 |
 |
Against a backdrop of the presentation of quite innovative artists, filmmakers, & musicians as well as critical coverage thereof, the National Gallery of Art embarrasses itself by offering up this series of lit-crit lectures which doesn't even hint at treatment of the fine arts in its attempt to polish the tombs of a dead New England lineage. Whether individuals in the audience will challenge Vendler's "taste" remains to be seen. Barry Alpert The Fifty-sixth A. W. Mellon Lectures in the Fine Arts 2007 Last Looks, Last Books: The Binocular Poetry of Death Helen Vendler, the A. Kingsley Porter University Professor at Harvard University Introduction: Sustaining a Double View April 15 Facing the Worst: Wallace Stevens, "The Rock" April 22 The Contest of Melodrama and Restraint: Sylvia Plath, "Ariel" April 29 Death by Subtraction: Robert Lowell, "Day by Day" May 6 Caught and Freed: Elizabeth Bishop, "Geography III" May 13 Self-Portraits while Dying: James Merrill, "A Scattering of Salts" May 20