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<!--StartFragment--><p class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4">Dear Friends,</font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4">Welcome to a new semester and a new year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>May we all duck the flu that is
sweeping the nation.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><o:p> </o:p>I wanted to send a note to let everyone know when sessions for
the Group in Poetics will be occurring this semester.<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>These dates are also posted on our blog, which is found
here:</font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://wgcp.wordpress.com/"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4">http://wgcp.wordpress.com/</font></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4">Our intercontinental pull will be evident again as we bring
to campus a New Yorker educated abroad, an American in Paris, and a Canadian in
France. We will have three back-to-back sessions early on, but this is to
accommodate our guests’ international travel</font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><o:p> </o:p>We begin the semester with a pair of sessions devoted to
David Lehman, poet/literary and cultural critic/editor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Truly an influential force in poetry,
Lehman is the author of numerous books and is the general editor of the annual
Best American Poetry series.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>He is
also another writer connected to what might be known as the second generation
of the New York School (one of two such writers we are bringing to campus this
semester), a recurring focus of the WGCP.<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>We will focus our attention on Lehman’s most recent
collection, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Yeshiva Boys</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We have ordered copies to be
distributed and hoped that these would arrive this week, but alas that isn’t
the case.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>When they appear I will
make an announcement. But there actually exists a “trailer” for the book that
can be viewed here: <a href="http://bookscreening.com/2009/10/25/yeshiva-boys-by-david-lehman/">http://bookscreening.com/2009/10/25/yeshiva-boys-by-david-lehman/</a></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4">Here's the book's jacket copy:</font></o:p></p><div id="sidebar"><div class="drawer-holder"><div class="drawer about_book "><div class="content"><div class="book_info"><div><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><p> </p></div></div></div></div></div><div id="main_content"><div id="middle-area"><div class="left_of_video"><div id="description">
</div></div></div></div><p class="MsoNormal"><big>David Lehman, a poet of wit,</big>
ingenuity, and formidable skill, draws upon his heritage as a grandson
of Holocaust victims and offers a stirring autobiographical collection
of poems that is his most ambitious work to date. It covers an expansive
range of subjects -- from love, sex, and romance to repentance,
humility, the meaning of democracy, Existentialism, modern European
history, military intelligence, and the rituals associated with faith
and prayer. The title poem, "Yeshiva Boys," is a work in twelve parts
that blends the elements of espionage fiction, memory, history, and
moral philosophy. It reflects David's experience as a student in an
orthodox Yeshiva, and it, along with many other poems in the book,
explores what it means to be a Jew in America, what is gained and lost
in assimilating to secular culture, how to understand the peculiar
destiny of the Jewish people, and how to reconcile the existence of God
with the knowledge of evil. Beautiful, provocative, and accessible, this
is David Lehman's most inspired collection.<o:p><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><o:p>+++++ </o:p></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4">Our dates are as follows:</font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4">1/25—Discussion of David Lehman’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:
normal">Yeshiva Boys<o:p></o:p></i></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4">2/8—Visit from David Lehman</font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4">2/15—<em><span style="font-style: normal; "> Discussion of
Lisa Roberston’s </span></em><em>R’s Boat</em></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><em><span style="font-style: normal; ">3/1— <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Visit by Robertson</span></em><em><o:p></o:p></em></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-style: normal; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4">4/4—Discussion
of the work of Alice Notley<o:p></o:p></font></span></em></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-style: normal; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4">4/19—Visit by
Notley<o:p></o:p></font></span></em></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-style: normal; "><o:p><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"> </font></o:p></span></em></p><p class="MsoNormal"><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"><em><span style="font-style: normal; "><o:p> </o:p></span></em><em><span style="font-style: normal; ">Our sessions
are always on Fridays and they run from 3-5 PM and are held in rm B04 in the
basement of Yale’s Whitney Humanities Center.<span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>All are welcome to attend, so please feel free to pass word
of the sessions of this open seminar to any interested parties.</span></em></font></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-style: normal; "><o:p><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4"> </font></o:p></span></em></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-style: normal; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4">Onward with
every good hope for 2013,<o:p></o:p></font></span></em></p><p class="MsoNormal"><em><span style="font-style: normal; "><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Times" size="4">Richard Deming,
Group Coordinator and part-time optimist </font></span></em></p>
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