I'm currently reading (and greatly enjoying) William Maxwell's "Time will darken it" written in 1949 and set in 1912.

In one section he describes the 'Draperville Chautauqua', which SOED defines as a summer school or similar educational course.

I'd not come across this word before -- is it still in use anywhere in the US?

I read it in Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance (Pirsig); it is something like an (oral) educational talk (I am not sure now, maybe in American Indian cultures? - or something similar)
Ciao
Emanuela

emanuela, that was one of those definitive books for me - it seemed to crystallize so many strands of thought into one strong rope! I have re-read it periodically ever since; think it may be time to revisit. Thanks for the idea.

(this is where we need the namaste emoticon!)

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???????? I am not satisfied, but without dots he doesn't accept spaces...Any way, you can easily see the two closed hands...Someone can of course do better...
Emanuela

>Is it still in use anywhere in the US?

Etymology: Chautauqua Lake
Date: 1873
: an institution that flourished in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
providing popular education combined with entertainment in the form of
lectures, concerts, and plays often presented outdoors or in a tent [M-W10]

...and it has made a BIG comeback in the late 20th C (in no small part due to Pirsig).

It is well known in musical circles. The original is a music camp in Chautauqua, NY at the far western end of the state. There are others across the country.

http://www.chautauqua-inst.org/homebase.html

Here in Colorado, in Boulder actually, we have a Chatauqua. It's a very large old building sort of out in the woods, and houses a great many different cultural activities. Plays, recitals, concerts, readings, etc. On Sunday they serve a very mean brunch. So chatauqua can be more than a concept, it can be the very building itself.