Magdalen College: From the Summit

How can an understanding of the genres of literature and poetry--lyric, comedy, tragedy, and epic--serve as doorways into a deeper experience not only of the works that we love most but also of the movements of the human soul?  In this dialogue, Mary Mumbach, a senior member of the college's faculty, considers the classic genres in light of the profound reflections offered by Louise Cowan and in their reception by the students of Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts.  She reflects on how an understanding of these genres can function as "maps" that take readers back into the works and give them an experience of incarnation in the concrete details of literary art.  In addition to considering the three stages of each genre and their archetypes (the psalms, Dante, Greek tragedy, and Homer), Dr. Mumbach takes up the questions of how forms such as the novel exist within these genres, how Christianity changed our experience of tragedy, and whether Plato might have been a better friend of the poets than we realize.  And finally, she considers how the study of these works by the college's students transform their vision and experience of life.

Links of potential interest:

Mumbach's "The courage of reason and the scandal of education" in Gained Horizons: Regensburg and the Enlargement of Reason

Additional interviews with Mary Mumbach and other members of Magdalen's faculty

The Terrain of Comedy

The Epic Cosmos

The Prospect of Lyric

The Tragic Abyss

Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts

In this dialogue, Dr. Peter Sampo, the college’s founding president, takes up the principles that should guide any renewal of Catholic education.  Foremost is the spirit of joy: "Pursuing the life of the mind is the most joyful thing there is and everything that comes with that should be joyful as well ... The spirit of the whole place should be a celebration."   

He also considers how we can emulate the intellectual excellence of the great Catholic universities of the Middle Ages, the role that the curriculum should play in guiding the institution's every dimension, and considers the place of Catholic ritual within the institution:  "we must be surrounded by Catholic ritual because that points to transcendence ... the life of the mind includes pursuing the transcendent as well as the immanent." 

And he considers the friendship that should exist between teacher and student, the tradition of paideia, the role of beauty in the cultivation of the intellect, and more.

Links of potential interest:

Peter Sampo on "Paideia"

Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts

Anthony Esolen discusses a forthcoming book—Unreal City—and the stirrings of what might become a commentary on the Gospel of John.  He also takes up four great novels that have been overlooked too often by too many:  The Betrothed, Vipers’ Tangle, The Clown, and Barrabas.  Finally, he introduces and reads the dramatic monologue “Pontius Pilate to Claudius” from his poem “The Hundredfold: Songs for the Lord.” 

 

 

Links of potential interest:

The Hundredfold: Songs for the Lord

Manzonoi's novel The Betrothed

Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts

In this dialogue, Mary Mumbach, a senior member of the college's faculty, considers what it means to experience "an education for heroism."  Ranging widely to include Shakespeare, and Benedict XVI, she takes up the question of how we educate students to live heroically, seeking a wisdom born of imagination and paradox.  While reflecting on the wisdom of her teachers, she offers thoughts on the place of the poetic imagination in the arts and in her life of teaching and learning.

Links of potential interest:

Mumbach's "The courage of reason and the scandal of education" in Gained Horizons: Regensburg and the Enlargement of Reason

Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts

In this conversation, Anthony Esolen takes up that unique Biblical language known as “NAB-ish” and considers what vandals have wrought upon our classic hymns.  He takes us through his teaching of “The Literature of Spiritual Crisis”—Cicero, Boethius, and Shakespeare—and renders his judgement on what he considers to be the greatest play ever written.  Dr. Esolen also gives us an unforgettable reading of his dramatic monologue, “Saint Peter,” from his poem "The Hundredfold: Songs for the Lord" (XIV).

 

 

Links of potential interest:

The Hundredfold: Songs for the Lord by Anthony Esolen

Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts

A conversation with Anthony Esolen about the vibrancy and life-giving power of the classroom and the hope that today's Catholic students can give us for the future of the Church and society.  Dr. Esolen also discusses and reads two lyrics from his poem, "The Hundredfold: Songs for the Lord" (16 and 29), considers the diversity of blessedness, and suggests New Jersey's role in inspiring Dante's great poem.

 

 

Links of potential interest:

The Hundredfold: Songs for the Lord by Anthony Esolen

Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts

A conversation with Anthony Esolen about Sigrid Undset and how her life and work teach us not only about the past and ourselves but also how it indicates a way forward in our current moment.  He also takes up the categories of Catholic literature and overlooked authors such as Henryk Sienkiewicz.  Esolen concludes by discussing and reading a dramatic monologue from his poem, "The Hundredfold: Songs for the Lord" (Bartimaeus) and reflects on the forgotten purpose of poetry and art.

 

 

The Hundredfold: Songs for the Lord by Anthony Esolen

Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset

Quo Vadis: A Narrative of the Time of Nero by Henryk Sienkiewicz

Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts

"To heck with college professors," he says halfway through.  In this conversation, Anthony Esolen discusses reading and teaching Whitman and Eliot and considers the paradox of classically trained revolutionaries in the arts.  Dr. Esolen also introduces and discusses his poem The Hundredfold: Songs for the Lord and reads a hymn from that poem (17). Be sure not to miss his impersonation of Marlon Brando.

Links of potential interest:

The Hundredfold: Songs for the Lord by Anthony Esolen

T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland

"Theology After the Revolution"  by R.R. Reno

Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts

With "Good afternoon, my fellow Americans," Dr. Peter Sampo, the college’s founding president, begins this address on the occasion of the college's forty-first commencement exercises at which he received an honorary degree.  In this address Dr. Sampo considers the extraordinary education the college offers within the broader landscape of contemporary culture, concluding with a call to live lives of extraordinary courage.

Links of potential interest:

Peter Sampo on "Paideia"

Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts