I've been remiss over the past week or so about posting. And, unfortunately, we're now very busy getting ready to leave town -- on Sunday-- for our fall break trip to Holland and Belgium. So, in the interests of time I'm just going to list off some of what I/we have been up to without much comment:
1. Last Wednesday the BLC trip was to Dover Castle and Canterbury Cathedral. The cathedral was amazing. My colleague Ginny Blanton -- the medievalist- had plenty of great stories about the different saints, tombs and effigies. I was personally most interested in the gargoyles. After the cathedral, Ginny and I walked around the (amazingly still well preserved) city wall and visited the ruins of the Canterbury castle. We also had coffee and lovely scones with clotted cream (which is very habit forming stuff).
2. Thursday of last week was our big family outing to see Les Miserables. The show was fantastic-- great singing, great sets, good music and lighting, and we had fairly decent seats. The kids were enthralled from the opening number on. We didn't get home until around 11 but it was well worth it.
3. Friday night we had dinner with the family of our daughter Aleeza's friend Sarah. The father, Mike Sarne, was once -- in the 1960s-- a fairly hot British director and still acts and makes documentaries. He has a bit part in David Cronenberg's newest film ("Eastern Promises", set here in London). He is Jewish and apparently has become more religious in his old age and so invited us to "schule" (or temple) the following day. The synagogue was beautiful (and a historic landmark) but it was orthodox, which meant Jackie had to sit upstairs while I was downstairs (in a talise, no less) for two solid hours of prayer and pretending to sing in Hebrew. Mike's wife Anne ( a younger French woman who is not Jewish) was not feeling well and so didn't attend. The kids were supposed to have some sort of children's service but there weren't many kids there so Sarah, Aleeza and Sebi just sort of ran around. Afterwards we had drinks, chopped liver and surprisingly good rugelah in the party room where we got to meet some of the members of the congregation.
4. Monday night I attended a lecture at Kings College by famous Marxist philosopher Alex Callinicos on theories of imperialism and why the history of imperialism has become such a hot topic these days. He was good although he covered a lot of ground rather quickly and I took issue with some of what he said.
5. Tuesday night we had our midterm faculty dinner at an Italian place not far from Imperial. The program manager, Ashok, kept buying more and more wine and then later a couple of us stupidly went to a pub for a nightcap. I awoke the next day with a bit of a hangover.
6. Yesterday I led my students on a walk through London's East End where we saw, among other things, the site of the Old Nichol slum (which is the setting for one of the novels we read), Brick Lane, Toynbee Hall and Petticoat Lane. As usual, we didn't have nearly enough time but at very least they a) got to see many of the places and streets we've been reading about and b) got a sense of just how different (and gritty and "foreign") the East End still is compared to the pampered, high priced, yuppified world of South Kensington.
Whew. That's it for now. Later this afternoon I am taking some students to a screening at the BFI/London international film festival. On Saturday the whole family is going to see Fulham vs. Derby ( a Premiere league soccer game). Then we leave for a trip to Amsterdam, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Brouges and Leiden (where we will be visiting Jackie's pal Marit and her family). Fun fun.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Monday, October 8, 2007
Dickens Museum/Troops Home Demonstration
Today was a busy day for me.
The students in my "City of Dreadful Night" course have been reading Dickens' Oliver Twist for the past couple of weeks. Last week I took them on a walking tour of Dickens-related places in Clerkenwell. Today, we visited the Dickens museum, which is housed in the building where he resided when he was writing both Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nicklby. There was quite a lot to see: old manuscripts, paintings (and stained glass windows) of Dickens and his family, the original serial installments of his various serialized novels, illustrations from his books and artistic renderings of characters, stuff from his writing desk, mementos, old furniture of his, etc. On the top floor there was a very well done exhibit on Dickens' social conscience and his interest in the poor, which of course dovetailed nicely with the general theme of my course. Overall, it was an edifying experience (for the teacher if not for the pupils).
Today was the first day of Parliament and for the past month or so the British anti-war movement had been organizing for a massive "Troops Out" demonstration to greet the new Prime Minister -- Gordon Brown-- when he finally returned to work after the summer break. Amazingly, Brown tried to suppress the march by invoking an obscure 19th century law that allows the police to arrest anyone impeding the entry of a MP into Parliament. Denied an official permit, the conveners of the event -- among them, luminaries such as socialist stalwart Tony Benn and musician Brian Eno-- decided to march anyway. Naturally, following the visit to the Dicken's museum, I made my way to Trafalgar Square to see what would happen.
