Politics, Literature, and Film in Conversation

Matthew D. Dinan is assistant professor in the great books program at St. Thomas University.Natalie Taylor is associate professor of political science at Skidmore College.Denise Schaeffer is professor of political Science at the College of the Holy Cross.Paul E. Kirkland is associate professor of political science and great ideas at Carthage College.

• IntroductionMatthew Dinan and Denise SchaefferPart I – Conversations about Love and FriendshipChapter 1 The Good, Truth, and Friendship in Aristotle’s Nicomachean EthicsStephen Block and Patrick CainChapter2: Friendship and the Solitude of Greatness: The Case of Charles de GaulleDaniel MahoneyChapter 3: Love and Friendship in Henry James’s The BostoniansLisa Pace VetterChapter 4: Whit Woody Barcelona: Love and Friendship in Whit Stillman’s Barcelona and Woody Allen’s Vicky, Cristina, BarcelonaAnn Ward and Lee WardPart II – Conversations Between Politics and PoetryChapter 5: Putting Together Courage and Moderation in Plato and ShakespeareKenneth DeLucaChapter 6: Shakespeare’s Princess: Education for Love and Rule in The TempestPaul E. KirklandChapter 7: Reading Tolkien through the Lens of Solzhenitsyn’s Analysis of Ideology: On Art, Responsibility, and ProgressGermaine Paulo WalshChapter 8: Social Dance in the Films of Whit StillmanCarl Eric ScottPart III – Conversations From Tragedy to ComedyChapter 9: History, Tragedy and Rebellion in Camus’ Adaptation of Faulkner’s Requiem for a NunDenise SchaefferChapter 10: A Vindication of Novels: Jane Austen’s Conversation with Mary WollstonecraftNatalie Fuehrer TaylorChapter 11: From Tragedy to Love: Shakespeare’s The Winter’s TaleSara MacDonaldChapter 12: The Tragic and the Equitable in Aristotle’s Poetics and EthicsStephen Sims

“Politics, Literature & Film in Conversation consists of twelve tributes to a teacher for whom teaching how to read with depth and care proves inseparable from caring deeply about those she teaches. Each contribution stands as an example of a thought central in the life and work of Mary Nichols—that philosophy, while extraordinary, must be embedded in, and inseparable from, the ordinary. These beautifully written chapters indicate just how successful she has been as a scholar, a teacher, and a friend. “