Sign in with Facebook
Rings, Swords, and Monsters: Exploring Fantasy Literature (eAudiobook) (Modern Scholar)
Great college course on the history of fantasy literature from Beowolf to Harry Potter with lots of emphasis on Tolkien. I hate to listen to the last lecture because I don't want it to end. Guess I could just relisten.
Drout is a philologist and develops the history through his study of words and folklore. After listening I have a geater appreciation than ever for the depth...more
Drout is a philologist and develops the history through his study of words and folklore. After listening I have a geater appreciation than ever for the depth...more
eAudiobook
Published
2006
by Recorded Books,
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is not yet featured on Listopia.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
183)
What Professor Drout does well is to sum up the things that fantasy can do that "mainstream" fiction cannot or does not. However, this lecture did not feel nearly as academically rigorous or well-thought-out as other lectures he's done in this series. I felt I was listening to a discussion of a literary genre by a very intelligent fan of the genre, but not an academic lecture. Rather than giving a more general view of movements or themes in fantasy literature, he devotes most of the lectures to...more
Excellent lecture series. Professor Drout is an excellent speaker, and his love of the subject matter generally, and J.R.R. Tolkien in particular, is infectious. I do not consider myself a fan of must fantasy fiction (save for Harry Potter, the Artemis Fowl series, Ken Schole's Lamentation, and a few others). However, Professor Drout's extensive knowledge of the history and development of the genre is fascinating, and after listening I have attempted to seek out some of the titles or authors he...more
What's geekier than reading fantasy literature? Listening to a lecture that actually takes fantasy literature seriously. Maybe that's why I enjoyed it so much.
Drout is a fantasy aficionado and this lecture is perhaps somewhat indulgent on his part, but I think he makes a legitimate argument that fantasy literature is valuable and insightful in that it deals with issues that other literature kind of avoids. He specifically pointed out that more respected literature deals with what death does to...more
Drout is a fantasy aficionado and this lecture is perhaps somewhat indulgent on his part, but I think he makes a legitimate argument that fantasy literature is valuable and insightful in that it deals with issues that other literature kind of avoids. He specifically pointed out that more respected literature deals with what death does to...more
I think there are about 2000 books in the Modern Scholar Series. Michael DC Drout has about 10 books in the series and I have read / listened to about half of his and a dozen more by other authors. These are generally the series of lectures from a course on a particular subject constructed and delivered by the lecturer who is an eminent authority on the subject being considered. They usually total about 8 hours of listening time.
Michael D.C. Drout is the William and Elsie Prentice Professor of E...more
Michael D.C. Drout is the William and Elsie Prentice Professor of E...more
2 likes · like · see review
view all 5 comments
After listening and loving The Hobbit I picked up the Modern Scholar Series Rings, Swords and Monsters which is a series of lectures on fantasy literature by Michael Drout, a professor at Wheaton College. My original plan was just to listen to the one or 2 lectures about The Hobbit. I found that I could not put this down. If you are a fan of fantasy fiction, he covers many of the great authors of the genre - Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Ursula LeGuin, Terry Brooks, and more. His lectures were interspe...more
This lecture series from The Modern Scholar is an excellent introduction to the world of Fantasy literature. Professor Drout begins with an overview of what fantasy literature is and it’s origins in the middle ages and in the world of children’s literature in the 19th century. He then spends several lectures on J. R. R. Tolkien. He examines the four classic Tolkien works as well as some of the lesser known and lesser read works. He then runs through a number of other authors including CS Lewis,...more
This was a fascinating series of short lectures on the history of fantasy from oral tradition myths like Beowulf and Gilgamesh through to the mass proliferation of Harry Potter.
The majority of the lectures deal with Tolkien, whose body of work is each afforded it's own lecture, but whose gravity in the genre is all but impossible to escape or ignore.
It was easy to understand while maintaining academic analysis and commentary on some of the great titles that form the history of fantasy literature...more
The majority of the lectures deal with Tolkien, whose body of work is each afforded it's own lecture, but whose gravity in the genre is all but impossible to escape or ignore.
