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The Western literary canon has come to epitomize the official—and sometimes controversial—list of works that every educated person should know.
Among its more than 3,000 works are the Odyssey, Beowulf, Hamlet, and War and Peace—all of which have stood the test of time to become essential aspects of Western culture and our reading lives. Even if you haven't read some of them, you've undoubtedly heard of them—their mere titles are synonymous with greatness.
But what exactly is the Western literary canon? Why does it contain certain works and not others?
What is its history? What is its future?
Most important: What do particular works in the Western canon tell us about the development of literature and civilization?
You explore these and other thought-provoking questions in The Western Literary Canon in Context, a thorough investigation of more than 30 key works of the Western canon and the critical roles they played—and continue to play—in the development of Western literature. Over the course of 36 lectures, award-winning professor and author John M. Bowers of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas takes you from the formation of the Bible to the postcolonial literature of the late 20th century, revealing the exciting stories behind these classic works and their often surprising connections with one another.
It's an insightful approach that will reshape your thoughts about the evolution of literature and will open your eyes to the hidden dialogue among Western civilization's most cherished and influential authors.
Explore Key Influences
Great literature has always played a central role in Western civilization and our lives. It has given us creation myths, celebrated the glories of our past, shown us new ways to envision our future, helped us make sense of tragedy, inspired political movements, and instigated social change. The important role of books in our lives makes understanding canonic works all the more essential to understanding our culture.
The various entries in the Western literary canon also encompass a wide variety of subjects, genres, themes, and literary styles that set the standards that today's authors follow. We study Beowulf to get the best example of epic Old English poetry; we study Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway to understand stream of consciousness as a narrative technique; and we study William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury to experience the complexity of the American South.
In addition, studying these works in their various political, religious, and cultural contexts helps you see and appreciate the lively dialogue between authors and works within the Western literary canon. As the poet (and member of the canon) T. S. Eliot wrote in a 1919 essay, "You cannot value [the artist] alone. You must set him, for contrast and comparison, among the dead."
The Western Literary Canon in Context is your opportunity to delve into hallmark works of the canon specifically chosen to exemplify its growth within a series of similar themes. You gain invaluable insights into the stories behind these masterpieces and some of the important elements involved in canon formation:
* The influence of editors: Canon formation, you discover, is a critical part of the Bible's enduring legacy to Western literature. In the 4th century, Eusebius of Caesarea sorted out the body of Christian scriptures and established 20 books of the New Testament, acknowledging the Acts of the Apostles while rejecting the Gospel of St. Thomas, for instance. Later that century, Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria issued a list of 27 New Testament books that would prevail as the standard—he even used the word "canonized."
* The influence of culture: You see how some of the West's greatest cultures fostered the creation of key canonic works and how some works, in turn, became part of that culture's soul. Homer's epic poem, the Odyssey, helped cement the idea of a Greek hero in its characterization of the crafty warrior Odysseus, while Virgil's Aeneid, commissioned by the Roman emperor Augustus, celebrated the origins of the Roman Empire.
* The influence of education: The best way to get into the canon is to get into the classroom, where we are first introduced to the Western canon's great works. While teaching at Oxford, J. R. R. Tolkien pushed to get Beowulf on the required reading list—and even today the college classroom remains the typical place readers first encounter the poem.
* The influence of controversy: Many of the Western canon's works were controversial upon their publication, drawing both the anger of religious and political establishments and the appreciation of literary critics. The "racy" elements of works like Ovid's Metamorphoses and James Joyce's Ulysses shocked contemporary readers but later were celebrated for their influence on Western storytelling techniques and the groundbreaking new ways they explored the human spirit.
Course Lecture Titles
1. The Bible and the Literary Canon
2. The Bible as Literature
3. The Epic of Gilgamesh—Western Literature?
4. Homer's Odyssey and the Seafaring Hero
5. The Context of Athenian Tragedy
6. Herodotus versus Thucydides
7. Socrates and Plato—Writing and Reality
8. Aristotle's Poetics—How We Tell Stories
9. Virgil's Aeneid and the Epic of Empire
10. Love Interest—Ovid's Metamorphoses
11. St. Augustine Saves the Classics
12. All Literature is Consolation—Boethius
13. Beowulf—The Fortunate Survivor
14. King Arthur, Politics, and Sir Gawain
15. Dante and the Canon of Christian Literature
16. Boccaccio—Ancient Masters, Modern Rivals
17. Chaucer—The Father of English Literature
18. "Man for All Seasons"—More and His Utopia
19. Hamlet—English Literature Goes Global
20. Brave New Worlds—Shakespeare's The Tempest
21. Cervantes's Don Quixote and the Novel
22. The Rebel as Hero—Milton's Paradise Lost
23. Voice of an Age—Voltaire's Candide
24. Pride and Prejudice—Women in the Canon
25. Nationalism and Culture in Goethe's Faust
26. Melville's Moby-Dick and Global Literature
27. Cult Classic—The Charterhouse of Parma
28. East Meets West in War and Peace
29. Joyce's Ulysses and the Avant-Garde
30. The Magic Mountain and Modern Institutions
31. Mrs. Dalloway and Post-War England
32. T. S. Eliot's Divine Comedy
33. Faulkner and the Great American Novel
34. Willa Cather and Mosaics of Identity
35. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings—Literature?
36. Postcolonialism—The Empire Writes Back
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