discuss, amec Station Rd., 636-225-6454. Mango Street. Diana Pascoe-Chavez will lead a dis- Peace like a River by Leif Enger. Call Popular Library The Tuesday Night Writers’ Critique group will cussion on the book by Sandra Cisneros. This pro- at 539-0396 for details. 4pm, SLPL–Central Branch, meet to read and critique one another’s work. Writers gram is part of Read St. Louis, a community-wide Meeting Room 1, 1301 Olive St. of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry are welcome. 7pm, reading initiative. 7pm, SLPL–Carpenter Branch, 3309 S. Grand Blvd., 772-6586. Bookies Book Discussion Group will meet to dis- B&N Crestwood, 9618 Watson Rd., 9p4a-p8bp@ cuss Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. 2pm, SLCL–Oak dea.spamcon.org. Saturday, April 18 Bend Branch, 842 S. Holmes Ave., 822-0051. Brentwood Public Library Book Club will meet Buder Branch Book Discussion Group will discuss SLCL–Mid-County Branch’s book club will discuss to discuss A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley. 7pm, In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. 1pm, SLPL– part 2 of Three Cups of Tea. 7pm, 7821 Maryland 8765 Eulalie Ave., 963-8630. Buder Branch, 4401 Hampton Ave., 352-2900. Ave., 721-3008. HQ Evening Book Discussion will meet to discuss Authors @ Your Library presents Jeffrey Cope- David Sedaris, New York Times best-selling au- A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway. 7pm, land, who will discuss and sign his book Inman’s thor of When You Are Engulfed in Flames, will be at SLCL–Headquarters Branch, 1640 S. Lindbergh War. Books for sale courtesy of Left Bank Books. Powell Symphony Hall for one night only. Tickets are Blvd., 994-3300. 2pm, SLPL–Julia Davis Branch, 4415 Natural Bridge available at slso.org/events. Call Left Bank Books for St. Louis County Library’s Reader Rendezvous Ave., 383-3021. details, 367-6731. 8pm, Powell Symphony Hall, 718 Group will discuss The Various Flavors of Coffee by N. Grand. Meet the Curtis Middle School authors of How My Anthony Capella. 7pm, SLCL–Tesson Ferry Branch, Life Has Been since I Got Older. 2pm, B&N Ladue, 9920 Lin-Ferry Rd., 843-0560. 8871 Ladue Rd., 862-2948. Thursday, April 23 Urban Lit Discussion Group will meet to discuss No For fans and fantasy baseball players alike, the edi- ¡Leamos! Spanish Book Discussion Group will Good by Carl Weber. 7pm, SLPL–Carpenter Branch, tors of Baseball Prospectus 2009, Steven Goldman discuss El Vuelo de la Reina by Daina Chaviano. 3309 S. Grand Blvd., 772-6586. and Christina Kahrl, will give a talk and book signing 7pm, SLPL–Carpenter Branch, 3309 S. Grand Blvd., before and after the Cardinals game that day. 11am Oak Bend’s Evening Book Discussion Group will 772-6586. and 7pm, LBB Downtown, 321 N 10th St., 436-3049. discuss Ellen Foster by Kay Gibbons. 7:30pm, SLCL– Oak Bend Branch, 842 S. Holmes Ave., 822-0051. Sunday, April 19 La Posta, a public-policy and current events book club, presents a three-part series, America: Now and As the Page Turns Book Discussion Group will The BookClub’s 399th discussion will feature The Forward, which uses literature to spark conversations discuss The Photograph by Penelope Live- Interrogation by J. M. G. Le Clézio, winner of the on America’s current political climate and the direc- ly. 7pm, SLCL–Weber Road Branch, 4444 2008 Nobel Prize for Literature. For more informa- tion of world affairs. The group will discuss The World Weber Rd., 638-2210. tion, venue, and time email [email protected] or announcement is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman. 7pm, Brentwood Pub- lic Library, 8765 Eulalie Ave., 963-8630. The Center for New Institutional The Schlafly Branch Book Discussion Group will Social Sciences and the Center for discuss Away: A Novel by Amy Bloom.7pm, SLPL– Schlafly Branch, 225 N. Euclid Ave., 367-4120. the Humanities are pleased to present Korina Jocson, assistant professor of Friday, April 24 education, to discuss her most recent Marcela Grad presents Massoud, a collection of sto- book, Youth Poets: Emerging Literacies In ries told to her by people from around the world about and Out of School. Gerald Early, director the life of late Afghan leader Ahmad Shah Massoud of the Center for the Humanities, will in the only nonfiction book about Massoud in English. introduce the author. The event will be 7pm, LBB, 399 N. Euclid Ave., 367-6731. held on Thursday, April 23, 12 p.m. in Saturday, April 25 Seigle Hall, Room 148 at Washington Let’s Chat: Book Discussion will discuss The Eye University in St. Louis. of Jade by Diane Wei Liang. Registration required. Korina Jocson is assistant profes- 2pm, SLCL–Daniel Boone Branch Asian Center, 300 Clarkson Rd., 636-227-9630. sor of education in Arts & Sciences. Her research and teaching interests Tuesday, April 28 include literacy, youth development, Join the Grand Glaize Afternoon Book Discussion ethnic studies, and cultural studies in Group to discuss The Camel Bookmobile by Masha education. In particular, she examines Hamilton. 