While it wasn't the biggest demonstration I'd ever attended, I'd say there were a few thousand people in attendance. The crowd did not quite fill Trafalgar (which is huge). [It was a delicious irony, by the way, to be at a peace rally at the base of Nelson's Column, a monument celebrating war and British imperial might.] Some in the crowd were the "usual suspects" who turn out to every such event-- black clad anarchists, members of various socialist and communist groups, and so on-- but there were also many senior citizens, families with children and, best of all, a number of delegates from trade unions (including the British Union of Indian Workers and other unions predominately representing people of color). In fact, the number of trade union officials who either sent messages of support or spoke from the platform was truly heartening. In the States, labor usually doesn't enjoy such a high profile at anti-war events.
There were too many speakers to keep track of but George Galloway and Tony Benn both gave fiery speeches that pulled no punches in their criticisms of Blair, Brown and Bush and the criminal war in Iraq. John McDonnell, a left-wing Labour MP who launched a leadership challenge against Brown over the issue of the war, also spoke. So did an ex-member of the British Special Forces.
After the rally, we all filed-- very slowly-- down Whitehall to Big Ben chanting"Gordon Brown's a killer too" and "Whose streets? Our streets". Hordes of police flanked us the entire way and held up the march at various points; indeed, at one point looked like they were going to make some arrests but ultimately- as far as I know-- the whole thing came off without incident.
Pictures to follow.
The students in my "City of Dreadful Night" course have been reading Dickens' Oliver Twist for the past couple of weeks. Last week I took them on a walking tour of Dickens-related places in Clerkenwell. Today, we visited the Dickens museum, which is housed in the building where he resided when he was writing both Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nicklby. There was quite a lot to see: old manuscripts, paintings (and stained glass windows) of Dickens and his family, the original serial installments of his various serialized novels, illustrations from his books and artistic renderings of characters, stuff from his writing desk, mementos, old furniture of his, etc. On the top floor there was a very well done exhibit on Dickens' social conscience and his interest in the poor, which of course dovetailed nicely with the general theme of my course. Overall, it was an edifying experience (for the teacher if not for the pupils).
Today was the first day of Parliament and for the past month or so the British anti-war movement had been organizing for a massive "Troops Out" demonstration to greet the new Prime Minister -- Gordon Brown-- when he finally returned to work after the summer break. Amazingly, Brown tried to suppress the march by invoking an obscure 19th century law that allows the police to arrest anyone impeding the entry of a MP into Parliament. Denied an official permit, the conveners of the event -- among them, luminaries such as socialist stalwart Tony Benn and musician Brian Eno-- decided to march anyway. Naturally, following the visit to the Dicken's museum, I made my way to Trafalgar Square to see what would happen.
While it wasn't the biggest demonstration I'd ever attended, I'd say there were a few thousand people in attendance. The crowd did not quite fill Trafalgar (which is huge). [It was a delicious irony, by the way, to be at a peace rally at the base of Nelson's Column, a monument celebrating war and British imperial might.] Some in the crowd were the "usual suspects" who turn out to every such event-- black clad anarchists, members of various socialist and communist groups, and so on-- but there were also many senior citizens, families with children and, best of all, a number of delegates from trade unions (including the British Union of Indian Workers and other unions predominately representing people of color). In fact, the number of trade union officials who either sent messages of support or spoke from the platform was truly heartening. In the States, labor usually doesn't enjoy such a high profile at anti-war events.
There were too many speakers to keep track of but George Galloway and Tony Benn both gave fiery speeches that pulled no punches in their criticisms of Blair, Brown and Bush and the criminal war in Iraq. John McDonnell, a left-wing Labour MP who launched a leadership challenge against Brown over the issue of the war, also spoke. So did an ex-member of the British Special Forces.
After the rally, we all filed-- very slowly-- down Whitehall to Big Ben chanting"Gordon Brown's a killer too" and "Whose streets? Our streets". Hordes of police flanked us the entire way and held up the march at various points; indeed, at one point looked like they were going to make some arrests but ultimately- as far as I know-- the whole thing came off without incident.
Pictures to follow.
