Esoteric Literature:

WEEK 1

January 13: Introduction to English Literature

Lecture Outline:

  -  English Literature: An Introduction

An introduction to English Literature designed for English majors at the University-level. The lecture focuses on defining the discipline of English Literature, as a Humanities discipline distinct from the Natural Sciences and Social Sciences; the lecture outlines questions students should keep in mind as they study literature or philosophy books. The lecture also discusses at a high level the major literary periods in English Literature, the major literary genres and the types of Literary Theory approaches to interpreting texts that the student should keep in mind.

🖥️ Recorded Lecture on English Literature: An Introduction

January 15: Introduction to Esotericism

Lecture Outline:

  -  Esoteric Literature: An Introduction

An introduction to various traditions of esoteric literature: including the tradition of philosophic esotericism arising from the "old quarrel of philosophy and poetry" in Greece, the traditions of religious esotericism arising from various forms of Biblical secrecy. The prevalent understanding of esotericism as linked with mysticism is explained. The claim is that we need to understand "Esotericism" as a broad category encompassing philosophical, religious (including mystical and orthodox esotericisms) and literary traditions. 

🖥️ Recorded Lecture on Esoteric Literature: An Introduction

WEEK 2

January 20 / 22: Plato

Required Reading:

  -  Plato, Republic,  (375 BCE); from Books 6-7 and from Book 10 (502c-521c ; 595a-608b) 

  -  Total: 35 pages of reading

Lecture Outline:

  -  Plato's Republic: An Introduction

A detailed introduction to Plato's monumental work. I follow John Sallis and Leo Strauss in paying particular attention to the dramatic action within the dialogue. The import of Plato's work in relation to the interpretation of the esoteric tradition as well as its impact on the history of literary theory are emphasized.

🖥️ Recorded Lectures on Plato's Republic: An Introduction

WEEK 3

January 27 / 29: Plato

Lecture Outline:

  -  Plato's Republic: An Introduction

A detailed introduction to Plato's monumental work. I follow John Sallis and Leo Strauss in paying particular attention to the dramatic action within the dialogue. The import of Plato's work in relation to the interpretation of the esoteric tradition as well as its impact on the history of literary theory are emphasized.

🖥️ Recorded Lectures on Plato's Republic: An Introduction

WEEK 4

February 3 / 5: Dante

Lecture Outline:

  -  Christian Esotericism: An Introduction 

An introduction to the Biblical traditions of interpretation that ultimately led to the Christian-Medieval approach to Biblical and literary exegesis, as manifested in Dante's "Letter to Can Grande".

🖥️ Recorded Lecture on Christian Esotericism: An Introduction 

WEEK 5

February 10: Chaucer

Lecture Outline: 

  -  Middle English Literature: An Introduction

🖥️ Recorded Lecture on Middle English Literature: An Introduction

February 12: Chaucer

Required Reading:

  - Geoffrey Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, "The General Prologue" (1400) 

  -  Total: 22 pages

Lecture Outline: 

  -  On Chaucer's Canterbury Tales: The General Prologue

🖥️ Recorded Lecture on Chaucer's Canterbury Tales: The General Prologue

WEEK 6

February 17 / 19: READING WEEK

WEEK 7

February 24: Sidney

Lecture Outline: 

  -  The Renaissance: An Introduction

An Introduction to the Renaissance. The lecture presents on overview of the various historical drivers contributing to the birth of the Renaissance, or the early modern revolution in thinking. Finally, the lecture focuses on the Renaissance understanding of art, as exemplified by Sidney's Defence of Poetry, as a response to Plato's critique of poetry. 

🖥️ Recorded Lecture on The Renaissance: An Introduction

(from a previous course on British Literature Before 1700 (2020))

February 26: Sidney

Required Reading:

   -  Sir Philip Sidney, from Astrophil and Stella (1580's) (Sonnet #1, #2, #5, #20, #28, #52, #71, #72 and Second Song)

  -  Total: 10 pages

Lecture Outline: 

  -  Elizabethan Sonnets: Sidney's Astrophil and Stella

An introduction to Sidney's highly influential sonnet sequence. The roots of the Renaissance sonnet genre are also explored, including courtly love, Neo-Platonism and the poetry of Petrarch.

🖥️ Recorded Lecture on Elizabethan Sonnets: Sidney's Astrophil and Stella

(from a previous course on British Literature Before 1700 (2020)) 

WEEK 8

March 3: Shakespeare

Lecture Outline: 

  -  Shakespeare: An Introduction

An introduction to the study of Shakespeare's dramatic works. The lecture discusses the emergence of professional theatres in Elizabethan England, Shakespeare's works and Shakespeare's use of various dramatic genres. 

