6 TheRecord FEBRUARY 7, 2005

MY COLUMBIA DuPont-Columbia Awards REMINISCENCES OF Ceremony in Low UNIVERSITY LIFE Edited by Ashbel Green

Louis Simpson, GS’49, GSAS’59, Pulitzer Prize winner for poetry, 1964 Besides Contemporary Civilization, I was required to take a course called “The Humanities.”This consisted of reading and discussing great books from Herodotus to Dostoyevsky. Our instructor was Lionel Trilling. He had hazel eyes and a charming smile. He conducted the discussions gracefully and always seemed to have something more to say than he actually revealed.The object of our reading seemed to be to find ideas we could argue about.Ideas were what we were after, not feelings or a sense of the way the work was written.We were certainly not reading for pleasure.I kept finding things that pleased me, however, and Trilling corrected me every time. My pleasure in the work itself was not to the point. He brought the discussion back to the idea we were pursuing. It seemed that we were about to find it when the On Jan. 13, the 2005 bell rang and our instructor vanished. On Monday next, it would be another Alfred I. duPont-Columbia book and another great idea. University Awards were pre- I was also taking a course in English literature with Raymond Weaver. sented in the Rotunda of Low Library. Above: John Weaver would make a dramatic entrance, then sit at his desk without saying Larson, correspondent, a word for a minute or so.Then, glaring at a student and in a deep, resonant accepts the award for NBC voice, he would launch a question.The questions were intended to mystify. News and Dateline’s “A Once when he did this—“What is Aristotle’s Poetics about?”—I answered Pattern of Suspicion,” an investigative report on racial profiling by immediately,“How to write a play.”As this spoiled the suspense he was aim- policemen in Cincinnati and other cities. To his left stands Melanie ing at, he pretended not to have heard. Jackson, Journalism’98, associate producer. Producers Andrew Lehren and Jason Samuels stand in the background. Host Lesley Stahl of Excerpted from My Columbia: Reminiscences of University Life, edited CBS’ 60 Minutes sits at left. by Ashbel Green. 2004 Columbia University Press. Copyright 1972 by Louis Simpson. All rights reserved.

Peter Brook and Company Head to Columbia continued from page 1 robust education in the arts and to strengthen connections between intellectual and creative activities at Columbia. The Arts Initiative aims to further enliven the arts on campus, provide additional oppor- tunities for students to experience the city’s vibrant culture, forge new links between the arts and other fields of study, and present extraordinary work that might not otherwise be seen. “Peter Brook’s residency at Columbia represents an important point of intersection between the arts and scholarship, and his pro- duction of Tierno Bokar exempli- fies the unique power of artistic expression to illuminate our most enduring social questions,” President Bollinger said.“Together with our partners at Barnard College and the Harlem Arts

Alliance, Columbia is excited to Victor Pascal, June 28, 2004, Duisburg, Germany help bring Tierno Bokar to the 117 St.) into a 500-seat theater for United States for the first time, and the run of Tierno Bokar. we invite our friends and neigh- “At the heart of Tierno Bokar is bors in the community and a plea for mutual tolerance and throughout the city to experience understanding,”said Judith Shapiro, it with us.” president of Barnard College. “We Tierno Bokar is named for the are fortunate to present this pro- Sufi mystic and celebrated spiritual duction on our campus and expect leader who lived in Mali from it will offer our students, our facul- approximately 1885 until 1940. ty and all New Yorkers an intense Embroiled in a dispute between and absorbing exploration of cul- rival religious factions in then ture, art and politics.” French-ruled Africa, Tierno Bokar, Voza Rivers, chair of the Harlem spoke out for tolerance and peace, Arts Alliance,said,“Peter Brook is a only to become an outcast and a master theater craftsman. His pro- victim of brutal violence. ductions are thought provoking, Famed West African philoso- “Peter Brook has been director of Shakespearean pro- powerful and scholarly. The pher Amadou Hampaté Bâ com- ductions, including King Lear for Top left: Sotigui Kouyaté, who is Alliance is pleased that Columbia memorated Tierno Bokar, with devoted to the simplest the Royal Shakespeare Company. playing the role of Tierno Bokar; has invited us to collaborate on whom he studied, in his Life and Before he settled in 1971 in Paris, Top right: Habib Dembélé, who bringing Tierno Bokar, an African Teaching of Tierno Bokar, the and most elusive of ideas, he spent three years in Africa. plays the narrator of the piece; story, to Harlem’s diverse resi- Above: Peter Brook Sage of Bandiagara. Hampaté Bâ’s Brook’s acclaimed work also namely that theater is not a dents,cultural and religious institu- book was adapted by Marie-Hélène spans opera and film, including Lord of the Flies and Marat/Sade. tions, and artists.” Estienne. Brook’s piece is a co-pro- general public Monday, Feb. 14. result, but a search. Like He is the author of numerous Performances of Tierno Bokar duction of CICT and Théâtre des Regular tickets are $40 and are books, including his memoir, begin Wednesday, March 30 and Bouffes du Nord in France, and fea- Bokar, his search has been available at the Miller Theatre box Threads of Time. end Tuesday, April 26. After the tures a multinational cast from office (2960 Broadway at 116 St., “Over the last 50 years,” week of March 30, performances more than eight African and Asian for truth. And like Bokar, open from noon to 6 p.m., Monday Mosher said, “Peter Brook has run Tuesdays through Saturdays at countries. to Friday) and through Telecharge- been devoted to the simplest and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. The piece will be performed in he does not claim to have .com (212) 239-6200). most elusive of ideas, namely that Tickets will go on sale to the French, with supertitles, and fea- For groups of 10 or more found it. But he and his theater is not a result, but a Columbia University community tures music by Toshi Tsuchitori and (including student groups), call search. Like Bokar, his search has Monday, Feb. 7.Tickets are $10 for Antonin Stahly and lighting design (212) 354-6510. company have ventured been for truth. And like Bokar, he Columbia, Barnard and Teachers by Phillipe Vialatte.The production For additional ticket informa- does not claim to have found it. College students and $25 for facul- recently played at Brook’s Bouffes tion and a schedule of performanc- closer and closer to the But he and his company have ven- ty and staff.These discounted tick- du Nord theater in Paris and is cur- es, as well as more information on tured closer and closer to the ets are available at the Miller rently touring Europe. Tierno Bokar, the residency and essence of an art form.” essence of an art form.” Theatre box office only; individu- Brook, who was born in 1925 Peter Brook and his company, Barnard College will transform als can purchase two discounted in London, cemented his reputa- please visit www.tiernobokar —Gregory Mosher its LeFrak Gymnasium (located in tickets with a valid CUID. tion in the 1960s as the leading .columbia.edu. Barnard Hall at 3009 Broadway at Tickets will go on sale to the