The Office of the Vice President for Mission and Ministry will sponsor a series of lunchtime seminars on poet W.H. Auden for Fordham faculty and staff to mark the Advent season. The events will focus on Auden’s 1942 work, For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio, as well as some of the author’s shorter poems on related themes. The poetry, a selection from Arthur Kirsch, Auden and Christianity (Yale University Press, 2005), and some prose writings of Auden that demonstrate his return to his faith, will be on electronic reserve at Rose Hill’s Walsh Family Library during the month of December.
Auden (1907-1973) was raised by a devout Anglican family in Yorkshire, England, but moved away from his Christian faith as a young man for personal and political reasons. After moving to New York in 1939, however, he began to reaffirm that faith, and this reaffirmation is reflected in his poetry and other writings.
The reading series will be hosted by Patrick J. Ryan, S.J., vice president for University Mission and Ministry, if enough faculty and staff are interested in participating. Members of the Fordham community interested in attending should contact Joann Wallace at ajowallace@fordham.edu. The events seminars take place at the following locations and times upon sufficient registration:
Rose Hill
Monday, Dec. 4, 1 p.m., Room 103, Administration Building (South).
Monday, Dec. 11, 1 p.m., Room 103, Administration Building (South).
Monday, Dec. 18, 1 p.m., Room 103, Administration Building (South).
Marymount
Thursday, Nov. 30, 12:30 p.m., Location to be determined.
Thursday, Dec. 7, 12:30 p.m., Location to be determined.
Thursday, Dec. 14, 12:30 p.m., Location to be determined.
Lincoln Center
Friday, Dec. 1, 12:45 p.m., President’s Dining Room, 12th-Floor, Lowenstein Center.
Friday, Dec. 8, 12:45 p.m., Location to be determined.
Friday, Dec. 15, 12:45 p.m., President’s Dining Room, 12th-Floor, Lowenstein Center.
