February 5, 1980
Dick Mortan to lead London semester
By Beth Eakes
Layout Editor
Dr Richard Morton used the
following quote from T.S.
Eliot's Four Quartets to express
his objective in being the faculty
member for the 1980 London
Semester:
This is the use of memory:
For liberation - not less of love but expanding
of love beyond desire, and so liberation
' From the future as well as the past. Thus, love of a country
Begins as attachment to our own field of action
And comes to find that action of little importance
Though never indifferent. History may be servitude,
History may be freedom.
T.S. Eliot
"Little Cidding"
"Well this is much better put
the issue I'm trying to
engage; what I'd like to do is to
have people read that passage
and be able to say: "I know
what he's talking about" (in an
American context). "I see it and
know what it is."
He is considered to be one of
Guilford College's most dyna
mic professors, a sage, a crazy
old man, and a friend. Dr.
Richard Morton will lead the
1980 London Semester with his
wife Nancy.
Dr. Morton was born in
Florida and grew
up in Charleston, South Caro
lina. While making his way
through under-graduate school,
pursuing a goal no less than
governor of South Carolina, Dr.
Morton had a number of inte
resting jobs.
He was a door-to-door type
writer salesman and stand-up
comic. Some people consider
the latter occupation to be a
permanent fixture in his psy
che. Guilford first encountered
Richard Morton in 1969 after
completing his studies.
The Historical, the Unhistori
cal, and the American will be
taught by Dr. Morton as part of
the London Program next Fall.
"In my course," Dr. Morton
says: "I want to have the
opportunity to fully investigate
what it means to say a people
are without a precedent. Mean
ing that Americans are without
a precedent for their humanity.
Airfare Information
There are a number of discount overseas flight packages from the United States to London.
The following costs are based on current prices, courtesy T.W.A. airlines:
Standby: New York to London only. Tickets may be purchased at
any T.W.A. ticket office but the seat reservation must be confirmed
at J .F.K. in New York on the day of departure. This type of ticket is
on a first come first served basis.
Budget Fare: Reservations must be made when ticket is purchased.
Ticket must be purchased at least three weeks prior to chosen week
of departure. The patron chooses a week he wants to leave and the
airlines notifies the patron of his exact date of departure ten days
before the flight. For this type of flight, there is no minimum or
maximum stay.
$210.00 one way* (peak season)
$396.00 round trip* (peak season)
$196.00 one way* (low season)
$367.00 round trip* (low season)
Peak season is May 15th through September 15th.
* All prices do not include SIO.OO international departure tax.
*
"Pretty clearly this on one
hand is logically sensibly and
historically not true, particular
ly in relationship to Europe,
because we have many Euro
pean branches. One of the
primary ones has obviously
been British But the whole idea
of trying to do something which
hasn't been done before under a
conscious sense of history --
there are really no patterns for
what it is you're trying to
achieve in the present situation.
"I want to really get an
opportunity to see if that throws
a different kind of strain on the
human psyche, and therefore
really brings about a different
kind of overall awareness of our
condition."
In Dr. Morton's course, the
students will read Emerson's
"Nature," "Experience," and
"Fate," Whitman's first edition
of "Leaves of Grass," Henry
James' "The Portrait of a
Lady," and T.S. Elliot's "Four
Quarters." He realizes that a
difficulty in using this material
will be the fact that his students
will arrive at varying levels of
writing ability, critical analysis
and consciousness.
Though he does not want this
factor to discourage anyone
from taking the class, Dr
Morton comments: "That's go
ing to be a real challenge and a
real problem. I hope I can do
something about individualizing
the kinds of approaches we
want to take.
Guilfordian
I think it's possible the wa 1
the books havebeenchosen," i
you can get folks to come to
certain recognition of a struc
ture in an essay like "Nature.'
What is Emerson saying ir
"Nature" about nature? About
human nature? What are the
implications about human na
ture in nature?"
The first edition of Walt
Whitman's "Leaves of Grass"
will be included. Dr. Morton is
Guilford's authority on this
famous American writer, hav
ing completed his doctorial
thesis on Whitman in 1969 from
the University of Georgia. "In
"Leaves of Grass" you can
bring it down to this level: what
is really the meaning of the
word 'experience'? Is it a
dictator of our human being? Or
is it a means by which certain
kinds of innate qualities we
have exfloriate into reality.
People can grasp that concept."
Concerning Henry James's
masterful novel "Portrait of a
Lady," Dr. Morton says: "It's a
heck of a study of an American
facing an excruciating choice
and coming to a conclusion
f r
Dr. Morton contemplates the immense task of leading his students
into new dimensions of perception and experience during the 1980
London program.
which is profound. Profound in
that it is extremely moving and
convincing."
"A book like James' novel
really faces head on the ques
tion of vague and hopeful
senses of aspiration and free
dom and possibilities that enter
an environment in which fairy
tale princes and fairy tale
princesses become real human
beings, and where choice be
comes real. It is where the
construction of a personal his
tory begins to form. Then one's
eyes are opened at unexpected
junctures and one is faced with
becoming something real."
"The real problems of Ame
rica are a problem of time. Just
because we don't have cathe
drals, we don't have a richness
of character and class and a
precedent. But we do have two
things: we have a great libera
tion in time and a terrible
nakedness.
Our identity as a nation -- we
have to face it without prece
dent. We really have to take a
true shooting to find out what is
the lay of the land of our
being." I think the books I'm
talking about will do that."
Concerning the "Four Quar
tets," Morton commented,
"I've had people right here on
the Guilford College campus
who have gotten rich rewards
from reading the 'Four Quar
tets.' They just made all kinds
of breakthroughs into the power
of language and into the percep
tion of the work." One can
imagine the impact of reading
such a work, since Dr. Morton
page five
plans to actually visit some of
the locations Elliot wrote about.
Mrs. Morton is very excited
about the possibilities of her
course. She has come to see art
as a very lively and active
athletic kind of vision. "A work
of art is not a static thing sitting
on a wall. There's a lot going on
inside the frame. The contour of
art on London is endless."
She wishes to draw out the
multi-dimensions of art and to
view art historically as a means
of expression. Mrs. Morton
plans to integrate various parts
of the city into her course.
Dr Morton feels that the
Woodbrook trip early in the
semester is important. "The
schedule I saw included two
Shakespeare plays at the Royal
Shakesphere Theater. I'll look
forward to that aspect of it."
There will also be a course in
Quakerism.
"We do get a fall break that
will last ten days. Of course,
that's when most people will do
the most traveling I want to go
to Scandinavia but I also want to
go to Italy. So it's going to be a
toss up for me. If I could do
what I wanted to do, I think I'd
like to go to Russia Just to see
it. Just to smell it."
This program is guaranteed
to be an experience for each
student who participates. One
hopeful participant, Chip
Loughlin, a junior, said: "I want
to go over there so I can see
America better. Cet a kind of
new perspective on home, be
cause this is where I'm from."