MONSTERS, GODS, AND HEROES Approaching the Epic in Literature

This fourteen-lesson course surveys the Western epic tradition from Homer's ILIAD and ODYSSEY through Milton's PARADISE LOST. Professor Shutt has a larger-than-life speaking style, which is oddly appropriate for the larger-than-life quality of epic literature. His voice is almost bombastic, reminiscent of a certain daytime radio personality. But with his voice and his unwavering enthusiasm for the topic, Shutt is successful at bridging the gap between college podium and audiobook. Other epics addressed in this series are THE AENEID, BEOWULF, and Edmund Spenser's THE FAERIE QUEENE. Shutt also explores the fate of the epic in more recent literature, considering HUCKLEBERRY FINN, DON QUIXOTE, THE LORD OF THE RINGS, and STAR WARS as possible epics. S.E.S. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 05]