Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition

by Elizabeth Vandiver, James A.W. Heffernan

1. Foundations
2. The Epic of Gilgamesh
3. Genesis and the Documentary Hypothesis
4. The Deuteronomistic History
5. Isaiah
6. Job
7. HomerThe Iliad
8. HomerThe Odyssey
9. Sappho and Pindar
10. Aeschylus
11. Sophocles
12. Euripides
13. Herodotus
14. Thucydides
15. Aristophanes
16. Plato
17. Menander and Hellenistic Literature
18. Catullus and Horace
19. Virgil
20. Ovid
21. Livy, Tacitus, Plutarch
22. Petronius and Apuleius
23. The Gospels
24. Augustine
25. Beowulf
26. The Song of Roland
27. El Cid
28. Tristan and Isolt
29. The Romance of the Rose
30. Dante AlighieriLife and Works
31. Dante AlighieriThe Divine Comedy
32. Petrarch
33. Giovanni Boccaccio
34. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
35. Geoffrey ChaucerLife and Works
36. Geoffrey ChaucerThe Canterbury Tales
37. Christine de Pizan
38. Erasmus
39. Thomas More
40. Michel de Montaigne
41. François Rabelais
42. Christopher Marlowe
43. William ShakespeareThe Merchant of Venice
44. William ShakespeareHamlet
45. Lope de Vega
46. Miguel de Cervantes
47. John Milton
48. Blaise Pascal
49. Molière
50. Jean Racine
51. Sister Juana Inés de la Cruz
52. Daniel Defoe
53. Alexander Pope
54. Jonathan Swift
55. Voltaire
56. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
57. Samuel Johnson
58. Denis Diderot
59. William Blake
60. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
61. William Wordsworth
62. Jane Austen
63. Stendhal
64. Herman Melville
65. Walt Whitman
66. Gustave Flaubert
67. Charles Dickens
68. Fyodor Dostoevsky
69. Leo Tolstoy
70. Mark Twain
71. Thomas Hardy
72. Oscar Wilde
73. Henry James
74. Joseph Conrad
75. William Butler Yeats
76. Marcel Proust
77. James Joyce
78. Franz Kafka
79. Virginia Woolf
80. William Faulkner
81. Bertolt Brecht
82. Albert Camus
83. Samuel Beckett
84. Conclusion

Listening Length: 42 hours and 55 minutes

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Literature, Audiobook, Classics, Literary Criticism, Biography

43 pages, Audible Audio

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Elizabeth Vandiver is Associate Professor of Classics and Clement Biddle Penrose Professor of Latin at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. She was formerly Director of the Honors Humanities program at the University of Maryland at College Park, where she also taught in the Department of Classics. She completed her undergraduate work at Shimer College and went on to earn her M.A. and Ph.D. from The University of Texas at Austin.

Prior to taking her position at Maryland, she held visiting professorships at Northwestern University, the University of Georgia, the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies in Rome, Loyola University of New Orleans, and Utah State University.

Professor Vandiver is the author of Heroes in Herodotus: The Interaction of Myth and History. She has also written numerous articles and has delivered many papers at national and international conferences.

In 1998, The American Philological Association recognized her achievements as a lecturer with its Excellence in Teaching Award, the most prestigious teaching prize given to American classicists. Her other awards include the Northwestern University Department of Classics Excellence in Teaching Award and two University of Georgia Outstanding Honors Professor Awards.

Reviews

[Old Dog Diogenes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m giving 5 stars specifically to Elizabeth Vandiver’s section, which encompasses the foundation of western literature as far back as Gilgamesh up through Saint Augustine. These lectures don’t dig deeply into any of the subject matter, they only skate over the surface of some of the most important authors from the western canon of literature. It was especially nice for me to listen to these lectures as a way to tie in my reading from this last year into this coming year as it was a quick overview of the reading I had done this year and the reading I will be doing next year. I think Elizabeth Vandiver is a wonderful lecturer, and this series is worth listening to for a quick survey of the western literary canon.

