The College’s “Slow Read Movement” continues to flourish! Seven Slow Reads are running this spring, filled with curious and engaged students. How about you? The more that are offered, the stronger will be their impact on our students. So…
- If you are planning on teaching a Slow Read in fall 2025, please let me know what you are going to be reading (slowly). I will do my best to publicize the Slow Reads right up until Drop/Add ends.
- If you’d like to talk about a potential Slow Read or just learn more about this initiative, drop me an email (rsulliva@ithaca.edu) and I’ll set up a time to chat. I can also connect you with other Slow Readers so you can get a better sense of how folks have handled theirs.
Cheers,
Bob Sullivan
Robert Ryan Professor of the Humanities
Literatures in English
417 Muller Faculty Center
P.S. If you are new to IC or the idea behind the Slow Reads, it is an academic initiative started at Ithaca College that has been adopted by many colleges and universities. In essence, a Slow Read is pretty much what the name implies, a deliberately paced reading of a “big book,” usually a one or two credit discussion format over a block or semester. Colleagues have facilitated Slow Reads of Plato’s Republic , Tristram Shandy, the Iliad and Odyssey , De Rerum Natura , Angels in America, Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil, Middlemarch , and any number of other texts. Slow Reads do not have to be “literature” and you do not have to be a disciplinary specialist to facilitate a Slow Read. You should be free to follow your bliss. There have been Slow Reads of operas, symphonies, films, and works of art. All a Slow Read really needs is a committed facilitator who is willing to lead a group of eager students through a powerful experience. They are a joy. Get on board!