Life Lessons from the Great Books - Galway City Library

Life Lessons from the Great Books

“In reading great literature I become a thousand different men and yet remain myself.” 

(C. S. Lewis)

Galway Public Libraries will present twenty classics of world literature.

Every Tuesday and Thursday evening, we will talk about two books, explore their historical context, their plot and their meaning for today.

The presentations are inspired by a series of lecutes given by Prof. J. Rufus Fears (University of Oklahoma, USA) and will be given by German student of English and German literature, Sanja Bentz.

“Over the course of the next few weeks, we will talk about some classics of world literature. I strongly believe that everybody will benefit from these stories because they have become classics for a reason. You can learn from them, grow with them and simply enjoy them.

You are in love with someone out of your reach? So was Werther.

You are experiencing a midlife crisis? Just like 'The Penitent'.

You feel anger and don't know how to manage it? Learn from Medea.

These presentations will not be a literary analysis, we don't need to talk about the structure of a Greek tragedy or the form of a Shakespearean sonnet. We will talk about the stories, the messages of these books for they stay with you.” (Sanja Bentz)

The first four presentations:

July 10^th: Seneca “Of  Providence”

               Boethius “The Consolation of Philosophy”

July 17^th: Dostoevsky “The Brothers Karamazov”

                Elie Wiesel “Night”

July 19^th: A. Schweitzer “Out of My Life and Thought”

                Goethe “The Sorrows of Young Werther”

July 24^th: Shakespeare “Hamlet”

                Sophocles “Ajax”

July 10^th, 6pm, in Galway City Library, Augustine Street.

Each presentation lasts approximately 40 minutes (for both books).