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COURSE GUIDEBOOK

Great Courses 8

Teaching that engages the mind

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Great Writers:

Their Lives and Works

Professor John B. Fisher

Rollins College

THE TEACHING COMPANY ®

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John B. Fisher

B.A., Harvard University

Rollins College Alumni Lecturer in

History and Literature

John B. Fisher, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Harvard University, has taught

history, art, and literature at the prep-school and college levels. His participation

in the world of education has also included service as a trustee of Mount

Holyoke College, Mercyhurst College, and The Dana Hall Schools. For the past

twelve years, he has lectured to capacity audiences at Rollins College and on

other campuses. This lecture series has been identified by the press as "the best-

attended, longest-running within memory in Central Florida." On the occasion of

the tenth anniversary of these programs on history, art, and literature, he received

letters of greeting and commendation from the presidents of Harvard, Yale, and

Princeton Universities; Elizabeth, the Queen Mother of England; Sir John

Gielgud; Mrs. Anwar Sadat; and many others.

Poetry is used by permission of the publishers and trustees of Amherst College

from the Poems of Emily Dickinson, edited by Thomas H. Johnson, the Belknap

1979, 1983 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.

From The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson by T.H. Johnson; copyright(c)

1929, 1935 by Martha Dickinson Bianchi; copyright(c) renewed 1957, 1963 by

Mary L. Hampson. By permission of Little, Brown & Co., Boston.

From The Vintage Mencken by H.L. Mencken, edited by Alistair Cooke;

of the publisher.

whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations

embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, send complete

description of intended use to The Teaching Company/Rights and Permissions,

7405 Alban Station Court, Suite A-107, Springfield, VA 22150, USA.

Table of Contents

Great Authors: Their Lives and Works

Great Writers: Their Lives and Works

Purpose of the Course

This course is designed to visit with some of the world's great authors—and in so

doing, to bring their works to those unfamiliar with them and to remind those

already acquainted with them, but who haven't read these works in years, of the

delight that will be theirs in doing so again. Gertrude Stein put it well when she

said, "With me familiarity doesn't breed contempt; it only breeds more

familiarity." The passage of time has confirmed, and even enhanced, the

reputation of each of these writers. Their sensitivity, their perceptions, and their

unrivaled use of language have been of great benefit to the world. All of them

endure because of a special talent.

Instructor Biography

Purpose of this Course

Lecture 1

Oscar Wilde—The Tragic Genius

Beatrix Potter—Nonpareil

H.L. Mencken—Occasional Curmudgeon

Robert Burns—"Our Rabbie"

Maurice Maeterlinck—The Multitalented

Lecture 2

Lecture 3

Lecture 4

Lecture 5

Lecture Objectives:

To acquaint or reacquaint lovers of history and literature with the lives and

works of some of the most notable writers in the Western world.

To evaluate how the personal experiences of these writers relate to their literary

work.

To identify and assess each writer's style and technique, and to compare his or

her works with other writings of the period.

To estimate the writer's influence upon his or her time and the subsequent course

of literature.

To impart to the listener and reader more appreciation for the persuasive power

of literature.

Lecture 6

Lecture 7

Lecture 8

Lecture 9

Lecture 10

Lecture 11

Victor Hugo—The Gallic Giant

St. Augustine—A Saint for All Centuries

Emily Dickinson—The Belle of Amherst

Ulysses S. Grant—Those Memorable Memoirs

Dr. Samuel Johnson—Words, Words, Words

Plutarch—That Dramatic Philosopher

Lecture 12 Alfred, Lord Tennyson—England's National Treasure

Selected Bibliography

(0)1996 The Teaching Company Limited Partnership

Lecture 1

III. Marriage and London

A. Wilde married and had two sons, one of whom died in World War I.

Oscar Wilde-The Tragic Genius (1854-1900)

B. Wilde came to know both sides of Industrial-Age London: the proud

metropolis of an empire and the home to dreadful suffering and poverty.

Scope: This lecture will include a selective review of the triumphant yet

tortured life of the Irish-English genius Oscar Wilde. Wilde's writings

provide a trenchant commentary on the social conventions of the

Victorian era. As we shall see in the lecture, he mastered several literary

forms in the course of his short life: fiction, drama, fairy tales, and

social criticism.

C. The eminent London dandy captured the ambivalence of the city when

he described a lady of the night loitering beneath a gaslight as having

"lips aflame and heart of stone."

IV. A Range of Writings

A. During a three-year period that began in 1892, Wilde wrote a string of

fine plays, including The Importance of Being Earnest. His plays were

generally popular, but he suffered a few flops, such as The Duchess of

Padua.

