検索キーワード： 古代・古典・中世の文学

The Iliad is one of the most enduring creations of Western Civilization and was originally written to be recited or chanted to the accompaniment of various instruments. Properly performed, this work today is just as meaningful, just as powerful, and just as entertaining as it was in the ninth century BC, and it casts its spell upon modern listeners with the same raw intensity as it did upon the people of ancient times.

In the hands of Sophocles, the master dramatist, the anguished tale of a man fated to kill his father and marry his mother retains its power to shock and move beyond any Freudian reference.

A classic comedy by the great Oscar Wilde. The Importance of Being Earnest is his short farce consisting of numerous noms de plume, a case of mistaken identity, an identity left in a case by mistake, and the mistake of revealing ones identity in the presence of a previous employer, which may result post-script in a case for Scotland Yard. Or to put much more simply, of Jack and his attempts to woo Gwendolyn, his would-be bride... even if she does seem to think his name is Earnest.

Since it was first published more than forty years ago, Robert Fitzgerald's prizewinning translation of Homer's battle epic has become a classic in its own right: a standard against which all other versions of The Iliad are compared. This definitive translation of Homer's epic is timeless in its...

More than 2,500 years later, the fundamental questions asked by the ancient Greeks continue to challenge, fascinate, and instruct us. Is reality stable and permanent or is it always changing? Are ethical values like justice and courage relative? What is justice? What is happiness? How shall we best live our lives?In this series of 24 lectures, Professor Roochnik invites you to join this eternal discussion.

La voce del narratore recita le più belle poesie di Petrarca, tratte dal Canzoniere dove l'autore, prende in esame i suoi sentimenti, analizza il suo amore non corrisposto per Laura (chiunque sia stata questa donna) ed esplora le sue crisi più profonde e irrisolte.

Se è vero, come dice Borges, che la Divina Commedia è il dono più grande che la letteratura possa offrire a ciascun lettore, è altrettanto vero che l'ascolto di una interpretazione ad alta voce di questo capolavoro può trasformarsi in una esperienza unica, un'occasione preziosa per scoprire emozioni e sentimenti racchiusi in un capolavoro che è ormai al di fuori di qualsiasi epoca.

The Importance of Being Earnest is probably the wittiest comedy in the English language; it is certainly the least earnest. The subtitle, "A Trivial Comedy for Serious People", gives a clear indication of its nature. It is a play about the only subjects that Oscar Wilde would admit taking seriously: wit, elegance, and paradox.

Adapted by David Mamet from a translation by Vlada Chernornirdik. In this classic of Chekhov’s canon, an overbearing professor pays a visit to his country estate, where Sonya and Vanya, his daughter and former brother-in-law, have slaved to maintain his wealth. But Vanya is enchanted by the professor’s new wife, while Sonya has fallen for the town’s melancholy doctor. Includes a conversation with Rosamund Bartlett, author of Chekhov: Scenes from a Life.

The dour, Mr. Darcy is anything but popular with the Bennets, especially when he fancies a member of their clan. And as Elizabeth reluctantly deals with Mr. Darcy’s advances, their romance seems destined to fail. Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice set the standard for romantic comedies when it debuted in 1813, and it still speaks to audiences worldwide through countless adaptations.

Rome grew from a tiny community of small hill villages near the River Tiber in central Italy to one of the most powerful empires the world has seen. The Romans themselves believed that their great city was founded in the middle of the eighth century BCE. By the middle of the second century CE, Rome had a population of 1.5 million; Alexandria, in Egypt, 500,000; and Londinium, in Briton, 30,000.

In Verona, Italy, two young people in love defy the demands of their families and pursue their love for one another above societal expectations. Their decisions and pursuit of love send ripples throughout their family and friend circles, causing controversy and consequences. For centuries, the tale of the young star-crossed lovers has been a mainstay of both the literary canon and popular culture. This is one of William Shakespeare’s most known and beloved works with timeless themes and prose.

Universally admired and quoted, Shakespeare’s Sonnets have love, beauty and the passing of time at their heart. Featuring some of the best-known and best-loved lines in the history of poetry (‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’, ‘Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds’), these evocative sonnets explore passion, the fleeting nature of beauty and the essence of true and everlasting love.

Welcome to Edmund Spenser’s 1590s epic poem, The Faerie Queene. This text-faithful, line-by-line prose rendering transports modern listeners into a vast narrative tapestry. Knights traverse diverse fantastical landscapes including the shadowy depths of an enchanted forest, a treacherous underwater lair, a mysterious subterranean kingdom, and the deadly Bower of Bliss.

Welcome to Edmund Spenser’s 1590s epic poem, The Faerie Queene. This text-faithful, line-by-line prose rendering transports modern listeners into a vast narrative tapestry. Knights traverse diverse fantastical landscapes including the shadowy depths of an enchanted forest, a treacherous underwater lair, a mysterious subterranean kingdom, and the deadly Bower of Bliss.

In seinem kurzen Leben (1777 - 1811) schuf Heinrich von Kleist ein großes Werk. Vier seiner bekanntesten Dramen, die noch heute auf den Bühnen zum Standard-Repertoire gehören, sind in dieser großen Box versammelt, ungekürzt gelesen und sortiert nach ihrer Entstehung.

Stacy Keach and Jane Kaczmarek star in this 1949 masterpiece by Arthur Miller, a searing portrait of the physical, emotional, and psychological costs of the American dream. Willy Loman (Keach) is the play's iconic traveling salesman, whose family is torn apart by his desperate obsession with greatness and social acceptance. As his two sons cast about aimlessly for their station in life, Willy begins to come unraveled when the reality of his life threatens his long-cherished illusions.

The St. Charles Players present multi-cast dramatizations of some of Edgar Allan Poe's greatest works, including The Black Cat, The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether, The Purloined Letter, and The Murders in the Rue Morgue.

The oldest long poem in Old English, written about AD 1,000, Beowulf tells the story of a great warrior of southern Scandinavia, in both youth and maturity. The monster Grendel terrorizes the Scyldings of Hrothgar's Danish Kingdom until Beowulf defeats him. As a result, he has to face her enraged mother. Beowulf dies after a battle against a fierce dragon.

One of the most important books on William Shakespeare, this superb biography is both authoritative and extremely readable. It is the first modern biography of Shakespeare since the Victorian Age to pay full attention to his life and times, to his works, and to the numerous and subtle connections among them.