2pm, SLCL–Grand Glaize Branch, 1010 the changing nature of literacies and Meramec Station Rd., 636-225-6454. new media technologies in relation to The Weber Road Book Group will meet to discuss learning, teaching, and communica- tives to examine the various processes, Fat Free and Fatal by G. A. McKevett. New partici- tion across contexts. Her work draws pants are always welcome. 7pm, SLCL–Weber Road products, and practices associated with Branch, 4444 Weber Rd., 638-2210. attention to issues of equity and social poetry. It contributes to current research justice, diaspora, and globalization. on literacy pedagogy in urban contexts Wednesday, April 29 Her book Youth Poets documents and further grounds connections be- Join Left Bank Books for a poetry reading and book an ethnographic study of the literacy tween poetry production and academic signing with Washington University professor and and critical literacies. Not only does the poet Carl Phillips, author of Speak Low, and debut learning of urban high school youth in novelist Andrew Foster Altschul, author of Lady La- the June Jordans Poetry for the People research presented here support the use zarus. 7pm, LBB, 399 N. Euclid, 367-6731. program. The book emphasizes how of poetry in itself but it makes a case seven students adopted empowering for the ways in which poetry can lead Thursday, April 30 literacies as they read, wrote, published, to transformative possibilities in diverse , activist, and host of Democracy Now! Amy and performed poetry in and outside of and multicultural classrooms. Goodman will discuss and sign her book, Standing school. Using a sociocultural and criti- Up to the Madness. 12pm, LBB Downtown, 321 N. The event is free and open to the 10th St., 436-3049. cal framework on literacy and pedagogy, public. Please call the Center at 314- the book focuses on the experiences of The Missouri Center for the Book invites you to cel- 935-5576 for a free parking permit. ebrate National Poetry Month with a joint appear- urban youth from their own perspec- Lunch Buffet will be provided. ance and reading by the Poets Laureate of Missouri and Illinois, Walter Bargen and Kevin Stein. A book signing will follow the program.7pm, SLPL–Schlafly phen Dunn will judge. All entries will be considered notified in mid April. All entries should be postmarked Branch, 225 N. Euclid Ave., 367-4120. for publication. Submit up to three poems totaling no by April 31. River Styx, Founders Award, 3547 Olive more than 14 pages with a $20 entry fee, which in- Street, Suite 107, St. Louis, MO 63103. Notices cludes a one-year subscription to River Styx, post- St. Louis Writers Guild announces its annual marked by May 31. River Styx, International Poetry Abbreviations Deane Wagner Poetry Contest. Submissions ac- Contest, 3547 Olive Street, Suite 107, St. Louis, MO STL: Saint Louis; B&N: Barnes & Noble; LBB: Left cepted April 15–June 13. Kickoff begins with a po- 63103. Bank Books; SLCL: St. Louis County Library; SLPL: etry throw down April 18, The Focal Point, 1–4 p.m. River Styx announces its fourth annual Founders St. Louis Public Library; SCCCL: St. Charles City Catherine Rankovic of Washington University will Award, an annual prize given to the best poem by a County Library; UCPL: University City Public Library, judge the throw down. For contest guidelines or infor- high school student. The winning poem will be hon- WU: Washington University, WGPL: Webster Groves mation, or to learn more about the throw down, visit ored at River Styx’s annual Art and Literary Feast at Public Library. stlwritersguild.org or call 821-3823 between 8am and Duff’s Restaurant at on May 5. $45 per plate includes Check the online calendar at cenhum.artsci.wustl. 5pm weekdays. dinner and readings by writer Pinckney Benedict edu for more events and additional details. To adver- The 2009 River Styx International Poetry Contest and poet Mary Jo Bang. All current high school tise, send event details to [email protected], or is under way. A prize of $1,500 and publication in students from the bistate area are eligible and may call 935-5576. River Styx is given annually for a single poem. Ste- submit up to three poems per entry. Winners will be Speakers for Faculty Fellows Lecture and Workshop Series, 2009

