April 12, 2004 -- Of the many learning vacations out there, one of our favorites has long been the Classical Pursuits program conducted by Ann Kirkland on the campus of the University of Toronto's St. Michael's College every summer. This year, hoping to have their biggest program yet, Kirkland is offering two-for-one pricing when at least one of the participants is a first time attendee. There's also an early bird discount of CDN $50 (US $40) for registration before May 1, 2004. The program covers literary works and music, and there are trips, too, if you want something more than just good discussions and lectures in a beautiful setting.
From July 18 through 23, you can choose from among a dozen seminar options. This year's crop includes Charles Dickens' Bleak House; Homer's Iliad; Ovid's Metamorphoses; The Book of Job; Marquez' Hundred Years of Solitude; Northrop Frye's Words with Power; Russian short stories (Gogol and Chekhov); Kieslowski's film The Decalogue; Wagner's Gotterdammerung; Bach's Mass in B Minor and more. The seminars are held in partnership with the Great Books Foundation (GBF) in Chicago and the College of the Humanities & Sciences (CHS), founded in Arizona as a distance-learning college in 1998. The GBF website is www.greatbooks.org, phone 800/222-5870. The CHS website is www.chumsci.edu, phone 877/248-6724.
The fee of CDN $1,050 (about US $840) covers full days and evenings built around the seminars, daily lunches and a variety of cultural and social activities. You lodge for seven nights in a private, air-conditioned room in Sorbara Hall at the campus and get a daily hot breakfast for CDN $400 (about US $320).
There's a trip to Rome May 8-22 with small group discussions, informal talks and guided walking tours with three teachers from the university, with a land-only fee of CDN $4,500 (about US $3,600). Works of Roman writers from the Republic to the Empire will be discussed. In autumn, a trip to Andalucia (concentrating on Seville and Granada), with two tour leaders, takes place, from September 30 to October 10, 2004), costing CDN $4,300 (about US$3,440), land-only. The works of poet Garcia Lorca is the topic.
Closer to home, Anglophones may want to learn more about Canada's largest French-speaking province, Quebec, in a five-day/four-night program from October 2 to 6, 2004. Taking place at the height of brilliant fall color, this visit centers on old Quebec City and the Hotel Clarendon, the most venerable hotel there. The theme will be three important pieces of Quebec's literature-Riguet's Thirty Acres, Hugh MacLennan's Two Solitudes, and a short story, The Quiet Revolution. Fee CDN $1,100 (about US $825), including the walks, talks, discussion, four nights' lodging, two meals a day, entrances to sites, and a day trip to the Isle d'Orleans.
For all Classical Pursuits, contact Ann Kirkland at www.classicalpursuits.com or by phoning 877/633-2555 or 416/892-3580, fax 416/693-5390. You can register by phone at 866/787-0666 or at 905/967-0160, fax 905/898-7526. All e-mail should go to ann.kirkland@classsicalpursuits.com.