Friday, October 5, 2007
V&A, Raindance, Freud Museum
This week's BLC lecture was a vast improvement over the past couple. The lecturer-- Dominic something or other-- had a wry wit and did a masterful job of explaining to the students why Victorian England is still worthy of study today (i.e. it was the crucible of modernity and has lots to tell us about the fate of Empires as well). I especially liked his point about how the Victorian period is the story of the aristocratic British establishment's obsessive fear of revolution and its very gradual, every so orderly granting of political power to the middle class. He thoroughly demolished the kind of nostalgia for "Victorian values" and Victorian social relations that characterizes the work of neo-cons like Himmelfarb and Roger Scruton.
The follow up to that lecture was a trip on Wednesday to the immense and very worthwhile Victorian and Albert museum. Jackie came with me and our entire group received a brief guided tour led by the same guy who led the tour of the Tate. Established with the proceeds from the Great Exhibition as a showcase for design and allied arts, the V& A building itself was stunning: a sprawling, labrynthine brick and marble neo-Gothic complex with a large central court yard, a long airy orangery, a dining room decorated by William Morris (with his trademark handmade wallpaper and stained glass windows) and a couple of massive hall large enough to contain full size replicas of Trajan's Column and other achitecturally important monuments. There was room after room of sculpture, jewlery, silver and glassware, clothes and furniture. Like the National Gallery, it was really too much to absorb at one time. I did like seeing all the William Morris wallpaper, furniture and tapestries. And there were a couple of nice Rennie MacIntosh chairs to boot.
After the V&A I ran off to accompany my film students to a screening of the independent UK film "Summer Scars" at the Raindance Film Festival. The movie itself was a mixed bag. It tells the story of a group of 14 year old juvenile delinquents (5 boys and one girl) who skip school and spend the day goofing off in the woods. Ultimately, the meet up with a disturbed drifter named Peter, who starts hanging out with them. Eventually, everything starts to go horribly wrong as Peter becomes more and more erratic and violent. The fellow who played Peter (Kevin Howarth) was brilliant but the acting of the young children was uneven. In any case, after the screening, the director (Julian Richards) and Howarth answered questions from the audience for a good twenty minutes. It was one of wonderful, once in a lifetime experiences for the students and I think they really appreciated it.
Today, Friday, Jackie and I spent an hour and a half or so in the Freud Museum, which is in the house where Freud lived during the last year of his life and which was his daughter-- and fellow psycholanalyst-- Anna Freud's home for 40 years. I'm not exactly a big fan of Freud (although I suppose I am bit more sympathetic to his views than, say, the typical Foucauldian). Yet, I have read an enormous amount of his work over the years and always found his social criticism (Future of an Illusion, Civilization and its Discontents, Moses and Monotheism) intriguing if nothing else.
Seeing the various personal articles, letters, books and art work collected in the museum was oddly moving. On display were an array of Roman, Greek and Egyptian antiquities that used to grace his office as well as his vast book collection, his famous "couch" and the analysts chair. There were several paintings and photographs of Freud and his family, including a sketch done by Salvador Dali. Some of the exhibits showcased Freud's love of travel (and the captions discussed in some detail the psychoanalytical meaning of travel ). Many of the exhibits dealt with Freud's flight from Nazis-controlled Vienna after the Anschluss. My favorite single piece was a copy of Freud's notorious early (i.e. pre-psychoanalysis) article on the therapuetic uses of cocaine entitled "Uber Coca"; sadly, they didn't have copies for sale in the gift shop.
After leaving the museum, Jackie went to meet with someone from a public interest lawfirm about doing some volunteer work while she's here. The meeting went well but it is not yet clear exactly what she'd be doing or for how many hours a week. I'll keep everyone posted.
The follow up to that lecture was a trip on Wednesday to the immense and very worthwhile Victorian and Albert museum. Jackie came with me and our entire group received a brief guided tour led by the same guy who led the tour of the Tate. Established with the proceeds from the Great Exhibition as a showcase for design and allied arts, the V& A building itself was stunning: a sprawling, labrynthine brick and marble neo-Gothic complex with a large central court yard, a long airy orangery, a dining room decorated by William Morris (with his trademark handmade wallpaper and stained glass windows) and a couple of massive hall large enough to contain full size replicas of Trajan's Column and other achitecturally important monuments. There was room after room of sculpture, jewlery, silver and glassware, clothes and furniture. Like the National Gallery, it was really too much to absorb at one time. I did like seeing all the William Morris wallpaper, furniture and tapestries. And there were a couple of nice Rennie MacIntosh chairs to boot.
