author : John A. Sutherland

This is the course guidebook that accompanies the 48 lecture “Great Course” of the same name. It is essentially an abbreviated transcript of each lecture, a few pictures, and some related reading. (I watched the lectures, which is what I am reviewing here, and am using the book simply as an aide-memoire.)

I have watched several different Great Course lecture series on literature, and it is fascinating to see the different choices and styles in each one. Here, rather than delving into each work in detail, Sutherland steps back, and puts the works into their historical and literary context. This provides an interestingly different perspective: what the works were similar to, how they built on and deviated from the past, how they commented on the present political situation, some details about the lives of their authors, and more.