After the Plague

De: Simon Doubleday, The Great Courses

Narrado por: Simon Doubleday

As the Black Death swept across Europe, killing up to a half of the population in certain areas, a young Geoffrey Chaucer came of age in England. While he and his family avoided the worst of the disease, all were shaped by its presence and impact on the British island. In fact, Chaucer’s most famous work shines light on a complex period underwritten by trauma and tragedy, without ever explicitly mentioning the bubonic plague by name. Through its characters, themes, and stories, The Canterbury Tales is a portal into medieval Europe and can thus be a useful tool in expanding our knowledge and challenging our assumptions about what life was truly like in plague times.

With expert Simon Doubleday, professor of history at Hofstra University, in After the Plague, examine medieval literature like The Canterbury Tales for firsthand accounts from minority voices not typically heard from in the period. Learn of historical arguments to see how the outbreak of disease reshaped the continent for good. Start by exploring “pre-plague” Europe: a place that, despite popular belief, was neither backwards nor isolated. Learn about the continent’s key global connections, many of which hastened the spread of disease. Dive into medieval innovations in science, medicine, public health, and disaster responses that helped prime and prepare European institutions and leadership for what was to come. And challenge your preconceived notions of what everyday life was like for women, children, minority groups, and families leading up to the outbreak.

Then, get to know the Black Death as a disease—its pathology, symptoms, and population-level impact and effects of the plague experience. Map its destructive path from densely packed cities in England to Jewish enclaves in Spain. Go even broader to investigate the social, political, and economic realities of the plague era and how medieval Europeans from Chaucer’s fictional characters to peasant revolutionaries made sense of and responded to them. And understand how human resilience, a remarkable quality that transcends time and place, functions in the face of widespread tumult and trauma.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 The Great Courses (P)2022 The Teaching Company, LLC

Meh

I have seen and listened to nearly 100 Great Courses. This one was possibly the least interesting.
The connection between the plague and its aftermaths presented are tedious and at times, a stretch.

Black Death’s effects on literature and society

Narration is understandable.

Content of special interest to literature students and scholars, otherwise too esoteric for general reader

my least favorite of the Grat courses

I did expect a series of different discussions that what is here, so the author and I are at odds to a degree. No doubt there are some interesting lectures, but my mind does not make the same connections to 'after the plague' that Simon Doubleday does here. The epilogue in particular strikes me as relevant to the author, but I find it completely irrelevant. This happens with much of the material here Several chapters struck me as Doubleday showing his erudition, but, for me, he failed to link much of the material to the stated subject. On the other hand, in the chapter on Lollardy, Doubleday starts by discussing Chaucer, but fails to mention that Chaucer's patron and brother-in-law, John of Gaunt. was reputed to be a patron and protector of John Wycliffe. Something that I thought would be worth mentioning if only to dispute it.
So in my subjective opinion, a somewhat weak presentation with a mediocre lecturer. I recognized the cover as Bruegel's 'Icarus,' but the picture is cropped to leave a sinking Icarus out of view. Seemed like a portent of things to come for me.

Interesting

Interesting, but not as good or engaging as
Dorsey Armstrong’s course on the Black Death.

Excellent intro to European world after plague

This course will lead to my reading (listening to?) the canterberry tales by Geoffrey Chaucer and to sample other artists mentioned in this course. Too bad there is not a listing for follow up study. This course is an excellent introduction to the 14th century European world. This course explains that the post-plague era has a much to offer us in our own time. Volume 2 to come?