Word: doren
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...simple terms Van Doren wants his students not only to read carefully but to think about the four masterpieces--The Odyssey, portions of the Old Testament, The Castle, Don Quixote--assigned in the course. He is a teacher. And like the best of teachers he knows that no student will fully grasp an idea or story until he has made it his own through active, even enthusiastic concern...
...lectures Van Doren said last week "I talk about the books professionally, like one writer to another. I try to tell the students how I have read the books. That's what criticism is." He tells the students to enjoy the books, to enjoy writing the short papers he requires on each reading assignment. One does not hear that around here often, but fun is a very important thing to Van Doren...
When asked what he hoped a student would derive from his course Van Doren answered it all depended on "what is left in the mind of a student. If he is left with four masterpieces living in his mind, that's a hell...
...large part Van Doren has probably failed. Most students of Harvard measure the amount of effort they should put into a course by the number of books on the reading list or difficulty of the final exam. Maybe it is too much to expect more, and many people actually feel guilty for enjoying, or for reading only four books...
Perhaps that tells more about Harvard than about Van Doren. His vision of reading, and of education in general remains a noble one. For the few who understand it is a real and tremendously exciting...