The Modern Scholar: Giants of French Literature

Balzac, Flaubert, Proust, and Camus

By: Prof. Katherine Elkins

Narrated by: Katherine Elkins

In this series of lectures, Professor Katherine Elkins details the lives and works of the premier French writers of the last two centuries. With keen insight into her subject material, Professor Elkins discusses the attributes that made classics of such works as Balzac's Human Comedy, Flaubert's Madame Bovary, Proust's In Search of Lost Time, and Camus' The Stranger. Literary immortals all, these four French authors produced works that reflected their times and exerted a continuing and lasting influence on all the generations that followed.

©2010 Katherine Elkins (P)2010 Recorded Books, LLC

Vastly Exceeded Expectations

Most delightful introduction to four pillars of French literature in the form of the modern novel. I intend to revisit these lectures often as I read and reread these classics.

Speaking of Proust, this takes me back

This takes me back to my finest learning experiences in college, and I was blessed with many both in the US and overseas.

good introduction to French literature,

i would study the french writers who she have actively recommended. i appreciate it that coming across this one.

Knowledgeable, but terrible lecturer

Professor Elkins knows her subject matter, but her lectures are marred by innumerable annoying verbal mannerisms. She uses the term " really" so often it's absurd, and she misuses it when the correct word would be "truly," "very," or "actually." in addition she speaks as if she's talking to a classroom of 9th graders rather than educated adults; she does not modulate her speech well, but speaks as though she herself were In Junior High School trying to impress the students or the teacher with her enthusiasm rather than with good preparation and speaking ability. She frequently states something, then says she'll come back to that in a minute, only to immediately explain what she just stated; in other words, there's no need to constantly insert the phrase "I'll come back to that in a minute." She also frequently repeats herself unnecessarily, wasting time that would be better spent imparting knowledge. Her English is terrible despite seeming as if it is her first language; for example, she says , "bee-ond" for the word "beyond," "awready" for the word "already," and her poor English is only exceeded by her execrable French accent. I cannot mention all of the verbal improvements that are needed in her speech, but I would recommend to her that she listen to Professor Willard Spiegelman's lectures on the English romantic poets in the Great Books series in order to understand how to improve her speaking abilities as well as how to prepare and deliver a series of lectures geared towards adults (or even high school students). As a female, I was encouraged to see several modern scholar lecture series offered by female professors, but am sorely disappointed by the poor quality of this lecturer. Perhaps her intention is to speak in a manner and a vernacular she deems appropriate for incoming college freshman with poor educations who might barely be able to read or write, but this is not appropriate for a modern scholar lecture series. Having said this, she does have a good grasp of the subject matter, thus if you can stand to listen to her for any length of time, you will learn something worthwhile about each author.

Decent Lectures

I thought the lecturer did a decent job. She made me curious about the authors. She could have done more to explain why she excluded other authors; how she narrowed it down.