W. SHAKESPEARE, J.R.R. TOLKIEN AND C.S. LEWIS

JUNE 21 - JULY 3, 2009

Rich in heroes and heroines, English Literature abounds in characters who inspire us even as we fear for them, rejoice with them or even mourn for them.  William Shakespeare, C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien famously portray men and women engaged in struggles or crises that stagger the imagination.  These writers, in their drama and fiction, illuminate the personal qualities, motives, habits and circumstances that animate heroes and their times, and in so doing they shed light on the human condition as well.  Drawing upon the land and culture that nurtured them, as well as their own literary imaginations, these three authors provide some of the most insightful and profound portraits of human greatness—and human vulnerability—in the grand tradition of English literature.

Earn three college credits in English with members of the Hillsdale College faculty and discover the works of Shakespeare, Lewis and Tolkien and the world they knew.  Their writings are filled with the sweep of history and the intrigues of court, the delights of friendship and the pull of adventure, the demands of honor and the sorrows of war.  The “little globe” of England—its land and castles, villages and towns, churches and cities, colleges and forests—filled their imaginations and shaped their writings about human greatness and conflict.  Study select works by these great authors and deepen your understanding of them by experiencing much of the England they knew.

Lectures will be presented by:

• Dr. David Whalen, Associate Provost; Professor of English; Ph.D., University of Kansas; teaches Rhetoric and the Great Books, Renaissance literature, the English novel
• Dr. Steve Smith, Associate Professor of English; Ph.D., University of Dallas; teaches Rhetoric and the Great Books, Renaissance literature, 18th-Century literature
• Dr. Bradley Birzer, Associate Professor of History; Ph.D., Indiana University; teaches American Heritage, Jacksonian America, Sectionalism and the American Civil War; author of J.R.R. Tolkien's Sanctifying Myth: Understanding Middle-Earth.