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Penn Reading Project:The Quiet American

The Quiet American

The Council of Undergraduate Deans, Office of the Provost, and College Houses and Academic Services are pleased to announce that Graham Greene's The Quiet American, will be the text for this year's Penn Reading Project (PRP). On the afternoon of Sunday, August 31, 2003, groups of first-year students and faculty leaders will join together for lively discussion as part of New Student Orientation. (Please note that this is a change in day from the last few years.)

The Quiet American, originally published in 1955, is set in Vietnam during the last days of French rule. It tells the story of a developing friendship between Fowler, a middle-aged British journalist working in Saigon, and Pyle, a young "quiet American" who has come to Vietnam full of idealism. Fowler and Pyle's relationship becomes fraught on several levels: a triangle develops involving Fowler's Vietnamese mistress; and more problematically, Pyle's idealism leads him into questionable political policies and, ultimately, bloodshed.

Called the most famous Western work of fiction about Vietnam, The Quiet American delicately balances issues of personal responsibility and the global consequences of our choices. In particular, Pyle--about whom Fowler says, "I never knew a man who had better motives for all the trouble he caused"--becomes a catalyst for broader questions of the morality of colonialism and war.

PRP, now in its 13th year, was created as an introduction for incoming freshmen to academic life at Penn. The sessions (which run from 3 to 4:30 p.m.) are preceded by three lectures by prominent faculty members (details will be available in early summer). There will be other supporting activities, including a festival of related films shown on Penn Video Network.

As in past years, the selection was made by a committee of faculty, staff and students, and included representatives from all four undergraduate schools. This year, the committee was chaired by Mark Liberman, Professor of Linguistics, Faculty Master of Ware College House and Chair of the Residential Faculty Council. Past books include Things Fall Apart (Achebe), Candide (Voltaire), Metamorphosis (Kafka), The Woman Warrior (Kingston), Frankenstein (Shelley), and Arcadia (Stoppard). More information on the Penn Reading Project and its history can be found at: www.upenn.edu/nso/prp/things/archive.html.

Faculty members in all 12 schools are invited to take part as PRP discussion leaders. A copy of the text will be sent to discussion leaders and students in July, along with additional information about the Reading Project.

For more information, and to volunteer as a leader, contact: David Fox, director, PRP at (215) 573-5636, or dfox@sas.upenn.edu.

 


  Almanac, Vol. 49, No. 32, May 6, 2003

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