Talking Points
Dear Reader,
Welcome to the first issue of Dialogue, an exploration of the humanities at Brandeis.
Engagement with professors, other students, books, and ideas is the hallmark of a Brandeis education in the humanities. This is refl ected in Dialogue, which offers perspectives on the humanities from students, graduates, and faculty. In these pages, Brandeis faculty members discuss reading and writing poetry, managing the national library of Colombia, the place of religion in public life, and the challenge of translating Greek and Russian plays for a contemporary audience. Also, an undergraduate refl ects on what it is like to triple-major in philosophy, mathematics, and neuroscience, and a National Book Award winner who received a Ph.D. in English from Brandeis discusses his novels.
The members of the Humanities Council thought long and hard about the name of this magazine. Our final decision, Dialogue, represents what we feel is most important about the humanities—that in their attempt to help us understand ourselves and each other, they offer no single answer, but open up many different and wide-ranging dialogues. Colleagues and students from different departments speak with each other, and as humanists, we speak to scientists, social scientists, and artists. We construct our dialogues across time and across space. As our mission statement makes clear, we believe that these dialogues help to shape who we are and are “central to our ability to grasp the present and to shape the future.”
We hope that you will enjoy Dialogue, understand our approaches and values, appreciate the diversity of disciplines and interests that we represent, and learn about the recent accomplishments of our faculty and students. Feel free to contact us, so that you too can become part of the dialogue that stands at the center of our intellectual life.
We look forward to hearing from you at dialogue@brandeis.edu, and hope to meet you.
With best wishes,
Marc Z. Brettler ’78, PhD ’86
Chair of the Humanities Council