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Heroes and Legends
- The Most Influential Characters of Literature
- Narrated by: Thomas A. Shippey
- Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins
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Odysseus. Robinson Crusoe. Harry Potter. What do these memorable characters have in common? Why do we turn to certain stories again and again? And what impact have they made on world history? These 24 eye-opening lectures give fresh insight into some of the greatest heroes in world literature, from warriors such as Beowulf and Odysseus to unexpected heroes such as Uncle Tom and Sancho Panza.
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From the beginnings of world literature through today's bestsellers, look at what makes characters successful-and how they reflect our changing cultural mores. For instance, after the horrors of global war in the 20th century, the world was waiting for a hero like Frodo Baggins, J.R.R. Tolkien's meek hobbit hero, someone called to duty rather than born strong and fearless.
You'll also examine ways that great heroes have changed the course of history, defining nations and redefining our sense of self and our relationships. From the mythical journey of Aeneas to Jane Austen's country dances, you'll survey a wealth of memorable stories and consider why such heroes were necessary-and how they continue to influence our lives today.
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The modern audience hasn't had a chance to truly appreciate the unknowing dread that readers would have felt when reading Bram Stoker's original 1897 manuscript. Most modern productions employ campiness or sound effects to try to bring back that gothic tension, but we've tried something different. By returning to Stoker's original storytelling structure - a series of letters and journal entries voiced by Jonathan Harker, Dr. Van Helsing, and other characters - with an all-star cast of narrators, we've sought to recapture its originally intended horror and power.
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IS THAT NOT SO?
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 11-05-15
By: Bram Stoker
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Dead Med
- By: Freida McFadden
- Narrated by: Patricia Santomasso, Scott Merriman
- Length: 10 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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When Heather McKinley dreamed of becoming a doctor, she imagined curing sick kids and sporting pink stethoscopes. She never anticipated the sleepless nights, grueling exams, and endless labs. And she certainly never knew that her medical school earned the nickname Dead Med thanks to the tragic history of students overdosing on illegal drugs. But Heather would never consider doing anything like that. That is, until her longtime boyfriend dumps her, she finds herself failing anatomy, and her world starts to crumble.
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Hmm
- By Morgan Meaux on 08-22-24
By: Freida McFadden
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Fahrenheit 451
- By: Ray Bradbury
- Narrated by: Tim Robbins
- Length: 5 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television "family."
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Wish I Hadn't Cliff Noted This in High School
- By Joel on 03-27-17
By: Ray Bradbury
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The House on the Water
- A Novella
- By: Margot Hunt
- Narrated by: Taylor Schilling
- Length: 2 hrs and 47 mins
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Every year, Caroline Reed takes a trip with her best friend, Esme Lamont. They’re usually accompanied by their spouses - but this year, everything’s changed. Esme has just gone through a bitter divorce, and Caroline's wondering if her own marriage is reaching its breaking point as she and her husband, John, cope with the discovery that their son has been abusing drugs. Still, the inseparable duo books a weeklong stay at a beach-front home in Shoreham, Florida, inviting Esme’s brother, Nick, and his new husband. After a blissful first night in the vacation home, tragedy strikes.
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Wonderful Story
- By David M. Wilcox on 12-04-20
By: Margot Hunt
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Home Is Where the Bodies Are
- By: Jeneva Rose
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- Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins
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After their mother passes, three estranged siblings reunite to sort out her estate. Beth, the oldest, never left home. She stayed with her mom, caring for her until the very end. Nicole, the middle child, has been kept at arm’s length due to her ongoing battle with a serious drug addiction. Michael, the youngest, lives out of state and hasn’t been back to their small Wisconsin town since their father ran out on them seven years before.
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Perfect Audio.
- By Black Women Read Too on 05-19-24
By: Jeneva Rose
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Ghost Stories: Stephen Fry's Definitive Collection
- By: Stephen Fry, Washington Irving, M.R. James, and others
- Narrated by: Stephen Fry
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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As the days grow shorter and the temperature drops, Halloween approaches. Come, brave listener, pull up a chair, and spend some time with master storyteller Stephen Fry as he tells us some of his favourite ghost stories of all time, in truly terrifying spatial audio. From the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow to the tortured spirits of M.R. James, from Edgar Allan Poe’s terrifying tale of a doppelganger to Charlotte Riddell’s Open Door that should definitely stay shut, join Stephen as he tells you some truly terrifying tales.
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Wonderful narration. Mediocre stories.
- By Michael Fuchs on 11-07-23
By: Stephen Fry, and others
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Great entertaining listen
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Little mistakes here and there
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Created for a video format
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Between 1861 and 1865, the clash of the greatest armies the Western hemisphere had ever seen turned small towns, little-known streams, and obscure meadows in the American countryside into names we will always remember. In those great battles, those streams ran red with blood-and the United States was truly born.
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Sit down with renowned professional filmmaker, author, and award-winning professor Eric R. Williams to unpack the elements of more than 250 “great” movies to gain insights and secrets that will change the way you view films. You’ll discover how from the moment you sit down, great filmmakers control every sensation the movie experience evokes: tremors or tears, goosebumps or giggles, and why it is that we invite them to do this.
