kibbitznest

a 501(c)(3) organization

Kibbitznest is a 501(c)3 organization. Kibbitznest, Inc is dedicated to the preservation of quality human interaction. Our ultimate objective is to promote a better understanding of the world and its people by coming together face-to-face to experience being human by teaching, by learning, by listening, by reading, by arguing, by discussing, and by inquiring. We encourage a balance between face to face and electronic communication.

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"Eros, Art, Order, Death in Thomas Manns 'Death in Venice'" with Claudia Traudt

  • Kibbitznest 2212 North Clybourn Avenue Chicago, IL, 60614 United States (map)
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Kibbitznest Liberal Arts Discussions are a collaboration with The University of Chicago Graham School to host presentations and discussions of original research.

Death in Venice is Thomas Mann's 1912 short story/novella of the middle-aged German writer/artist Gustave von Aschenbach roiled unto death by his response to the beautiful Polish youth Tadzio on Venice's Lido. The work is an erotic/aesthetic watershed, a kind of touchstone, litmus test - as was its 1971 film adaptation by Luchino Visconti.  Does Aschenbach's Dionysiac succumbing and expressing it free him into creativity and loving? Does it degrade and destroy him? Is Apollonian reason and order the benchmark of art -  a cowardly denial, a safeguarder of life?   Death in Venice is gorgeous, thrilling, troubling, provocative - at once profoundly philosophical, psychological and primal.  We will explore some of its beauties, grotesqueries, and explosivenesses.

Please try to have read the work.
 

Sponsor: McCarthy & Trinka Insurance

Claudia Traudt holds an MA from the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago. Her art-making, research, and teaching explore modes of creation and perception in word and image. She is the 2006 recipient of the Graham School's Excellence in Teaching Award for the Basic Program.

FREE & OPEN to the public

Registration is not necessary, but appreciated
due to space limitations.

kibbitznest is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and wifi-free zone dedicated to the preservation of quality face-to-face human communication.

Earlier Event: May 16
Kibbitznest Book Club with Sara Schroeder
Later Event: May 27
CLOSED for Memorial Day!