Join us to celebrate Zachary Leader’s new book, “Ellmann’s Joyce: The Biography of the Masterpiece and its Maker.” Reception with beer and wine to follow. Leader is Emeritus Professor of English Literature at the University of Roehampton.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Richard Ellmann’s James Joyce, published in 1959, was hailed by Anthony Burgess as “the greatest literary biography of the twentieth century.” Frank Kermode thought the book would “fix Joyce’s image for a generation,” a prediction that was if anything too cautious. The biography won the National Book Award and durably secured Joyce’s standing as a preeminent modernist.
Ellmann’s Joyce provides the biography of the biography, exploring how Ellmann came to his subject, gained the cooperation of Joyce’s family and estate, shrewdly, doggedly collected vital papers and interviews, placated publishers, thwarted competitors, and carefully balanced narrative with literary analysis. Ellmann’s Joyce also removes the veil from the biographer—richly rewarded in public, admirable in private life, but also possessed of a startling secret life. An eminent biographer himself, Zachary Leader constructs a powerful argument not only in support of Ellmann’s intellectual and artistic claims but also on behalf of literary biography generally. In the process, he takes readers on a rare tour through midcentury publishing houses in New York and London, as well as the corridors and classrooms of elite universities, from Yale to Oxford. The influence of Ellmann’s book, recognized instantly, persists to this day, among literary scholars and Joyce fans alike.
Filled with surprising details, tales of intrigue from the heyday of literary publishing, and intimate portraits of the Joyce and Ellmann families, Ellmann’s Joyce is as immersive as a walk around town with Leopold Bloom and as moving as the thickly drifted snow on Michael Furey’s grave.
Join us for a conversation with W. Jacob Cornwell, the curator of the Oklahoma Baseball Archive, which is current on view at 101 Archer. Cornwell will discuss the history of Negro league baseball in Tulsa and the work he has done to preserve this story. This event is great for any history or sports fan. It is free and open to the public.
Join us for the opening of a new exhibit “Black Gold in Oil Town” which details the history of Negro league baseball right here in Tulsa. This exhibit was curated by W. Jacob Cornwell, the creator of the Oklahoma Baseball Archive.
Doors open March 7 at 6 p.m. The exhibit will be on view through April 26. Admission, as always, is free and open to all.
Presented by the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities: In the nineteenth-century as today, exotic plants made an intimate part of human lives and literature. In this talk, Dr. Elizabeth Chang will explore both the cultivation of plants by humans and the cultivation of humans by plants and will investigate the boundaries of plant and human sentience. Open and free to the public!
Presented in collaboration with the Honors College. Rachel Wiseman and Anastasia Berg join us at 101 Archer to discuss their book, “What Are Children For? On Ambivalence and Choice.” The book analyses the increasing ambivalence about having children and explores the philosophical resources available to overcome it. Peeling back the layers of resistance, “What Are Children For?” argues that when we make the individual decision whether or not to have children we confront a profound philosophical question, that of the goodness of our form life itself. How can we justify perpetuating human life given the catastrophic harm and suffering of which we are always at once both victims and perpetrators? To meet this challenge we must, we argue, uncover a capacity to grasp the fundamental goodness of human life—not only theoretically but practically in the actual lives we lead today.
Wiseman and Berg both work for The Point magazine as managing editor and senior editor, respectively. This conversation is free and open to the Tulsa community.
Jay Smith, the president of Yellowstone Theological Institute (YTI), will discuss Christian ministry and opportunities for graduate education in ministry at YTI. The talk will take place in Sharp Chapel. It is free and pizza will be served to all who attend.
The sixteenth biennial conference organized by the Society for Late Antiquity. The conference’s theme is gender, identity, and authority in Late Antiquity. Thirty scholars from around the globe will present their original research. There will also be two keynote lectures, one by Virginia Burrus (Syracuse University) and the other by Michele R. Salzman (UC-Riverside). Late registration (after 3/5) includes access to all events but excludes food.
Art has the power to create meaningful spaces for connection and community. Join Chickasaw-Choctaw artist Erin Shaw as she discusses her work, which draws inspiration from and responds to her community, and the role of storytelling in her practice. She’ll be joined by Kelsey Karper, curator and founder of Factory Obscura, for a conversation on how creative collaboration can amplify the impact of art.
The Oklahoma Center for the Humanities welcomes Portland, OR, based musician and field recordist Patricia Wolf for a live musical performance titled “Sounds of Hope.”
“Sounds of Hope” is an ecologically inspired work of field recordings and ambient music that celebrates the remaining natural spaces near the artist’s home in North Portland. These songs trace the perilous migrations of the northern red-legged frog, express the power and beauty felt within one of the last stands of old growth forest in the Portland area, and say farewell to a superfund site just blocks from her house that is now being restored after 70 years of industrial pollution to make way for a nature park for native species of plants and animals. Patricia will share the hidden sounds from these spaces that she has gathered with her various microphones and will perform music to accompany them that honors the existence of the many living beings who have called this area home for millennia. These compositions are made with the intention of inspiring people from all over the world to look and listen to the unique natural environment around where they live and seek out ways to protect and restore their local habitats so that all living creatures can thrive.
A talk between the Tulsa-based artist Brad Rose and Patricia Wolf will commence after the performance.
Tulsa Symphony Orchestra and the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities are proud to present the 101 Unplugged Series. February’s performance will feature the sounds of cinema. Light bites and a drink ticket will be provided.
Purchase tickets online.
