Great Books
Season 1
This documentary series examines famous fiction and non fiction books. With each episode, a book's content is explored as well as the times in which the work was written. Furthermore, the nature of the book's significance is explored as well as its impact.
Where to Watch Season 1
9 Episodes
- Nineteen Eighty FourE4
Nineteen Eighty FourWritten in 1949, George Orwell envisioned a grim future. By 1984, he imagined political leaders manipulating the multitudes into placing infinite faith in their power. In Great Books: 1984, revisit Orwell's life and work, and explore his darkest novel which is sometimes difficult to distinguish from today's reality. - The Interpretation of DreamsE6
The Interpretation of DreamsThere is a dark side to each one of us where our forbidden fear, lust and anger lurk. These unconscious desires do not rest quietly in the human psyche. They are in a sense our enemy within. One man believed he could exorcise our demons through the study of dreams. Sigmund Freud took pride in disturbing the sleep of humanity. At the turn of the century in Vienna, Austria, Dr. Sigmund Freud claimed he had discovered a new doorway to the unconscious... So tell me anything that comes into your mind. Perhaps we could begin with your dream last night. Freud's self-proclaimed masterpiece, The Interpretation of Dreams, offered readers a window into our most secret selves. In his revolutionary work, Freud suggested that often the purpose of dreams is to satisfy through fantasy the instinctive urges that society judges unacceptable. The laws of logic that rule our waking world do not apply to the kingdom of sleep where we are free to experience fantastic adventures. For Freud this liberation of fantasy was a path that led to the heart of the unconscious. - Moved to correct season page
E7Moved to correct season pageIt is said that the apple fell on Newton's head, but it was Galileo who planted the tree. This program examines The Dialogue "arguably the most controversial book of its time" and the tumultuous events revolving around Galileo's visionary scientific achievements. The insights of Harvard University's Owen Gingerich, emeritus professor of the history of science; George Coyne, director of the Vatican Observatory; and others, plus dramatizations of scenes from the book and Galileo's trial, capture the intellectual fervor of the Scientific Revolution and the Church's struggle to discourage acceptance of Copernican cosmology. - Moved to correct season pageE8
Moved to correct season pageIn the story of Gulliver's Travels a beached sailor takes four voyages to visit creatures large and small, in places far away. It is a dark and comical tale, read on many levels, characterized by a grotesque and deviate view of human kind. Perhaps it's an attempt to answer the question, "Who are we?" or "What is our nature?" At carnivals and amusement parks we can see ourselves and others from different perspectives. Our imagination is engaged as we see mirrors and distortions of ourselves. Long ago, there lived a genius and prolific writer, Jonathan Swift, who wrote a tale on distorted creatures and distorted perspectives. In it, he seemed to ask that question for us all: Who am I? - Moved to correct season pageE9
Moved to correct season pageThe most mysterious character in American literature may well be a great white whale. It represents what is at once beautiful, terrifying and incomprehensible in the universe. The story of an obsessed captain and his quest to hunt down and kill the great white whale has become part of our consciousness re-told in everything from comic books to Hollywood movies. It's a tall tale about pursuit into the unknown, a tale encompassing humankind's history on earth, and its struggle between reason and madness, good and evil.