Classics of British Literature

De: John Sutherland, The Great Courses

Narrado por: John Sutherland

For more than 1,500 years, the literature of Great Britain has taught, nurtured, thrilled, outraged, and humbled readers both inside and outside its borders.

Chaucer, Shakespeare, Dickens, Austen, Swift, Conrad, Wilde - the roster of powerful British writers is remarkable. More important, Britain's writers have long challenged readers with new ways of understanding an ever-changing world.

This series of 48 fascinating lectures by an award-winning professor provides you with a rare opportunity to step beyond the surface of Britain's grand literary masterpieces and experience the times and conditions they came from and the diverse issues with which their writers grappled.

The unique insights Professor Sutherland shares about how and why these works succeed as both literature and documents of Britain's social and political history can forever alter the way you experience a novel, poem, or play.

More than just a survey, these lectures reveal how Britain's cultural landscape acted upon its literature and how, in turn, literature affected the cultural landscape. Professor Sutherland takes a historical approach to the wealth of works explored in these lectures, grounding them in specific contexts and often connecting them with one another.

All the great writers that come to mind when you think of British literature are here, along with unique looks at their most popular and powerful works. You also enjoy the company of less-familiar voices and contemporary authors who continue to take literature into new territories.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2008 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2008 The Great Courses

Highly reccomend

The content of this series was rich, and enhanced by the wit and passion of Prof. Sutherland. The result is an enriching and extremely enjoyable experience.

Best course I’ve listened to!

I have listened to many Great Courses and I usually rate them 5 stars. I wish I could rate this course a 6 or 7! I also wish John Sutherland had other Great Course available!

Helped supplement college course

These lectures were almost lined perfectly with the curriculum of my college Brit lit course. The poems and prose he goes over are some of the most famous works and therefore very helpful for students. I suggest listening to these lectures for review before tests!

Very extensive and intensive

As an agnostic of poetry, I am reminded by these lectures of what I don’t know. There is a lot contextualizing of the large number of works surveyed. The lectures also confirm that if you grew up in a stable, caring home and managed to replicate that experience in your adult life, there is no way you will ever make the short list of esteemed authors nor ever be invited to be a character in their works.

The importance of a good narrator !!

Where does Classics of British Literature rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This course is perhaps at the top quartile of my audiobooks ...infused to a great extent by the conviction and passion of the narrator

What does Professor John Sutherland bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

.. for sure it is Professors passion for his subject that brings this version of of Classic British Literature to life .... I lived through the centuries of development in literature with this passion as evoked and certainly leads me to delve far more into some of the books mentioned