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very informative
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Can literature change our real world society? At its foundation, utopian and dystopian fiction asks a few seemingly simple questions aimed at doing just that. Who are we as a society? Who do we want to be? Who are we afraid we might become? When these questions are framed in the speculative versions of Heaven and Hell on earth, you won't find easy answers, but you will find tremendously insightful and often entertaining perspectives.
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A very enjoyable and educational audiobook
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What listeners say about Heroes and Legends
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Elisabeth
- 10-18-14
The best!
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Yes! The lectures are extremely informative and doesn't puresuppose very much background information at all, and the lecturer is an absolute delight.
Who was your favorite character and why?
They were all extremely fascinating to hear about, but I have to admit that I really enjoyed the lecturer himself =)
Any additional comments?
I wish there were another course with Shippey!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Marijo Taverne (The Giggling Gull)
- 02-15-17
Interesting, but.......
I like this idea and this kind of lecture, but this had some elements I didn't appreciate. Such as the lectures on the Wife Of Bath, Dracula, and even some bits of the Fairy-Tale Heroine lecture. Didn't like how much talked about sexuality and things related to that. In some cases it was already there, but in others he brought it up, it seems to me, unnecessarily.
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1 person found this helpful
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Story
- Albert D.
- 07-17-18
Looking to get into storytelling? Start here!
This course gives you the starting area for storytelling. The lecturer, Thomas A. Shippey, does a great job of tackling each of the 24 characters in the course, first by going through a quick summary of the story they inhabit and the history and interesting facts surrounding them, regarding the social, political, and historic events taking place. With this in mind, he goes through a detailed explanation of how such stories, more specifically their characters, have influenced the generally accepted values of society and the importance of such literature in their own time and ours now. If nothing else, it is a huge tribute to the importance of literature in society and a big tip of the hat to all the authors who’s ideas and stories have shaped our societies across the world.
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- Ostler Family
- 01-16-17
Very well done. Professor Shippey is great!
I like the variety of heroes that were presented. Even characters I didn't think would be interesting were presented in a fascinating way. I hope the Professor Shippey does more Great Courses lectures.
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- Brazilgirl
- 09-19-15
Great Intro to Lit's Most Colorful Characters
What does Professor Thomas A. Shippey bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
His enthusiasm for the subject is contagious. I would glady listen to any other lectures he has done.
Any additional comments?
Each of these lectures offers important insights into the world's great works of literature and why their heroes have lived on in our hearts and imaginations. How could I not love this series when it started out with a most unlikely hero, Frodo Baggins? Shippey explains why the world needed such a hero at that time in history.
Some of the lectures share additional, unknown information about famous characters (such as Robin Hood). Others walk the listener through the character's most famous story (Odysseus). I enjoyed the variety, Shippey's expertise and his dry wit. Although the final lectures include people that I would not have selected as heroes (Celie from The Color Purple and Winston Smith from 1984, for example), Shippey argues convincingly for their importance.
This was a refresher course on books I'd already read, and whetted my appetite for some of the others, except for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which sounds horrific. I have my doubts about that choice, but figure it was added to appeal to 21st century readers.
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- CR
- 12-28-15
5 stars for a subject I had no prior interest in
I was branching out on a new subject matter with this one and fund it quite enjoyable. Maybe not a solid 5 stars but worth the bump to get more people interested. The book is broken into chapter / lectures that build on each other. Starting with Frodo Baggins & ending with Harry Potter, the stories and analogies range widely, by including Odysseus, Robin Hood, Uncle Tom, Dracula, and James Bond.
Professor Shippey is obviously a professional is arranging his lectures. His speak is understandable and actually enjoyable. Sounds like Gandalf from Hobbit/Lord of the Rings.
Anyway, I recommend it to anyone interested in writing, literature, or who wants to broaden their horizons.
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- SAMA
- 07-31-14
I wanted to like it, but...
This course should have been called "The Most Influential Characters in Western History" because I don't see any of the influential characters in Middle Eastern, Asian or African civilisations. And there's plenty to choose from. All characters and stories discussed take place in America, Europe or a fantasy equivalent of them.
Such a lost opportunity to really explore the world.
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- Syd Young
- 01-03-16
Excellent- don't give up on it
Since I live in Texas and so am used to Spanish pronunciation, I almost quit this course over Professor Shippey's insistence on the mispronunciation of Don Quixote. In the end, I'm so glad I didn't. I think this is the most strikingly diverse lecture on a literary subject that I have ever completed. It was very worth the irritant and I even forgive you, Prof. Well done.
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- Stanley W Heaton III
- 07-16-16
A grand tour of the house of legends
Shippey takes us on a tour through myth, stories, and heroism, using reception studies methodology to explore one simple question: Why are certain heroes so successful? If you're interested in Bilbo and the Wife of Barth, Guinevere and Natty Bumppo, Huck Finn and Sherlock Holmes, then this lecture series will help you see them anew, and it may also bring out the hero in you.
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- Areader
- 10-12-14
An Interesting Survey
This is a survey course, I would have preferred a more in depth looks at almost any of these characters then one half hour chapter.
For what it is, it's very good and has some information that was useful, I still don't want to read Robinson Caruso and but I will try James Fennimore Cooper's Hawkeye stories.
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