Megan Armknecht Megan presented on how Louisa May Alcott was influenced by German Romanticism–specifically the German thinker and writer, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. She had noticed resonances between Goethe’s thinking and personality in the character of Dr. Bhaer in Alcott’s classic, Little Women, and wanted to find out if these connections meant anything and if …
Psychological and Financial Benefits of “Slowing Down”
We can obtain a lot of information instantly. We can check email, find the weather forecast, take a photo, make a purchase, all in a matter of seconds. The rapidity of modern–or digital–life is convenient; it makes us more efficient and frees up time to accomplish other things. It’s hard to believe that there might …
Celebrate National Arts and Humanities Month
On September 30, President Obama declared October 2014, National Arts and Humanities Month. This is the 29th year in a row that October has been dedicated to celebrating Arts and Humanities. In his proclamation, Obama wrote, “Since our earliest days, America has flourished because of the creative spirit and vision of our people. Our Nation …
Brian Roberts’s study of American literature leads him to Indonesia.
Over the past several years, Professor Roberts has collaborated with Dr. Keith Foulcher (Indonesian Studies, University of Sydney) to research American writer Richard Wright’s 1955 travel to Indonesia to attend the Asian-African Conference, a landmark meeting of representatives from twenty-nine postcolonial Asian and African countries. In May 2013, with funding from the Kennedy Center for …
75 Years After His Death, Has Freud Slipped Out of Our Conscious?
If you ask a psychologist, they will tell you Freud is obsolete. His theories have been debunked. The Oedipus Complex? Nonsense. Psychotherapy? Not helpful. But this week, Michael S. Roth, President of Wesleyan University, says otherwise in a piece he wrote for the The Chronicle of Higher Education entitled, “Why Freud Still Haunts Us.” Rather …