The Teaching Company does Russian Literature

[MikeK]

I just received this course on Russian Literature from The Teaching Company and thought I'd post the link for any who might be interested.  Scroll down and look at the lecture titles on the left hand side to peak your own interest.  I've bought a couple other courses from them before, and they are usually very good (better, anyway, than most courses that I took in school).  Another good one was on Shakespeare: "Shakespeare: Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies".

I haven't watched any of it yet, so I can't give any opinions, but I'll let you know as soon as I do.  And don't worry about the prices; Their courses go on sale every few months, so when this one is on sale the price will drop drastically.


http://www.teach12.com/ttc/assets/coursedescriptions/2830.asp?id=2830&d=Classics+of+Russian+Literature&pc=Literature%20and%20English%20Language

[lerik]

Looks really good!

[MikeK]

I just wanted to update for anyone who is interested (which doesn't seem to be many).  I finished watching, and the course was ok, but I didn't particularly enjoy the professor.  He certainly knew his stuff, but his lectures were not very interesting (Oftentimes you could notice him just reading straight off of cards).  I mean that most of his time was spent giving dry, superficial outlines of the plots of these stories - which I think is the worst way to go about teaching or discussing literature.  It was basically just plot summary.  If you've read the book that he was discussing, there was not much new to learn from his plot summary; and if you haven't read the book that he was discussing you were left with only a superficial understanding of what the book was really about.  Actually, it left you somewhat confused as to what makes it a worthwhile story.  That's just my opinion, and I may be wrong.

I did get a course on Shakespeare from The Teaching Company and the professor was much better.  Not dry plot summaries but a discussion of the themes, symbols, motifs, characters, and language that made Shakespeare so great.  The Russian classics like "The Brothers Karamazov" and "War and Peace", which run so much deeper than just their plots, deserve better treatment.

I was also shocked that there was only one lecture on Chekhov.  5 on Pushkin, 6 on Dostoevsky, 6 on Tolstoy...but Chekhov was covered in 1? Very disappointing.  And there was no discussion of Bulgakov from the 20th century.  I understand that you can't include everything, but I do think that "The Master and Margarita" is one of the great works of the 20th century.

That's quite a bit of negative feedback, but on the positive side I will say that the course did open my eyes to some 20th century Russian literature that I was not familiar with.  Notably Sholokhov's "And Quiet Flows the Don", and the stories of Zoshchenko.

[Dori]

Hello everyone. Because this topic concerns my fascination and ultimately my introduction to Russian literature, I find this topic the best place to start posting.

I bought the lecture series titled "Classics in Russian Literature" just about a week ago. It serves as a great introduction to Russian literature. I downloaded it onto my mp3 player (along with the course "The History of the English Language" which, if I might add, is worth the buy). I've only listened to sixteen of the thirty-six lectures which brings me up to Tolstoy. As mentioned above, the course includes six lectures on Dostoevsky (3 hours) which I particularly enjoyed along with the lectures on Pushkin.

Out of 10, I would rate this course an 8. However, it serves better as an introduction than anything else. I recommed the Teaching Company as a whole to everyone interested a lifetime of enjoyment and learning.
 

[lerik]

Maybe the course was a bit dissapointing because there aren't so many scholars who are interested in Russian lit.I agree with you, Chekhov covered in 1 lecture is shocking.But then  Mikek, you go to know Sholohov(he actually got a Nobel prize,though many writers,including Solzhenitsyn, claim that he plagirised the work "Quiet flows the Don").Zochenko is really good too.I also don't understand why the course didn't include Bulgakov. But then again,nothing is perfect.

[Dori]

I've listened to most of the lectures now, and I actually like this professor. But, I like the course, "The History of the English Language" better (especially the professor, I think his name is Seth Lehrer). I just purchased the "Philosophy of Religion" course. I like this one also.

If you haven't experienced any of these, just make an account on the webstie and they'll allow you to download free lectures occasionally.