New Course: An Introduction to Literature

A New Look at Familiar Books

I have put together notes for a new short course (that may or may not be expanded later) that offers introductions to some of the famous books that young Americans are asked to read. The intended audience is teachers, parents—especially parents that homeschool their children—and all lovers of literature.

The books I have put together materials for are:

1. Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 (here is that lecture and here is a bonus lecture for subscribers)

2. Jack London’s The Call of the Wild (here is that lecture)

3. Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (here is that lecture)

4. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies (here is that lecture)

5. Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (here is that lecture)

6. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice (here is that lecture)

Below is a special series taking the approach of the previous six lectures and showing what it can yield when carefully deployed over the entirety of a book such that it goes beyond an introduction:

7. “Discoveries and Revelations”: A Commentary on Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine (chapters 1-10) (here is that lecture)

8. “Discoveries and Revelations”: A Commentary on Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine (chapters 11-20) (here is that lecture)

9. “Discoveries and Revelations”: A Commentary on Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine (chapters 21-30) (here is that lecture)

10. “Discoveries and Revelations”: A Commentary on Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine (chapters 31-40) (here is that lecture)

Just about any “educated” American has read these books or least day dreamed through classes in which they were discussed. Part of the purpose of the course is to ask: why did these books make the canon? What kind of citizens were the makers of the canon hoping to produce when they selected these books? But, more importantly, I hope to show how each of these books can be understood, by their own lights, as offering much more wholesome teachings for students than someone on the Right might expect or remember from their encounters with these books. In other words, understood properly, each of these books orients us toward loving our own or our own nation, and are not meant to prepare us for global citizenship. Admittedly, some offer mixed messages; but, those cases will provide a fruitful point of discussion for what the authors really intended and whether or not their intentions are confused or just more perplexing that we might have initially suspected.

Depending upon interest, after each lecture comes out, I would be interested in doing something over Twitter spaces or elsewhere in order to discuss the books with anyone who is interested. Because each book is a self-contained whole, it would be easy for anyone to drop in for one book without having read the others. I will say though, that I think that these books work together well in the order in which they are placed.

Best,

Brian C. Wilson