NEXT WEEK! Dawn of Everything, Chapters 1-3

5 Jan

This Spring the PCPN reading group is changing up its format, meeting once a month and working through one text, Graeber and Wengrow’s “The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity.” Don’t miss our meetings the second Tuesday of the month (8:00-10:00pm). Given current omicron spread, we will continue to meet online (login information below in red).

This week:

  • 01/11 – The Dawn of Everything, Chapters 1-3

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Please bring either a digital or hard copy of the text with you to the discussion.

Time: 8:00pm-10:00pm
Location: Online

LOGIN INFORMATION:

Join Zoom Meeting
https://carlow-edu.zoom.us/j/94613155477?pwd=OXdETjRycFl2VW9ueklDejQvcXhEdz09

Meeting ID: 946 1315 5477
Passcode: k2HnH9

OTHER PITTSBURGH EVENTS:

  • First Thursday of the month: Anti-Capitalist Classics 2021, presented by the PGH DSA Political Education Committee: Register at: bit.ly/anticapitalist
  • January 20th, 6:00pm, The Radical Theology Seminar, Lissa McCollough presents Thomas J.J. Altizer, patreon.com/radicaltheology

SCHEDULE:

  • January 11 — Chapters 1-3
  • February 8 — Chapters 4-6
  • March 8 — Chapters 7-9
  • April 12 — Chapters 10-12

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Graeber and Wengrow’s “The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity”

28 Dec

This Spring the PCPN reading group is changing up its format, meeting once a month and working through one text, Graeber and Wengrow’s “The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity.” Don’t miss our meetings the second Tuesday of the month (8:00-10:00pm). Given current omicron spread, we will continue to meet online (login information below in red).

This week:

  • 01/11 – The Dawn of Everything, Chapters 1-3

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Please bring either a digital or hard copy of the text with you to the discussion.

Time: 8:00pm-10:00pm
Location: Online

LOGIN INFORMATION:

Join Zoom Meeting
https://carlow-edu.zoom.us/j/94613155477?pwd=OXdETjRycFl2VW9ueklDejQvcXhEdz09

Meeting ID: 946 1315 5477
Passcode: k2HnH9

OTHER PITTSBURGH EVENTS:

  • First Thursday of the month: Anti-Capitalist Classics 2021, presented by the PGH DSA Political Education Committee: Register at: bit.ly/anticapitalist
  • January 20th, 6:00pm, The Radical Theology Seminar, Lissa McCollough presents Thomas J.J. Altizer, patreon.com/radicaltheology

SCHEDULE:

  • January — Chapters 1-3
  • February — Chapters 4-6
  • March — Chapters 7-9
  • April —Chapters 10-12

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

2022 Updates!

1 Dec

Eager to dig back into some texts? Good news, the Pittsburgh Continental Philosophy Reading Group (with a slightly changed format) will be returning in January. We will (for the sake of my schedule and sanity) be moving to a monthly, rather than a weekly format, the 2nd Tuesday of the month, 8:00-10:00pm. Whether we meet in person at Yinz (formerly Crazy Mocha), or online (zoom), will depend on the state of things pandemic-wise (so get those boosters!). I am tentatively considering working though David Graeber and David Wengrow’s The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity through the winter/spring. But, if you have a different direction you would like to see the group go, feel free to comment on this post on wordpress or facebook.

Since we last met, I (Justin) have been busy working on a not-too-dissimilar project. If you are interested in undertaking conversations similar to those we have held here in the past, but with a more a-theological bent; be sure to check out The Radical Theology Seminar, which will also be launching in January. There you can not only discuss key texts in “radical theology” (Death of God theology, secular theology, deconstructive theology, and related schools of thought), much like we have often done at PCPN, but, you will also have direct access to some of the top scholars in the field, who will present accessible mini-lectures and lead seminar style discussions each month.

Radical Theology is a transgressive theology capable of disrupting religious, racial, class, and gender boundaries with the aim of social, political, and religious transfiguration. 

