am trying to decide what three classes to take in the spring. i decided, midway through november, that this is absolutely the last semester i go to the medieval colloquium from class (thursdays 5-7). there always is an immensely popular class scheduled for 3-5 on thursdays, and that's daft, because it's right before not only the medieval but also the renaissance colloquium. this makes a lot of people late. in the spring, this troublesome 3-5 spot is occupied by homi bhabha's class "literary theory in the life of literature" (or something like that.) tempting, and it would be cramped to bursting, but i don't want to take homi bhabha that much. i'm not saying i'm not awed - i creep past him in the corridors you know, but i'd much rather take a class with louis menand. (check out this website about his work.) his class has the very vague name of 20th century texts (it starts off with a lot of high modernism stuff i am not so keen on, but i could do with a course in intellectual history, and then he also gets up to calvino and sebald and i'm keen on getting a chance to work on pet authors.)

the other classes i'd want to take are gordon teskey's class on spenser's continental sources (i'd polled some people about it on email a while back, but here is the description.) it's teskey! i think there is no better reason than that to take a class. man's brilliant and twinkly and wise.

i think the third seminar should be katharine parks on medieval and renaissance medical sciences about which i've blogged before. in particular i would be interested in the development of the medical profession and medical institutions (something poach might be, too?) this would be even more relevant for me at this time, when minyin is beginning her professional life.