36
Lectures
30
minutes/lecture
1.
Kafka, “A Country Doctor”
Why are short literary works just as insightful—and just as great—as their more gargantuan counterparts? This introductory lecture not only answers this provocative question but uses Franz Kafka’s surreal five-page story, “A Country Doctor,” to illustrate just how engaging and dynamic a day’s read can be.
1.
Kafka, “A Country Doctor”
|
19.
Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Turn now to The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde’s controversial story of art, excess, and temptation. How are readers supposed to make sense of this apparent morality tale? What effect does Oscar Wilde’s real-life obscenity trial have on our reading? What about the book’s delightful stylistic perfection?
19.
Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray
|
2.
Prévost, Manon Lescaut
It’s long been considered a classic of French literature. It’s regarded as a masterpiece of the pre-Romantic era. Its use of the first-person narrative to tell the story of a frustrated relationship is provocative. Here, join Professor Weinstein as he takes you deep inside the pages of Manon Lescaut.
2.
Prévost, Manon Lescaut
|
20.
James, The Beast in the Jungle
The Beast in the Jungle is a watershed moment in the novella’s history—one that stretches the possibilities of the form and explores new stylistic ways to depict the turmoil of human consciousness. Read between the lines of Henry James’s masterpiece in search of the true meaning of its central character’s secret.
20.
James, The Beast in the Jungle
|
3.
Flaubert, “A Simple Heart”
See Gustave Flaubert’s surgical precision as a realist writer at work in “A Simple Heart,” which is often overlooked over the author’s larger novels such as Madame Bovary and The Sentimental Education. How can such a short novella as this convey, in brilliant prose, the entirety of a human life?
3.
Flaubert, “A Simple Heart”
|
21.
Joyce, “The Dead”
Here, Professor Allen lays out the distinct narrative technique of “The Dead,” talks you through some of the key episodes in this beautiful short story, and guides you to a greater appreciation of the story’s moving closer. The result: a new, fresh way to read James Joyce’s classic modernist tale.
21.
Joyce, “The Dead”
|
4.
Faulkner, “Pantaloon in Black”
Professor Weinstein helps you make sense of a powerful vignette taken from William Faulkner’s novel Go Down Moses. In doing so, he reveals how this day’s read—which deals with grief, dignity, and racial tensions—may well be Faulkner’s finest achievement of depicting African American life in fiction.
4.
Faulkner, “Pantaloon in Black”
|
22.
Proust, The Lemoine Affair
Experience Marcel Proust—best known for his massive and dense In Search of Lost Time—at his lightest and frothiest with his pastiche, The Lemoine Affair. It’s a chance for you to marvel at Proust’s ability to mime the styles of the giants of French literature, including Balzac, Flaubert, and Saint-Simon.
22.
Proust, The Lemoine Affair
|
5.
Borges, Short Story Selections
Get a wide-angle view of Jorge Luis Borges’s fascinating, mind-bending body of work with this examination of two widely acclaimed stories: “The Garden of Forking Paths” and “Emma Zunz.” You’ll come to see how these elegant and sometimes enigmatic metaphysical tales radically challenge our notions of time, space, and identity.
5.
Borges, Short Story Selections
|
23.
Woolf, “Mrs. Dalloway in Bond Street”
Before Virginia Woolf’s unforgettable novel Mrs. Dalloway, there was the short story that started it all: “Mrs. Dalloway in Bond Street.” Come to see this day’s read as a stand-alone example of Woolf’s innovative way of representing human thought and experience through the power of the written word.
23.
Woolf, “Mrs. Dalloway in Bond Street”
|
6.
Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea
Discover fresh insights into Hemingway’s short novel The Old Man and the Sea. In this lecture, you’ll focus on what this brisk masterpiece has to say about growing old and the simple brutality of the animal kingdom—while also looking at the work as an unconventional type of love story.
6.
Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea
|
24.
McEwan, On Chesil Beach
Professor Allen concludes her selection of short reads with On Chesil Beach, a 21st-century novel that probes the sexual and cultural mores of early 1960s England. Ian McEwan’s tragicomic work offers writing of extraordinary craft, beauty, and, most important, insight into the ways we can fail to communicate with one another.
24.
McEwan, On Chesil Beach
|
7.