The Radical Theology Seminar offers a unique opportunity for those interested in the cutting-edge of theological discourse, to engage with some of the most important contemporary thinkers in radical theology in academically rigorous monthly seminars. Participants can receive personalized attention and directly interact with some of the most respected names in radical theology, explore seminal texts in the field, while pressing its boundaries in new and exciting directions.

This seminar is for those dissatisfied with dominant theological traditions, incapable of speaking into our complex political, ecological, and cultural situation, and for religious misfits of every stripe interested in the collaborative construction of insurrectionary theology for the twenty-first century.

To join the conversation, go to patreon.com/radicaltheology

READING GROUP: Agamben on “Bartleby, the Scrivener”

3 Jun

This Spring the PCPN reading group is crossing the Atlantic to our own continent, to discuss the Transcendentalists and the “American Renaissance” in literature—and their interpretation and appropriation in Continental thought. Don’t miss our meetings most Tuesday evenings (8:00-10:00pm) on the INTERNET! (login information below in red).

This week:

  • 06/08 – Agamben, Giorgio. “Bartleby, or on Contingency” in Potentialities

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Please bring either a digital or hard copy of the text with you to the discussion.

Time: 8:00pm-10:00pm
Location: Online

As a reminder, even though we have moved to thematic groups, there is no expectation that people participate in every week, so even if you can’t commit to the whole section, you are still more than welcome to join us when you can.

LOGIN INFORMATION:

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89628577809?pwd=QitLYmdKMXRwbWc2UnhCcWhOdVRCdz09

Meeting ID: 896 2857 7809
Passcode: PCPNreadin

OTHER PITTSBURGH EVENTS:

  • Anti-Capitalist Classics 2021, presented by the PGH DSA Political Education Committee: Register at: bit.ly/anticapitalist

SCHEDULE:

  • TRANSCENDENTALIST PHILOSOPHY
    • 02/23 – Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Nature” in Transcendentalism a Reader
    • 03/02 – Cavell, Stanley. “Aversive Thinking: Emersonian Representations in Heidegger and Nietzsche”
    • 03/09 – Thoreau, Henry David. “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For” and “Solitude” in Walden 
    • 03/16 – Arsić, Branka. “Introduction: On Embodied Knowledge and the Deliberation of the Crow,” “Toward Things as They Are,” “Thinking with Geological Velocity,” “How to Greet a Tree?,” and “Contemplating Matter” in Bird Relics: Grief and Vitalism in Thoreau
  • POLITICS
    • 03/23 – Douglass, Frederick. “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
    • 03/30 – Nielson, Cynthia. “Resistance is Not Futile: Frederick Douglass on Power Relations and Resistance ‘From Below’”
    • 04/06 – Melville, Herman. “The Portent”; Alcott, Louisa May. “With a Rose, That Bloomed on the Day of John Brown’s Martyrdom”; and Thoreau, Henry David. “A Plea for John Brown” in Transcendentalism a Reader
    • 04/13 – Smith, Ted A. “The Higher Law” in Weird John Brown: Divine Violence and the Limits of Ethics
  • POETRY AND LITERATURE
    • 04/20 – Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Purloined Letter”
    • 04/27 – Lacan, Jacques. “Seminar on the Purloined Letter”
    • 05/04 – Dickinson, Emily.  The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, Poem # 67, 156, 185, 249, 254, 288, 326, 344, 435, 465, 650, 712, 772, 919, 926, 967, 1049, 1129, 1401 
    • 05/11 – Snediker, Michael. “Emily Dickinson’s Queer Pain: ‘One Claw Opon the Air’” in Queer Optimism
    • 05/18 – Whitman, Walt. “Song of Myself” in Leaves of Grass
    • 05/25 – Deleuze, Gilles.  “Whitman” in Essays: Critical and Clinical
    • 06/01 – Melville, Herman. “Bartleby, the Scrivener”
    • 06/08 – Agamben, Giorgio. “Bartleby, or on Contingency” in Potentialities

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

READING GROUP: Melville’s “Bartleby, the Scrivener”

28 May

This Spring the PCPN reading group is crossing the Atlantic to our own continent, to discuss the Transcendentalists and the “American Renaissance” in literature—and their interpretation and appropriation in Continental thought. Don’t miss our meetings most Tuesday evenings (8:00-10:00pm) on the INTERNET! (login information below in red).

