To join this virtual lecture and Q&\;A\, please do not registe r directly from this website. Instead\, please email my.nguyen@dc.gov for the link.
\nPlease see library staff for assistance with the reading materials\, which are available upon request.
\nAll gatherings are from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. While the branch is currently close d for in-person discussions\, we continue to meet virtually. Please email my.nguyen@dc.gov for additional details.
\nOverview
The West End Library Friends Present: Ori Z Soltes: The Age of Adven
ture and Exploration
By definition\, adventure and exploration pus hes beyond the edge of what we know into the unknown&mdash\;they can stay fairly close to everyday reality or transcend it\, carrying the adventurer -explorer and his or her follower-reader into a phantasmagorical realm bey ond our everyday expectations.
\nThe title of the theme plays on the word &ldquo\;age&rdquo\;: any and every age can be an age of adventure an d exploration. It&rsquo\;s just that the particularities of what and how a character explores and shapes adventures both can change. And at what age do we\, as a species\, most particularly explore and have adventures? If for some of us we may reach that point in our lives and then pass it\, for others it can begin as soon as we can crawl and never end until our lives end.
\nOur series starts and ends in an American context&mdash\;alt hough that context has in fact become internationalized in the last work I n between \, our series follows in diverse cultural and conceptual directi ons.
\nAs usual\, each session will be preceded by ten question to t hink about\, available about a week before we convene.
\nBoo
ks to be Discussed
February 16: \;The Call of the Wild \;by Jack London (1903)
March 16: \;Watership Down \;by Richard Adam
s (1972)
April 13: \;The Sword of Summer \;by Rick Riordan (2
015)
May 11: \;Where the Mountain Mee
ts the Moon \;by Grace Lin (2019)
June 8: \;The Martian by Andy Weir \;(2011/201
4)
About Ori Z. Soltes\, PhD
Ori Z Soltes ha
s spent a lifetime wrestling with questions that resonate through the hist
ory of the human experience. His dynamic teaching\, lecturing\, curating a
nd writing reflect a broad series of interests and a unique ability to com
bine them in unusual ways that are thought-provoking and both challenging
and intellectually exciting.
\;
He currently teaches theolo
gy\, philosophy and art history at Georgetown University. He has also taug
ht across diverse disciplines for many years at The Johns Hopkins Universi
ty\, Cleveland State University\, Case Western Reserve University\, Siegel
College in Cleveland\, and other colleges and universities.
\;<
br />Dr. Soltes has lectured at dozens of museums across the country\, inc
luding the Metropolitan Museum of Art\, the National Gallery of Art\, the
Smithsonian Institution\, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Los Angeles
County Museum of Art.