Literary Modernism: The Struggle for Modern History

By: Jeffrey Perl, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Jeffrey Perl

Professor Perl invites you in these eight lectures to abandon your preconceptions and consider some of the most controversial authors of the 20th century: the Modernists.Who were they? How did "classical" Modernists like Ezra Pound, T.S. Eliot, and James Joyce differ from "neo-Modernists" like Gertrude Stein and William Carlos Williams? What made them believe and write as they did? Why were political extremism, war, and self-destructive behavior such defining forces in their writing (and their personal demons)? What do they have to say to us today in the 21st century?

These lectures place literary Modernism within the wide-ranging context of the philosophy, literature, politics, and morality of its time. In doing so, they allow you to look more clearly at the writers and works who have contributed to the definition of human culture. You'll see Eliot, Joyce, Pound, Yeats, James, Lawrence, and others spring to life with their radical beliefs about art and their unforgettable novels and stories. These lectures do not shrink from the challenges imposed by exploring Modernism, or from challenging the answers that scholars have routinely accepted. Nor do they shy away from the difficulties of literary Modernism itself; a literary genre that intimidates many. But despite all this, these lectures are brilliantly organized, crystal clear, and an invaluable tool for finally wrapping your brain around a dramatic roster of authors and an enduring canon of literature.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your Library section along with the audio.

©1991 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)1991 The Great Courses

Excellent

These are truly excellent lectures. If you are at all interested in Modernism and the major writers Perl is very helpful in understanding their relationship to each other. He is particularly concerning T. S. Elliot.

A stimulating course!

I honestly enjoyed this particular course. If you’re interested in modern (modernity) literature this course will give you a nice introduction. The author emphasizes the differences between neomodernism and paleomodernism.

An authoritative voice

My understanding of modernism into postmodernism has been greatly expanded by this worthwhile listen. The professor authoritatively explains trends in academia, drama, poetics, Philosophy, narrative, culture and the plastic arts.

Very much worth your time.

Great course indeed!

The only thing I have against this brilliant course is that it’s too short! Professor Perl really knows his stuff!

Fine record of Perl's thinking

Jeffrey Perl was my advisor as an English major back in college. He was a spellbinding lecturer, brilliant and cocksure. My friends and I would leave his lectures dazzled, the whole universe making sense for a few minutes afterwards.
This course, recorded in the late 90's, is a distillation of the Modern British Literature class I took in the mid-80's. That class took a whole semester and we spent two weeks on Ulysses alone. Here, the good Prof. is forced to disgorge his theories about Joyce in less than an hour; similarly, his very interesting unit on Samuel Beckett is squeezed into half an hour! Since I remember these lectures very well I was able to follow his line of reasoning, but when Perl was presenting his new research on TS Eliot, based on work he'd done in the intervening time, I almost got lost.
I'm sure Prof. Perl got a couple of bills (and I hope some residuals) to compact his basic class into six and a half hours over two days. He's a great thinker and I can recommend this course if you're familiar with the works discussed (Eliot, Yeats, Pound, Joyce, Waugh, Beckett), but I would hesitate to get it if not.

Pretty impressive

The professor does a good job of articulating a complicated thesis in a relatively succinct lecture series. The lecture does important work describing key divisions within the Modernist movement.

Pound and modernism.

Great insights and detail. Beautiful and revealing. Thank you for the mental work and stamina.

Astounding!

Despite the brevity, Perl packs each lecture with powerful analyses and quotes liberally from the texts. The best compliment is that while I learned much, he's whet my appetite to revisit or visit the works in question.

Hats off to the lecturer!

Just loved it: learned a lot, it was magnificently delivered, and has made me want to keep on listening to more lectures by him!

only on lecture 2 and...

... this is already one of the best great courses I've listened to (and I've listened to some really good ones). the amount of information and the systematic sweep of the lecture are just spellbinding -- as is the lecturers involvement in the subject. highly recommend (so far).

EDIT: Just finished it. I got this for the poetry, so didn't pay much attention to the lecture on drama or Ulysses. I can still safely say this is my favorite Great Courses purchase. Will be coming back to it again and again. I learned so much.