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 forms of esoteric literature: philosophic esotericism, biblical esotericism, multiple levels of meaning, allegory etc.

🖥️ Recorded Lecture on Esoteric Literature: An Introduction

WEEK 2

January 20 / 22: Plato

Required Reading:

  -  Homer, The Odyssey,  (750 BCE); Book 5 and 11 (pages 77-92, 174-195 in PDF)

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

September 16 / 18: Homer

Required Reading:

  -  Homer, The Odyssey, (750 BCE); Books 16 and 17 (pages 263-299 in PDF)

Lecture Outline:

  -  Homer's Odyssey: Time and the Human Experience 

An introduction to Homer's outstanding epic, The Odyssey. The notes begin with a discussion of the "epic cycle" surrounding the Trojan War. Next the notes cover the first four books of the epic, often referred to as the "Telemachy", and the theme of xenia raised there. The notes then discuss our first encounter with Odysseus on the isle of Calypso, where he refuses her offer of immortality. The depictions of Odysseus (Ulysses) by Dante and Tennyson are contrasted with that of Homer. The depiction of the gods, the "deathless ones", in Homer and its connection with the treatment of the human condition is then discussed. Odysseus' arrival at the isle of the Phaeacians and his recounting of his journeys is then discussed. Focus is placed on the discussion of his descent to the underworld. His arrival in Ithaca and the recognition scenes with Telemachus, his dog Argos, Penelope and finally with his father Laertes are discussed.

🖥️ Recorded Lectures on Homer's Odyssey

WEEK 4

September 23 / 25: Virgil

Required Reading:

  - Virgil, Aeneid, Books I and II (29-19 BCE) (Trans. A.S. Kline); or, see the translation by Robert Fagles

Lecture Outline: 

  -  Virgil's Aeneid: Prophecy as Political History

An introduction to Virgil's epic. It presents an overview of the plot, a discussion of who is Aeneas and an introduction to the work and overall intention of Virgil.  The notes also cover the cultural and historical background of Virgil's epic: namely, the historical context of the Aeneid in the decline of the Roman Republic and the civil strife of the 1st Century BCE, the ambiguity of Virgil's relation to the Greek tradition and to philosophy, and the question of Virgil's attempt to celebrate the Roman achievement and the "way of the ancestors". The notes concentrate on a discussion of Book 1 (the Opening of the Epic) and Book 2 (the Fall of Troy), Book 4, the Tragedy of Dido, Book 6, Aeneas' Descent into the Underworld, and Book 8, the Shield of Aeneas. 

🖥️ Recorded Lectures on The Aeneid

(From a previous course on War in Literature)

WEEK 5

September 30 / October 2: Virgil

Required Reading:

  - Virgil, Aeneid, Books IV and VI (29-19 BCE) (Trans. A.S. Kline); or, see the translation by Robert Fagles

Lecture Outline: 

  -  Virgil's Aeneid: Prophecy as Political History

WEEK 6

October 7 / 9: Shakespeare

Required Reading:

  - N/A

Lecture Outline: 

  -  The Renaissance: An Introduction

An Introduction to the Renaissance context of Shakespeare's works. The lecture begins with a discussion of the legacy of the Roman Empire. Then, the basic features of the Medieval worldview and the defining features of the Renaissance are discussed. Finally, the lecture presents on overview of the shift in thinking ushered in by Niccolo Machiavelli.

🖥️ Recorded Lecture on The Renaissance: An Introduction

  -  Shakespearean Drama: 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)

  -  Shakespeare's Roman Plays: An Introduction

An introduction to Shakespeare's Roman Plays: Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra and Coriolanus. The relation of these plays to other genres is discussed. The predominant concerns of the genre with politics and war are discussed. It is asserted that Shakespeare was able to transcend his own Christian historical horizon and represent different possibilities for human achievement under various political regimes in these plays 

🖥️ Recorded Lecture on Shakespeare's Roman Plays: An Introduction

WEEK 8

October 21 / 23: The Research Essay

🖥️ Recorded Lecture on How to Write a Research Essay

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

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

October 28 / 30: Shakespeare

Required Reading:

  - Coriolanus (1608)

Lecture Outline: 

  -  Shakespeare's Coriolanus: An Introduction 

An introduction to the play focusing on the play's political teaching with respect to Shakespeare's relation to classical and modern republican thinking. Coriolanus attempts to be independent of the political community, but ultimately relies on it for his longing for recognition. This leads to Coriolanus' tragic outcome but also points to what could be called "the tragedy of the political" for Shakespeare.

🖥️ Recorded Lecture on Shakespeare's Coriolanus: An Introduction

WEEK 10

November 4 / 6: Shakespeare

Required Reading:

  - Coriolanus (1608)

Lecture Outline: 

  -  Shakespeare's Coriolanus: An Introduction

WEEK 11

November 11 / 13: Woolf

Required Reading:

  -  Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse (1927)

Lecture Outline:

- Modernity and 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 Modernity and Modernism: An Introduction

WEEK 12

November 18 / 20: Woolf

Required Reading:

  -  Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse (1927)

  -  Tips on the Final Exam

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