After the V&A I ran off to accompany my film students to a screening of the independent UK film "Summer Scars" at the Raindance Film Festival. The movie itself was a mixed bag. It tells the story of a group of 14 year old juvenile delinquents (5 boys and one girl) who skip school and spend the day goofing off in the woods. Ultimately, the meet up with a disturbed drifter named Peter, who starts hanging out with them. Eventually, everything starts to go horribly wrong as Peter becomes more and more erratic and violent. The fellow who played Peter (Kevin Howarth) was brilliant but the acting of the young children was uneven. In any case, after the screening, the director (Julian Richards) and Howarth answered questions from the audience for a good twenty minutes. It was one of wonderful, once in a lifetime experiences for the students and I think they really appreciated it.
Today, Friday, Jackie and I spent an hour and a half or so in the Freud Museum, which is in the house where Freud lived during the last year of his life and which was his daughter-- and fellow psycholanalyst-- Anna Freud's home for 40 years. I'm not exactly a big fan of Freud (although I suppose I am bit more sympathetic to his views than, say, the typical Foucauldian). Yet, I have read an enormous amount of his work over the years and always found his social criticism (Future of an Illusion, Civilization and its Discontents, Moses and Monotheism) intriguing if nothing else.
Seeing the various personal articles, letters, books and art work collected in the museum was oddly moving. On display were an array of Roman, Greek and Egyptian antiquities that used to grace his office as well as his vast book collection, his famous "couch" and the analysts chair. There were several paintings and photographs of Freud and his family, including a sketch done by Salvador Dali. Some of the exhibits showcased Freud's love of travel (and the captions discussed in some detail the psychoanalytical meaning of travel ). Many of the exhibits dealt with Freud's flight from Nazis-controlled Vienna after the Anschluss. My favorite single piece was a copy of Freud's notorious early (i.e. pre-psychoanalysis) article on the therapuetic uses of cocaine entitled "Uber Coca"; sadly, they didn't have copies for sale in the gift shop.
After leaving the museum, Jackie went to meet with someone from a public interest lawfirm about doing some volunteer work while she's here. The meeting went well but it is not yet clear exactly what she'd be doing or for how many hours a week. I'll keep everyone posted.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Dickens Walking Tour
So, this afternoon I took my students on a Dickens-themed walking tour of Clerkenwell and environs. We walked past the old Smithfield meat market, up through St. John's gate to Clerkenwell Green (where Oliver in Oliver Twist witnesses the Artful Doger picking someone's pocket) and poked our head in the Marx memorial library. Next, we strolled past the Peabody Trust buildings-- model tenament housing for the poor built by an American philanthropist in the 1860s-- and past a pub that claims to be the original of the Three Cripples Pub where the characters Bill Sikes and Fagin in Oliver often hung out. Finally, we walked past St. Andrews church and then to the Holbern Bar-- a cool Victorian Gothic building that houses a bust of Dicken and a plaque stating that the author once lived at an inn located on the site.
Tonight we have our BLC lecture on "The Victorians". Should be interesting. Tomorrow we vist the Victoria&Albert Museum....
Tonight we have our BLC lecture on "The Victorians". Should be interesting. Tomorrow we vist the Victoria&Albert Museum....
National Gallery & Natural History Museum
This past weekend was, comparatively speaking, very low-key. On Friday, my free day, Jackie and I finally made it to the National Gallery. The places is huge, far too big to see in a single day. So, we concentrated on the Holbeins (including the spectacular "The Ambassadors" with its strange distorted death's head in the foreground), the DeVincis, highlights from the British collection, the Impressionists and the post-Impressionists. My favorite thing about the day was seeing Hogarth's satirical series "Marriage A La Mode" up close. It also struck me as we were wandering through the museum that John Berger's book "Ways of Seeing" draws most of its examples from paintings held by the National Gallery, which I suppose makes sense since he wrote it in England as a companion book to his BBC series.
The weekend proper was fairly lack luster and lazy. The kids and I visited the Natural History museum in the afternoon. Among other things it boasts an animatronic T-Rex whose eyes follow you around the room. But we spent the most time at the interesting exhibits on memory, perception and language. We only staye a couple of hours before meeting Jackie to do som serious grocery shopping at Sainsburys (which is near the museum).
More later.
The weekend proper was fairly lack luster and lazy. The kids and I visited the Natural History museum in the afternoon. Among other things it boasts an animatronic T-Rex whose eyes follow you around the room. But we spent the most time at the interesting exhibits on memory, perception and language. We only staye a couple of hours before meeting Jackie to do som serious grocery shopping at Sainsburys (which is near the museum).
More later.
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