Great Courses Study Group: Classics of American Literature

Great Courses Study Group: Classics of American Literature
Facilitator, David Williams

Tuesdays  |  10:00am  |  No Charge  |  Pre-Registration Required  |  Special Interest Room  |  November 9, 16; December 7, 14; January 4, 11; February 1, 8; March 1, 8; April 5, 12  

To truly understand the United States of America, you must explore its literary tradition. Works by Melville, Whitman, Faulkner, Hemingway, and others are more than just masterpieces of Western literature – they’re powerful windows into America’s spirit. This course will lead you to read or reread masterpieces that intrigue you most. And with the deeper understanding you gain from the lectures, you will likely experience such joy from great reading that you may wonder why you have spent so much time on contemporary books.

In the course we will discuss six classic American novels with three recorded lectures on each– The Scarlet Letter, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Sun Also Rises, The Red Badge of Courage, The Great Gatsby, and Grapes of Wrath. We will meet two times each month to hear the lectures followed by a group discussion. The schedule then allows the following two weeks to prepare for the next book. Our plan is to follow this up with six classic English novels next year.