Yale University’s Norma Thompson will be exploring the challenges and benefits of introducing a new generation to classic texts in her lecture “Can You Learn More From a Person or From a Book?” on Monday at 3:30 p.m. in the Grand Salon of the French House. Thompson’s lecture is the first of the Millennial Classics lecture series, which is co-sponsored by the Roger Hadfield Ogden Honors College and Eric Voegelin Institute.
Thompson is a senior lecturer at Yale University in humanities and associate director of the Whitney Humanities Center. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Bowdoin College and her Ph.D. in the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago. She is also the author of three books: “Herodotus and the Origins of the Political Community: Arion’s Leap;” “The Ship of State: Politics and Statecraft from Ancient Greece to Democratic America” and “ Unreasonable Doubt: Circumstantial Evidence and an Ordinary Murder in New Haven.”
The objective of this year’s Millennial Classics is to discuss different ways to excite students about classical literature.
In a news release, Ogden Honors College Dean Jonathan Earle expressed his gratitude for Thompson being the first to speak in the Millennial Classics.
“It’s a privilege to kick off this series with a scholar who teaches in a program that, like the Honors College, provides a community in the midst of a large research university ­— a place where students can find the intellectual footing to allow them to take advantage of all the larger university has to offer,” Earle said in the release.
According to a news release, the Honors College provides its students with challenging curriculum that includes seminar classes, undergraduate research and an honors thesis. The Honors College concentrates on community service, study abroad, internships and independent research.
James Stoner, an LSU political science professor and the director of the Voegelin Institute, knows first hand how many students may feel about classical literature.
“When in college, I first read what were then called ‘Great Books.’ I expected stuffy recitation of tired ideas,” Stoner said in the release. “Instead, I found vibrant inquiry that challenged everything I took for granted. Nobody likes all the classics, and it sometimes takes hard work to crack them open, but they have proven a sure antidote against complacency and conformity, at least among those open-minded enough to read and reflect.”
The Eric Voegelin Institute is located in the Department of Political Science. It is a humanities and social sciences institute committed to helping students understand classical books of the Western civilization in new ways.
As part of the series, Princeton University’s Anthony Grafton will speak on Jan. 30, and Catholic University of America’s Michael Pakaluk on March 31.
The Voegelin Institute will sponsor student reading groups, which will provide free books to students to promote reading outside of class.
The books include Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations,” Karl Marx’s “Communist Manifesto,” John Stuart Mill’s “On Liberty” and Aristotle’s “Ethics.”