Events, Classes, and Current Activities
Office Hours.
My Spring 2025 Office Hours are Tuesdays, 2-4. Feel free to contact me if you need an appointment.
This spring I'm teaching a graduate seminar on "Essays and Essayism" with my distinguished colleague Niklaus Largier, and an upper-division course cross-listed between Comparative Literature and English called "Poetry and Song: The Case of Bob Dylan."
On three Wednesday evenings, beginning on January 15, I will be teaching a course called "Bob Dylan and the Poets: American Shakespeare," through the 92nd Street Y in New York. It's in their "Roundtable" series.
Beginning in mid-April I'll be teaching an evening course for six weeks on "Bob Dylan and the Poets," through Stanford Continuing Studies.
Speaking:
On January 16, I'll be speaking at Brigham Young University on "Make a Cheerful Noise: The Literature of Modest Emotions."
On January 21, I'll be speaking online about graduate study of French through the FISIER organization, which promotes early modern studies.
In March, I'll be talking about "chance and fortune," at the Renaissance Society of America meetings in Boston.
On May 19, I'll be the keynote speaker at the graduate ceremony for the Department of Ancient Greek and Roman Studies.
FOR MUSICAL EVENTS, CHECK OUT THE WEBSITE OF THE CLIFTON STREET REGULARS (www.cliftonstreetregulars.com). WE PLAY JAZZ IN VARIOUS BAY AREA VENUES.
Also, keep your eyes open for news of the Unheard Melodies Project. Our EP, "The Shortest Day," is available on Spotify and other streaming venues.
I'm working on developing a course about the music and lyrics of Paul Simon, which I hope to offer through Stanford's online Continuing Education Program sometime in the next year.
Recent Teaching:
Fall 2023: "The Good Life: Ancient and Modern Answers," UC Berkeley Comparative Literature Department.
Summer 2022: Paris in the Jazz Age: Stanford Continuing Education.
Fall 2023: Joni Mitchell: Stanford Continuing Education.
Fall 2021: Comparative Literature 20: "The Good Life" MWF, 1-2.
Beginning October 11, "The Songs and Poetry of Leonard Cohen," Stanford Continuing Studies Program,
Spring 2021: French 220, "Montaigne."
Fall 2020: Comp Lit 20, "Shakespeare and the World"
Comp Lit 24: "Read a Classic: Cervantes's 'Don Quixote'"
Spring 2020: Comp Lit 190, "Writing About Words and Music."
Recent Speaking Gigs.
MLA Convention: San Francisco, January 5-8. Two presentations: Round Table on the Beat Generation in San Francisco. Paper on colonial experience in the early Renaissance.
Consult MLA program for details.
January 22, 2023--Interviewing Joel Coen about his film, "Inside Llewyn Davis," BAMPFA.
January 19: Stanford Continuing Studies, first meeting of a weekly, 6-week, course, "Bob Dylan: Twenty-First Century Chronicles." Enrollment available through Stanford.
May 25: "Bob Dylan and American Memory," Smithsonian Institute Lecture, "Friends of the Smithsonian." Online.
June 2022, Keynote, "Bob Dylan and the Beat Generation," at the Bob Dylan Center, University of Tulsa.
April 2022, "Laughter, Exile, Silence: The Humanities and the Fate of Reading," Meyerson Research Lecture, UC Berkeley.
February 28, 2022, "Bob Dylan and Mediterranean Cultural Geographies," University of Aix-en-Provence, France
October 22, 2021, "Dante After Dante," Commonwealth Club, SF
October 28, 2021, "Five Things I've Learned Listening to Bob Dylan," Five Things I've Learned Series.-Videocast