It was easy to understand while maintaining academic analysis and commentary on some of the great titles that form the history of fantasy literature...more
This course does an excellent job explaining Tolkien and "The Lord of the Rings," although I must confess I haven't read the books or seen any of the movies. If fact, I wasn't familiar with any of the books discussed in the course. While that may put me at a disadvantage, it also provided insight into a genre I might never have explored. I'm still not positive that the fantasy genre is something I would be interested in, but after taking this course, I have decided to watch the LOTR movies and p...more
The title of this course is a little misleading. Drout is a serious scholar of J. R. R. Tolkien, and this 14-lecture course on Fantasy literature is slanted towards predecessors of Tolkien, Tolkien's works (7 lectures), and a few followers/imitators of Tolkien. However, if you like Tolkien, it's great stuff. If you don't, there are a few lectures on children's fantasy, Arthurian fantasy, and magic realism. There's a good review of Ursula K. LeGuin. Don't expect to learn about the popular horror...more
The kid and I have been listening to this for over a month, off and on. It's the CD we were listening to in the midst of a blizzard on the (usually) hour-long drive home from a hospital visit last month.
Very thorough overview on the history of fantasy literature and where it is today. Touches very briefly on all the big names (Tolkien, LeGuin, etc.) and also talks about where it all comes from, both literarily (is that a word?) and psychologically.
Drout is easy to listen to and, while this is no...more
Very thorough overview on the history of fantasy literature and where it is today. Touches very briefly on all the big names (Tolkien, LeGuin, etc.) and also talks about where it all comes from, both literarily (is that a word?) and psychologically.
Drout is easy to listen to and, while this is no...more
I usually love the Modern Scholar franchise (for example, the Medieval Literature and Grail series), but I was disappointed in these lectures.
I expected more factual information and analysis, and this was more like a summary of each fantasy novel. Drout played fast and loose with his research which made for some sloppy scholarship.
For example, he argued that despite Ursula LeGuin's Taoist leanings, she evoked Chiristian themes. His reasoning is that, in her Earthsea trilogy, simply saying somet...more
I expected more factual information and analysis, and this was more like a summary of each fantasy novel. Drout played fast and loose with his research which made for some sloppy scholarship.
For example, he argued that despite Ursula LeGuin's Taoist leanings, she evoked Chiristian themes. His reasoning is that, in her Earthsea trilogy, simply saying somet...more
Maybe this was not the best course, I am not sure with so little to base it on, but it was very interesting to hear fantasy treated in a truly academic fashion, with
- a survey of major, defining works;
- a discussion of the genre's origins and its placement in time;
- a comparison of the major authors amongst themselves and of the genre with others;
- an identification of the major themes; and
- a discussion of what fantasy does well and to what it can still aspire.
- a survey of major, defining works;
- a discussion of the genre's origins and its placement in time;
- a comparison of the major authors amongst themselves and of the genre with others;
- an identification of the major themes; and
- a discussion of what fantasy does well and to what it can still aspire.
I really enjoyed this lecture series--primarily because of the subject matter, though Drout is a decent enough lecturer. He made some excellent points about the benefits and strengths of fantasy literature. Of course, now I wish I were back in school so I could take a full-blown course on fantasy. I guess I'll have to settle for adding a dozen or so more fantasy titles to my To Read list.
Drout is amazing! I love being able to continue to learn from this great teacher. I wanted to participate in this course because I realized that fantasy was a huge part of my childhood reading material and I wanted to re-embrace that genre with more knowledge. Highly recommend this for anyone of the same interest.
This was another great lecture series concerning mostly Tolkien, Le Guin and the contemporaties of fantasy. I loved the indepth info and the new series for me to tackle eventually! The professor is well-versed & read. Not bored at all.
This lecture series was so fun to listen to! My favorite part was learning more about Tolkein's life and how he created Middle-Earth.
Listened to this book: VERY good; hi-lited Tolkien (one of my favorites), and even gave me some ideas for future books.
Aug 07, 2010
Alicia
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
readers
Recommended to Alicia by:
Sean Jordan
This is my favorite lecture series. It's instructive and fun.
Brilliant series. Moving on to Drouts series on the English Language next!!!
This was an interesting course. About half of it covered Tolkien. It was not particularly broad in terms of authors and books discussed, but what it lacked in breadth it made up for in depth. I thought it was interesting how he linked fantasy with nostalgia.
I enjoyed going deeper into Tolkien's life. Didn't know he knew so much about the middle ages and languages. No wonder his books are the measuring stick for fantasy. The book did leave me hanging though, thought it should have been longer.
An audio lecture that I loved. 6 hours and I understood Frankenstein to Tolkein in a whole new way!!!!!
The overwhelmingly Tolkien focus was a huge disappointment and a disservice to the genre.
very in depth look at why fantasy can be literature and not just brain cany
May 20, 2013
Simon Boyes
added it
May 19, 2013
Michael Rozek
marked it as to-read
May 17, 2013
Krystyna
marked it as to-read
There are no discussion topics on this book yet.
Be the first to start one »
