Course Schedule – Fall 2023 / Old Courses

Old Courses

ELIZABETH GASKELL

Coordinators: Arlene Curinga, Patricia Geehr, Susan Keohane

An English novelist, biographer, and short-story writer, Elizabeth Gaskell’s novels offer a detailed portrait of society, particularly the very poor.

EMILY DICKINSON CIRCLE

Coordinators: Martha Drezin, Mary Ann Donnelly, Sheryl Harawitz, Joyce West

Would you like to spend time digging into the poems of Emily Dickinson?

FABULOUS FIFTIES

Coordinators: Michael Wellner, Ellen Gottfried, Bob Gottfried

It’s safe to say that every single one of us at Quest remembers the Fifties pretty clearly. If there is any single word that describes that decade it’s transformative.

FASCINATING ISLANDS

Coordinators: Stephen Baker, Pete Weis

In this course we will explore some fascinating islands. These are widely scattered throughout the world in oceans, seas, lakes, and rivers as well as scattered in time with references from antiquity to the future.

FOOD: BEYOND JUST CALORIES

Coordinators: Andrea Irvine, David Bartash, Marion Schultheis

We all eat it. But how we grow it, process it, cook it, or consume it raw are significant definers of who we are as a society.

GREAT CONVERSATIONS

Coordinators: Jane Lubin, Larry Shapiro

Great Conversations offers works by both contemporary and classic authors across many genres and disciplines, ideal for promoting discussion among readers.

HISTORY OF GERMANY

Coordinators: Caroline Thompson, Steve Allen, Linda Downs

The German people have a long and complex history that has had a profound impact, both good and bad, on all of Europe and on the world. This three-term course examines this political, religious, and cultural history from the time of The Holy Roman Empire in 800 CE up to the current day.

HOUSE OF MIRTH

Coordinators: Patricia Geehr, Arlene Curinga

Edith Wharton, the first woman to win a Pulitzer, is known for depicting the “tragedies and ironies” of life among members of the middle class and aristocratic New York society in the 19th and 20th centuries. We will read The House of Mirth, her first literary success. Through themes of gender, class, love, and friendship, Wharton depicts the destructive results of the pursuit of wealth and misplaced values that are still evident today. Recommended text: Scribner, paperback edition 2020.

HOWARDS END

Coordinators: Lynnel Garabedian, Sandy Kessler

E. M. Forster was a distinguished writer of novels, short stories, and essays whose career spanned several decades. During the fall semester the class will read one of his acclaimed novels, Howards End. Forster’s book sensitively explores conflicts of class and culture, politics, human relationships, and personal responsibility in a pre-World War I society that questions traditional English values as three families struggle to understand each other.

HUCKLEBERRY FINN

Coordinators: Lynnel Garabedian, Sandy Kessler

All American Literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn. Ernest Hemingway famously declared in 1935. “It’s the best book we’ve had.”