Classics of British Literature

By: John Sutherland, The Great Courses

Narrated by: John Sutherland

Length: 24 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

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!

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

Masterful sweep of the mssterworks

An illuminating review of English literature that contextualizes the major movements and writers century by century that changed how Britons saw and experienced their world.

Don't want to write

Requiring reviews is a simpleton decision of a manager that knows only flashy marketing.

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!

dulce et utile

Dulce et utile. Listening over and over. Review field requires more words, words, words… words…

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.

Wonderful Overview of Classics and their Authors

Political correctness has made the study of classic literature a scary proposition. Now that all white male authors are taboo, what exactly are we supposed to read? Knowing the propensity of modern scholasticism to disparage traditional classics, I went into this series with some trepidation, but, happily, my fears were relieved.

Professor John Sutherland covers 600 years of British literature in witty, bite-sized chunks and he isn't afraid to give each author his due. It's true that he occasionally gives a nod to political correctness, but for the most part I found him to be even-handed. He doesn't ignore the Bible's impact on literature. Nor does he try to portray Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë as ardent feminists. He describes sexual tawdriness in books (and in the lives of their authors) without a hint of crudeness, which is no easy feat.

These 48 lectures are a great intro to those wanting to learn about British literature and also a great review for those who are already immersed in it.

The Best of British

This audiobook was an enjoyable summary of British Literature from its inception with Beowulf in the dark ages up to the 21st century. As a general rule it was very entertaining, giving the background stories of the authors and describing how their lives and historical circumstances produced their writing. It was fascinating to hear the about the lives of Austen, the Brontes, Dickens and Hardy.

I found myself zoning out a few times when poetry was the topic. I don’t think this is the fault of the lecturer, poetry just doesn’t really do it for me, although I found the lives of Keats and Byron to be interesting and First World War poetry has always seemed more poignant to me than poetry about love or beauty. As for Milton and Paradise Lost, I still don’t get it even now, even after it has been explained to me.

My overall verdict is that this is an interesting audiobook and, at 25 hours duration, well worth the price of the credit.