Stanford Prof. With Penchant For Rock-n-roll And Renaissance Announces New Season Of His Radio Show.

Jan. 10, 2008 - PRLog -- Entitled Opinions, hosted by Stanford University Professor Robert Harrison, is an intellectually oriented, weekly talk show that explores issues related to literature, ideas, and the human experience from a uniquely informed, scholarly point of view. The 2008 season will kick off on January 15th with historian Philippe Buc on the timely topic of religion and violence.  Upcoming topics include the origins of agriculture, the Ottoman Empire, the evolution of psychiatry, love and beauty in Plato's work, the vocation of the humanities and poet A.R. Ammons.

Each episode features a cerebrally stimulating conversation with a guest about a topic to which he or she is especially entitled to an opinion. A true "renaissance man", Professor Harrison, combines his vast range of knowledge of western civilization with his infectious curiosity about humanity to challenge today's preeminent scholars about everything they think they know. Recent guests have included award winning novelists, Colm Toibin and Shirley Hazzard, philosophers Michel Serres, Rene Girard and the late Richard Rorty, and scientists Paul Erlich and Andrei Linde. Past topics have ranged from the philosophy of corporations, psychoanalysis, democracy and Anti-Americanism in Europe. Fifty-six episodes have aired since the show's début in September, 2005.

Entitled Opinions is broadcast on the Stanford University radio station, KZSU and available for free on iTunes. Listeners applaud the show for its unique combination of erudition and accessibility. The show’s global cast of guests provides an important point of access to extra-American opinion. As one listener puts it, “listening to Entitled Opinions transports me to different places, opens new worlds and gives me new insights.” And the show’s worldliness has found listeners across the globe:  some educators have begun using podcasts of the show in University classrooms in Mexico, Australia, and China.

Robert Harrison is the Rosina Pierotti Professor in Italian Literature at Stanford University and is Chair of the Department of French and Italian, where he has taught since 1985. He received his doctorate in romance studies from Cornell University in 1984, with a dissertation on Dante's Vita Nuova. Among his publications are the books The Body of Beatrice (1988), Forests: The Shadow of Civilization (1992), and The Dominion of the Dead (2003).  His latest book, Gardens: An Essay on the Human Condition, will appear in the spring of 2008 from University of Chicago Press. More information about Gardens can be found below.

Winter 2008 episodes:

January 15
Religious Violence with Professor Philippe Buc (History, Stanford)
January 22
A Conversation with Orhan Pamuk (winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize for literature)
January 29
The Origins of Agriculture with Professor Michael Shanks (Classics & Archaeology, Stanford)
February 5
Eros and Beauty in Plato with Professor Andrea Nightingale (Classics, Stanford)
February 12
The Poetry of A.R. Ammons with Professor Laura Wittman (French & Italian, Stanford).
February 19
The Evolution of Psychiatry with Stewart Agras (Pyschiatry, Stanford Medical Center).

Relevant Links:

Entitled Opinions website:  http://www.stanford.edu/dept/fren-ital/opinions/�  �
Entitled Opinions on iTunes: http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPod...
Prof. Robert Harrison's faculty profile: http://www.stanford.edu/dept/fren-ital/faculty/harrison.html

Gardens: An Essay on the Human Condition
Robert Harrison's upcoming book: Spring 2008, University of Chicago Press

�  � With Gardens, Robert Pogue Harrison graces readers with a thoughtful, wide-ranging examination of the many ways gardens emblematize the human condition. Moving from the gardens of ancient philosophers to the gardens of homeless people in contemporary New York, he shows how, again and again, the garden has served as a check against the destruction and losses of history.  The ancients, explains Harrison, viewed gardens as both a model and a location for the laborious self-cultivation and self-improvement that are essential to serenity and enlightenment, an association that has continued throughout the ages. Alive with the echoes and arguments of Western thought, Gardens is a fitting continuation of the intellectual journeys of Harrison’s earlier classics, Forests and The Dominion of the Dead. Voltaire famously urged us to cultivate our gardens; with this compelling volume, Robert Pogue Harrison reminds us of the nature of that responsibility—and its enduring importance to humanity.

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Located between San Francisco and San Jose in the heart of Silicon Valley, Stanford University is recognized as one of the world's leading research and teaching institutions. Stanford's current community of scholars includes 16 Nobel laureates, four Pulitzer Prize winners and 24 MacArthur Fellows. Stanford is particularly noted for its openness to interdisciplinary research, not only within its schools and departments, but also in its laboratories, institutes and research centers. Stanford currently has approximately 6,600 undergraduate students, 8,200 graduate students and over 1400 faculty and fellows.

Website: www.stanford.edu/