We’re always happy here to promote the various fellowship programs aimed for students and young professionals, like the Claremont Institute’s Publius, Lincoln, and Marshall Fellows (deadlines in late February or early March); the Hertog Fellows programs; AEI’s summer honors program; and the many terrific student programs of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI). It was this embarrassment of riches that prompted Molly Worthen to ask in the New York Times recently, “Can I Go to Great Books Camp?”
So what about something for adults? Aside from the summer classics seminars on great books at St. John’s College, there aren’t many programs available for motivated and curious adults. Until now.
Sir Roger Scruton has just announced Scrutopia Summer School, to take place from July 30 to August 8 next summer at his residence in the Cotswolds in England. Here’s an excerpt from the description:
The aim is to assemble a group of not more than 20 committed people, with a shared interest in culture and in all that is involved in passing it on. Each day will begin with a talk from Sir Roger followed by a discussion. Reading and discussion in the afternoon will lead to a formal presentation, either by Sir Roger or a distinguished visiting speaker, and the evenings will involve concerts, readings, or further discussion over wine. Aspiring writers, composers and artists will be invited to submit samples of their work for criticism, and discussions will be organised around a curriculum of readings chosen to illustrate some of the major intellectual issues of our day.
Provisional topics include the nature of philosophy, why beauty matters, the art of writing, figurative painting, the Western inheritance, the meaning of conservatism, musical order, real environmentalism, understanding wine and the life of friendship. We will also provide a piano trio for an evening of Schubert and Brahms.
Click on the link above for complete details, costs, etc. Could make a great Christmas present for someone! Heck, I’m tempted to try to turn up myself if I can swing the dates. As it happens, I’m presently immersed in Sir Roger’s extensive writings in preparation for a lengthy feature article I’m writing about him, but this is no easy task as he’s written nearly 50 books on a huge range of topics. Stand by for further details on that, but you can take in a few of our past discussions of Scruton here, here, here, and here.
And if you have a few minutes of leisure, a Belgian TV show recently produced this very nice 45-minute program with Sir Roger that offers a good precis of his outlook:
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