Dedicated SDSU alumnae have kept alive an unusual book club for more than 40 years

On an unusually dreary Tuesday in Point Loma, San Diego, members of a local book club are discussing the “fatherless hero.”

He is the protagonist of their latest shared read, and his plight launches a conversation about masculinity and the role a mother plays for a child who has no father figure.

The theme could apply to any one of a dozen modern novels, but, in fact, the book club is reading “Perceval, the Story of the Grail,” a poem written sometime during the late 12th century. Author Chrétien de Troyes tells the story of young Perceval, who becomes a knight in King Arthur’s court and joins the quest for the Holy Grail.

“The world today is a very different place than in the stories we read, but the themes remain relevant,” said Clare Crane, a member of the Tuesday book group.

Discussions like this one – on masculinity and motherhood – have kept the women coming back week after week for some 40 years. They are not literary experts; they are retired engineers, artists and homemakers. But all of them have a deep appreciation for the classics, and, for many, that appreciation began while students at San Diego State University.

Crane, who graduated from SDSU in 1958, first found a love for ancient Greek and Roman literature when she was studying history at SDSU and took a class from the late English and classics professor emeritus Gail Burnett.

When Burnett retired in 1968, she invited several of her former students to her home each week to continue to read and discuss the literature of classic authors like Homer and Virgil. And the Tuesday book group has been meeting ever since, affectionately referring to themselves as “Gail’s Girls.”

Friends of Classics

“The works of this historical period are the bedrock of the disciplines and values underlying Western civilization,” said Crane, who also leads SDSU’s Friends of Classics organization, of which “Gail’s Girls” is the nucleus.

Celebrating its 25th anniversary this month, SDSU’s Friends of Classics is determined to ensure that there will always be a place for students to study the classics at SDSU.

SDSU professor emeritus Gail Burnett, lower left,
and members of Friends of Classics.

“The ‘Friends’ have this crusading attitude towards our program,” said E. Nicholas Genovese, chair of SDSU’s Department of Classics and Humanities. “Their united purpose is to make sure the classics are taught at SDSU and they want to encourage more students to take these classes.”

The organization raises money for scholarships to support current SDSU students in the program. The Friends of Classics awards seven annual scholarships ranging from $450 to $2,200.

At any given time, there are only 12 to 20 students in the major; which means more than half of these students could have their education paid for. The group has also sponsored study-abroad trips for students to Italy and Greece.

'Confirming our humanity'

The “Friends” provided the funding for the Gail A. Burnett Classics Seminar room. After two relocations, the seminar room now resides in SDSU’s new Arts & Letters building.

“The facility is the only place where the books, art and other materials all center around and give reverence to only one aspect of academics,” Genovese said.

Clare Crane, left, and Janet Moore discuss "Perceval"
during a recent Tuesday book group discussion.

SDSU’s classics and humanities department offers an array of courses including: tragedy and comedy; classics and cinema; and the epic and the novel. Students are also required to take ancient Greek or Latin language courses.

Despite the program’s foundation in learning about the past, Genovese said students majoring in classics and humanities are prepared for a well-rounded future. But what draws students into a major like this?

“No matter how much technology and science has changed us, as humans, we are all still the same and to discover that is confirming our humanity,” Genovese said.

Passing on the gift

Back at the Tuesday book group, after an hour and a half of reading, discussion and lecture, the girls are leaving Gail’s house which has come to feel like home for many of them. After Burnett passed away in 2001, the group has continued to meet there. Burnett’s niece lives there now, and she too is an active member of “Gail’s Girls,” as is her cat who often positions herself atop the piano to listen in.

“Gail’s Girls” even took a group trip to Italy more than 10 years ago where they stayed in a villa and studied the writings of Virgil, a classical Roman poet.

“This is the most amazing group of educated women that I’ve ever known,” said Janet Moore, a long-time “Gail’s Girl.” She said, “Gail gave us a great gift to appreciate the classics and we want to pass that on.”

The next major goal for the Friends of Classics is to establish an endowed professorship in classics and humanities, which would guarantee that the subject would always be offered at SDSU.

Related information

• SDSU Classics and Humanities Department
• SDSU Classics Annual Newsletter
• SDSU College of Arts and Letters
• SDSU Monty Winner Clare Crane

Credits

• Story by Gina Speciale
• Graphics by John Signer
• Photographs by Gina Speciale; some photographs courtesy of Helen Wagner, Friends of Classics
  
• Edited by Coleen L. Geraghty