November 2, 2006

Briefs

Nov. 6 - Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Snyder to read, discuss his work

Gary Snyder — the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet dubbed “the Thoreau of the Beat Generation” — will give a reading and talk about his many decades of work on Nov. 6. The event, titled “Gary Snyder: A Reading and Discussion of His Poems,” will take place from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the McCormick Tribune Forum. It is free and open to the public.

Snyder, who is the author of 16 books of poetry and prose, was awarded the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for poetry for “Turtle Island.” A prominent member of the Beat Generation, Snyder was the inspiration for the semi-mystical poet and counterculture hero of Jack Kerouac’s “The Dharma Bums.” That book is a thinly veiled account of the travel adventures the two writers took part in during the mid-1950s. Snyder also traveled through India with beat poet Allen Ginsberg.

Nov. 6 - Renowned Nation editor to lecture at Medill School

Victor Navasky — the renowned editor of The Nation from 1978 to 1995 and its publisher and editorial director from 1995 to 2005 — will deliver this academic year’s first Gertrude and G.D. Crain Jr. Lecture Monday, Nov. 6, at Northwestern University. 

His free, public lecture, titled “A Matter of Opinion” (also the title of his book published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 2005) will take place at 4 p.m. in the McCormick Tribune Center Forum, 1870 Campus Drive, on Northwestern’s Evanston campus. Navasky will reflect on his long career in journalism, the state of opinion journals such as The Nation, and American politics.

A legendary figure in American journalism, Navasky manages, in the words of Time Magazine, “to deliver a regular helping of unfashionably liberal journalism printed on gray butcher paper, lightened only by pencil drawings and the mordant poetry of Calvin Trillin.”

Nov. 11 - East Village Opera Company performs at Cahn

The East Village Opera Company transforms famous arias from the world’s most renowned operas into majestic rock anthems — sometimes using influences from rock ‘n’ roll giants of yesteryear or putting its own contemporary spin on classic melodies. The music has as much appeal for progressive rock fans as it does for opera devotees.

The 11-member ensemble — comprised of a rock quintet, a string quartet and two vocalists — will perform its unique program at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 11, at Cahn Auditorium.

The East Village Opera Company performs famous arias, including “La donna è mobile” from Verdi’s “Rigoletto,” “Habanera” from Bizet’s “Carmen” and “Nessun dorma” from Puccini’s “Turandot,” in their original languages and respectfully converts them into rock works. Audio and video clips are available for listening and viewing at www.eastvillageoperacompany.com.

To order tickets by phone, call the Pick-Staiger Ticket Office at (847) 467-4000 or visit www.pickstaiger.com.

Nov. 10-19 - Dark comedy ‘The Birthday Party’ at Barber Theatre

Nobel Prize-winning playwright Harold Pinter’s “The Birthday Party,” a dark comedy about personal violence and the struggle for power, will be performed in November.

“The Birthday Party” will be presented at 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 10; 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov.11; 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 12; 8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 15; 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 16; 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 17; 8 p.m. Nov. 18; and 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 19, at the Ethel M. Barber Theatre.

Pinter’s three-act comedy is set in a small seedy boarding house at a coastal resort town. The house is home to a man, his mentally wayward wife and their boarder, who is a strange chap, apparently in flight from someone. After an even stranger and threatening man and his menacing, muscle-bound henchman arrive, the boarding house owner’s wife decides to celebrate the boarder’s birthday. The ensuing celebration pushes the inhabitants of the boarding house over a psychotic precipice that only Pinter — widely regarded as the United Kingdom’s greatest living playwright — could envision.

Jason Tyne will direct the Theatre and Interpretation Center’s Mainstage production, which features a six-member student cast. As with many of Pinter’s plays, there is room for a wide range of interpretations as to what, if anything, really transpires on stage, said Tyne.

Single tickets are $20 for the general public; $18 for senior citizens and Northwestern faculty and staff; and $10 for full-time students.

To order tickets, call the Theatre and Interpretation Center Box Office at (847) 491-7282 or go to www.tic.northwestern.edu.

Nov. 14-17 - Library hosts book sale

Northwestern community members — students, faculty, staff, and alumni with a valid WildCard or an alumni ID — are invited to preview and take advantage of the best selection of University Library’s annual book sale from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 14. The sale, which continues through Friday, Nov. 17, will take place in Ver Steeg Lounge, on the third floor and in the South Tower of University Library. 

With more than 14,000 new and used books, this year’s book sale is the biggest ever, featuring a mix of fiction and non-fiction, with an especially good selection of books in literary criticism, journalism and media, business, science and technology, and Northwestern University Press overstock. Included in the sale will be CDs, DVDs and VHS cassettes, as well as vintage record albums and periodicals.

The book sale will open to the general public from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.  Wednesday, Nov. 15. The price of all books will be reduced by 50 percent on Thursday, Nov. 16, when the sale runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The final hours of the sale will be 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Nov. 17, at which time any remaining items will be more deeply discounted.

On Nov. 14 and 15, hardcover books will cost $3 each; quality paperbacks will sell for $2; and mass market paperbacks will cost 50 cents.

For more information about the book sale, call Jessica Bartlett at (847) 491-2932 or visit www.library.northwestern.edu/booksale/.