[Kristi Richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I don't study to know more, but to ignore less.”
― Juana Inés de la Cruz


1 Foundations
2 The Epic of Gilgamesh
3 Genesis and the Documentary Hypothesis
4 The Deuteronimistic History
5 Isaiah
6 Job
7 Homer The Iliad
8 Homer The Odyssey
9 Sappho and Pindar
10 Aeschylus
11 Sophocles
12 Euripides
13 Herodotus
14 Thucydides
15 Aristophanes
16 Plato
17 Menander and Hellenistic Literature
18 Catullus and Horace
19 Virgil
20 Ovid
21 Livy, Tacitus and Plutarch
22 Petronius and Apuleius
23 The Gospels
24 Augustine
25 Beowulf
26 The Song of Roland
27 El Cid
28 Tristan and Isolt
29 The Romance of the Rose
30 Dante Alighieri Life and Works
31 Dante Alighieri The Divine Comedy
32 Petrarch
33 Giovanni Boccaccio
34 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
35 Geoffrey Chaucer Life and Works
36 Geoffrey Chaucer The Canterbury Tales
37 Christine de Pizan
38 Erasmus
39 Thomas More
40 Michel de Montaigne
41 Francois Rabelais
42 Christopher Marlowe
43 William Shakespeare The Merchant of Venice
44 William Shakespeare Hamlet
45 Lope de Vega
46 Miguel de Cervantes
47 John Milton
48 Blaise Pascal
49 Moliere
50 Jean Racine
51 Sister Juana Ines de la Cruz
52 Daniel Defoe
53 Alexander Pope
54 Jonathon Swift
55 Voltaire
56 Jean-Jacques Rousseau
57 Samuel Johnson
58 Denis Diderot
59 William Blake
60 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
61 William Wordsworth
62 Jane Austen
63 Stendhal
64 Herman Melville
65 Walt Whitman
66 Gustav Flaubert
67 Charles Dickens
68 Feodor Dostoevsky
69 Leo Tolstoy
70 Mark Twain
71 Thomas Hardy
72 Oscar Wilde
73 Henry James
74 Joseph Conrad
75 William Butler Yeats
76 Marcel Proust
77 James Joyce
78 Franz Kafka
79 Virginia Woolf
80 William Faulkner
81 Berthold Brecht
82 Albert Camus
83 Samuel Beckett
84 Conclusion


Each of these 84 lectures either introduces us to an author or explains why the author is important in the Western Literary Tradition. Five different lecturers teach this course and I thought they were all excellent in their methods. This is a long course but I found it very interesting especially for the more ancient writers that I was unfamiliar. I also enjoyed learning about the French and German writers that I have never read.

My absolute favorite was the obscure nun named Sister Juana Ines de la Cruz whose letters have just recently been discovered. She was a nun in New Spain, (Mexico) and was a feminist before there were feminists. She was lucky enough to have been born in a wealthy enough family to allow her to be educated. Her only option for freedom in those days was to dedicate her life to God and become a nun. I have a new person to investigate.

Each of these lectures is around thirty minutes so you have plenty of time to listen a little bit each day. I enjoyed about three a night before falling asleep. This was one of my favorite Great Courses and I highly recommend it to anyone who would enjoy an overview of the writers that made our Western Literature popular.

[Cris · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to these lectures (about 43 hours) because of Vandiver and loved her contribution the most. I’ve read most of the books so it was both a recollection and a new exposure. Some books went on my “to read” list.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a 43-hour audiobook recording of 84 lectures narrated by five professors of English and history from various American universities. As the title suggests, it covers key figures and works in western literature from the earliest example in the Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh in 2100 BC, through the Hebrew Bible, the Greek and Roman classics, the Christian Bible, medieval epics, writers of the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, the Victorian period, and on into the twentieth century, ending in the 1950s with Samuel Beckett. With brief biographies, plot summaries of key works and analysis, it examines some 70 literary geniuses and masterpieces of the western canon.

Although it takes a long time to listen to this opus, it is an absolute delight from start to finish. Every one of the speakers has an excellent speaking voice – essential in any audiobook – and explains their specialist topic with a confidence and enthusiasm much too rare in the field of literature studies. They remove the aura of impenetrable intellectualism from the classics by inspiring listeners to read, explore and find their own meaning in some of the greatest writing the world has to offer. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading, is curious but tentative about great works of art, or would like to better understand the foundations of western society and culture.

