From the outset, this course attempted to introduce writers generally accepted in the Western Litera… Show Full Review This action will open a modal dialog.
Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition, 2nd Edition
Taught By Multiple ProfessorsCourse No. 2100
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Course Overview
84 Lectures
Average 31 minutes each
What's Included?
Instant Audio
$639.95$59.95
- Download 84 audio lectures to your computer or mobile app
- Downloadable PDF of the course guidebook
- FREE audio streaming of the course from our website and mobile apps
DVD
$799.95$119.95
- 84 lectures on 8 DVDs
- 616-page printed course guidebook
- Downloadable PDF of the course guidebook
Reviews
Most Helpful Favorable Review
Review by Tiger. Written 12 years ago. 4 out of 5 stars. Mission accomplished
Most Helpful Critical Review
Review by Diana. Written 12 years ago. 3 out of 5 stars. Sadly Androcentric Course
I was very disappointed with the under-representation of women in this course. Considering that for … Show Full Review This action will open a modal dialog.
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Too cursory and non-literatry
I subscribed to this class to get a better grasp on literature. It might be good for historians as a cursory overview but provided little in depth understanding of the actual works themselves. My preference is that when Great Courses takes a single narrow work like Ulysses and provides an indepth analysis. This course created more frustration than satisfaction. After listening to a lecture, I found I had little understanding of the works and authors themselves simply because so little time was dedicated to a single author. How do you summarize Ovid in 30 minutes? You can't.
- Format
- Audio
- Prior Subject Knowledge
- Intermediate
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Very Worthwhile
If you're looking for a solid survey course on the great authors of the Western literary tradition, I feel certain you'll be very pleased with this offering.
As those of you who've taken literature courses from TGC know, the five professors who have assignments here are among the best in the stable. The teaching is really fine.
If, on the other hand, you're looking for an in-depth treatment of a particular period, genre, or author, you may be disappointed. For, to cover the great span of time they've chosen, the course can at most give each lesson a good treatment on the surface with a modestly effective dive into one or perhaps two of an author's works.
This course endeavors to give learners a sure and strong exposure to the best Western writers throughout history. The idea is that you then can pick those you want to study in greater depth and/or read or study their works at a later time.
This was just a superb experience for me. The survey was excellent. I had a nice review of many of the writers. And, I now have a list of 5-7 writers I will explore further.
Superb experience!
- Format
- Audio
- Prior Subject Knowledge
- Advanced
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Most are excellent, a few skip
This course offers great breadth of exposure from some really great professors. I would, however, recommend skipping lecture 25 to 36 and investing in other Great Courses series, such as Professor Voth's History of World Literature, which covers some of the same works with much more skill.
- Format
- Audio
- Prior Subject Knowledge
- Intermediate
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Features Unidentifiable At This Time
I have recently received Great Authors ....... Tradition. The 80 plus sessions will take a considerable time to go through. It is not reasonable for you to ask for a review in such a short time after sending it to me. The three stars are given arbitrarily as this is a required field. Please disregard this rating. Ask me to do this review again in three months.
- Format
- Video
- Prior Subject Knowledge
- Novice
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The Best Great Course!
I adore this set of lectures. Absolutely adore. I still go back and listen to some of favorites when I have spare time. And it’s led to me expanding my library substantially. I’m trying to catch up on many of the works. But even without that, just being introduced to some of these works has been worthwhile. Strongly, strongly recommended.
- Format
- Audio
- Prior Subject Knowledge
- Intermediate
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Very good course
Very helpful, informative & very very long! One needs some patience to go through it. I managed by listening to other courses, in between lessons.
- Format
- Audio
- Prior Subject Knowledge
- Novice
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Great Authors, Wester Tradition 2nd Ed
As usual, the course is informative, challenging and interesting. Having taught Western Lit in Hawaii, California and China, I find most of the lessons well focused and well taught. My complaint is a general one: What about Asian lit? A course on Asian Lit (Chinese Lit) or a Comparative Course, examining both Asian and Western lis, would be fantastic. The Great Courses, (I have purchased more than fifty!), would be greatly enhanced by an infusion of courses on Asian and world history, lit, and philosophy courses. Not taught by Western professors, who are inadvertently euro-centric and mispronounce Asian languages. This dearth is the great flaw of an otherwise great mental adventure.
