A Way with Words II: Approaches to Literature, 7 CDs [The Modern Scholar Series]

by Michael D. C. Drout

Genres: Nonfiction, Literature, Audiobook, Language, Writing, Books About Books, Philosophy

Unknown Binding

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would recommend anything by Professor Drout. He is a philologist who is passionate about language and its history. I also recently listened twice to his course on grammar in this same series. It might sound boring, but Drout, with a sense of humor and his knowledge of the history of our grammatical rules, makes it fascinating. If you enjoy the history behind these subjects, he goes much deeper into that in his course "The History of the English Language".

[Andrew Pixton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Drout is an engaging and relatable lecturer and while I enjoyed this series, it diverges from the traditional approaches on literature not always for the best. He mentions at the beginning that we normally approach through character, plot, theme, etc and says he thinks this has worn itself out. He's not wrong, I'm not sure what he replaced it with was much better. It wasn't worn out, but he seems to have picked other ways to analyze and laud literature but not exactly in a comprehensive way. For example he ends up covering certain traditions, like modernism, but not others. Why he made that distinction I'm not sure. I did like his analysis on everything though, and also his occasional poetry or prose recitations and break downs. I also really appreciate that he allows for genre fiction to be considered "literature" unlike many other more stuck-up scholars.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Professor Drout is an excellent lecturer and holds my interest. Although it seems that all lectures somehow lead to a discussion of Medieval Literature ( his area of expertise, not my favorite) and he often goes off on esoteric tangents, I really like the way he discusses and presents literature. I particularly appreciated his open mindedness about the "canon" and his explanation of Post Modernism.

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Professor Drout is brief, yet thrilling, in his presentation of the questions that visit the minds of those who contemplate literature. I am looking forward to reading his works on Anglo-Saxon Literature.

[Kevin Stilley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everything by Michael Drout is worthy of your engagement; he is a brilliant and interesting scholar.

[Ulee ☄︎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8

review pending .. (might need to re-listen to it)

[Phillip · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. Drout is inspiring.

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a series of 14 lectures on CD's from the The Modern Scholar series, which presents classroom course lectures from professors of different universities. This one is by Professor Drout of Wheaton College. I do not pretend to have absorbed everything Professor Drout was talking about, but found it very fascinating listening. It above all reminded me of how very much I don't know, but wish I did. I would be good if I were to listen to this a couple more times, but I don't have the time to devote to it.

If you like this sort of thing, Great Courses is another source. I have liked everything I have listened to from both these companies.

[Byron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Drout brings to mind many things that I apparently missed along my journey towards my English degree. New, to me, ideas and perspectives made this a particularly fulfilling series of lectures. I also felt a bit of freedom when released from the burden of reading every piece of literature ever canonized.

[Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy all of Professor Drout's lectures. After listening to this series, I've decided that literary criticism is more about the ideologies found in college English departments than it is about the books themselves.

[Skip (David) Everling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enlightening introductory course in literary theory and a broad overview of the varieties of written word, taught by one of my favorite language professors, the enthusiastic and quirky D.C. Drout. I particularly enjoyed the lectures on language & text, psychology, and cultural production.

[Brian Woodard · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're a language nerd like me this course is something of a wonder. I bought the series and listened out of order, now I want to go back and get the whole thing under my belt. Highly recommended.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read part I, so on to part II. This guy likes Beowulf. His roots are in Anglo Saxon literature, but he also writes about science fiction, and Tolkien, which is somewhere between the two.

[Meter]

did not care for this lecturer. if you want to get a general idea of literary theory, this can do it.

[Katrice · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this course as well as Professor Drout's other courses for modern scholar.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Follow this link to the actual listing:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable lecture series about how to analytically approach reading. It gave me a greater and philological perspective on objectification. However, I'm still not sold on poetry.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny. Conversational. Makes me want to read older literature, and science fiction.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was another amazing Drout lecture and I would highly recommend it!

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t read much literature. After this course I will read more.

[Mario Russo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Prof. Drout is a JOY to listen to. Holy crap. It's such a joy to listen a passionate professor about english literature, fantasy and so on.