[Keith]

This is also available as a 14 disk DVD set with accompanying book of 589 pages. The book does not have an ISBN.

[Victor N · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the back of my mind I always knew but this lecture series really reinforced it; I have basically no interest in 19th century Western literature with the exception of philosophy and Russian literature. Luckily there are about 80 other lecturers which are all really well done.

[Ben Smitthimedhin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition is a great introduction to the vast ocean of authors in the West today. Some of the summaries were really fun, and some were really boring; a mixed bag from different professors. This took me 84 hours to get through, so you can imagine that there were some good days and bad and that they are all a little vague to me now.

[Jerry Jares · Rating 4 out of 5]

This overview of great authors of the Western literary tradition moves quickly. I particularly enjoyed Dr. Elizabeth Vandiver's presentations. However, she seemed rushed. Slow down; I wanted to tell her she was doing a beautiful job. Her insights are interesting and informative. She understands the period that she shares with her listeners. I've concentrated my history reading on ancient cultures for the past few years. Thus, Dr. Vandiver's literature summaries dovetailed with my reading to tie together literature, wars, and culture.

Dr. Vandiver and Dr. Noble shared a skill that I appreciate. They both reminded the listener of points they had made before that they emphasized in new situations. This helped me make new connections to complex ideas. This skill is important to me because they were synthesizing the long history of Western Literature into a few dozen hours of lessons.

The wonderful aspect of each of these professors was their expertise in the lessons they taught. None of them were slouches by any measure. Dr. Heffernan's observations on Jane Austen were fascinating; I enjoyed it twice—Ditto with the lecture on Erasmus (Dr. Noble).

Fortunately, I purchased this course because I doubt I absorbed it all in the single listening of the eighty-four lectures. I plan to listen again to several of these lectures after I've read some of the individual works mentioned in this massive compilation.

My favorite professors were (in the order of best to lesser) -- Vandiver, Heffernan, and Noble. The remaining two were significantly lesser (to me). However, it may have been my fault that I was not as astute as they needed their listener to be (for a full appreciation). Overall score = 4.5 stars.

[Chris Leuchtenburg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love The Great Courses, but I didn't love this one. After a while, I began to ask myself, did I really need to be stepped through the plots especially of familiar works, such as The Importance of Being Earnest? Heffernan, who teaches this section, disects the plot of one major work by each author. He provides a rather conventional analysis of the characters' motivations and actions, and this focus on a single work leaves too little room for the author's life and other works and even less for his influence on other writers or society at large. Heffernan also has an annoying lecture style in which, like an evangelist preacher, he swoops up, up, up and then down, down, down to a whisper to emphasize point after point, edging towards bombastic.

I got the most out of the lectures on authors that I had not read, such as Stendahl, or hadn't understood, such as Goethe. So, it might have been better if I had listened to more of the earlier authors, such as Virgil and Ovid, with whom I am unfamiliar and will probably never read, but I focused on the period in which I have the most interest starting with lecture 60 (Goethe) and gave up after lecture 73 of 84 (James). I just didn't want to hear all about the plot of a novel that I might yet read.

[Gilbert Stack · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a humongous Great Courses text that spotlights highly influential authors from the Epic of Gilgamesh to the twentieth century. If you like literature, there’s something of use in these 84 lectures for you. I found that for my particular interests, I became less interested after we left the Renaissance, finding my interest piqued when the lecturers discussed authors I know well and less so when they discussed people I hadn’t read. I also found myself disappointed that there weren’t twelve more lectures to bring us closer to the present day. But don’t let those “disappointments” discourage you. I suspect that no one loves the entire canon of western literature, but there is so much here there has to be something to interest you.

[Abdul Alhazred · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very extensive literature overview and probably the best bang for your buck in this genre that Great Courses provides. However, with multiple lecturers the quality is not consistent - and some eras have better lecturers and coverage offered in other of their courses.

[AttackGirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

If only they would have started the book with the last chapter to explain the differences between types of writings.

If only they would have had her speak the whole time or at least some _ufus that could not stop say UH UH UH more than irritating.

