Old Western Culture Year 4 Volume 4 - Reader

The Novels Reader accompanies The Novels unit of the Old Western Culture great books curriculum. Based on the Great Books of western civilization, Old Western Culture guides students through the literature, history, theology, and philosophy of the West from a Christian perspective.

Novels Covered:
Literature and novels from the 19th century.

• The Brothers Karamazov (selections) by Dostoevsky
• The Bet by Chekhov
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
• A Christmas Carol by Dickens
• Selected Essays by C. S. Lewis

HOW DOES OLD WESTERN CULTURE WORK?

Old Western Culture is a video course built around master teachers. This unit, The Novels, is taught by Wes Callihan and Jonathan McIntosh, who have decades of teaching experience, and here they guide students through the story of Western civilization in 12 video lessons (approx 35-45 min each, lectures listed below). Each lesson begins with a brief review before jumping into summary, commentary, analysis, and inter-disciplinary connections of the works covered. After each lesson, students complete the assigned readings, and answer comprehension questions in the Student Workbook or online workbook.

CREDITS

The Novels is 1/2 High School Credit in either literature or history. Each year of Old Western Culture is a double-credit Humanities course which is most commonly broken down into 1 Literature credit and 1 History credit. The double-credit assumes that the student will watch all the videos, read the required reading, answer the daily worksheets, and take 4 exams (one for each unit). This a robust course academically, and requires a fair bit of reading. Wesley Callihan or Jonathan McIntosh will coach your student on how to approach the reading in the video. Average daily reading load is 30-40 pages. As an “integrated humanities” course, Old Western Culture will constantly be incorporating history, literature, theology, philosophy, art, and art history, all through the eyes of the Great Books.

The Novels Lecture List:

1. Introduction to The Novels
2. Jane Austen I
3. Jane Austen II
4. Charles Dickens
5. Fyodor Dostoevsky
6. Russian Short Stories
7. J. R. R. Tolkien I: Fairy-Stories and The Lord of the Rings
8. J. R. R. Tolkien II: Escape, Consolation, and Eucatastrophe
9. J. R. R. Tolkien III: Themes in The Lord of the Ring
10. C. S. Lewis I
11. C. S. Lewis II
12. Overview of Old Western Culture and the 20th Century