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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Liberal Arts Discussion

Join us during our 2024-2025 Liberal Arts Discussion Series

A collaboration primarily with

The University of Chicago Graham School
hosting presentations and discussions of original research

Free & open to the public, to reserve your spot, please email: info@kibbitznest.org

Two Extremely Short Stories by Franz Kafka

a discussion led by Noah Chafets, PhD

Franz Kafka (1883-1924) is best known for his novels, but he was a master of the short story - and the shorter, the better in many cases.  Please join us for a discussion of two brilliant and extremely short stories that Kafka published in a collection called A Country Doctor in 1919:  "Before the Law" and "An Imperial Message."  Both stories present as parables that practically call out for interpretive responses.  We will answer their call as well as we can.  It will take us about three minutes in total to read the two stories aloud, but we'll find ourselves with much more to say about them than we have time to say it in, and the stories will haunt us for long after we've shared our first interpretations.

Noah Chafets is the Cyril O. Houle Chair of the Basic Program of Liberal Education for Adults at the University of Chicago's Graham School of Continuing and Professional Studies.  He earned a PhD from the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago in 2021, with a dissertation about desire and motivation in Plato's Gorgias and Republic.  Beyond the great books of the Basic Program, his academic interests extend to aesthetics, contemporary philosophy and film.

Earlier Event: December 4
Special Liberal Arts Presentation