Listen as Wellesley College faculty introduce you to a book that they're passionate about in their field, and then read a brief passage to whet your appetite.
The books might be little-known literary gems, beloved classics, scenes from plays, recent provocative essays, poems, thought-provoking analyses of current social issues, biographies, or many other literary forms.
Take a few minutes to explore the books that captivate Wellesley faculty. Click on a book to hear the reading. If you prefer to download these readings, visit our iTunes U site.
Our series will resume September 4, 2013.
May 8, 2013
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May 1, 2013
Deborah Matzner reads from Back Stories by Amahl Bishara, published by Stanford University Press (5:00) "Unlike the Israeli and Palestinian camera people, who kept filming, or the Palestinian emergency medical personnel on alert, I could not grasp what was going on around me. " |
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April 24, 2013
Eugene Marshall reads from Ethics by Spinoza, translated by Edwin Curley, published by Penguin Classics. (5:11) "I shall consider human actions and appetites just as if it were a question of lines, planes, and bodies. " |
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April 17, 2013
Barbara Geller reads from Rediscovering Eve: Ancient Israelite Women in Context by Carol Meyers, published by Oxford University Press. (5:58) "Everywoman Eve's context was the household, the central institution for most economic, social, educative, political, and religious aspects of life throughout the Iron Age. " |
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April 10, 2013
Kate Gilhuly reads from Works and Days by Hesiod, translated by Stanley Lombardo, published by Hackett. (7:11) "But the gods' own herald put a voice in her, and he named that woman Pandora, because all the Olympians donated something, and she was a real pain for human beings. " |
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April 3, 2013
Martina Koniger reads from Long for This World by Jonathan Weiner, published by Ecco. (5:48) "The problem of longevity is a deep problem...you first have to answer the questions: What makes us mortal? Why do we die? Why do we get frail year by year and ever more likely to die? " |
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March 27, 2013
Barry Lydgate reads from Dreaming in French by Alice Kaplan, published by University of Chiago Press. (5:55) "...The year in Paris changed their relationship to their bodies, to their words, and strengthened their sense of being in the world. " |
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March 13, 2013
Claire Fontijn reads from Emilie's Voice by Susanne Dunlap, published by Touchstone. (4:10) "When she gave herself to the music, when she let it take her over, she became a vessel for something beyond the notes themselves. " |
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March 6, 2013
Lauri Wardell reads from AC/DC: The Savage Tale of the First Standards War by Tom McNichol, published by Jossey-Bass. (5:04) "What began as an ordinary skirmish between competing technical standards had deteriorated into a grotesque campaign of lies and fear mongering." |
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February 27, 2013
Catia Confortini reads from The Political Economy of Violence Against Women by Jacqui True, published by Oxford University Press. (6:52) "Current global initiatives to end violence against women are unlikely to be successful while they remain disconnected from the larger struggle for social and economic equality." |
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Februrary 20, 2013
Tim Peltason reads from All The King's Men by Robert Penn Warren, published by Harcourt Brace. (6:08) "'But suppose I don't find anything before election day?' The Boss said: 'To hell with election day… if it takes ten years, you find it.' … and I said "But suppose there isn't anything to find?' And the Boss said: 'There is always something.'" |
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February 13, 2013
Alex Diesl reads a selection from The Mathematician's Lament by Paul Lockhart, published by Bellevue Literary Press. (5:00) "Math is not about following directions, it's about making new directions." |
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February 6, 2013
Alla Epsteyn reads from The Blizzard, a short story by Aleksander Pushkin. This translation by Paul Deborah Janey can be found in Aleksander Pushkin: Complete Prose Fiction, published by Stanford University Press. (7:03) "Marya Gavrilovna was brought up on French novels, and consequently was in love." |
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January 30, 2013
Wes Watters reads from The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury, published by Simon & Schuster. (5:10) "And he wondered, quietly aloud, how they had built this city to last the ages through, and had they ever come to Earth?." |