O’Connor, Short Story Selections
Experience Flannery O’Connor at the height of her powers by comparing two stories that display the strange, often violent workings of Christian grace: “The River,” with its focus on the collision between the sacred and the secular; and “Judgment Day,” which ponders the final fate of our bodies and souls.
7.
O’Connor, Short Story Selections
|
25.
Cather, Alexander’s Bridge
Professor Voth’s first selection of powerful and unforgettable day-long reads is Willa Cather’s often-overlooked first novel, Alexander’s Bridge. In this emotional story of a bridge engineer and his divided self, Cather crafts a gripping story about the loss of authentic identity and the inexorable (and sometimes fatal) pull of success.
25.
Cather, Alexander’s Bridge
|
8.
Lagerkvist, The Sybil
Spiritual malaise, lost innocence, startling links between paganism and Christianity—three provocative subjects that are at the center of The Sybil, a Swedish novel by Nobel laureate Pär Lagerkvist. Get a solid introduction to an unorthodox day-long read that sheds new light on familiar aspects of our world.
8.
Lagerkvist, The Sybil
|
26.
Lu Xun, Short Story Selections
Continue pondering issues of identity in two short stories by the Chinese writer Lu Xun. “Diary of a Madman” centers on a paranoid who believes that everyone is plotting to eat him, while “Upstairs in a Wineshop” is an intriguing tale about a subtly tense meeting between two old school friends.
26.
Lu Xun, Short Story Selections
|
9.
Vesaas, The Ice Palace
Tarjei Vesaas isn’t a household name when it comes to literary genius—but Professor Weinstein makes a solid case for why he should be. Your portal into Vesaas’s writing: The Ice Palace, a masterful tale about the strange bond between two 11-year-old girls navigating a world fraught with dangers.
9.
Vesaas, The Ice Palace
|
27.
Chopin, The Awakening
Explore some of the different ways to approach and read Kate Chopin’s feminist novel The Awakening. Here, Professor Voth guides you through this powerful, provocative, and in some ways, controversial story of Edna Pontellier’s search for selfhood amid sharp tensions between her individualism, her gender, and her society.
27.
Chopin, The Awakening
|
10.
Calvino, Invisible Cities
What exactly are cities? How do they evolve—if they do? Can you take the measure of a city or its people? Can someone possess a city? These questions are at the heart of Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, a postmodern read that illuminates everything from imagination to desire to history.
10.
Calvino, Invisible Cities
|
28.
Melville, Billy Budd
Billy Budd, which at first seems like a straightforward story of a sailor’s adventures, is anything but simple. In this engaging lecture, examine some of the questions and debates over the tale’s events, readers’ love-hate relationship with Captain Vere, and how Melville’s story is actually a story about reading.
28.
Melville, Billy Budd
|
11.
Duras, The Lover
Perhaps the most famous French woman writer of the 20th century, Marguerite Duras is best known for her break with traditional narrative styles. See her skills at work in this piercing examination of her novel The Lover, with its disorienting time frame and provocative exploration of sexuality.
11.
Duras, The Lover
|
29.
McCullers, Ballad of the Sad Café
Why is this novel considered a “ballad,” and why has its narrative voice attracted such attention? How do Carson McCullers’s grotesque figures illustrate the book’s ideas about love? What are we to make of the work’s epilogue, told in the present tense? Find out in this lecture on Ballad of the Sad Café.
29.
McCullers, Ballad of the Sad Café
|
12.
Coetzee, Disgrace
Can a short literary work chart an individual’s moral and spiritual evolution in a matter of pages? Professor Weinstein makes the case for the affirmative in his engaging lecture on J. M. Coetzee’s Disgrace, in which the reader is forced to confront deep truths about racial and gender tensions in South Africa.
12.
Coetzee, Disgrace
|
30.
Chekhov, Short Story Selections
Dive into the pleasures and insights of two Anton Chekhov tales that throw startling light on the lives of women: “The Party” and “The Lady with the Dog.” Professor Voth shows how, in just one day, you can experience realist writing by one of Russia’s—and Western civilization’s—literary treasures.
30.
Chekhov, Short Story Selections
|
13.
Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea
Join Professor Allen as she becomes your guide through 12 more short reads—starting with Jean Rhys’s classic Wide Sargasso Sea. Here, she takes you beyond the novel’s much touted connection with characters from Jane Eyre and demonstrates how the novel stands on its own as a commentary on English imperialism.
13.
Rhys, Wide Sargasso Sea
|
31.
Hersey, Hiroshima
Begin looking at day-long reads that use literary techniques to describe history. Your first work: John Hersey’s Hiroshima, a “nonfiction novel” that uses reportage and accounts of six survivors to create a stirring mosaic of life during and after the dropping of the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima in 1945.
31.
Hersey, Hiroshima
|
14.
Austen, Lady Susan
Jane Austen writing an “improper” novel? Find out why her overlooked Lady Susan, which depicts the exploits of England’s worst coquette, is worth experiencing; how its presence fits in the larger context of the 18th-century novel’s development; and why it can be considered Austen’s literary “road not taken.”
14.
Austen, Lady Susan
|
32.
Satrapi, Persepolis
Discover the literary merits of graphic novels with this lecture on Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, the author’s stark, black-and-white recounting of life during Iran’s Islamic Revolution and the subsequent Iran-Iraq War. You’ll delve into the interaction between public and private history, and the ways that our personal and national narratives are created.
32.
Satrapi, Persepolis
|
15.
Balzac, The Girl with the Golden Eyes
A merciless critique of the Parisian upper crust in the mid-18th century, The Girl with the Golden Eyes is Balzac at his finest. After gaining background on the author’s style and subject matter, delve into reasons this particular work—more than any of his others—makes for a masterful day’s read.
15.
Balzac, The Girl with the Golden Eyes
|
33.
Jataka Story Selections
Examine a collection of 547 stories about events in the life of the Buddha, a work known as the Jataka, which dates back to the 4th century C.E. Professor Voth focuses on two tales—featuring a rich Brahmin family and a bull ox—to illustrate how this work still speaks to us even today.
33.
Jataka Story Selections
|
16.
Meredith, Modern Love
Learn how George Meredith’s verse novel Modern Love, an unflinching tale of infidelity and despair, challenged the basic tenets of Victorian literature and attempted to remake the genre of the novel. You’ll also examine how it demonstrates the ways poetry can go to places darker and more realistic than prose fiction.
16.
Meredith, Modern Love
|
34.
Munro, Short Story Selections
Why is Alice Munro considered one of the greatest living short story writers? Find out in this engrossing look at two of her masterpieces, “Walker Brothers Cowboy” and “The Peace of Utrecht”—both of which illustrate the richness and mystery to be found in even the most banal-seeming circumstances.
34.
Munro, Short Story Selections
|
17.
Huysmans, Against the Grain
Against the Grain, with its lack of plot and single character, sounds like a novella that only a literature professor could love. But Professor Allen demonstrates just how wonderful and approachable this tale of Parisian decadence is—and offers you several tactics for enjoying this strange, “dangerous” work.
17.
Huysmans, Against the Grain
|
35.
Basho, The Narrow Road of the Interior
Investigate a genre new to this course: the travel narrative. Matsuo Basho’s The Narrow Road of the Interior is both a travelogue and a book of haiku in which poetry and prose work together to help Basho relive the experiences of his literary predecessors and transform his own poetry as well.
35.
Basho, The Narrow Road of the Interior
|
18.
Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
Learn new ways to read The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in this lecture that takes you through each of the book’s 10 brief chapters. In the process, you’ll find out just why this day’s read and its tortured central character make for such a compelling—and even transformative—literary adventure.
18.
Stevenson, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
|
36.
Sijie, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
End the course with Dai Sijie’s Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, about two teenagers’ dramatic experiences during Mao’s Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1976. In particular, analyze the novel’s shocking ending and what it really suggests about the power of literature in the face of totalitarianism.
36.
Sijie, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
|
48
Lectures
30
minutes/lecture
1.
Stories and Storytellers
Humankind has always sought to understand its existence through stories. In this opening lecture, Professor Voth provides a preview of the literary journey to come, and begins to define the relationship between history and literature.
1.
Stories and Storytellers
|
25.
Cao Xueqin's The Story of the Stone
Recounting the story of an aristocratic family in decline, The Story of the Stone is simultaneously a Buddhist-Taoist meditation on the illusory nature of existence and a gripping and detailed novel of personal relationships.
