Teaching Company lectures for literature?

[Jen the RD]

I've been perusing the TC lectures for literature for our high school studies. I've heard many great things about Elizabeth Vandiver's lectures, so I'm sure I'll be buying those. My question, though, centers around lectures that could coordinate with the Great Books study laid out in WTM. Three lectures overlap in their coverage of many of the titles, but I have no idea as to whether or not they would be helpful for "literature analysis & interpretation" and worthy of high school credit. Do any of you have any experience & feedback on the following titles?

 

Western Literary Cannon in Context by Dr. Bowers

History of World Literature by Dr. Voth

Great Authors of Western Literary Tradition by varied professors (Vandiver included)

 

Thanks,

Jennifer

[RobinL in Canada]

The quality of the lecture courses vary, in my view. Some I have loved, others I've decided to return.

 

Western Lit Canon--loved it, but it is geared towards those already familiar with many of the texts as the prof doesn't provide much plot summary, etc. For more advanced students.

 

History of World Lit --Voth has a pleasant voice and delivery but he spends the bulk of each lecture retelling the plots of the texts with very little actual analysis beyond the basic.

 

Great Authors of the W Lit Tradition--I've listened only to some of both editions but in general found them interesting, engaging,and informative.

 

Vandiver on anything classical--Love them; love her matter-of-fact delivery and how she provides context and interpretation for many details in the myths and epics. Wish she had more courses done!

[Julie in MN]

I havent used any you mention, I don't think. But I have had a hard time using TTC for literature because few do it the way Vandiver does, with a thorough exploration of an individual work. I've used tidbits on Shakespeare, King Arthur, and such. But usually my son didn't get as much out of them as I did. I think the series on Augustine Philosopher & Saint came the closest for him.

 

I'll have to check out Great Authors that Robin mentioned. Hoping you get some better responses that I can use, too :). We have American lit coming up next year, anyone?!

 

Julie

[Jen the RD]

The quality of the lecture courses vary, in my view. Some I have loved, others I've decided to return.

 

Western Lit Canon--loved it, but it is geared towards those already familiar with many of the texts as the prof doesn't provide much plot summary, etc. For more advanced students.

 

History of World Lit --Voth has a pleasant voice and delivery but he spends the bulk of each lecture retelling the plots of the texts with very little actual analysis beyond the basic.

 

Great Authors of the W Lit Tradition--I've listened only to some of both editions but in general found them interesting, engaging,and informative.

 

Vandiver on anything classical--Love them; love her matter-of-fact delivery and how she provides context and interpretation for many details in the myths and epics. Wish she had more courses done!

 

It sounds like you and another poster agree that Great Authors may be the best choice for us to use with Great Books. Of course, I've read nothing but excellent reviews of Vandiver, so I know we'll be picking some of those. Have you used them for your student or did you use them to self-educate yourself for lit discussions/analysis?

 

Thanks,

Jennifer

Edited March 11, 2012 by Jen the RD

[Jen the RD]

I havent used any you mention, I don't think. But I have had a hard time using TTC for literature because few do it the way Vandiver does, with a thorough exploration of an individual work. I've used tidbits on Shakespeare, King Arthur, and such. But usually my son didn't get as much out of them as I did. I think the series on Augustine Philosopher & Saint came the closest for him.

 

I'll have to check out Great Authors that Robin mentioned. Hoping you get some better responses that I can use, too :). We have American lit coming up next year, anyone?!

 

Julie

 

Julie, thanks for responding. Since you've used Vandiver, which of her lectures did your son get the most benefit from?

 

Thanks,

Jennifer

[Jen the RD]

I have the "Great Authors..." videos, and I think they are very good. I don't know much about the others. I do think that they delve into the works with enough detail to warrant high school credit.

 

Did you add any other guides or info or did they suffice to bring about enough socratic discussion of the books?

 

Thanks,

Jennifer

[regentrude]

Julie, thanks for responding. Since you've used Vandiver, which of her lectures did your son get the most benefit from?

 

Thanks,

Jennifer

 

I am not Julie, but we did use Vandiver as well.

The most beneficial for my DD were The Iliad and The Odyssey lectures.

We also listened to 12 of the 24 Greek Tragedies lectures, all of the Classical Mythology ones, and The Aeneid. They were all excellent, but the Homeric epic ones were most beneficial for us.

[Kfamily]

I have the latter of the three you listed: Great Authors of Western Literary Tradition which I like a lot.

I recently purchased these for literature:

Iliad and Odyssey (Vandiver) (Haven't started this yet, but will be soon)

Divine Comedy (Cook and Herzman) (Haven't started this yet)

Shakespeare: The Word and the Action (Saccio) which I've just started but I like so far.

I do plan on buying one for The Aeneid next year for certain.

[Jen the RD]

I am not Julie, but we did use Vandiver as well.

The most beneficial for my DD were The Iliad and The Odyssey lectures.

