It's a bug's life. Or at least that's what freshmen debated yesterday as they participated in the Penn Reading Project and examined Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis. As they were introduced to Penn intellectual life, members of the class of 2004 contemplated the book in large and small groups. For the last day of New Student Orientation, freshmen went to one of three lectures from 11 a.m. to noon and later attended intimate faculty-led discussions that lasted an hour and a half. The book follows Gregor Samsa, who wakes up one day to find he has been transformed into a giant insect. Discussions throughout the day focused on the changes the character undergoes and the similarities with the freshman experience. "Gregor is a lot more like us than we realize," said English professor Al Filreis, who gave one of the lectures. The lectures are the newest facet of the Penn Reading Project, which is in its 10th year. Students went to one of three locations -- Irvine Auditorium, Zellerbach Hall or Harrison Auditorium -- where they heard different professors speak. In front of roughly 800 students each, Filreis, Annenberg School of Communication Dean Kathleen Hall Jamieson and History Professor Warren Breckman gave students their first taste of academic life. In Zellerbach, Filreis, led an interactive and lively session. To drive home one of his points about Kafka's writing and modernist writing in general, Filreis handed out boxes with different animals in them. Students held the boxes throughout the lecture, without opening them. At the end Filreis revealed that one box housed a large cockroach, while the other larger box contained his children's pet mouse Brownie. Filreis wanted to prove that not knowing what was inside the box was scarier than knowing. He then compared the exercise to the mystery often within the language of modernist literature. College freshman Vikram Pattanayak, who attended Filreis' session, enjoyed the professor's hands-on style. "I liked the way he brought it to the students," Patanayak said. "He let people disagree, but he still got his points across." Students found the other sessions equally interesting, though differently formatted. Speaking in Irvine, Jamieson lectured, then opened the floor up to questions. Breckman, on the other hand, offered students a Power Point presentation. Later in the afternoon, students broke into small faculty-led discussion groups, divvied up by residence hall, which met across the campus. Both students and faculty agreed that the lectures were beneficial and contributed to the success of the small group meetings. The lecture and discussion were a "really good mix," said College freshman Kellen Yamanka, who was part of the group that Deputy Provost Peter Conn led. "The lecture helped set the tone for the discussion." Conn, who has led nine discussions over 10 years, echoed these sentiments, commenting that while all the groups he had met with were interesting, yesterday's group was especially "animated and provocative."
At the Penn Reading Project, frosh learn about a bug's life