This week:

  • 06/01 – Melville, Herman. “Bartleby, the Scrivener”

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Please bring either a digital or hard copy of the text with you to the discussion.

Time: 8:00pm-10:00pm
Location: Online

As a reminder, even though we have moved to thematic groups, there is no expectation that people participate in every week, so even if you can’t commit to the whole section, you are still more than welcome to join us when you can.

LOGIN INFORMATION:

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89628577809?pwd=QitLYmdKMXRwbWc2UnhCcWhOdVRCdz09

Meeting ID: 896 2857 7809
Passcode: PCPNreadin

OTHER PITTSBURGH EVENTS:

  • Anti-Capitalist Classics 2021, presented by the PGH DSA Political Education Committee: Register at: bit.ly/anticapitalist

SCHEDULE:

  • TRANSCENDENTALIST PHILOSOPHY
    • 02/23 – Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Nature” in Transcendentalism a Reader
    • 03/02 – Cavell, Stanley. “Aversive Thinking: Emersonian Representations in Heidegger and Nietzsche”
    • 03/09 – Thoreau, Henry David. “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For” and “Solitude” in Walden 
    • 03/16 – Arsić, Branka. “Introduction: On Embodied Knowledge and the Deliberation of the Crow,” “Toward Things as They Are,” “Thinking with Geological Velocity,” “How to Greet a Tree?,” and “Contemplating Matter” in Bird Relics: Grief and Vitalism in Thoreau
  • POLITICS
    • 03/23 – Douglass, Frederick. “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
    • 03/30 – Nielson, Cynthia. “Resistance is Not Futile: Frederick Douglass on Power Relations and Resistance ‘From Below’”
    • 04/06 – Melville, Herman. “The Portent”; Alcott, Louisa May. “With a Rose, That Bloomed on the Day of John Brown’s Martyrdom”; and Thoreau, Henry David. “A Plea for John Brown” in Transcendentalism a Reader
    • 04/13 – Smith, Ted A. “The Higher Law” in Weird John Brown: Divine Violence and the Limits of Ethics
  • POETRY AND LITERATURE
    • 04/20 – Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Purloined Letter”
    • 04/27 – Lacan, Jacques. “Seminar on the Purloined Letter”
    • 05/04 – Dickinson, Emily.  The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, Poem # 67, 156, 185, 249, 254, 288, 326, 344, 435, 465, 650, 712, 772, 919, 926, 967, 1049, 1129, 1401 
    • 05/11 – Snediker, Michael. “Emily Dickinson’s Queer Pain: ‘One Claw Opon the Air’” in Queer Optimism
    • 05/18 – Whitman, Walt. “Song of Myself” in Leaves of Grass
    • 05/25 – Deleuze, Gilles.  “Whitman” in Essays: Critical and Clinical
    • 06/01 – Melville, Herman. “Bartleby, the Scrivener”
    • 06/08 – Agamben, Giorgio. “Bartleby, or on Contingency” in Potentialities

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

READING GROUP: Deleuze on Whitman

6 May

This Spring the PCPN reading group is crossing the Atlantic to our own continent, to discuss the Transcendentalists and the “American Renaissance” in literature—and their interpretation and appropriation in Continental thought. Don’t miss our meetings most Tuesday evenings (8:00-10:00pm) on the INTERNET! (login information below in red).

This week:

  • 05/25 – Deleuze, Gilles.  “Whitman” in Essays: Critical and Clinical

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Please bring either a digital or hard copy of the text with you to the discussion.

Time: 8:00pm-10:00pm
Location: Online

As a reminder, even though we have moved to thematic groups, there is no expectation that people participate in every week, so even if you can’t commit to the whole section, you are still more than welcome to join us when you can.