🖥️ Recorded Lecture on Shakespearean Drama: An Introduction

(from a previous course on British Literature Before 1700 (2020))

  -  Shakespeare's Histories: An Introduction

An introduction to Shakespeare's history plays, both the "English Histories" and the "Roman Histories". The predominant concerns of the genre with politics and war are discussed, as is the historical context of the writing of these plays during the Anglo-Spanish War (1585-1604). Finally, Shakespeare's place in the philosophy of history is considered.

🖥️ Recorded Lecture on Shakespeare's Histories: An Introduction

(from a previous course on War in Literature (2023))

March 5: The Research Essay

🖥️ Recorded Lecture on How to Write a Research Essay

(from a previous course on Time and History in Literature (2021))

Lecture Outlines:

  -  Research, Think, Write

  -  Elements of an Excellent Academic Essay

An overview of how to write a research essay, applicable to most Humanities assignments at the University level.  A description of what makes for a good: Thesis, Argumentation, Logical Organization, Style and Mechanics.  

WEEK 9

March 10 / 12: Shakespeare

Required Reading:

  - Henry V (1599)

  -  Total: 140 pages

Lecture Outline: 

  -  Shakespeare's Henry V: An Introduction 

An introduction to the play focusing on the play's political teaching with respect to the shift from the medieval to the modern age. Henry V is represented as the ideal ruler for the modern age, combining the classical virtue's required of a warrior king with the Christian virtues needed to consolidate authority. 

🖥️ Recorded Lecture on Shakespeare's Henry V: An Introduction

(from a previous course on War in Literature (2023))

WEEK 10

March 17 / 19: Shakespeare

Lecture Outline: 

  -  Shakespeare's Henry V: An Introduction 

An introduction to the play focusing on the play's political teaching with respect to the shift from the medieval to the modern age. Henry V is represented as the ideal ruler for the modern age, combining the classical virtue's required of a warrior king with the Christian virtues needed to consolidate authority. 

🖥️ Recorded Lecture on Shakespeare's Henry V: An Introduction

(from a previous course on War in Literature (2023))

WEEK 11

March 24 / 26: More

Required Reading:

  - Utopia (1516)

  -  Total: 132 pages

Lecture Outline: 

  -  Thomas More's Utopia: An Introduction 

A detailed introduction to More's classic work. The problems of interpreting More's overall intention are explored in relation to: the overall structure, including the "Parerga"; the ironic quality of More's work as a satire; and the ironies posed by Book I's "Dialogue on Counsel". The point is made that the key to understanding the work as a whole is to see it as a reversal of Plato's Republic. 

🖥️ Recorded Lecture on Thomas More's Utopia: An Introduction

WEEK 12

March 31 / April 2: More

Lecture Outline: 

  -  Thomas More's Utopia: An Introduction 

A detailed introduction to More's classic work. The problems of interpreting More's overall intention are explored in relation to: the overall structure, including the "Parerga"; the ironic quality of More's work as a satire; and the ironies posed by Book I's "Dialogue on Counsel". The point is made that the key to understanding the work as a whole is to see it as a reversal of Plato's Republic. 

🖥️ Recorded Lecture on Thomas More's Utopia: An Introduction

WEEK 13

April 7: Woolf

Required Reading:

  -  Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse (1927)

  -  Total: 170 pages

Lecture Outline:

- Modernism: An Introduction  

An introduction to the intellectual roots of "Modernism" in such thinkers as Darwin, Marx, Nietzsche and Freud. Finally, an introduction to some of the aesthetic movements of literary modernism -- in particular how Modernism's exploration of the "fragmentation" of meaning and experience was connected with Cubism in the visual arts. 

🖥️ Recorded Lecture on Modernism: An Introduction

(From a previous course on War in Literature (2022))

April 9: Woolf

Lecture Outline:

  -  Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse: An Introduction

An introduction to To the Lighthouse, focusing on Woolf's unique articulation of the lived experience of temporality and what allows these experience to endure in "moments of being".

🖥️ Recorded Lectures on Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse: An Introduction

(From a previous course on Time and History in Literature (2025))

WEEK 14

April 14: Woolf

Lecture Outline:

  -  Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse: An Introduction

An introduction to To the Lighthouse, focusing on Woolf's unique articulation of the lived experience of temporality and what allows these experience to endure in "moments of being".

🖥️ Recorded Lectures on Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse: An Introduction

(From a previous course on Time and History in Literature (2025))