For information about our For-Credit Subjects, please see the list for IAP 2016 For-Credit Subjects.
Abstract and Experimental Film
Laura Ryan, Film Office
Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions
This series will explore films that reject or challenge the narrative tradition that has been a hallmark of Hollywood film. We will investigate the use of framing, camera movements, and editing to discover how they create meaning without plot or character. Recurring themes will include time, humans and their relationship to nature, and history and memory. Attendance at all screenings is strongly encouraged but not required.
Screenings (Wednesdays); Room 3-370
1/6 3-7pm 2001: A Space Odyssey Stanley Kubrick (1968)
Aggressive apes, space machinery, killer A.I., and psychedelic time warps. This is Kubrick’s epic space opera masterpiece.
1/13 3-7pm Sans Soleil Chris Marker (1983)
Chris Marker takes us on a tour across 3 continents in this unique cine-essay that combines travel footage, dictated letters, and early experiments with video synthesizers.
1/20 3-7pm The Mirror Andrei Tarkovsky (1975)
Personal and national history become deeply interwoven in this poetic dream-like journey through the time and space of rural Russia. This film is pure visual poetry at its best.
1/27 3-7pm Aguirre: Wrath of God Werner Herzog (1972)
A heroic quest? Or a descent into madness? The story of a 16th century quest in search of El Dorado.
There will be a break in between screening and discussion. Following the screening, the discussion will run between 1 hour and 90 minutes. Not all sessions will run until 7pm.
Sponsor(s): Literature
Contact: Susan Wiedner, 14N-407, 617 258-5629, SWIEDNER@MIT.EDU
Mobile Reading Marathon: Arabian Nights
Scheherazade is calling you!
Or, to return from Rimsky-Korsakov to her Persian roots, Shahrazad: join the Literature community and friends as we explore her stories fromThe Arabian Nights during our sixth annual Mobile Marathon. Not a thousand and one nights, just one special day of animated reading (of selections) out loud.
Drop by, listen, join in, or not: no threats of execution for the tongue-tied. Be among the intrepid few who stay from start to finish, or come for just a bit; all are welcome. Books and good fellowship provided. Costumes, props, and other imaginative contributions encouraged. We may even have a lunchtime excursion into the world of music….
Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
When: Wednesday, 27 January 2016; 9:30am-5pm
Where:
| 09:30AM-11:00AM | 14E-304 |
| 11:00AM-01:00PM | Lobby 10 |
| 01:00PM-03:00PM | 1-236 |
| 03:00PM-05:00PM | 7-338 |
Tweet as you participate: #ArabianNights
Sponsor(s): Literature
Contact: Susan Wiedner, 14N-407, 617 258-5629, SWIEDNER@MIT.EDU
Pleasures of Poetry 2016
David Thorburn, Professor of Literature
Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Attendance: Repeating event, particpants welcome at any session
This popular activity – which aims to reach all lovers of poetry – has been offered every IAP for the last twenty years. Each one-hour session is devoted to a single poet, usually a single poem. The goal is discussion and shared pleasure. No lectures or professorial arrogance allowed. Some participants attend every session, but many others attend only once or twice to read and discuss a favorite poet or poem. The roster of poets is always immensely diverse: from ancient Chinese masters to contemporary American poets laureate, from such famous Greats as Shakespeare, Keats, and Auden to Dr. Seuss and Bob Dylan. Discussion and collaborative close reading are the aim and ideal of each hour. A packet of all the chosen texts is here and will be available in hardcopy in the Literature Office.
M-F 1-2pm
Location 14E-304
Sponsor(s): Literature
Contact: Susan Wiedner, 14N-407, 617 258-5629, SWIEDNER@MIT.EDU