LIBRARY NOTES
Dante's The Divine Comedy will inaugurate Series 1 in the Library's program, "Conversations on Great Books," beginning on Wednesday, February 28, 1996 and continuing on the next two Wednesdays, March 6 and 13, 1996. Series 2 in the program will be devoted to Montaigne's Essays, on Wednesdays, May 1, 8, and 15, 1996.
Joseph Anthony Mazzeo, Avalon Foundation Professor Emeritus in the Humanities at Columbia University, will lead the three "Conversations" on The Divine Comedy. Professor Mazzeo specializes in Dante as well as medieval culture and comparative literature of the Renaissance. "As a work of art," he has written of The Divine Comedy, "I think we have no other to compare with it in philosophic richness and perfection of execution, both in its grand design and its smallest detail."
Jacques Barzun, University Professor Emeritus at Columbia University, former president of the National Institute of Arts
and Letters, and recipient of the French Legion of Honor, will lead the three "Conversations" on
Montaigne's Essays. The title for this series is "Montaigne, Essayist and Innovator." Professor Barzun specializes in cultural history and has written more than forty books.
In the Library's "Conversations" program, challenging books are selected and discussed. Certain books-- The Divine Comedy immediately comes to mind-- may become more accessible to readers it they are able to join with others in the undertaking. Each session will be a conversation not a lecture. To encourage full discussion, participants are expected to read the book in preparation.
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