About Carolyn
I teach literature live on Zoom. We take our time with great books, and everyone is welcome.
My background
I studied Slavic languages and literatures at Stanford (BA) and Harvard (MA), and earned a PhD in comparative literature at Yale in 2016. I have taught literature and writing at Yale and the Fashion Institute of Technology, in the Great Books Summer Program at Stanford, and in Stanford Continuing Studies. At Yale I received the Teaching Prize Fellowship for excellence in teaching literature and writing.
The Art of Reading
I started The Art of Reading so that anyone can read the great books the way I was taught to read them, and keep reading for as long as they like.
We begin with books I return to again and again: Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, Dante, Shakespeare, Joyce’s Ulysses, and the Russian writers I trained on, from Dostoevsky to Akhmatova. Later we will read Rilke, Toni Morrison, Alice Munro, Anne Carson, and more. I also teach poetry, and I’m glad to work with anyone who wants to write about what they read.
I reread the books I love and find something I missed every time. That is most of what I know about teaching.
If you are new, come to a free session and see what a class is like. If you already read with me, thank you.
Carolyn
Elsewhere
I also teach at Stanford Continuing Studies. Those courses are separate from The Art of Reading, and you can register for them on the Continuing Studies website. In January I’m teaching Rumi in Translation: Poetry, Mysticism, and Transformation there, on Tuesday evenings. Registration opens November 30.
Write to me at carolynsinsky@gmail.com with a question, or tell me what you’ve always meant to read.