Dwight Peck's personal website

Summer 2002

a brief dash up Mont Tendre with the old gang

Summer 2002 swooped in fast, blasted by over our heads with an acrid smell, and disappeared over the horizon. Mr D. Peck, for a large number of work-related reasons, was unable to plan any holidays from 2001 right all the way through 2002, and probably well into the spring of 2003 for that matter. He snatched an hour or two when he could, of course, but when Mr C. Berman came to Europe in July -- it was his turn, we've had to go to the USA for the past two summers -- he was pretty much on his own, alas.

You may not find this interesting unless you're included here, so this is a good time for casual and random browsers to turn back before they get too caught up in the sweep and majesty of the proceedings and can't let go.

Here's a collection of former American College of Switzerland professors (from left: Durham, Pirri, Berman) arguing bitterly about the suitability of assigning the The Great Gatsby to illiterate students, perched upon a buttress not far from Mont Tendre, in the Jura mountains of Switzerland, 27 July 2002.

"But . . . was Nick Carraway homosexual?!? Give me a break. Explain THAT in the canton of Valais."

"Oh, yeah!?! You don't know ANYTHING about Fitzgerald!"

"Neither do you." The summit of Mont Tendre peeks down from the upper right.

On the summit, Prof Durham tunes out Prof Berman's thoughts about Fitzgerald, 27 July 2002.

Who won the argument? We'll never know. We'll put our fingers in our ears and a pillow over our heads if anyone ever tries to tell us.

The interlocutor (left) steps in, delivers a hasty verdict, and all's back to harmony and bliss, at least as far as Gatsby and Nick Carraway are concerned.

Feedback and suggestions are welcome if positive, resented if negative, . All rights reserved, all wrongs avenged. Posted 25 October 2002, revised 28 June 2012.

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