25.
Cao Xueqin's The Story of the Stone
|
2.
The Epic of Gilgamesh
In this lecture, we examine one of the world's oldest literary works. This ancient poem combines a heroic story of a legendary king with a spiritual quest about coming to terms with the inevitability of mortality.
2.
The Epic of Gilgamesh
|
26.
Goethe's Faust
Goethe's Faust is a new version of a story dating back to the 16th century, when the historical Faustus lived. In Goethe's version, Faust becomes the ultimate Romantic hero—one who strives to express his own will and experience all life has to offer.
26.
Goethe's Faust
|
3.
The Hebrew Bible
Blending literature, history, and theology, the Hebrew Bible (or Tanakh) is perhaps one of the most important books ever written. We explore some of the unique elements of this sacred literary text, including its introduction of the concept of monotheism.
3.
The Hebrew Bible
|
27.
Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights
Brontë's story about the passionate love between Catherine and Heathcliff is perhaps one of the best loved 19th-century novels. In this lecture, we explore the relationship of the novel to Romanticism and discuss Brontë's use of competing narrative perspectives.
27.
Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights
|
4.
Homer's Iliad
Through a consideration of Homer's classic poem about the fall of Troy, Professor Voth defines the key elements of the epic and examines how the poem expresses ancient Greek views of heroism and individual honor.
4.
Homer's Iliad
|
28.
Pushkin's Eugene Onegin
Alexander Pushkin is usually considered Russia's national poet—the equivalent of Shakespeare in England. In Eugene Onegin, he employed a complicated poetic form to create a witty novel-in-verse that satirizes Romantic excesses.
28.
Pushkin's Eugene Onegin
|
5.
Homer's Odyssey
Our consideration of the epic continues with the Odyssey, which follows the 10-year journey of the warrior Odysseus after the end of the Trojan War.
5.
Homer's Odyssey
|
29.
Flaubert's Madame Bovary
An ordinary story about ordinary people told with detachment and objectivity, Flaubert's tale of a bored housewife living in a French provincial town marks a turning point in literature: the rise of Realism.
29.
Flaubert's Madame Bovary
|
6.
Chinese Classical Literature
This lecture features a lyric poem and two prose works that demonstrate how early Chinese literature differed from contemporary works from Mesopotamia, Israel, and Greece.
6.
Chinese Classical Literature
|
30.
Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground
Unappreciated in its own day, Notes from Underground serves as an excellent introduction to Dostoevsky's later novels. Through his unnamed narrator, the Russian novelist voiced the desire to rebel against the increasingly mass-produced culture of modern life.
30.
Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground
|
7.
Greek Tragedy
By the 5th century B.C.E., Greek theater had entered a golden age, producing plays that would set a standard of excellence for centuries to come. In this lecture, we explore the three greatest Greek playwrights: Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.
7.
Greek Tragedy
|
31.
Twain's Huckleberry Finn
In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain allowed a vernacular, regional character to tell his own story. In this lecture, we explore Twain's narrative achievement and the societal questions raised by his classic travel tale.
31.
Twain's Huckleberry Finn
|
8.
Virgil's Aeneid
When Virgil (70–19 B.C.E.) set out to write a national Roman epic poem, he took as his model the classic epics of Ancient Greece. Professor Voth illuminates the ways that Virgil both imitated and adapted the epic to express the values of his own culture.
8.
Virgil's Aeneid
|
32.
Dickinson's Poetry
After a brief consideration of Emily Dickinson's solitary life and writing career, we turn to the techniques that characterize her remarkable poetry: the use of common meter stanza form, unconventional punctuation, and grammatical density.
32.
Dickinson's Poetry
|
9.
Bhagavad Gita
At seven times the combined length of the Iliad and Odyssey, the Mahabharata may be the longest epic poem in the world. In this lecture, we examine one episode of this enormous work, the Bhagavad Gita, which offers a Hindu meditation on the meaning of life.
9.
Bhagavad Gita
|
33.
Ibsen and Chekhov—Realist Drama
In this lecture, we examine the works of two very different Realist playwrights. For Ibsen, Realism entailed bringing to the stage contemporary people and social concerns. For Chekhov, it required discarding the standard forms of the "well-made play" for a more realistic imitation of life.
