serial.
Ended · 2012–2018

Crash Course Literature

John Green kicks off the Crash Course Literature mini series with a reasonable set of questions. Why do we read? What's the point of reading critically. John will argue that reading is about effectively communicating with other people. Unlike a direct communication though, the writer has to communicate with a stranger, through time and space, with only "dry dead words on a page." So how's that going to work? Find out with Crash Course Literature! Also, readers are empowered during the open letter, so that's pretty cool.

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Seasons & episodes

Season 1 · 8 episodes
  1. S01 E01 · How and Why We Read
  2. S01 E02 · Of Pentameter & Bear Baiting: Romeo & Juliet Part I
  3. S01 E03 · Love or Lust? Romeo and Juliet Part II
  4. S01 E04 · Like Pale Gold: The Great Gatsby Part I
  5. S01 E05 · Was Gatsby Great? The Great Gatsby Part II
  6. S01 E06 · Language, Voice, and Holden Caulfield: The Catcher in the Rye Part 1
  7. S01 E07 · Holden, JD, and the Red Cap: The Catcher in the Rye Part 2
  8. S01 E08 · Before I Got My Eye Put Out: The Poetry of Emily Dickinson
Season 2 · 16 episodes
  1. S02 E01 · A Long and Difficult Journey, or The Odyssey
  2. S02 E02 · Fate, Family, and Oedipus Rex
  3. S02 E03 · Ghosts, Murder, and More Murder: Hamlet Part I
  4. S02 E04 · Ophelia, Gertrude, and Regicide: Hamlet II
  5. S02 E05 · Don't Reanimate Corpses! Frankenstein Part I
  6. S02 E06 · Frankenstein Part II
  7. S02 E07 · Reader, it's Jane Eyre
  8. S02 E08 · If One Finger Brought Oil: Things Fall Apart Part I
  9. S02 E09 · Things Fall Apart Part II
  10. S02 E10 · To Kill a Mockingbird Part I
  11. S02 E11 · Race, Class, and Gender in To Kill a Mockingbird
  12. S02 E12 · Aliens, Time Travel, and Dresden: Slaughterhouse-Five Part I
  13. S02 E13 · PTSD and Alien Abduction: Slaughterhouse-Five Part II
  14. S02 E14 · Slavery, Ghosts, and Beloved
  15. S02 E15 · Langston Hughes & the Harlem Renaissance
  16. S02 E16 · The Poetry of Sylvia Plath
Season 3 · 10 episodes
  1. S03 E01 · Their Eyes Were Watching God
  2. S03 E02 · The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Part 1
  3. S03 E03 · The Raft, the River, and The Weird Ending of Huckleberry Finn
  4. S03 E04 · Shakespeare's Sonnets
  5. S03 E05 · Lord of the Flies
  6. S03 E06 · 100 Years of Solitude Part 1
  7. S03 E07 · 100 Years of Solitude Part 2
  8. S03 E08 · Invisible Man
  9. S03 E09 · Sula
  10. S03 Special · Literature Outtakes, Year Three
Season 4 · 12 episodes
  1. S04 E01 · 1984 by George Orwell Part 1
  2. S04 E02 · George Orwell's 1984 Part 2
  3. S04 E03 · The Handmaids Tale Part 1
  4. S04 E04 · Handmaids Tale Part 2
  5. S04 E05 · Candide
  6. S04 E06 · The Parable of the Sower
  7. S04 E07 · The Yellow Wallpaper
  8. S04 E08 · To the Lighthouse
  9. S04 E09 · Free Will, Witches, Murder, and Macbeth Part 1
  10. S04 E10 · Gender, Guilt, and Fate: Macbeth Part 2
  11. S04 E11 · Pride and Prejudice Part 1
  12. S04 E12 · Liberals, Conservatives, and Pride and Prejudice Part 2

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