Professor Brent Wetters, (HUA) will be our featured author in Gordon Library's next event in For a Change - our series of conversations with WPI authors, this year featuring books that challenge us to change how we think, and the choices we make.
Please join us on Friday, January 30 at 11am in the Gordon Library Conference Room (303) for a conversation about Matter of North: Essays on Glenn Gould and The Idea of North (2025, SUNY Press). Prof. Wetters will be joined in conversation by HUA Prof. Daniel DiMassa, and by musicologist and co-editor Anthony Cushing (joining via Teams from Canada).
The publisher writes: "Matter of North collects essays and source material related to Glenn Gould's landmark 1967 radio documentary The Idea of North." About the original CBC radio documentary, the CBC writes, "An anthropologist, sociologist, a nurse, and a surveyor discuss the subjective 'idea' and the reality of the North. Montage and voice counterpoint are used to express the antagonism and scope of the country, the loneliness and isolation, the warmth of community living, personal reasons for living there, the fear that human nature will gradually take over from the elements as common enemy number one, and the challenge involved in any decision to live there. During the last eight minutes the voices are heard over music.”
For those not familiar with Gould's The Idea of North, you are invited to watch the official video version of Gould's radio production on your own on YouTube, or join a group viewing in the same place (GL 302) immediately before the author event, from 10-11am:
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szgnGV4hOKU Part 1
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6ryE3mdigA Part 2
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_D61KVKWy1E Part 3
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5M2-Hzyl54 Part 4
- You may prefer to listen to the original soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwIbUdbVqQE
We look forward to your joining us for this wintry program - hot beverages will be served!
- Please note that the Gordon Library’s elevator remains out of service; visitors who wish to avoid using the stairs are welcome to let us know at library@wpi.edu so that we can invite you to join us via Teams.