Join Professor Jeffrey Perl on an intriguing reconsideration of some of the most controversial authors of the 20th century: the Literary Modernists. Just who were these authors? What social and political forces made them write the way they did? Literary Modernism: The Struggle for Modern History does not shrink from the challenges imposed by these questions. But it does provide you with illuminating answers that can enhance your appreciation of the literature, philosophy, politics, and morality of this seminal moment in literary history.
Literary Modernism: The Struggle for Modern History
Discover an intriguing reconsideration of some of the most controversial authors of the 20th century: the Literary Modernists.
Rated 5 out of
5
by
California Smith12 from
Outstanding. One of the best.
Incredible. So broad reaching, yet so tightly presented. As a fan of T.S. Eliot, I especially enjoyed the contrast with the Neo-modernists. If you ever thought Modernism meant contemporary fad, this course will put you in a breathtaking context of history, culture and thought. One of the most thought provoking Great Courses I've taken.
Date published: 2024-09-26
Rated 3 out of
5
by
TomCpr from
Ambivalent about this course
I listened to the whole course -- nearly gave up a couple times -- and read the guidebook, but came away very ambivalent. I compliment The Teaching Co for continuing to include courses like this with advanced intellectual content (unlike their more recent direction with the lightweight Wondrium). I have 2 degrees from Ivy League schools and like to be challenged, and this course is clearly at a graduate seminar level. However, it is just too dense and does not lend itself to an 8-lecture format. Perl tries to do too much. Often, after hearing a statement or two I went "what?" and wanted to re-wind but that's tough to do. In-person education is much better at this level. The title, which at least one other reviewer has criticized, should have been a subtext. Perl does not really set the stage well, failing to define terms clearly enough at the outset. So the course is essentially a deep dive into Eliot, Yeats, Joyce, Pound and a couple others. That should have been the title and thus I think people wishing to learn more about those writers would appreciate the lectures more than I did. Another aspect which gnawed at me throughout was a skepticism about the BREADTH of Perl's perspective. This may have been deflected by a certain arrogance of tone -- and btw in general I'm OK with a "professorial" persona -- but it actually made me question if Perl is that much of an authority on the topic of modernism, despite his resume. I wanted to like him, but found myself often saying "what?" and "really?" I am glad I got the course and learned a lot of things, but consider my comments cautionary.
Date published: 2024-03-08
Rated 5 out of
5
by
mel22 from
erudite and challenging
fully met my expectations. greatly ramped up my knowledge on the topic. highly impressed by the lecturer. so amazingly knowledgable and articulate. very well structured and to the point delivery. thought provoking analysis and interpretation that has left me with interest in further exploring the topic and examining his perspectives...
Date published: 2022-11-16
Rated 5 out of
5
by
jeromepet from
nothing short of brilliant insights and clarity
I originally went through this course a decade ago and listen again several times over the years sense. Recently I bought the online version and went through it yet again. I was delighted to find that it totally held up to my high expectations. And it got me to finally take a deep dive on my own into exploring the philosophy and spirituality behind the poetry of T.S. Eliot.
Date published: 2022-08-18
Rated 5 out of
5
by
Drift99 from
Jeffrey Perl on Modernism
The substance, and Prof. Perl’s delivery, are both superb! His urgency is contagious. I’ve returned to it several times over the years and expanded my reading to include works I had been only marginally interested to read. High praise! Wish we had more from him, but I’m glad I didn’t miss this experience!
Date published: 2022-04-18
Rated 4 out of
5
by
jmike77 from
Enjoyable and Worthwhile
This is an enjoyable course. Jeffrey Perl puts into one of two categories the work of several of my favorite authors, work I had previously esteemed for its value as highbrow entertainment. The course material is dense, difficult to "get," so it forces one to think. Not long ago I may have claimed to be wired as a neomodernist, yet according to Professor Perl my preference in literature and philosophy is distinctly paleomodern. Who knew?