33.
Ibsen and Chekhov—Realist Drama
|
10.
The New Testament
Like the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament can be read as history, literature, and theology. This lecture examines how the various parts of this seminal text reflect the goals of their different authors and the needs of their particular audiences.
10.
The New Testament
|
34.
Rabindranath Tagore's Stories and Poems
Absorbing the influence of Realist authors, Tagore adapted this literary style to reflect life in his native India. Through his short stories and poems, he criticized those who exploited the caste system, suppressed women, and benefited from the sufferings of the poor.
34.
Rabindranath Tagore's Stories and Poems
|
11.
Beowulf
In this lecture, Professor Voth compares the Germanic saga Beowulf with the other heroic epics studied in the course thus far. The poem also provides an opportunity to explore the variety of interpretations that can be made about a single literary work.
11.
Beowulf
|
35.
Higuchi Ichiyō's "Child's Play"
Although she had no exposure to Western Realism, Ichiyo pioneered a Japanese version of this literary movement in "Child's Play," her novella about children living in and around the pleasure district of Edo (modern-day Tokyo).
35.
Higuchi Ichiyō's "Child's Play"
|
12.
Indian Stories
We move from epic poetry to prose as we explore the rich narrative strategies of Indian stories in three collections: Jataka (Story of a Birth) , the Pañcatantra (The Five Books or the Five Strategies) , and the Kathasaritsagara (Ocean of the Rivers of Story) .
12.
Indian Stories
|
36.
Proust's Remembrance of Things Past
In this elegiac novel, Proust sought to reject Realism and recreate the novel as an exploration of personal impressions. Influential to later writers, Proust's novel took a revolutionary approach by attempting to capture life as it is experienced.
36.
Proust's Remembrance of Things Past
|
13.
T'ang Poetry
China achieved one of its Golden Ages during the T'ang period (618–907 C.E.), which included a rich tradition of poetry. This lecture examines three T'ang poets to illustrate the deeply personal aesthetic of Chinese poetics.
13.
T'ang Poetry
|
37.
Joyce's Dubliners
In a context of experimentation in all of the arts, we consider the contribution of James Joyce's Dubliners to the modern short story, focusing on Joyce's device of the epiphany, or revelation.
37.
Joyce's Dubliners
|
14.
Early Japanese Poetry
While Japanese poetry is indebted to Chinese models, it also boasts some unique features. Using several examples, Professor Voth outlines the key features of the Japanese aesthetic, which include irregular verse styles, simplicity, and the theme of transience.
14.
Early Japanese Poetry
|
38.
Kafka's "The Metamorphosis"
In this lecture, we consider the bleak, darkly comic work of Franz Kafka. In "The Metamorphosis," a man wakes up to find that he has been transformed into a gigantic insect—an absurd premise that reflects the alienation of modern life.
38.
Kafka's "The Metamorphosis"
|
15.
The Tale of Genji
Written by a Japanese lady-in-waiting during the 11th century C.E., The Tale of Genji is believed to be the first novel in literary history. This complex tale presents a new kind of hero, for whom taste and sensitivity count for more than prowess on the battlefield.
15.
The Tale of Genji
|
39.
Pirandello's Six Characters
This lecture discusses the rebellion against Realism in drama exemplified in the work of Luigi Pirandello. In Six Characters in Search of an Author, Pirandello created a world in which fictional characters argue that they are more "real" than living human beings.
39.
Pirandello's Six Characters
|
16.
Inferno, from Dante's Divine Comedy
Considered the greatest poem in the Western world, Dante's Divine Comedy traces the allegorical journey of a pilgrim from the depths of hell through purgatory and into heaven. We examine key features and interpretations of the first part of Dante's masterwork: Inferno.
16.
Inferno, from Dante's Divine Comedy
|
40.
Brecht's The Good Woman of Setzuan
Bertolt Brecht continued the rebellion against Realism by using theatrical techniques to create a critical distance between audience and play. An examination of The Good Woman demonstrates how Brecht used this technique to critique capitalist society.
40.
Brecht's The Good Woman of Setzuan
|
17.
Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales
Borrowing techniques from Boccaccio's Decameron, Geoffrey Chaucer narrates a variety of tales through a frame story about 30 travelers who tell stories during a pilgrimage to England's Canterbury Cathedral.
