George Scialabba

explains

The Modern Predicament

with an introduction from JAMES WOOD

Date

Oct

Monday
October 3, 2011
7:00 PM

Location

Harvard Book Store
1256 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138

Directions »

Tickets

This event is free; no tickets are required.

Harvard Book Store is very pleased to welcome back local author and critic GEORGE SCIALABBA for a discussion about his new collection of essays, The Modern Predicament. He will be introduced by fellow essayist and critic JAMES WOOD.

Following his acclaimed What Are Intellectuals Good For?, George Scialabba continues to delve into the humanities to find insight into the modern world. In essays ranging across philosophy (Kierkegaard, Nietzsche), literature (D. H. Lawrence, T. S. Eliot), history (Michael Foucault, Christopher Lasch), and politics (Michael Harrington), Scialabba poses a number of searching questions, continually returning to one: Is moral progress possible, and at what price? In her introduction Barbara Ehrenreich writes, "As long as we exist as a species, we'll be debating what constitutes morality and virtue, and we could hardly have a better guide than George Scialabba."

George Scialabba

George Scialabba was born and raised in East Boston, MA, and attended Harvard and Columbia. He has been a social worker, a clerical worker, a faculty member of the Bennington Graduate Writing Seminars, and a freelance book critic. His column, "New Thinking," appears bimonthly in the Boston Globe book section. In 1991 he was awarded the Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing of the National Book Critics Circle. He is the author of the widely hailed What Are Intellectuals Good For? and Divided Mind.

James Wood

James Wood is a staff writer at The New Yorker and Professor of the Practice of Literary Criticism at Harvard University. He is the author of several books, including the essay collections, The Broken Estate and The Irresponsible Self, a novel, The Book Against God, and the book of literary criticism, How Fiction Works.

Photo Credit: Miriam Berkley

Walking from the Harvard Square T station: 2 minutes

As you exit the station, reverse your direction and walk east along Mass. Ave. in front of the Cambridge Savings Bank. Cross Dunster St. and proceed along Mass. Ave for three more blocks. You will pass Au Bon Pain, JP Licks, and the Adidas Store. Harvard Book Store is located at the corner of Mass. Ave. and Plympton St.

General Info
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