WT’s Great Books Series to Focus on Newly Minted Nobel Prize Winner in November

Copy by Chip Chandler, 806-651-2124, [email protected]

CANYON, Texas - Readers taking part in West Texas A&M University's Great Books Series in November will see if they can find sympathy for a devil.

Dr. Matthew Harrison, WT's Marsh Professor of Shakespeare, will lead the discussion of an excerpt of Anne Carson's "Autobiography of Red: A Novel in Verse" at 7 p.m. Nov. 10 at Burrowing Owl Books's Amarillo location, 2461 W. Interstate 40 in Wolflin Square.

"Her introduction might be the best thing ever written about adjectives in poetry, and I love how she breaks Greek literature open and lets us all live inside," Harrison said. "Her book is a response to a lost poem by the Archaic Greek writer Stesichorus. He wrote of the hero Herakles killing the multi-headed monster Geryon and his dog. What Carson notes is the strangeness of Stesichorus's sympathy: the way he makes room for us to see through the eyes of the monster. Then she turns it into a stunning story about gay love, heartbreak, making art and growing up."

Carson was awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature.

The discussion series-sponsored by the Department of English, Philosophy and Modern Languages in the Sybil B. Harrington College of Fine Arts and Humanities-is open to those who either have or haven't read the story, said organizer Dr. Daniel Bloom.

WT professors and guest lecturers lead the monthly Great Books discussions.

For information, email Bloom at [email protected].

Readers and writers also may be interested in the monthly meeting of the Burrowing Owl Poetry Circle, led by Dr. Pat Tyrer, retired WT professor of English.

At this monthly gathering, attendees can share their own works or those by others, or they can simply listen. The September meeting is set for 6 p.m. Nov. 19 at Burrowing Owl Books, 400 15th St. in Canyon.

About West Texas A&M University

West Texas A&M University is a Regional Research University in Canyon, Texas, on a 342-acre residential campus, as well as the Harrington Academic Hall WTAMU Amarillo Center in downtown Amarillo. Established in 1910, the University has been part of The Texas A&M University System since 1990. WT boasts an enrollment of about 9,000 and offers multiple options for students to graduate and succeed: 65 undergraduate degree programs, including eight associate degrees; and 41 graduate degrees, including an integrated bachelor's and master's degree, a specialist degree and three doctoral degrees. WT recently earned a Carnegie Foundation classification as a Research College and University. The Buffaloes are a member of the NCAA Division II Lone Star Conference; WT offers 16 men's and women's athletics programs.

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