Ex-pat seminar blurb in The Globe

From Jan Gardner's 8/7/11 "Word on the Street" post for the Globe:

Transported by books

Edith Wharton’s “In Morocco,’’ about her journey just after World War I, is a classic of travel literature. Henry James in “Italian Hours’’ wrote about his enchantment with the country that became the setting for some of his best-known novels. And the music composed by Paul Bowles was deeply influenced by his visits to exotic locales.

Travel transformed the 19th- and 20th-century American expatriates whose writings are being explored in a series of seminars under way at Boston University’s Mugar Library, 771 Commonwealth Ave. These are bargain armchair adventures. The Boston Poetry Union is charging $5 for each two-hour class taught by Christopher M. Ohge, a doctoral candidate at BU. No prior knowledge is assumed, and no preparation is expected, although reading packets are available for each session.

This is the third summer the union has held a seminar series, according to organizer Zachary Bos. Registrants include an astronomer, a bartender, and a psychotherapist as well as graduate students in literature.

At each session, Ohge will talk about the themes of that evening’s texts before leading a group discussion focused on a close reading of them. Each seminar stands on its own.