LOGIN INFORMATION:

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89628577809?pwd=QitLYmdKMXRwbWc2UnhCcWhOdVRCdz09

Meeting ID: 896 2857 7809
Passcode: PCPNreadin

OTHER PITTSBURGH EVENTS:

  • Anti-Capitalist Classics 2021, presented by the PGH DSA Political Education Committee: Register at: bit.ly/anticapitalist

SCHEDULE:

  • TRANSCENDENTALIST PHILOSOPHY
    • 02/23 – Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Nature” in Transcendentalism a Reader
    • 03/02 – Cavell, Stanley. “Aversive Thinking: Emersonian Representations in Heidegger and Nietzsche”
    • 03/09 – Thoreau, Henry David. “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For” and “Solitude” in Walden 
    • 03/16 – Arsić, Branka. “Introduction: On Embodied Knowledge and the Deliberation of the Crow,” “Toward Things as They Are,” “Thinking with Geological Velocity,” “How to Greet a Tree?,” and “Contemplating Matter” in Bird Relics: Grief and Vitalism in Thoreau
  • POLITICS
    • 03/23 – Douglass, Frederick. “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
    • 03/30 – Nielson, Cynthia. “Resistance is Not Futile: Frederick Douglass on Power Relations and Resistance ‘From Below’”
    • 04/06 – Melville, Herman. “The Portent”; Alcott, Louisa May. “With a Rose, That Bloomed on the Day of John Brown’s Martyrdom”; and Thoreau, Henry David. “A Plea for John Brown” in Transcendentalism a Reader
    • 04/13 – Smith, Ted A. “The Higher Law” in Weird John Brown: Divine Violence and the Limits of Ethics
  • POETRY AND LITERATURE
    • 04/20 – Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Purloined Letter”
    • 04/27 – Lacan, Jacques. “Seminar on the Purloined Letter”
    • 05/04 – Dickinson, Emily.  The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, Poem # 67, 156, 185, 249, 254, 288, 326, 344, 435, 465, 650, 712, 772, 919, 926, 967, 1049, 1129, 1401 
    • 05/11 – Snediker, Michael. “Emily Dickinson’s Queer Pain: ‘One Claw Opon the Air’” in Queer Optimism
    • 05/18 – Whitman, Walt. “Song of Myself” in Leaves of Grass
    • 05/25 – Deleuze, Gilles.  “Whitman” in Essays: Critical and Clinical
    • 06/01 – Melville, Herman. “Bartleby, the Scrivener”
    • 06/08 – Agamben, Giorgio. “Bartleby, or on Contingency” in Potentialities

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

READING GROUP: Emily Dickinson on Love and Pain

29 Apr

This Spring the PCPN reading group is crossing the Atlantic to our own continent, to discuss the Transcendentalists and the “American Renaissance” in literature—and their interpretation and appropriation in Continental thought. Don’t miss our meetings most Tuesday evenings (8:00-10:00pm) on the INTERNET! (login information below in red).

This week:

  • 05/04 – Dickinson, Emily.  The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, Poem # 67, 156, 185, 249, 254, 288, 326, 344, 435, 465, 650, 712, 772, 919, 926, 967, 1049, 1129, 1401 

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Please bring either a digital or hard copy of the text with you to the discussion.

Time: 8:00pm-10:00pm
Location: Online

As a reminder, even though we have moved to thematic groups, there is no expectation that people participate in every week, so even if you can’t commit to the whole section, you are still more than welcome to join us when you can.

LOGIN INFORMATION:

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89628577809?pwd=QitLYmdKMXRwbWc2UnhCcWhOdVRCdz09

Meeting ID: 896 2857 7809
Passcode: PCPNreadin

OTHER PITTSBURGH EVENTS:

  • Anti-Capitalist Classics 2021, presented by the PGH DSA Political Education Committee: Register at: bit.ly/anticapitalist

SCHEDULE:

