Midcoast Senior College
A word from the faculty--Ted Reese
Ted Reese was brought up in Massachusetts, earning a BA from Yale, an EdM from Harvard, and a MA and a PhD from Brandeis. Prior to coming to Midcoast Senior College two years ago, he taught English at public and private schools and colleges for almost forty years, then ten years at Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) in Portland. Here he has led classes in Arthurian Literature, American Poets, and Modern American Drama.
He teaches, not by lecturing or with amorphous discussions, but rather by asking leading questions. Although he is thoroughly prepared—his wife Lynn thinks obsessively prepared—he finds that students come up with unexpected answers, and some discussions, while always close to the text, range in different directions. Ted chooses texts that should move the reader emotionally; his class will not be sterile analysis.
In his “other life,” Ted helps with Mt. Ararat’s wrestling team, has assisted with Olympic and World Cup Teams, and contributed to the USA National Wrestling Syllabus. He was the first person in the USA to earn the FILA (international wrestling’s governing body) designation of “Master Coach,” was Maine’s Coach of the Year six times, was National Coach of the Year in 1996, has begun programs in five schools (including USM), and is in Maine’s Wrestling Hall of Fame.
In the fall Ted will teach “The Family in Modern American Literature”.
Ted writes:
“Nobody wants to read depressing tragedies.” I disagree. To me (and I hope in my classes) tragedies are moving portraits of heroes in “boundary situations,” who depend only on themselves to make hard decisions, ones calling for essential courage. As such, they arouse our sympathies and our often grudging admiration. When thinking of Shakespeare’s greatest plays, we think of Hamlet, not Love’s Labour’s Lost; when picking the best classic drama, critics choose Oedipus Rex, not The Frogs.
These heroes are not always kind, generous souls. Ahab is in some ways mad and causes the deaths of all except Ishmael, yet his resolute determination stirs admiration as he drives forward against his implacable foe, knowing he can not win. Hardly Ahab in stature, Willy Loman is weak, confused, and lies to himself and others to hide his failures, yet he is heroic in his final choice of suicide to assure Biff’s success and to win his admiration. He is sadly wrong on both counts, of course, but that doesn’t take away from his brave, if misguided decision.
Nor do tragic figures have to be mature, raging on the heath like Lear. Even before Shakespeare’s “great tragedies,” youthful Romeo and Juliet commit to each other and stand against all others. Yes, they are “star-crossed,” as chance works against them, BUT they are NOT fated in the decisions they make themselves. In a like manner, Oedipus is fated to kill his father and marry his mother, but the power of Sophocles’ play comes from his unrelenting drive for the truth as horrible as it is.
One cannot help but be moved by this or by Linda Loman’s intense command that “Attention! Attention must be paid” as she watches Willy falling apart. We are moved by Linda’s speech after the funeral, the reconciliation of mad Lear and Cordelia, Othello’s realization of what he has done with pure though misguided motives, or Stella’s surrender to what she must believe as Blanche leaves for the asylum in A Streetcar Named Desire.
Tragedies are moving portrayals of human beings—us--confronting difficult situations. They are NOT depressing. TR