August 10 - 27, 2009

Welcome

Many of you have probably heard that 2009 marks the bicentennial of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of The Origin of Species, one of the most influential books ever written. But how many know that 2009 is also the 94th anniversary of the publication of Franz Kafka’s “The Metamorphosis”? Though less in the news this year, Kafka’s story has, in its own way, had a lasting impact on the way that the species homo sapiens thinks and writes about itself. We in the Language and Thinking Program can think of no better way to prepare for this summer’s program than to read Darwin and Kafka, who himself read Darwin in high school and was very much influenced by his theories.

“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams” begins Kafka’s story, “he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.” As far as we know, Language and Thinking hasn’t yet turned anyone into an insect, but it has been known to bring about important transformations. Before you arrive at Bard, we would like you to read “The Metamorphosis” and to reflect on what happened to Gregor, to imagine the world from his perspective, and to try to write and think your way into his predicament. We’re asking you to consider other kinds of metamorphoses as well—by reading On Natural Selection, a book-length excerpt from The Origin of Species (the required editions of both are specified below). These texts give you an opportunity to ponder the similarities and differences between homo sapiens and other species. Darwin will also ask you to think about how one species has “given birth to other and distinct species” over evolutionary time, while Kafka shows how the human imagination can make this happen in a fictive instant. Once at Bard, you’ll engage with many other texts by a variety of authors, all chosen to challenge your imaginative intelligence.

More information about Darwin, Kafka, and their works is readily available from a large variety of sources and doubtless some of you will want to explore them before you arrive. What matters most, however, is that you read the two assigned texts and reflect on them individually and in tandem. (In both, the narrator is attempting to persuade the reader of extraordinary events!) This assignment is, for most of you, a first opportunity to begin the transformation into a college student. Your future classmates, presently dispersed throughout the world, will be engaged in the task as well, as we all prepare to gather at Bard in August to write and think together.

On the first day of the program, you will receive an anthology with a long question wrapped around its binder: “What does it mean to be human in the year 2009 on an abundant and fragile planet, with memory and possibility, with people like ourselves and different, with affluence and squalor, hope and despair, with mountains and rivers and trees, with herons and cyborgs, music and urban noise, with art and TV and infinite space?” Reflect on this as you read Darwin and Kafka. What does each work suggest to you about what it means to be human? What are the attributes of the set or category “human being” and how is it distinguished from that which is not human? Who makes such determinations and why? What do the arts and sciences, of which Kafka and Darwin are exemplary representatives, have to do with being human? Why is it of interest to pair these two authors and, in particular, these two works? We recommend that you write as you read: mark passages; annotate in the margins (why not start by annotating this letter?); formulate questions about what you find confusing or compelling; record words or phrases that catch your fancy. Explore in writing some of the questions posed in the previous paragraph. Keep a journal as you read, a notebook in which you record your responses to the texts. If you like, write a fictional metamorphosis of your own. Bring the results with you in August.

The Language and Thinking Program is intensive. It's learning to swim by diving into the wide-open sea. Having been accepted to Bard, you can be confident that you are well equipped to meet the challenges the program presents. The College has taken care to assemble a highly skilled team of instructors, advisors, and counselors to support you during your first three weeks on campus and, most importantly, you will have each other, the intellectual and social community of the Class of 2013. We look forward to your arrival in Annandale-on-Hudson in August!
 

A Note on the Texts and Secondary Sources

For more information on L&T or First-Year Students at Bard contact the Dean of Students office by calling 845-758-7454 or e-mail firstyear@bard.edu.

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