Dear Colleagues,

Few lands could possibly have as many stories as Lebanon. Its history stretches back toward the beginnings of civilization; its politics is the stuff of today’s headlines; its peoples are a remarkable mix of religions, ethnicities, and cultures.

Professor of English William Marling spent the 2008-09 academic year as the Edward Said Chair of American Studies at the American University of Beirut. He has previously taught in Avignon, Kobe, Vienna, and Bilbao. As a financial journalist for Fortune and Money he also traveled the world. His books have included studies of Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and the American Roman Noir. His most recent book asks, How American is Globalization? Few could bring such a broad understanding to the task of, as he puts it, “discussing the main stories Lebanon tells itself.”

As usual, we will gather in Room 9 of the Inamori International Center for Ethics and Excellence, on the lower level of Crawford Hall, for free cookies, beverages, and brown bag lunch.

Best regards,
Joe White

About Our Guests

William H. Marling, professor of American literature, modernism, popular culture and globalization at Case Western University. His first love was and is Modernism — his dissertation and first book were on the poet William Carlos Williams. Gertrude Stein, John Dos Passos, Marcel Duchamp, Djuna Barnes, and e.e. cummings are other Modernists with whom he values for their play with words, technique, and vision. Looking back, he sees that most of his work has been concerned with the way that visual values, from painting to film, from material objects and popular culture, appear in literature. After his book on Williams, Bill Marling turned to detective novelists. He is also interested in Raymond Chandler, and did a book on him, and finally wrote The American Roman Noir, incorporating the films that grew from these novels. Most recently Bill Marling has written about the export of American popular culture and globalization: How ‘American’ is Globalization? (2006).

Friday Lunch Upcoming Topics and Speakers:

April 2: Moral Courage: Compromise or Cowardice? With Susan Dwyer, Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Maryland.

April 23: Science in the Courts. With Wendy Wagner, Joe A. Worsham Centennial Professor, University of Texas School of Law.

The Friday Lunch discussions are held on the lower (ground) level of Crawford Hall. Visitors with mobility issues may find it easiest to take advantage of special arrangements we have made. On most Fridays, a few parking spaces in the V.I.P. lot in between Crawford Hall and Amasa Stone Chapel are held for participants in the lunch discussion.

Visitors then can avoid walking up the hill to the first floor of Crawford by entering the building on the ground level, through the garage area under the building. The further door on the left in that garage will be left unlocked during the period before the Friday lunch. On occasion, parking will be unavailable because of other university events.

For more information about these and other Center for Policy Studies programs, please see http://policy.case.edu.