Advanced Topics in Liberty
Literature & Politics
For professionals in film and fiction careers
Why is fiction so powerful in shaping our understanding of the world? In this conference, through the discussion of three specific works of fiction, participants will have the opportunity to consider concerns that have existed since ancient times. A battle for supremacy between philosophers and poets has continued since Plato’s time and before. In the Republic, philosophers take revenge upon literature by censoring the poets. Literature, from Socrates’ perspective, is dangerous because of its power in shaping our view of the world.
It is one of the ironies of this intellectual combat that Plato was himself a poet in the broadest sense; rather than writing philosophic treatises he wrote dramatic encounters between Socrates and various protagonists. Among the reasons that poetry (or literature and the arts, more generally) is seen as exerting a powerful force on human beings is that it reaches them at the deepest level through images. Literature and the arts touch not only reason, but also emotions.
In Ideas Have Consequences, Richard M. Weaver writes, “When we affirm that philosophy begins with wonder, we are affirming in effect that sentiment is anterior to reason. We do not undertake to reason about anything until we have been drawn to it by an affective interest.” It is to this “affective interest” that fiction is especially appealing, and this conference will provide the opportunity to explore this interest, particularly as it relates to issues of politics and liberty and responsibility.
Discussion Leader
Nick Gillespie
Reason Magazine
Nick Gillespie is editor-in-chief of Reason, the libertarian monthly named one of "The 50 Best Magazines" three out of the past four years by the Chicago Tribune. Established in 1968 and a four-time finalist for National Magazine Awards, Reason has a print circulation of 40,000 and won the 2005 Western Publications Association "Maggie" Award for Best Political Magazine. Reason Online, the magazine's Web edition, draws 1.75 million visits per month, and the staff weblog Hit & Run has been named by Playboy, Washingtonian, and others as one of the best political blogs.
Asks The Washington Post: "Which monthly magazine editor argues that the spread of pornography is a victory for free expression? And that drugs from marijuana to heroin should not only be legalized, but using them occasionally is just fine? And is also quite comfortable with gay marriage? The answer is Nick Gillespie, libertarian and doctor of literature, who...is injecting [Reason magazine] with a pop-culture sensibility."
The 43-year-old Gillespie originally joined Reason's staff in 1993 as an assistant editor and ascended to the top slot in 2000. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, Slate, Salon, Time.com, Marketplace, and many other places. He was a regular contributor to the late, lamented satire site, Suck, where he wrote under the name Mr. Mxyzptlk. In 2004, he edited Choice: The Best of Reason, an anthology of the magazine's best articles.
He is a frequent commentator on radio and television networks such as National Public Radio, CNBC, CNN, C-SPAN, Fox News, and MSNBC. He has also worked as a reporter for several New Jersey newspapers and as an editor at several Manhattan-based music, movie, and teen magazines. He is almost certainly the only journalist to have interviewed both Ozzy Osbourne and the 2002 Nobel laureate in economics, Vernon Smith.
In 1996, Gillespie received his Ph.D. in English literature from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He also holds an M.A. in English with a concentration in creative writing from Temple University and a B.A. in English and Psychology from Rutgers University. Gillespie, the father of two sons, lives in Washington, D.C. and Oxford, Ohio.
Conference Readings
Session I: Why Literature?
- Robert Penn Warren's "Why Do We Read Fiction?" in New and Selected Essays
- Tyler Cowen's "Is a Novel a Model?"
Session II:1984
- George Orwell's 1984
Session III: Anthem
- Ayn Rand's Anthem
Session IV: Willie Stark
- Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men.
Session V: Jack Burden
- Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men.
Session VI: Politics
- Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men.
