Grade levels: Adult

Discussion focuses on Faust as a classic example of European Romanticism that stresses such concepts as individualism, limitless aspiration, and Gothicism, while it reveals Romantic attitudes toward knowledge. Particular attention is paid to the “two souls inhabit my breast” speech and the grasshopper image as emblematic of Faust’s personal and philosophical dilemma.

Discussion centers on Flaubert’s realism and his use of point-of-view in Madame Bovary. Students debate the notion that this book is evidence of Flaubert’s feminist leanings. Other questions asked in the lesson: Is the story really about Charles or Emma? Would Emma ever be satisfied with any man? Is the novel meant to be instructive? If the novel has a moral center, why does Charles suffer so? Are we meant to be sympathetic to Emma – to understand her rather than judge her? Is Emma subject to fate and circumstance or responsible for her own downfall? Featured interview: Dr. Alison Finch, Jesus College (Oxford)

Discussion centers on Flaubert’s realism and his use of point-of-view in Madame Bovary. Students debate the notion that this book is evidence of Flaubert’s feminist leanings. Other questions asked in the lesson: Is the story really about Charles or Emma? Would Emma ever be satisfied with any man? Is the novel meant to be instructive? If the novel has a moral center, why does Charles suffer so? Are we meant to be sympathetic to Emma – to understand her rather than judge her? Is Emma subject to fate and circumstance or responsible for her own downfall? Featured interview: Dr. Alison Finch, Jesus College (Oxford)

Discussion topics include Dostoyevsky’s unique contribution to the novel form, his interest in the obscure or confused motivations of human action, his interest in multiple personality, and his themes of suffering and spiritual regeneration. What is the “idea” behind the novel? Are the main characters of the novel embodied “ideas?” What are the challenges to accepting the “Epilogue”, both from an artistic and psychological perspective? Featured interview: Professor Ed Wasiolek (University of Chicago)

The lesson examines how this work validates the concept of “memento mori” – the forcing of a consciousness of death that compels us to examine the authenticity of our lives. According to Tolstoy, “Ivan Ilych’s life had been most simple and most ordinary and, therefore, most terrible.” What does this triad of adjectives mean? What is the tone of the story? Is Ivan’s fate a blessing or a curse? What is the role of “Friends?” Of “Family”? Discussion focuses on the imagery at the end of the story as it relates to the story’s theme. Featured interview: Professor Ed Wasiolek (University of Chicago)

Over the course of the three lessons, students focus on four questions: What makes Aeneas a distinctly Roman hero? What was Virgil’s purpose behind writing the epic? What debt does Virgil owe to Homer? How does Virgil betray his own ambivalence in this epic vision, which both celebrates Rome’s greatness and measures its staggering cost? The classes focus particularly on Books II (The Fall of Troy), IV (The Tragedy of Dido), and VI (The Symbolic Death and Resurrection of the Hero). Featured interviews: Professor Maynard Mack (Yale University), editor for the Norton Anthology of Classical Literature, and Professor A. D. Nuttall (New College-Oxford)

Over the course of the three lessons, students focus on four questions: What makes Aeneas a distinctly Roman hero? What was Virgil’s purpose behind writing the epic? What debt does Virgil owe to Homer? How does Virgil betray his own ambivalence in this epic vision, which both celebrates Rome’s greatness and measures its staggering cost? The classes focus particularly on Books II (The Fall of Troy), IV (The Tragedy of Dido), and VI (The Symbolic Death and Resurrection of the Hero). Featured interviews: Professor Maynard Mack (Yale University), editor for the Norton Anthology of Classical Literature, and Professor A. D. Nuttall (New College-Oxford)

Over the course of the three lessons, students focus on four questions: What makes Aeneas a distinctly Roman hero? What was Virgil’s purpose behind writing the epic? What debt does Virgil owe to Homer? How does Virgil betray his own ambivalence in this epic vision, which both celebrates Rome’s greatness and measures its staggering cost? The classes focus particularly on Books II (The Fall of Troy), IV (The Tragedy of Dido), and VI (The Symbolic Death and Resurrection of the Hero). Featured interviews: Professor Maynard Mack (Yale University), editor for the Norton Anthology of Classical Literature, and Professor A. D. Nuttall (New College-Oxford)