Exploring Otherness and Friendship: Barbara Alfano
Meet faculty member Barbara Alfano, who is teaching Exploring Otherness and Friendship: HBO's My Brilliant Friend as part of the Bennington Early College Program.
Bennington Early College Program
Exploring Otherness and Friendship: HBO's My Brilliant Friend
Taught by Barbara Alfano
7:00-8:30 pm ET | January 18, 21, 25, 28 and February 1
Q&A with Barbara Alfano
What excites you about teaching Exploring Otherness and Friendship: HBO's My Brilliant Friend?
The discovery. I have always been passionate about friendship, exploring deep and also conflicting feelings, enjoying the love that comes with the relationship but also that sense of betrayal that is almost impossible to avoid when friendships last many, many years. Hopefully, they survive.
Students will enter a world that is removed from them in space and time; yet, they will find some familiarity with the feelings expressed in the relationship of two friends.
What do you hope students will gain from this course?
An understanding of cultural otherness as something that must be respected even if it cannot be completely revealed or understood. The students will enter a world that is removed from them in space and time; yet, they will find some familiarity with the feelings expressed in the relationship of the two friends, Lila and Lenù.
What sort of student do you hope takes this course?
A curious student! Curious about humanity. Somebody with the spirit of an explorer.
What are you reading right now?
I don't have much time to read for pleasure during the term, so I listen to books on my commute to campus. This semester. I listened to Fydor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, and Edith Wharton's Ethan Frome.
Do you have any pets?
This is Porter! [left] He was the only king in our home until his old enemy, a stray we called Boots [right] even before he became our cat, entered the family and the house.
About the Bennington Early College Program
The Bennington Early College Program is a suite of one-credit online courses for high school, gap year, and college students. Programs are offered in Literature and Writing, Social and Environmental Justice, and Politics, Power, and Society.
Bennington Early College Program course fees are refundable for students who later apply to Bennington's undergraduate program.