Objectives —Upon completion of this lecture, the listener should be able to:

1. Discuss the virtuosity of Wilde, the thinker and writer.

2. Describe the turbulent Victorian world in which he lived.

B. His prose was of a high quality. Such works as The Picture of Dorian

Gray and The Soul of Man Under Socialism demonstrate his mastery of

forms from fiction to political reportage.

3. Appraise the scope of his talent in prose, poetry, drama, and social

analysis.

Outline

C. Wilde is perhaps best known for his eminently quotable wit:

1. "The only difference between a caprice and a lifelong passion is

that the caprice lasts a little longer."

2. "Private information is the principle source of almost every large

fortune."

3. "A cynic is one who knows the price of everything and the value of

nothing."

I. Early Wilde

A. Wilde was born in 1854; his father was an eminent eye and ear surgeon,

his eccentric mother a Protestant Irish nationalist.

B. His education was impeccable—the Portora School, Trinity College,

and Oxford University. At Oxford he received a rare "double-first."

V. A Tragic End

C. He set out for London and had an immediate impact on the metropolis.

A striking and garish figure, he quickly became the subject of a play

and an opera.

A. The Marquess of Queensbury, perhaps the least-liked man in London,

accused Wilde of being a sodomist. Wilde brought suit for libel, lost the

case, and eventually was convicted and served a two-year sentence in

Reading prison.

B. At Reading, Wilde wrote "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" and De

Profundis, the latter a wise contemplation on the nature of life.

II. The American Tour

A. Goaded by actress/friend Sarah Bernhardt, Wilde undertook a lecture

tour of America. When asked about the ocean crossing, he responded

that the Atlantic was a "disappointment."

C. Upon his release, Wilde went to Paris where, cadging food and drink,

he led the life of an impoverished artist.

B. Though the tour lasted ten months, Wilde never complained of fatigue.

He was soft-spoken, well mannered, and never malicious.

D. He suffered considerable pain in his final months. He died in 1900 and

was eventually interred in Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris.

C. Wilde met many of the celebrities of the age: Oliver Wendell Holmes,

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Ulysses S. Grant, Jefferson Davis,

Henry James. He received $11,000 for the tour, a sizable sum for a

literary trip matched in our annals only by the tours of Bernhardt and

Charles Dickens.

D. On leaving the country, Wilde remarked that in America the old doubt

everything, the middle-aged accept everything, the young know

everything—and are anxious to share it with everyone.

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VI. A Judgment

Lecture 2

A. Wilde was a flawed genius, but a genius still. He was a complex man of

paradoxes, but a thinker of tremendous wit, intellect, and sensitivity.

Beatrix Potter -Nonpareil (1866-1943)

B. Now he is beyond whatever scandal he knew in his own life. We should

honor him for his literary achievement, not the disrepute that marred his

later years.

Scope: This lecture will include a review of Beatrix Potter's unusual

upbringing, a visit to her extraordinary imagination, and an assessment

of her artistic and literary talents. We will examine her artistic

renderings of fungi and insects for one of the foremost scientific

publications in Britain and then consider the widespread influence of

her fanciful narratives and inspired illustrations for children.

Topics for Further Exploration:

1. Explain how Wilde's life was affected by his travels.

2. Contrast Wilde's character with that of the typical Victorian gentleman.

Objectives — Upon completion of this lecture, the listener should be able to:

1. Describe the milieu of the Victorian age in which Potter lived.

2. Explain how her education and personal life influenced her artistic

achievements.

3. Identify the general themes and story lines of Potter's best-known tales.

4. Discuss possible interpretations of her stories for children as morality

tales or social commentary.

Outline

I. Beginnings

A. Beatrix Potter was born in London in 1866 to middle-class parents who

treated her with strange indifference.

B. Raised in part by a Calvinist nurse, she spent much time reading the

King James Bible and the Waverley novels of Sir Walter Scott.

C. Beatrix was writing hymns before her teens. She also developed other

interests, such as collecting bats, snakes, salamanders, and foxes in

order to stuff them and draw their likenesses.

D. She was shy and never mixed with others, though she never admitted to

feeling lonely. John Millais told her parents he would like to paint her;

they denied his request, saying, "She'll become egotistical."

II. Coming Into Flower

A. In early adulthood, Potter began painting in watercolors, continuing to

lead a reclusive life except for making the annual family trip to the

seashore and the Lake District.

B. She did some remarkable paintings of fungi during this period. She also

wrote a paper on fungi, which the Linnaean Society deemed worthy of

publication. However, the Society wouldn't allow her to read the paper

at an official meeting because she was a woman.

C. Poller had many literary interests, both high and low.

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