Reading and Looking: Texts and Images

Join us for a text and image Delve seminar in which we will read a series of classic unconventional short texts, both old and new, that explore the complex roles color (with an emphasis on the color blue) plays in literature, the fine arts, philosophy, music, and daily life. We are said to be a visual culture, but few people read images as critically as text. To sharpen our seeing in both forms is what this seminar hopes to achieve, as critical reading in one deepens the experience of the other. Together we will consider such questions as: how do we “read” an image as opposed to a text and vice versa? What are the similarities and differences between verbal and visual media? Our gateway into the world of color will be Vladimir Nabokov’s startling description in his memoir Speak, Memory: An Autobiography Revisited of his synesthesia—the neurological condition that led to the author’s seeing words and letters as colors. Readers will never see —or hear— the letters of the alphabet in quite the same way after reading Nabokov’s rendition of the ABC’s. From there we will move to two classic books devoted to the color blue: William Gass’s virtuosic On Being Blue: A Philosophical Inquiry, a book that explores the color blue while at the same time diving deep into “blue” language and what it means to love words and to write; and Maggie Nelson’s Bluets, which is both a response to Gass and an experiment in autobiography—an exploration of and love letter to blue as color, mood (loss, joy), and its role in art. We will end with the writer, filmmaker, and artist Derek Jarman’s book Chroma: A Book of Color—a genre-bending book that examines the color spectrum in a series of insightful, playful short essays, written as he was losing his sight at the end of his life. Eventually Jarman was able to see only in shades of blue—circumstances that make his ruminations on color both powerful and poignant. Alongside these readings, in each session, using the large screen in Literary Arts’ beautiful new seminar room, we will look at works of art (both painting and photography from many periods ranging from Giotto to contemporary art) that are either referred to in the texts or that can be placed in fruitful conversation with the readings. Together we will take a chromophilic journey into the realms of vision, visual pleasure, language, and literature. The books by Gass, Nelson, and Jarman are in print. The short Nabokov text will be supplied in pdf. Participants will be sent files of the images we will be discussing prior to each session. Texts: On Being Blue: A Philosophical Inquiry by William Gass Bluets by Maggie Nelson Chroma: A Book of Color by Derek Jarman Access Program We want our writing classes and seminars to be accessible to everyone, regardless of income and background. We understand that our tuition structure can present obstacles for some people. Our Access Program offers writing class and seminar tuitions at a reduced rate. Most writing classe...