As a scholar of Greek and Latin Classics and a former academic, Cliff's reading tastes inevitably trend toward literature, philosophy, history, and criticism. But his picks also reflect his youth spent mostly as a student of music (especially piano) and cinema, the recommendations of his friends and loved ones, and new discoveries which have provoked his curiosity since he started as the Public Humanities Specialist here at PPL.
Some prefer the Iliad, others the Odyssey. The strangeness of the Odyssey challenges the reader to imagine a world in which all of the tragedies have already occurred and the heroes of the Trojan War must somehow try to return to an ordinary mortal…
Thucydides narrates the gradual collapse of Athenian democracy and its maritime empire through its thirty-year conflict with Sparta and its allies. More telling than the narrative itself though are the grave silences through which Thucydides…
Aeschylus' Oresteia is the only complete trilogy of tragic dramas to survive from the ancient world. It follows the cycle of violent murders through which the royal family of Agamemnon, the leading general of the Achaian armies invading Troy,…
The philosopher Socrates and a group of young Athenians discuss justice as a civic virtue as they seek to discover what shape justice must take in the individual soul. No reader should come away from the Republic entirely convinced of its…
Aristotle's most important work on ethics argues in general terms that a human life has a definable purpose: namely, the pursuit of virtuous action guided by reason. His thinking in this area reflects the social context in which he wrote, but it…
The classic epic of Rome's founding hero, this poem brings Latin verse to its most stately and elegant pitch. A notable strain of melancholy in the poem's tone has suggested to numerous contemporary critics the author's despair at human suffering…
This celebrated biography of Augustine demonstrates Peter Brown's tremendous learning and literary prowess. Brown's biography not only traces Augustine's especially well documented life, but also restores the unfolding of his thought and his…
Glenn Gould's interpretations of Bach's keyboard works achieved a distinctive synthesis of virtuosic skill at performance with devilishly clever sound engineering in the studio. His recordings ushered in a new era of Bach performance, even as they…
Mozart's piano concertos, admirably performed here by Martha Argerich as the soloist, represent one of the consummate achievements of the Classical Style, as Charles Rosen called it in his definitive work. Perfectly balancing the soloist against the…
Beethoven's piano sonatas are a cornerstone of the piano repertoire, which document the instrument's evolution over his lifespan even as they trace down the journey of his spirit. The last ones still stretch the limits of what music theory has been…
Duke Ellington has a reputation as perhaps the foremost jazz composer, bandleader, and conductor. But he was also an admirable pianist who achieved an especially elegant piano style. Several films record him performing at the piano, and one can…
Perhaps the most revolutionary jazz album of all time, Kind of Blue is also a major contribution to twentieth century art music. Miles Davis's spare, modal style on the trumpet here finds perfect relief in the saxophone playing of John Coltrane and…
Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece explores the meaning of obsession and repetition, the limits of our sense of time and reality, and the ruin to which unchecked desire can bring us. The criminal plot and the investigator's pursuit are really only a…
This film makes the most of its actors' talents for comic dialogue and witty delivery to bring off a brilliantly written script. Charting the course through which Tracy Lord (Katherine Hepburn), through her contentious romance with C.K. Dexter Haven…
Michelangelo Antonioni's masterpiece concerns the search for a woman missing under mysterious circumstances, which bring together her lover and her best friend as they search for her throughout Rome, the Aeolian Islands, and Sicily. The camera here…
Chris Marker's "Sans Soleil" is an experimental documentary that brings together footage from Japan, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Iceland, Paris, and San Francisco with narration of a series of letters supposedly sent by the cameraman and read over…
The controversial philosophical writings of Martin Heidegger remain significant, both for their powerful insights, such as their profound elaboration of the different modes through which we experience reality and their recognition of the dangers…
These essays offer a difficult, but rewarding meditation on literature, philosophy, and religion. Derrida investigates our moral and ethical responsibilities in the face of mortality, exploring how we confront, impose, avoid, and negotiate with…
Ray Monk's masterful biography of Ludwig Wittgenstein explores the troubled life of a remarkable mind, a man whose very difficulty with sustaining human connections may have given him particular insight into what human connection means to us, awards…
Proceeding from Wittgenstein's cryptic writings, J.L. Austin's lectures and essays, and Stanley Cavell's many books and essays, Sandra Laugier defends an approach to philosophical problems that recontextualizes the experience of perplexity in terms…