We also listened to 12 of the 24 Greek Tragedies lectures, all of the Classical Mythology ones, and The Aeneid. They were all excellent, but the Homeric epic ones were most beneficial for us.

 

Thanks, Regentrude. I had already decided to get the Homeric epics; glad to know you all found them to be among the most beneficial. I value your opinion!

 

Jennifer

[JennW in SoCal]

Thanks, Regentrude. I had already decided to get the Homeric epics; glad to know you all found them to be among the most beneficial. I value your opinion!

 

Jennifer

 

We also used Dr. Vandiver's Iliad lecture series and thanks to it got so much more out of reading it.

 

My hands down favorite is Western Literary Canon in Context. I used it with a year long World History course and we listened to lectures of works we weren't going to read as well as works we did read. It doesn't give you the in depth material about each individual title, but it really helps you understand, as the title says, the context of the work -- what was happening in the world when it was written, how that affected the author and why it is considered "Canon".

 

I've used individual lectures from the Great Authors series, too.

[Julie in MN]

I am not Julie, but we did use Vandiver as well.

The most beneficial for my DD were The Iliad and The Odyssey lectures.

We also listened to 12 of the 24 Greek Tragedies lectures, all of the Classical Mythology ones, and The Aeneid. They were all excellent, but the Homeric epic ones were most beneficial for us.

 

Just what I would have said.

 

I found the more general mythology ones very interesting to me as the teacher. They helped pull some things together for me, such as the multiple (not always similar) sources. And i used a couple of thrm with my don

 

But having the whole series explore one book, chapter by chapter, really helped my son follow the story and see that there is more to literature than first glance.

 

Oh, and we are probably in the minority but we both just like the Iliad more than the Odyssey. We're more into history than fantasy. Although of course ds admires Odysseus much more than Achilles :)

Edited March 11, 2012 by Julie in MN

[regentrude]

J

Oh, and we are probably in the minority but we both just like the Iliad more than the Odyssey. We're more into history than fantasy. Although of course ds admires Odysseus much more than Achilles :)

 

Add us to that minority. My DD considers the Iliad her favorite work of literature. She does like Achilles, and she loves Hector as the noblest and most tragic hero.

[Julie in MN]

She does like Achilles, and she loves Hector as the noblest and most tragic hero.

 

Interesting that she found something to like in Achilles - my son seemed to enjoy disliking him :). But he's definitely a member of Hector's fan club. Ds got all excited whenever there was a Hector scene.

[Jen the RD]

We also used Dr. Vandiver's Iliad lecture series and thanks to it got so much more out of reading it.

 

My hands down favorite is Western Literary Canon in Context. I used it with a year long World History course and we listened to lectures of works we weren't going to read as well as works we did read. It doesn't give you the in depth material about each individual title, but it really helps you understand, as the title says, the context of the work -- what was happening in the world when it was written, how that affected the author and why it is considered "Canon".

 

I've used individual lectures from the Great Authors series, too.

 

Wow, I hadn't even considered this for history. I was only thinking "literature". That's a great idea. Thank you!

[Jen the RD]

All of you are getting ME excited about reading The Iliad & Odyssey again. I haven't read it since college....a LONG time ago. LOL!

 

Thanks so much for your helpful replies!

 

Jennifer

[Lori D.]

Did you add any other guides or info or did they suffice to bring about enough socratic discussion of the books?

 

 

Not the poster you directed this to, nor have we used the Teaching Company lectures for Literature, BUT... I CAN recommend a few guides that were *excellent* for adding to analyzing and discussing our Literature:

 

- Discovering Literature: The Odyssey (Garlic Press Publishers) -- great discussion questions!!

- To Kill a Mockingbird (Garlic Press Publishers) -- great discussion questions!!

- Discovering Literature: The Giver (Garlic Press Publishers) -- great discussion questions!!

- Brightest Heaven of Invention: Christian Guide to Six Shakespeare Plays by Peter Leithart

- Parallel Shakespeare materials: Macbeth (especially the teacher guide and student workbook; the text is very nice for side-by-side original text and modern translation)

- Literary Lessons from the Lord of the Rings -- wonderful notes for each chapter, and some good discussion questions at the end of the notes; good "beginner" discussions; you'd want more for a student with more literature background

- some of the Progeny Press high school guides (depends on which one)

- some of The Great Books booklets (for example: Beowulf) -- not Literature guides, but these are worldview guided discussion Q&A

 

 

Enjoy your Literature adventures! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited March 11, 2012 by Lori D.

[RobinL in Canada]

It sounds like you and another poster agree that Great Authors may be the best choice for us to use with Great Books. Of course, I've read nothing but excellent reviews of Vandiver, so I know we'll be picking some of those. Have you used them for your student or did you use them to self-educate yourself for lit discussions/analysis?

 

Thanks,

Jennifer

 

 

I did not actually use any TCo lectures with my older sons but may do so with my youngest (when he's old enough). My background/ degrees are in literature so I listen to these for my own enjoyment, usually when driving alone.