On Art, History, and Literature: George Plimpton Hosts
Inaugural Programs
Series of Three Begins May 20, 2002 with Andrea
Barrett, Jennifer Egan, Linda Nochlin, Peter Schjeldahl, Ann Douglas,
and Graham Burnett
New York, April 26, 2002 -- This spring, the
new South Court building in the Humanities and Social Sciences Library,
the Library's flagship building at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street, opens
to the public. At the heart of the state-of-the-art facility is
The Celeste Bartos Education Center, where visitors can take advantage
of free instruction in research techniques, a Visitors' Theater, and special
programs and lectures. The South Court Auditorium, which has 178
seats, is handicap-accessible, has multimedia and webcasting capabilities,
and was designed to host some of the Library's public programs, as well
as lectures and conferences.
To inaugurate the facility, the Humanities and Social Sciences Library
has developed three unique programs. Each of these is devoted to
one of the three most prominent fields represented and nurtured by the
collections of the Humanities Library: History, Literature, and Art.
With host George Plimpton, Editor of The Paris Review, a distinguished
lineup of scholars, writers, and critics will discuss the enduring value
of the humanities. The series begins Monday, May 20 with a conversation
on literature with novelists Andrea Barrett and Jennifer Egan.
The Public Education Programs will resume in the Fall of 2002 in both
the South Court Auditorium and the Celeste Bartos Forum. Seating
is limited. Pre-registration is required.
Monday, May 20, 2002: Literature
Andrea Barrett and Jennifer Egan in conversation with George Plimpton
Andrea Barrett is the author of five novels, including The Middle Kingdom,
The Voyage of the Narwhal, and Servants of the Map. Her
collection of stories, Ship Fever, was honored with the 1996 National
Book Award. She is currently a Fellow at The New York Public Library's
Center for Scholars and Writers.
Jennifer Egan is a novelist and short-story writer, and the author of
The Invisible Circus, Emerald City and Other Stories, and, most
recently, Look at Me, which was nominated for the National Book
Award in 2001.
Tuesday, May 21, 2002: Art
Linda Nochlin and Peter Schjeldahl in conversation with George Plimpton
Linda Nochlin is the Lila Acheson Wallace Professor of Modern Art at New
York University's Institute of Fine Arts. She is the author of The
Politics of Vision: Essays on Nineteenth-century Art and Society and,
most recently, The Body in Pieces: The Fragment as Metaphor of Modernity.
Peter Schjeldahl is the art critic for The New Yorker and a poet
whose works include An Adventure of the Thought Police, Dreams,
and Since 1964: New and Selected Poems. He previously served
as art critic for Art News and The Village Voice.
Wednesday, May 22, 2002: History
Ann Douglas and Graham Burnett in conversation with George Plimpton
Ann Douglas is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia
University. Her celebrated analyses of American cultural history
include The Feminization of American Culture and Terrible Honesty:
Mongrel Manhattan in the 1920s.
Graham Burnett is Assistant Professor of History at Princeton University.
His published works include A Trial by Jury, an account of serving
as a New York City jury foreman. Professor Burnett was a Fellow
in the Center for Scholars and Writers at The New York Public Library
in 1999-2000.
Fall Public Education Programs
September 12, 19, and 26: Joanna Jackson Goldman
Lectures
The Public Education Programs in the South Court Auditorium will begin
in the Fall of 2002 with the inaugural Joanna Jackson Goldman Lectures,
an endowed series planned in conjunction with Harvard University Press.
The first Goldman Memorial Lecturer on Thursday, September 12 will be
Yale University professor John Lewis Gaddis, a celebrated historian of
the Cold War era who will speak about foreign policy in the 1990s as viewed
in retrospect after September 11, 2001. Professor Gaddis is the
Robert A. Lovett Professor of History at Yale University. He is
the author of numerous books, including The United States and the Origins
of the Cold War, The Long Peace, and, most recently, We Now Know:
Rethinking Cold War History.
All programs begin at 6:30 p.m. in the South Court Auditorium of the Humanities
and Social Sciences Library located at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street.
Enter through Fifth Avenue.
South Court press release | History
and background | Research instruction
| Recent renovations | Little-known
facts
Contact: Caroline Oyama, Herb Scher, 212.221.7676
coyama@nypl.org, hscher@nypl.org
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