Book to Big Screen: Brokeback Mountain
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Book to Big Screen is a joint initiative of the Concordia University Alumni Association and the McGill Alumni Association.
Join fellow Concordia alumni and McGill University alumni in exploring how a literary work is adapted to the cinema.
6 p.m.–9:30 p.m.
J.A. De Sève Cinema
J.W. McConnell Building, LB-125
1400 De Maisonneuve Blvd. W.
Sir George Williams Campus, Montreal
Enjoy a screening of the Academy-Award-winning movie Brokeback Mountain, which is based on a short story by Annie Proulx, then participate in a moderated discussion about the story’s adaptation to the big screen. Remember to read the short story first!
Facilitators
Larry Weller, S BA 70, S MA 73, was born and educated in Montreal. Most of Weller’s adult life was spent in the classroom, at Concordia (Sir George Williams University) in the early 1970s and the rest at John Abbott College in Ste.-Anne-de-Bellevue, Que. He retired from John Abbott College in 2008. Except for a two year hiatus from 2000-2002, when he worked in the film industry, Weller spent his entire career teaching English literature and film, from the traditional to the contemporary. His principal interest is to examine the moral and ethical issues that confront us throughout our lives and how the choices we make determine who we are. And, how it is through language—be it written or imaged—that these choices and their consequences become manifest.
In the last several years, particularly since his retirement, Weller has had the opportunity to address book and film clubs throughout Montreal. In addition, he has delivered several talks at the Segal Centre and Cummings Centre in Montreal and the Hudson Theatre in Hudson, Que. In these lectures, Weller has looked at the nature of evil and hatred, the role of the family, the portrayal of woman and minorities in the arts, and contemporary anti-Semitism.
Over the years, Weller has published several critical articles and some poetry. He is currently chasing the completion of a novel.
Brian Lewis is an associate professor of History at McGill University. He holds a BA from Oxford University in the U.K. and a PhD from Harvard University in Boston, Mass. Lewis has been at McGill since 1995.
He specializes in 18th-20th century British history, with a developing interest in the history of sexuality. As well as British history, he teaches courses on the world wars, nationalism and the history of sexuality. Lewis was Chair of McGill’s Department of History from 2002 to 2007.
Lewis is now Chair of the Sexual Diversity Studies Advisory Committee. His work includes books on the middle classes of 19th-century Lancashire mill towns and on the soap magnate William Hesketh Lever.
His current, SSHRC-funded project is entitled “Queering Britain: Sexual and Criminal Inversion from Wilde to Wolfenden.” Its main focus is the diaries and other papers of George Cecil Ives (1867-1950), a criminologist, sexologist and pioneer of gay rights in Britain.
http://alumni.concordia.ca/calendar/2009/12/09/015657.php