Timothy Baker Shutt

A series of connected lectures delivered by eminent scholars. Each professor addresses an area of personal expertise and relates it to the larger story of the links between the works and the figures discussed. The lectures examine a series of major works that have shaped the ongoing development of western thought, touching upon history, philosophy, literature, art, religion, politics, science, and technology.

It can reasonably be argued that the British invented the novel, and understanding the way in which the novel, as a literary form, developed in Britain is key to understanding the literary form itself. Professor Shutt takes listeners on a panoramic journey across the colorful landscape of British novelists, beginning with Daniel Defoe in the early 18th century and proceeding all the way to the mesmerizing works of Jane Austen in the early 19th century....

American writers have long sought to compose "the great American novel," or "America's epic." Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn and F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby have been advanced as plausible contenters for the title, but no work can mount a more substantial claim than Herman Melville's Moby Dick, or the whale. Shutt guides listeners on a fascinating investigation of the tale, examining the work as a whole and exploring the life of its creator,...