  • TRANSCENDENTALIST PHILOSOPHY
    • 02/23 – Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Nature” in Transcendentalism a Reader
    • 03/02 – Cavell, Stanley. “Aversive Thinking: Emersonian Representations in Heidegger and Nietzsche”
    • 03/09 – Thoreau, Henry David. “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For” and “Solitude” in Walden 
    • 03/16 – Arsić, Branka. “Introduction: On Embodied Knowledge and the Deliberation of the Crow,” “Toward Things as They Are,” “Thinking with Geological Velocity,” “How to Greet a Tree?,” and “Contemplating Matter” in Bird Relics: Grief and Vitalism in Thoreau
  • POLITICS
    • 03/23 – Douglass, Frederick. “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
    • 03/30 – Nielson, Cynthia. “Resistance is Not Futile: Frederick Douglass on Power Relations and Resistance ‘From Below’”
    • 04/06 – Melville, Herman. “The Portent”; Alcott, Louisa May. “With a Rose, That Bloomed on the Day of John Brown’s Martyrdom”; and Thoreau, Henry David. “A Plea for John Brown” in Transcendentalism a Reader
    • 04/13 – Smith, Ted A. “The Higher Law” in Weird John Brown: Divine Violence and the Limits of Ethics
  • POETRY AND LITERATURE
    • 04/20 – Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Purloined Letter”
    • 04/27 – Lacan, Jacques. “Seminar on the Purloined Letter”
    • 05/04 – Dickinson, Emily.  The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, Poem # 67, 156, 185, 249, 254, 288, 326, 344, 435, 465, 650, 712, 772, 919, 926, 967, 1049, 1129, 1401 
    • 05/11 – Snediker, Michael. “Emily Dickinson’s Queer Pain: ‘One Claw Opon the Air’” in Queer Optimism
    • 05/18 – Whitman, Walt. “Song of Myself” in Leaves of Grass
    • 05/25 – Deleuze, Gilles.  “Whitman” in Essays: Critical and Clinical
    • 06/01 – Melville, Herman. “Bartleby, the Scrivener”
    • 06/08 – Agamben, Giorgio. “Bartleby, or on Contingency” in Potentialities

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

READING GROUP: Lacan on “The Purloined Letter”

23 Apr

This Spring the PCPN reading group is crossing the Atlantic to our own continent, to discuss the Transcendentalists and the “American Renaissance” in literature—and their interpretation and appropriation in Continental thought. Don’t miss our meetings most Tuesday evenings (8:00-10:00pm) on the INTERNET! (login information below in red).

This week:

  • 04/27 – Lacan, Jacques. “Seminar on the Purloined Letter”

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Please bring either a digital or hard copy of the text with you to the discussion.

Time: 8:00pm-10:00pm
Location: Online

As a reminder, even though we have moved to thematic groups, there is no expectation that people participate in every week, so even if you can’t commit to the whole section, you are still more than welcome to join us when you can.

LOGIN INFORMATION:

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89628577809?pwd=QitLYmdKMXRwbWc2UnhCcWhOdVRCdz09

Meeting ID: 896 2857 7809
Passcode: PCPNreadin

OTHER PITTSBURGH EVENTS:

  • Anti-Capitalist Classics 2021, presented by the PGH DSA Political Education Committee: Register at: bit.ly/anticapitalist

SCHEDULE:

