Letters to Father: Suor Maria Celeste to Galileo, 1623-1633 (trans. by Dava Sobel)

featuring Maggie Fritz-Morkin, Assistant Professor of Italian

Meeting Date: Wednesday, March 27

“Placed in a convent at the age of thirteen, Virginia Galilei, Galileo’s eldest daughter, wrote to her father continually. Now Dava Sobel has translated into English all 124 surviving letters that Virginia (renamed Suor Maria Celeste at the convent) wrote to Galileo. The letters span a dramatic decade that included the Thirty Years’ War, the bubonic plague, and the development of Galileo’s own universe-changing discoveries. Suor Maria Celeste’s letters touch on these events, but mostly they focus on details of everyday life that connect her and her father. Her prose reveals an exceptional woman and presents a memorable portrait of deep affection between a father and daughter.”—Penguin Random House

“The intelligent, pious, and literary nun comes across centuries as a compellingly intriguing woman in her own right.”—Booklist

Register online or call 919.962.1544

***This Great Books session will meet on Wednesday mornings instead of Tuesday mornings.***

For further background on Galileo and his work, be sure to see PlayMakers Repertory Company’s production of Life of Galileo, which runs from February 27 – March 17.