[Christopher Hellstrom · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of my favorite Teaching Company set of lectures.

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just love all the great courses, but this one was satisfying, edifying, and a joy to listen too.

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

84 lectures on Great Authors. A long slog, but I 'feel like I learned something today'. Great stuff.

[Rachel]

is listening with wandering attention the audiobook equivalent of skimming?

[Markus Pietilä · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5/5

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars for Elizabeth Vandiver! She's a treasure. I skimmed over much of the rest of it. Highly recommend any of Dr. Vandiver's deep dive lecture series.

[Cemile (blushingbookkeeper) · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are authors one would have liked to have seen. But a great overview none the less.

[Bill Dauster · Rating 5 out of 5]

A useful survey of literature from Homer to Joyce. Excellenr treatment of the classics by Elizabeth Vandiver, giving way to overwraught treatment of modern literature at the end

[Aaron Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Western Culture foundations: Hebrew Bible and Classical Literature (i.e. Ancient Greece and Rome).

Literature: writing claimed consideration based on beauty of form and emotional effect.

[Bernie4444 · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I've looked at clouds from both sides now”

I've looked at clouds from both sides now,
From up and down, and still somehow
It's clouds illusions I recall.
I really don't know clouds at all. - Joni Mitchell

No matter what you think or have read, this course will be an eye-opener.

First what it is and is not. It is not the literary works themselves. It is a lecture on why these particular works are in the Western Cannon and what happened to the near misses.

It does help to be a tad familiar or at least have read most of the Cannon before the course. However, there are enough contexts so you will not get lost.

Just like someone telling you that your shoe is untied the real worth of the course is seeing writings that you are already familiar with from a different angle.

It comes with a book to help you go beyond the DVD lectures.

[Scott Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is, as far as it goes, an excellent series of lectures on one collection of professors' (and probably editors etc.) version of the Western Canon. While their selected authors reflect a generally traditional interpretation of what constitutes the "Western Literary Tradition" it would be impossible to tackle so large a topic without innumerable lamentable omissions, or without stepping on one set of toes or another in the canon wars that have raged over the years. In my opinion as an English teacher/professor (for what it's worth), I think they've done an admirable job given the inevitable constrictions of length etc. If one is willing to take the course with the caveat I used at the beginning, that this series reflects just one of many possible renditions of the western literary canon, there is an admirable amount of material to be learned, and authors to meet. The professors often do an admirable job of suggesting the continuance between the author's they're covering.

[Bettie]

H:\bookies\not essential\non fiction\

This is laid out in seven sections and the first of which is entitled The Writings of Greece and Ancient Jerusalem, so we kick off with

Chapter 1 - Arnold Weinstein; The Value of Literature.
Chapter 2 - Arnold Weinstein; The Interpretation of Literature
Chapter 3 - S Georgia Nugent; Introduction to Homer

Arnold Weinstein is a catarrhal, slobbering, sipping pain in the ear; the content is brilliant but I wish he had handed over the reading to someone that didn't have me reaching for the meeses dumbells and a face mask.




Need to go back and listen to that Nero section again - it was fably gruesome hahahah

---

Oh how I loved that Friedrich Nietzsche wrote 'I cannot forgive what Christianity did to Blaise Pascal'

[Sean O'Hara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I suppose it's no surprise that a lecture series called "Great Authors of the Western Literary Tradition" is predominated by dead white men, but you'd think once they get up to modern literature they could've included something from the Harlem Renaissance or by Naipaul or Rushdie? At least most of the lecturers included a token female author, except for the Medievalist, (C'mon, he couldn't've replaced Tristan und Isolt with the lais of Marie de France? Or Julian of Norwich?) but again the modern and even Victorian era could've had more.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I own the CD version of this, not the DVDs.

Fantastic, very well done overview of the history of western lit. covered me to and from work for a month and a half!

[Thecritic · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a joy to listen to this course.

[Lori Tian Sailiata · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 stars for the first segment. The material is very solid throughout. Each instructor has their own distinct style which will charm and irritate you in turn. What I find pompous you may deem dramatic. Even so, the material is too valuable to ignore.