  • TRANSCENDENTALIST PHILOSOPHY
    • 02/23 – Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Nature” in Transcendentalism a Reader
    • 03/02 – Cavell, Stanley. “Aversive Thinking: Emersonian Representations in Heidegger and Nietzsche”
    • 03/09 – Thoreau, Henry David. “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For” and “Solitude” in Walden 
    • 03/16 – Arsić, Branka. “Introduction: On Embodied Knowledge and the Deliberation of the Crow,” “Toward Things as They Are,” “Thinking with Geological Velocity,” “How to Greet a Tree?,” and “Contemplating Matter” in Bird Relics: Grief and Vitalism in Thoreau
  • POLITICS
    • 03/23 – Douglass, Frederick. “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
    • 03/30 – Nielson, Cynthia. “Resistance is Not Futile: Frederick Douglass on Power Relations and Resistance ‘From Below’”
    • 04/06 – Melville, Herman. “The Portent”; Alcott, Louisa May. “With a Rose, That Bloomed on the Day of John Brown’s Martyrdom”; and Thoreau, Henry David. “A Plea for John Brown” in Transcendentalism a Reader
    • 04/13 – Smith, Ted A. “The Higher Law” in Weird John Brown: Divine Violence and the Limits of Ethics
  • POETRY AND LITERATURE
    • 04/20 – Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Purloined Letter”
    • 04/27 – Lacan, Jacques. “Seminar on the Purloined Letter”
    • 05/04 – Dickinson, Emily.  The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, Poem # 67, 156, 185, 249, 254, 288, 326, 344, 435, 465, 650, 712, 772, 919, 926, 967, 1049, 1129, 1401 
    • 05/11 – Snediker, Michael. “Emily Dickinson’s Queer Pain: ‘One Claw Opon the Air’” in Queer Optimism
    • 05/18 – Whitman, Walt. “Song of Myself” in Leaves of Grass
    • 05/25 – Deleuze, Gilles.  “Whitman” in Essays: Critical and Clinical
    • 06/01 – Melville, Herman. “Bartleby, the Scrivener”
    • 06/08 – Agamben, Giorgio. “Bartleby, or on Contingency” in Potentialities

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

READING GROUP: Poe’s “The Purloined Letter”

15 Apr

This Spring the PCPN reading group is crossing the Atlantic to our own continent, to discuss the Transcendentalists and the “American Renaissance” in literature—and their interpretation and appropriation in Continental thought. Don’t miss our meetings most Tuesday evenings (8:00-10:00pm) on the INTERNET! (login information below in red).

This week:

  • 04/20 – Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Purloined Letter”

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Please bring either a digital or hard copy of the text with you to the discussion.

Time: 8:00pm-10:00pm
Location: Online

As a reminder, even though we have moved to thematic groups, there is no expectation that people participate in every week, so even if you can’t commit to the whole section, you are still more than welcome to join us when you can.

LOGIN INFORMATION:

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89628577809?pwd=QitLYmdKMXRwbWc2UnhCcWhOdVRCdz09

Meeting ID: 896 2857 7809
Passcode: PCPNreadin

OTHER PITTSBURGH EVENTS:

  • Anti-Capitalist Classics 2021, presented by the PGH DSA Political Education Committee: Register at: bit.ly/anticapitalist

SCHEDULE:

  • TRANSCENDENTALIST PHILOSOPHY
    • 02/23 – Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Nature” in Transcendentalism a Reader
    • 03/02 – Cavell, Stanley. “Aversive Thinking: Emersonian Representations in Heidegger and Nietzsche”
    • 03/09 – Thoreau, Henry David. “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For” and “Solitude” in Walden 
    • 03/16 – Arsić, Branka. “Introduction: On Embodied Knowledge and the Deliberation of the Crow,” “Toward Things as They Are,” “Thinking with Geological Velocity,” “How to Greet a Tree?,” and “Contemplating Matter” in Bird Relics: Grief and Vitalism in Thoreau
  • POLITICS
    • 03/23 – Douglass, Frederick. “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
    • 03/30 – Nielson, Cynthia. “Resistance is Not Futile: Frederick Douglass on Power Relations and Resistance ‘From Below’”
    • 04/06 – Melville, Herman. “The Portent”; Alcott, Louisa May. “With a Rose, That Bloomed on the Day of John Brown’s Martyrdom”; and Thoreau, Henry David. “A Plea for John Brown” in Transcendentalism a Reader
    • 04/13 – Smith, Ted A. “The Higher Law” in Weird John Brown: Divine Violence and the Limits of Ethics
  • POETRY AND LITERATURE
    • 04/20 – Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Purloined Letter”
    • 04/27 – Lacan, Jacques. “Seminar on the Purloined Letter”
    • 05/04 – Dickinson, Emily.  The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, Poem # 67, 156, 185, 249, 254, 288, 326, 344, 435, 465, 650, 712, 772, 919, 926, 967, 1049, 1129, 1401 
    • 05/11 – Snediker, Michael. “Emily Dickinson’s Queer Pain: ‘One Claw Opon the Air’” in Queer Optimism
    • 05/18 – Whitman, Walt. “Song of Myself” in Leaves of Grass
    • 05/25 – Deleuze, Gilles.  “Whitman” in Essays: Critical and Clinical
    • 06/01 – Melville, Herman. “Bartleby, the Scrivener”
    • 06/08 – Agamben, Giorgio. “Bartleby, or on Contingency” in Potentialities