17.
Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales
|
41.
Anna Akhmatova's Requiem
Written in response to Russia's Yezhov Terror of 1937 and 1938, the poem Requiem describes a sick society in which the poet must speak for voiceless victims everywhere. Professor Voth explores the aesthetic and historical contexts that helped shape this poem.
41.
Anna Akhmatova's Requiem
|
18.
1001 Nights
In this lecture, we again consider the narrative technique of the "frame story": a work which includes within it many recounted tales. Complex and encyclopedic, 1001 Nights serves as a crossroads where stories from many different cultures meet.
18.
1001 Nights
|
42.
Kawabata Yasunari's Snow Country
Adapting Western techniques to suit Japanese sensibilities, Yasunari created a Modernist work, using such techniques as a disciplined point of view and stream-of-consciousness in his story of a detached man and his love for two women.
42.
Kawabata Yasunari's Snow Country
|
19.
Wu Ch'eng-en's Monkey
Based in history and enhanced by legend and folklore, Monkey tells the story of a Chinese monk on a journey to India, accompanied by fabulous creatures, the most important of which is Monkey, one of the great creations in literature.
19.
Wu Ch'eng-en's Monkey
|
43.
Faulkner—Two Stories and a Novel
Using the short stories "A Rose for Emily" and "Wash," in addition to the novel As I Lay Dying, Professor Voth examines the literary achievements of William Faulkner, an author who sought to capture the "whole truth" of life in all its comedic, grotesque, and heroic glory.
43.
Faulkner—Two Stories and a Novel
|
20.
The Heptameron
Based in history and enhanced by legend and folklore, Monkey tells the story of a Chinese monk on a journey to India, accompanied by fabulous creatures, the most important of which is Monkey, one of the great creations in literature.
20.
The Heptameron
|
44.
Naguib Mahfouz's The Cairo Trilogy
The Arabs did not really have a novel tradition until the 20th century. In his career, Arab writer Naguib Mahfouz encompassed all of the novelistic traditions, from historical romances to Realist novels to experimental narratives.
44.
Naguib Mahfouz's The Cairo Trilogy
|
21.
Shakespeare
After a brief account of drama in other cultures, Professor Voth considers Shakespeare's place in English drama, focusing on his use of language. A closer look at a famous speech from Macbeth serves to illustrate the Bard's mastery of poetic language.
21.
Shakespeare
|
45.
Achebe's Things Fall Apart
Achebe's novel is a reaction against Western novelistic depictions of Africans, exemplified in Conrad's Heart of Darkness. In this lecture, we examine this tale of a native people, the Igbo, and their heroic but flawed leader Okonkwo.
45.
Achebe's Things Fall Apart
|
22.
Cervantes's Don Quixote
While not the first novel in history, Don Quixote is one of the first in the Western world and has been by far the most influential. This lecture explores Cervantes' revolutionary use of prose to present a realistic view of life that contrasted to the popular romances of his day.
22.
Cervantes's Don Quixote
|
46.
Beckett's Plays
In this lecture, we take up our first Postmodernist writer, Samuel Beckett. His works, including Endgame, Waiting for Godot, and Happy Days, illustrate Beckett's view that humankind lives in an absurd world which provides no clear definition of life's meaning.
46.
Beckett's Plays
|
23.
Molière's Plays
This lecture opens with a consideration of the values and dramatic style of the Neoclassical Age (c.1660–1770) in Western literature. A master of theatrical comedy, French playwright Molière used the drama to point out society's foibles.
23.
Molière's Plays
|
47.
Borges's Labyrinths
Our examination of Postmodernism continues with Jorge Luis Borges, whose comic, often magical stories attempt to express the untranslatable gap between reality and the human constructions of logic and language.
47.
Borges's Labyrinths
|
24.
Voltaire's Candide
Why does suffering exist? Why are people prey to human cruelty and natural disasters? In Candide, Voltaire seeks to answer these questions.
24.
Voltaire's Candide
|
48.
Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories
The final lecture considers Salman Rushdie's children's book about the importance of stories in our lives, and it closes with William Faulkner's idea that stories are one of the ways in which humans can not only endure, but may even prevail.
48.
Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories
|