The Quest

As an example of how far Americans will go in their quest for culture, nothing beats the Great Books tour through Europe. Sponsored by St. John's College of Annapolis, Md., it has swept its 22 travelers (including four teachers, one college dean, one school principal, three students, one librarian and assorted secretaries and housewives) through five countries, a dozen Great Books, and innumerable castles, cathedrals and birthplaces.

The idea of the tour was to read and discuss the books right on their authors' old stamping grounds--or as close to the grounds as possible. By last week everyone was feeling a trifle numb. "It's been very interesting, of course," said one traveler. "Like when we were in Florence we studied Dante and somebody else. I forget exactly who."

The tour (cost: $1,002 apiece) began in Rome. There, the 22 were supposed to talk about Plato under the pines of the Pincian Hill, but so many other tourists were cluttering up the place that they had to adjourn to their hotel. To get the feel of St. Augustine, they set off for a nearby monastery, only to find that women were not permitted. Nevertheless, the group persevered. They tossed off the Confessions and also the Apology huddled in their hotel. Then they were off to Florence.

They went through Dante's house and discussed the Inferno. Then one of the women insisted on visiting Elizabeth Barrett Browning's grave, which was not on the official agenda at all. In Ferney, on the French-Swiss border, they saw Voltaire's chateau and talked about Candide. In Augsburg, a Lutheran pastor who spoke no English gave them a lecture on the Reformation, and they tried but failed to get into the monastery where Luther once lived. Next on the list was Faust, but since Weimar is behind the Iron Curtain, they had to settle for Frankfurt am Main, where Goethe was born.

In Paris, after seeing Rousseau's house, they discussed his Discourse on the Origin of Inequality Among Men. In London, where they were scheduled to see the Old Vic perform Hamlet, they found that the Old Vic had just closed for the month. They "did" Hamlet anyway in their hotel, and somewhere along the line squeezed in Canterbury Cathedral and a lecture on Chaucer. Finally, last week, they groggily got ready to come home. What had they learned? "Tell you the truth," said one traveler, "you get so that you see everything in half a daze."

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