Professor Kozlowski Lectures

Professor Kozlowski follows the heroic exploits of Diomedes as he cuts his way through the Trojan lines (and a few gods to boot) before visiting Troy with Hector in one of the most famous (and heartbreaking) passages in the whole poem. If you have questions or topic suggestions for Professor Kozlowski, e-mail him at profbkozlowski2@gmail.com To see what else Professor Kozlowski is up to, visit his...

Professor Kozlowski continues his deep read of the Iliad by walking through the preparations and duel of Books 3-4, stressing the chaotic nature of conflict and war in the Iliad, and the how this contributes to the Greek view of fate, justice, and the gods. If you have questions or topic suggestions for Professor Kozlowski, e-mail him at profbkozlowski2@gmail.com To see what else Professor Kozlows...

Professor Kozlowski begins his deep read of the Iliad by examining the themes and characters of Books 1 and 2.  Highlights include toxic masculinity between Achilles and Agamemnon, marital squabbling between Zeus and Hera, and a really long list of ships that everybody hates to read, but may have been a highlight of the poem in Homer's day. If you have questions or topic suggestions for Profe...

Professor Kozlowski takes a deep dive into the style and structure of the Iliad - he examines multiple translations to discuss the priorities and pitfalls of each, summarizes some of the eccentricities of the Greek language, and discusses key features of Homeric epics, including dactylic hexameter, enjambment, epic simile, and other fancy poetry stuff.  He also butchers reading Greek a few ti...

Professor Kozlowski tries to contextualize the Iliad of Homer by reading through the Trojan War narrative in the Library of Apollodorus .  Along the way, he presents the timeline of fifteen-hundred years between the (supposed) events of the Trojan War and the digested version found in Apollodorus, and he discusses the major gods, goddesses, characters and events in the mythic tradition surrou...

Professor Kozlowski kicks off a new semester (well in advance) and a new class: Troy and the Trojan War.  In this class, he'll look at the Iliad, Homer, and the legacy of the Trojan War - in its own time, and through history.  But first, he discusses the class expectations and parameters in painstaking detail. If you have questions or topic suggestions for Professor Kozlowski, e-mail him...

Professor Kozlowski will NOT be recording his ethics class this summer, alas - but offers this one-off episode about the current state of discourse about abortion.  In it he'll discuss some important writings on the issue, assumptions made by both pro-life and pro-choice advocates, and the political expediency of polarizing voters (along with its potentially-disastrous long-term consequences...

Professor Kozlowski examines and analyzes each of the major characters and themes of the Epic of Gilgamesh, specifically as it is presented and recorded in the Akkadian "standard version" attributed to Sin-Leqi-Unninni. If you have questions or topic suggestions for Professor Kozlowski, e-mail him at profbkozlowski2@gmail.com To see what else Professor Kozlowski is up to, visit his webpage: https:...

Professor Kozlowski discusses the history of the Gilgamesh story, from fragmentary Sumerian myths to fragmentary Akkadian epic. If you have questions or topic suggestions for Professor Kozlowski, e-mail him at profbkozlowski2@gmail.com To see what else Professor Kozlowski is up to, visit his webpage: https://professorkozlowski.wordpress.com/

Professor Kozlowski deviates from his usual curriculum to entertain his wife's lecture request: Today we are discussing Diana Gabaldon's Outlander - its role in the history of the novel, and the women-targeted romance-novel especially, as well as its anomalous value as a work of rich, good women's romance literature in a world dominated by unhealthy attitudes toward romance and female sexuality. &...

Professor  Kozlowski concludes his series on The Brothers Karamazov and looks forward at the future of his Internet-based endeavors. If you have questions or topic suggestions for Professor Kozlowski, e-mail him at profbkozlowski2@gmail.com To see what else Professor Kozlowski is up to, visit his webpage: https://professorkozlowski.wordpress.com/

Professor Kozlowski discusses the first half of the conclusion to The Brothers Karamazov , examining the climactic trial, its significance to the various characters and witnesses, and how we ought to understand Dostoevsky's criticism of the Russian legal system in the 19th Century. If you have questions or topic suggestions for Professor Kozlowski, e-mail him at profbkozlowski2@gmail.com To see wh...

