Olivia DrakeJoyce Lowrie, professor of romance languages and literatures, emerita, is the translator of the book, Arthur Rimbaud ILLUMINATIONS, published by XLibris in 2010. Norm Shapiro, professor of romance languages and literatures, wrote an introduction to the book. According to Lowrie: “to see – or not to see: that was[ Rimbaud’s] option. 'To See' became his will. In his poetic career, Rimbaud chose 'to see' by confounding the very instruments of vision: his eyes and his intellect. He dreamed about and 'saw' the Crusades, he 'saw' enchantments, magical dream-flowers, a flower that says its name, a digitalis that 'opens up over…
Laurie Nussdorfer, professor of history, professor of letters, is the author of Brokers of Public Trust: Notaries in Early Modern Rome, published by The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009. A fast—growing legal system and economy in medieval and early modern Rome saw a rapid increase in the need for written documents. Brokers of Public Trust examines the emergence of the modern notarial profession -- free market scribes responsible for producing original legal documents and their copies.
Franklin D. Reeve, professor emeritus of letters, is the author of The Puzzle Master and Other Poems, published by NYQ Books, August 2010. “For nearly 50 years, [Reeve] has found in nature both a refuge from human imperfection and an exquisite rejoinder to it," acccording to Amazon.com. "Whether that imperfection be the war in Afghanistan, worsening economic inequality, or even the ridiculous pretense of a thoroughly professionalized poetry, Reeve makes of aesthetic perception a kind of subjunctive faith. With its elegant short lyrics and long dramatic poem, which reworks the Daedalus-Icarus myth by situating it on a Caribbean island and…
Ethan Kleinberg, associate professor of history, associate professor of letters, is the author of “Freud and Levinas: Talmud and Psychoanalysis Before the Letter,” published in The Jewish World of Sigmund Freud, 2010.
David PesciGary Yohe, Huffington Foundation Professor of Economics and Environmental Studies, co-authored a paper titled: “Characterizing changes in drought risk for the United States from climate change,” published in the journal Environmental Research Letters. The piece can be found at IOP Science.
David LowBossa Nova, a play by Kirsten Greenidge ’96, recently had its world premiere opening at the Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven, where it runs through Dec.18. Greenidge’s play centers around Dee Paradis, a young African American woman who struggles to define herself under the watchful eyes of her mother and her jazz-loving white history teacher. The play moves around in time from the early 1980s to Dee’s school days a decade earlier and then back again. In her New York Times review of the play, Anita Gates wrote: “Ms. Greenidge has a lovely way with language and piercing insight…
Best-selling author James Kaplan ’73 has written an acclaimed new biography, Frank: The Voice (Doubleday), about the early life of one of America’s best known American singers and entertainers of the 20th century, Frank Sinatra, from the years 1915 through 1954. Kaplan reveals how Sinatra helped to make the act of listening to pop music a more personal experience to his fans than it had ever been before. Michiko Kakutani of The New York Times recently chose Kaplan’s book as one of her Top 10 Books of 2010. In her review in the Times, she wrote that Kaplan “has produced…
Eric GershonLaura Stark, assistant professor of sociology, is the author of "“The Science of Ethics: Deception, The Resilient Self, And the APA Code of Ethics, 1966-1973,” published in the fall 2010 issue of the Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences. The paper examines the process by which the American Psychological Association determined that deception could be used as an acceptable research method.
Jeanne Peterson ’85 has written a new novel, Falling to Heaven (St. Martin’s Press), the story of two American Quakers who trek into Tibet in 1954. In this work of historical fiction, Emma and Gerald Kittredge leave their secure Quaker community and travel to the Tibetan city of Shigatse where they soon find companionship with their neighbors, Dorje and Rinchen, and their small family. But the arrival of Maoist soldiers shatters these characters’ quiet life. Gerald is captured by the soldiers, leaving a pregnant Emma facing an agonizing decision: flee Tibet or stay and risk imprisonment herself. Dorje and Rinchen…
Alex Kudera ’91 has published a new satiric novel, Fight for Your Long Day (Atticus Books), which takes the reader into the secret life of an adjunct college professor, Cyrus “Duffy” Duffleman who has to travel to four universities a day in Philadephia to teach. Duffy can barely afford his two-room apartment and would be thrilled to have health insurance. Then one day, Duffy’s teaching routine changes when his first class is interrupted by the cryptic mumblings of a possibly psychotic student. Next he encounters a bow-and-arrow assassination. His long day continues downhill from there as he attempts to maintain…
Dennis Waring Ph.D ’82 has created a new video titled From Trash to Tunes, designed to teach children, families and educators the craft of making simple musical instruments from items around the house. The video introduces children to the science of sound and the history of musical instruments. Detailed demonstrations show how to construct more than a dozen instruments from recycled materials. Families can organize their own band at home as they “go green.” Waring is an ethnomusicologist, educator, author, instrument maker, collector, performer, and arts consultant. He teaches world music, American music and music education courses on the university…
Frank Wood ’84 is currently starring in the acclaimed off-Broadway revival of Tony Kushner’s Pulitzer Prize- winning play Angels in America, which has been playing to sold-out houses at the Signature Theatre in Manhattan since opening this fall and runs through March 27. Set in New York City during the mid-’80s, this epic work follows the interconnected lives of several people affected by the AIDS crisis, intense spiritual experiences, and the Reagan Administration. Wood plays the demanding role of the closeted gay lawyer, Roy Cohn. Tony Award-winner Wood (more…)