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

READING GROUP: Smith on John Brown and the “Higher Law”

9 Apr

This Spring the PCPN reading group is crossing the Atlantic to our own continent, to discuss the Transcendentalists and the “American Renaissance” in literature—and their interpretation and appropriation in Continental thought. Don’t miss our meetings most Tuesday evenings (8:00-10:00pm) on the INTERNET! (login information below in red).

This week:

  • 04/13 – Smith, Ted A. “The Higher Law” in Weird John Brown: Divine Violence and the Limits of Ethics

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

Please bring either a digital or hard copy of the text with you to the discussion.

Time: 8:00pm-10:00pm
Location: Online

As a reminder, even though we have moved to thematic groups, there is no expectation that people participate in every week, so even if you can’t commit to the whole section, you are still more than welcome to join us when you can.

LOGIN INFORMATION:

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89628577809?pwd=QitLYmdKMXRwbWc2UnhCcWhOdVRCdz09

Meeting ID: 896 2857 7809
Passcode: PCPNreadin

OTHER PITTSBURGH EVENTS:

  • Anti-Capitalist Classics 2021, presented by the PGH DSA Political Education Committee: Register at: bit.ly/anticapitalist

SCHEDULE:

  • TRANSCENDENTALIST PHILOSOPHY
    • 02/23 – Emerson, Ralph Waldo. “Nature” in Transcendentalism a Reader
    • 03/02 – Cavell, Stanley. “Aversive Thinking: Emersonian Representations in Heidegger and Nietzsche”
    • 03/09 – Thoreau, Henry David. “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For” and “Solitude” in Walden 
    • 03/16 – Arsić, Branka. “Introduction: On Embodied Knowledge and the Deliberation of the Crow,” “Toward Things as They Are,” “Thinking with Geological Velocity,” “How to Greet a Tree?,” and “Contemplating Matter” in Bird Relics: Grief and Vitalism in Thoreau
  • POLITICS
    • 03/23 – Douglass, Frederick. “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?”
    • 03/30 – Nielson, Cynthia. “Resistance is Not Futile: Frederick Douglass on Power Relations and Resistance ‘From Below’”
    • 04/06 – Melville, Herman. “The Portent”; Alcott, Louisa May. “With a Rose, That Bloomed on the Day of John Brown’s Martyrdom”; and Thoreau, Henry David. “A Plea for John Brown” in Transcendentalism a Reader
    • 04/13 – Smith, Ted A. “The Higher Law” in Weird John Brown: Divine Violence and the Limits of Ethics
  • POETRY AND LITERATURE
    • 04/20 – Poe, Edgar Allan. “The Purloined Letter”
    • 04/27 – Lacan, Jacques. “Seminar on the Purloined Letter”
    • 05/04 – Dickinson, Emily.  The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, Poem # 67, 156, 185, 249, 254, 288, 326, 344, 435, 465, 650, 712, 772, 919, 926, 967, 1049, 1129, 1401 
    • 05/11 – Snediker, Michael. “Emily Dickinson’s Queer Pain: ‘One Claw Opon the Air’” in Queer Optimism
    • 05/18 – Whitman, Walt. “Song of Myself” in Leaves of Grass
    • 05/25 – Deleuze, Gilles.  “Whitman” in Essays: Critical and Clinical
    • 06/01 – Melville, Herman. “Bartleby, the Scrivener”
    • 06/08 – Agamben, Giorgio. “Bartleby, or on Contingency” in Potentialities

Pdfs of the readings can be found: HERE

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