Great Books Summer at Amherst and Stanford College Campus

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Aeschylus, "Song of the Furies"

 Up and lead the dance of Fate!

Lift the song that mortals hate!

Tell what rights are ours on earth, Aeschylus

Over all of human birth.

Swift of foot to avenge are we!

He whose hands are clean and pure,

Naught our wrath to dread hath he;

Calm his cloudless days endure.

But the man that seeks to hide

Like him , his gore-bedewèd hands,

Witnesses to them that died,

The blood avengers at his side,

The Furies' troop forever stands.

 

O'er our victim come begin!

Come, the incantation sing,

Frantic all and maddening,

To the heart a brand of fire,

The Furies' hymn,

That which claims the senses dim,

Tuneless to the gentle lyre,

Withering the soul within.

 

The pride of all of human birth,

All glorious in the eye of day,

Dishonored slowly melts away,

Trod down and trampled to the earth,

Whene'er our dark-stoled troop advances,

Whene'er our feet lead on the dismal dances.

 

For light our footsteps are,

And perfect is our might,

Awful remembrances of guilt and crime,

Implacable to mortal prayer,

Far from the gods, unhonored, and heaven's light,

We hold our voiceless dwellings dread,

All unapproached by living or by dead.

 

What mortal feels not awe,

Nor trembles at our name,

Hearing our fate-appointed power sublime,

Fixed by the eternal law.

For old our office, and our fame,

Might never yet of its due honors fail,

Though 'neath the earth our realm in unsunned regions pale.

 


"I am deeply impressed by many aspects of this program, including the warmth and professionalism of the staff, the rigor and creativity of the curriculum, and the physical beauty of its setting. But what impresses me most, are the students themselves."

Dr. Debby Applegate, Pulitzer Prize-winning author

"Every summer, all I have to do is mosey on down from my hilltop home overlooking Amherst College, and walk into an ongoing conversation about the Big Stuff. It always feels like an intellectual transfusion."

Dr. Joseph J. Ellis, Pulitzer Prize-winning author

"I will mark Amherst as my most memorable event of the year, simply because of the smartest and most generous kids I was surrounded with. I wish they could be my students forever..." "

Da Chen, award-winning, best-selling author

"What a terrific curriculum and an enthusiastic group of young people. Made me want to drop everything and sign up."

Barry Eisler, best-selling author

"The students were such an engaged and smart and interesting group. I really enjoyed talking to them but mostly just appreciated being asked such a varied array of questions. It was a lot of fun."

Jacob Lewis, former managing editor of The New Yorker magazine and co-founder of Figment.com

"The Great Books program is a midsummer night's dream- I adored the kids and it all felt so alive and was so much fun! The faculty was warm and embracing. So important to keep literature alive and connect with kids who want to read books! "

Laura Shaine Cunningham Memoirist, novelist, playwright and journalist

"I enjoyed talking to and listening to the your kids. They are an impressive bunch. "

Dr. Richard Reeves Award-winning author, journalist and documentary filmmaker

"I loved my experience with the Great Books Summer Program. The students were brilliant and involved even beyond my expectations, really the ideal young audience for a writer. "

Peter Straub, Award-winning author

"I give a lot of talks to a lot of groups all over the country and world, but I've never had a more engaged, interested and interesting audience than the students at the Great Books Summer Program. They were clearly primed to learn and think. I hope I gave them some useful ideas about writing and the writing life; I know they inspired me. "

Kurt Andersen, Award-winning author, editor and co-creator of Studio 360 radio show

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