Otherwise I am skeptical. Jeffrey Perl is an opinionated man. Were I to read every source on his lengthy Essential Readings list would I reach his same conclusions? Would I fall in love, as he has, with T. S. Eliot? Would the father of science fiction still be a realist? Was Hemingway’s style influenced by Gertrude Stein’s disparagement of the comma? And how ‘bout that Henry James?
To anyone with a bent for literature I would recommend this worthwhile course.
Date published: 2021-10-27
Rated 5 out of
5
by
RSA2 from
brief but brilliant
This is a point of view take on literary theory which I found refreshing. You can be sure many others will take exception.
Date published: 2021-01-31
Rated 3 out of
5
by
Thankful2Study from
This was a tough course to enjoy. It felt to me that this was aimed at a much more educated and sophisticated person than myself. While I know many of the authors that the professor had referenced, his style of teaching was not to my taste at all.
Date published: 2020-12-23
Overview
About
Dr. Jeffrey Perl is Professor of English Literature at Bar-Ilan University, Israel. He earned his A.B., summa cum laude, from Stanford University, did postgraduate work at Oxford University, and earned his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from Princeton University. Prior to taking his position in Israel, Professor Perl held teaching positions at Columbia University and the University of Texas at Dallas. He has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a Rockefeller Foundation Fellow in the Humanities, a visiting Fellow at Mansfield College at Oxford, a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow, and a Fulbright Professor at Hebrew University. He is the author of numerous books, articles, reviews, monographs, and anthologies, including Skepticism and Modern Enmity: Before and After Eliot (1989) and The Tradition of Return: The Implicit History of Modern Literature (1984). He is the founder and editor of Common Knowledge: A Journal of Intellectual History and Cultural Studies. Common Knowledge is winner of the Award for Best Journal in the Humanities and Social Sciences from the Association of American Publishers.
01: Introduction—Modernity and Modernism
This lecture discusses the two kinds of modernism: paleomodernism and neomodernism. A poem by William Carlos Williams, "The Red Wheelbarrow," is presented as the neomodernist response to the paleomodernism of T. S. Eliot and others. The lecture then begins the examination of the characteristics that differentiate the two schools.
50 min
02: Transition
The neomodernist view is examined, and we learn that T. S. Eliot's work was influenced by his early study of philosophy and that he disagreed with the direction taken by philosophers. Therefore, Eliot chose the discourse of poetry over that of philosophy.
48 min
03: Against Theory
We review the career of W. B. Yeats and trace his shift from symbolist to realist. Conversely, Henry James's career is examined because it moves from realist to symbolist. At the end of the lecture we hear T. S. Eliot's assertion that romanticism and neoclassicism are personalities that were once joined.
49 min
04: Waste Lands
The effects of the Depression and World War II were profound, and the modernists reflected their concern in art. T. S. Eliot, D. H. Lawrence, and others considered themselves to be therapists to the world. Eliot's "The Waste Land" and works by Lawrence called for a new religion to lead to the rebirth of society.
44 min
05: The Complete Consort
James Joyce's "Ulysses" is presented as the ultimate paleomodernist novel. Joyce's goal was to capture the full circle of history and the novel's structure uses chaos and opposing themes to create one phenomenon. Even postmodernists admire the work because of the use of chaos.
50 min
06: Modernist Theater
While modernist literature thrived, we learn from this lecture that modernist drama failed to win popular support. Some poets such as Yeats decided to battle the middle class through drama. By the 1940s, T. S. Eliot had decided that art should respond to the public, and he was able to find commercial success.
44 min
07: Apocalypse
The Depression and World War II altered the focus of the modernists. Most were involved in politics, but the movement was represented on both the right and left. The Spanish Civil War had a tremendous impact on the writers. The politics of Ezra Pound are examined at the end of the lecture.
43 min
08: Postwar, Postmodern, Postculture
This final lecture takes us from Evelyn Waugh, who presented us with a "Hollywood metaphysics" in which the fake world is ideal, to Samuel Beckett, who unites the themes of modernism and thus helps define modernism's end. The modernists are no longer against the bourgeoisie and are seeking to understand and influence the middle class.
45 min