Faculty Fellow Lecture the prospect that Europe remains uneducable about violence. Jennifer Kapczynski Kant brings a robust philosophical competence to war’s horrific significance, but he is also subjected to its force, logic, and lan- Assistant Professor of German and Film & guage. War haunts Kant from the 1790s, a period in which the Media Studies at Washington University in thinker projects strictly philosophical works but actually writes St. Louis texts of a very different sort—often spiky and polemical, both Tuesday, April 7 resolutely contemporary and marking the non-contemporaneity of his thought to its time. This is a body of work that trembles 4 p.m., Formal Lounge, Women’s Building and fragments, diversifying into parts in which the philosopher’s Lecture: Haunted Heimat: The Specter of Male Violence in hopes and fears for the future are differently wagered. The talk is Postwar West German Film drawn from the last chapter of Clark’s forthcoming book, Bodies “Haunted Heimat” examines wartime violence in West Ger- and Pleasures in Late Kant (Stanford University Press). man cinema of the 1950s. Although much research has focused Wednesday, April 15 on efforts in the early Federal Republic to reform masculinity 12 p.m., Graduate Center (Room 300), Danforth University and produce “domesticated” male subjects, the place of vio- Center lence and aggression in postwar culture has received almost no attention. This presentation makes the case for the centrality of Workshop: Towards a Prehistory of the Post-Animal: Kant, violence in the renegotiation of the leading man in postwar cin- Levinas, and the Regard of Brutes ema. The presentation demonstrates that 1950s West German The seminar discussion will be conceptions of animality in cinema constructed numerous male figures that struggled with philosophy after Descartes but especially after Kant. What is the the aftermath of violent conflict. Contrary to the idea of the place of animals in philosophy? In what ways does the treat- new, passive hero, these figures appear to compulsively reenact ment of the concept of animality call for a reading attentive not wartime aggression. The result is a cinema that casts the violence only to the specific arguments made about animals and on their of the Second World War as a residual threat to postwar order. behalf but also to the telling elisions, instabilities, and displace- ments that characterize these arguments and that attest to the Guest Faculty Presentations difficulties—epistemological, ontological, and ethical—that David L. Clark, Professor of English and animals pose for philosophy. Cultural Studies and associate member of the Health Studies program at McMaster Univer- The events are free and open to the public. Please call the sity, Canada, invited by 2009 Faculty Fellow Center at 314-935-5576 for a free parking sticker and to re- Guinn Batten, Associate Professor of English serve a seat so that we can have an accurate count. Refresh- at Washington University in St. Louis ments will be provided. Professor Clark, widely published in the fields of English and German Romanticism, has produced particularly pathbreaking studies of the contemporary critical and theoretical legacies of Derrida, Foucault, Levinas, Non-Profit Org. Financial assistance for this project has U.S. Postage and Heidegger. been provided by the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency, and the Regional Arts Commission. PAID —Guinn Batten St. Louis, MO The Center for the Humanities Tuesday, April 14 Permit No. 2535 Campus Box 1071 4 p.m., Hurst Lounge (Room 201), Old McMillan Hall, Rm S101 Duncker Hall One Brookings Drive Lecture: The Promise of Peace: Kant’s St. Louis, MO 63130-4899 Wartime and the Tremulous Body of Phone: (314) 935-5576 Philosophy email: [email protected] http://cenhum.artsci.wustl.edu The lecture explores the degree to which Immanuel Kant’s late work focuses on the question of the impossi- bility of peace and the pervasiveness of war, each of which evokes the trau- matic limits of Enlightenment reason. On the eve of the emergence of what Kant calls “wars of extermination,” the philosopher–teacher must face