Dr. Daniel Adam Brandes is a bonafide cornerstone of the King’s community. He’s been part of the FYP faculty since 2002, has coordinated sections of the program each year, and is beloved by his students. Dr. Brandes is such a favourite that you, the readers of The Watch, voted him as faculty of the month. We sat down with him to get to know the champion of FYP (and almost-comedian) a little better. 

Q: What do you do in your spare time?

A: I wish I had more spare time. I read constantly; I enjoy my solitude. My wife is also a scholar and an academic, so we have a circle of friends we see pretty regularly. I’ve been trying to get a poker game together [among faculty] for years.

Q: What kind of music do you listen to? 

A: I listen to the stuff that was formative for me when I was younger. My favourites were The Smiths, The Stone Roses, and The Cure. I like some American bands, and I like some soloists, some crooners. 

Q: Do you have any favourite movies? 

A: I love The Godfather II. I loved the film Spotlight, which is a couple years old. I love All The President’s Men. My wife would say I’m attracted to spy movies and that I like movies about people in suits doing serious work. 

Q: I’ve heard you had a bit of a career in stand up comedy.

A: I was a regular attendee at Yuk Yuk’s, a comedy club in Toronto. I used to go practically every week. I was actually present for Norm Macdonald’s break in Toronto. I saw him and immediately knew this guy was going to be fantastic. 

Q: Do you have any advice for a FYP student going forward into the second half of the year, following their first oral exam grades?

A: Hopefully, they will be less anxious in the face of this experience. And some of them will, I suspect, look forward to it. My advice would be to take things slow, to be gentle with themselves. Moving forward from this point, it should all be gravy. 

Q: If you could meet any philosopher, dead or alive, who would it be? 

A: Hannah Arendt, the German-Jewish philosopher of the mid-20th century. I would dearly love to sit down with her, not only because her thinking is so marvellous, but because she was a really forceful personality with real integrity. So it would be a pleasure to sit with her.

Q: Is there any writer/work/novel that hasn’t been featured in the FYP list that you wish would be? 

A: My favourite writer has never been treated in FYP: the Russian writer Nabokov. If I had my way, we would devote three weeks to mute contemplation and veneration of Nabokov.

Q: What’s your favourite thing about King’s?

A: My heart is with the Foundation Year Program. It’s a dream to teach in this program. The students in FYP who come to us, nervous and excited and bookish, and it’s everything that I hope young people always are. So, I just think I feel enormously lucky to be part of the foundation year.