Professor Kozlowski examines the many questions surrounding Ivan's interviews with Smerdykov and the Devil, and concludes that it's all just a dream.  Calm down, y'all. If you have questions or topic suggestions for Professor Kozlowski, e-mail him at profbkozlowski2@gmail.com To see what else Professor Kozlowski is up to, visit his webpage: https://professorkozlowski.wordpress.com/

Dostoevsky (and Professor Kozlowski) once again turns his attention to Brother Ivan Fyodorovich Karamazov - but where is he?  Three months have transpired and it seems that Alyosha keeps missing him, though his effects are felt everywhere that he goes.  What is going on with Brother Ivan? If you have questions or topic suggestions for Professor Kozlowski, e-mail him at profbkozlowski2@gm...

Professor Kozlowski looks at this sudden and seemingly-inexplicable tangent in Dostoevsky's storytelling: a diversion from the main story and characters to consider an otherwise unmet character, only partially-related to the secondary plot of the novel, three months after the (unjust?) arrest of Dmitri Karamazov.  Why does Dostoevsky make these choices, and why does our plot now rest on a thi...

Professor Kozlowski looks at the investigation and interrogation of Dmitri Fyodorovich Karamazov through three interpretive lenses: that of the popular detective novel or police procedural, the social/psychological novel, and the thematic lens discussed in prior lectures.  The result is another layered, nuanced set of chapters in a complex novel, but we must be sure to resist the temptation t...

Professor  Kozlowski discusses the latter half of Mitya's chapter, including his confrontation with (and generosity toward) the two poles, his success with Grushenka, and his remorse about killing (?) Grigory - just in time for his arrest and questioning in the next section. If you have questions or topic suggestions for Professor Kozlowski, e-mail him at profbkozlowski2@gmail.com To see what...

Professor Kozlowski confronts Dostoevsky's Russian Nationalism in the light of Putin's war on Ukraine, as well as the whole of Dostoevsky's legacy - good and bad - in the hopes of justifying the celebration of a Russian writer despite current Russian aggression (perhaps unsuccessfully).  He also discusses Mitya's frantic efforts to extricate himself from his dire circumstances, even to the po...

Professor Kozlowski discusses the funeral of Elder Zosima, and what Dostoevsky reveals about the nature of Christian hypocrisy, as well as tracking the development of Alyosha Karamazov through despair, rebellion, and redemption.  For next week, we break Book Eight ("Mitya") in half - Chapters 1-5 for next week; Chapters 6-8 for the week after. If you have questions or topic suggestions for Pr...

"The Grand Inquisitor" may be the most-discussed passage from The Brothers Karamazov , but the Life, Talks, and Homilies of Father Zosima is almost certainly the thematic center of the whole book, unsexy though it may be.  Today Professor Kozlowski talks about that unsexiness, and the unsexiness of Christian theology altogether, along with how Zosima's (and Dostoevsky's) teachings in this boo...

At last, it's the moment we've all been waiting for: Professor Kozlowski discusses Rebellion and The Grand Inquisitor - Ivan's long speech to Alyosha about philosophy, freedom, suffering, and proto-existentialism.  Pack a lunch; this is going to be a long one. If you have questions or topic suggestions for Professor Kozlowski, e-mail him at profbkozlowski2@gmail.com To see what else Professor...

Professor Kozlowski turns his attention to the villains and victims of Dostoevsky's characters in The Brothers Karamazov : Fyodor Karamaov at his most terrible, Katerina Ivanovna at her most manipulative, and the "castle" of Captain Snegirov as they desperately cling to some fragmentary sense of pride. If you have questions or topic suggestions for Professor Kozlowski, e-mail him at profbkozlowski...

Professor Kozlowski discusses Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov as it returns to Dostoevsky's comfort zone: Alyosha bustling about, bumping into other characters and listening to their problems.  Today we'll finally be introduced to the nihilistic Smerdyakov, get a better glimpse of Dmitri's personal struggles, and watch fights break out between father and son, rival lovers, and in the comm...

Professor Kozlowski discusses Dostoevsky's over-ambitious first look at the Family Karamazov as they hide their insecurities with erudition (or stupidity), create several public scandals, threaten murder, and homewreck a monastery. If you have questions or topic suggestions for Professor Kozlowski, e-mail him at profbkozlowski2@gmail.com To see what else Professor Kozlowski is up to, visit his web...

Professor Kozlowski is sick, and couldn't go to class for his typical first-day-syllabus discussion.  So it ended up here instead.  New Brothers Karamazov lecture to come soon, but first I've got to pay my bills... *shrug* If you have questions or topic suggestions for Professor Kozlowski, e-mail him at profbkozlowski2@gmail.com To see what else Professor Kozlowski is up to, visit his we...