- Format
- Audio
- Prior Subject Knowledge
- Advanced
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disappointing
too much extraneous info; often seemed too heavily focused on sociology & religion rather than the authors & their writings. some truly questionable choices - especially #s 5, 6, 23, 29, 37, 45, 51 & 59
- Format
- Audio
- Prior Subject Knowledge
- Intermediate
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Oh, please. To expect a survey series on the Western literary canon to ignore the Bible ("some truly questionable choices," indicating Job, Isaiah, and the New Testament gospels) is tantamount to wanting a history of science that ignores Galileo, Newton, and Einstein.
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Questions & Answers
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Does the downloadable guidebook include the 700 visuals that the DVD lectures contain?
1 answer-
No, it does not.
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In the What's Included tab, it says, "All 48 lectures." Is that all?? Or are all the lectures included?
1 answer-
Thank you for pointing out this mistake. All 84 lectures are included. I have asked our Website to make the correction.
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How is the second edition of this course different from the original 84 lecture course?
1 answer-
The second edition came out in 2005 and is a completely different course with different professors, subject matter and lecture titles. We stopped selling the 1st edition when the 2nd edition was released.
-Elizabeth VanDiver teaches lectures 1 - 24, covering Near Eastern and Mediterranean Literature and Literature of the Classical World.
-Thomas F.X. Noble teaches lectures 25 - 36, covering Literature of the Middle Ages
-Ronald Herzmann teaches lectures 37 - 48, covering Literature of the Renaissance
-Susan Page Heinzelmann teaches lectures 49 - 60, covering Neoclassic Literature and the 18th century
-James Herrernan teaches lectures 61-84, covering Literature of the 19th and 20th centuriesWas this helpful?
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How does the 2nd edition differ from the 1st addition? Do you have a list of the professors for each lecture?
1 answer-
The second edition came out in 2005 and is a completely different course with different professors, subject matter and lecture titles. We stopped selling the 1st edition when the 2nd edition was released.
-Elizabeth VanDiver teaches lectures 1 - 24, covering Near Eastern and Mediterranean Literature and Literature of the Classical World.
-Thomas F.X. Noble teaches lectures 25 - 36, covering Literature of the Middle Ages
-Ronald Herzmann teaches lectures 37 - 48, covering Literature of the Renaissance
-Susan Page Heinzelmann teaches lectures 49 - 60, covering Neoclassic Literature and the 18th century
-James Herrernan teaches lectures 61-84, covering Literature of the 19th and 20th centuriesWas this helpful?
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Are there captions on the DVDs?
1 answer-
Thank you for your question. No, the DVDs for this course do not have captions.
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Will this course be available on Great Courses Plus
1 answer-
Thank you for your question. We do not currently have plans to make this course available on The Great Courses Plus.
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Will this course ever be Online Video streaming? I see that it's format is still the same, when the very same question was asked by another customer 4 yrs back... Thank you!
1 answer-
Thank you for your question.
Although, we are unable to provide this course in Video Download or Video Streaming we do offer this course on DVD, CD and Audio Download. This courses has images within the lectures that we were unable to obtain the licenses for to allow for Video Streaming. We hope that you are able to use one of the other 3 formats. If you prefer a digital format please contact customer service at 1.800.832.2412 and we will be more than happy to discuss similar courses you may be interested in.
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Will the video greatly add to the content and understanding vs. the audio only?
1 answer-
This course has about 700 visuals throughout, which seems like a big number, but interspersed through its 84 lectures this still can be considered a visually modest course. The visuals include artistic and photographic representations of authors, characters, scenes, plays, and maps, as well as showing the professors themselves while they present.
Often, the decision to go with audio or video comes down to what best fits the lifestyle of you or the recipient. For those who spend a lot of time outdoors or on the road, audio is an excellent option while those who consider themselves visual learners who benefit the most from a feeling of interactivity, the visual version is preferable.
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Is each lecture taken from an existing course, or are the lectures unique to this course?
1 answer-
They are unique.
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Transcript: is it possible to get digital transcripts of the courses one orders?
1 answer-
Thank you for your question. Many of our courses do have digital transcripts available. At the present time this particular course does not have a digital transcript as an option, although it does have a physical transcript book you can order.
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