San Antonio College Library

This installment of the Famous Authors series offers overviews of Jane Austen's life and works. The video profiles Austen's family and their connections to England's society. Austen, born in 1775 and raised in the rectory of Steventon, had five brothers and a sister, all known for their cleverness and humor. She had no formal education but was well-read and came to admire Fanny Burney, Samuel Johnson, and Henry Fielding. Austen spent much time in...

This overview of the life and literature of George Eliot from the Famous Authors series follows Eliot's comfortable childhood through the several phases of her education and religious development, during which she discovered major influences like Sir Walter Scott, Shakespeare, and evangelism. Later in ife, she moved away from her evangelist views, eventually leaving the Church of England all together, and took a liking to the romantic poets. The video...

In this introduction to Robert Louis Stevenson's life and work from the Famous Author's series, the audience gets a look at the Scotland of the nineteenth century and the members of Stevenson's family. By the time Stevenson went to university, he'd committed to becoming a writer and sought out a bohemian, literary life, which upset and intermittently estranged his father. After he suffered some illness, his parents accepted his lifestyle and supported...

Catherine Morland has a too-ordinary life and a feverish imagination. When she gets invited to Bath, she is immersed in a world of elaborate balls and handsome men-and when Henry Tilney takes her to his family estate, she becomes mired in a world of fact and fantasy. Is there a dark mystery behind the locked doors of Northanger Abbey? And why is her budding romance suddenly cut short? Felicity Jones stars as Catherine and JJ Feild as Henry in Andrew...

Filmed at the major locations of the poet's life, this program traces Wordsworth's development by focusing on his famous "spots of time," touchstones of place and experience immortalized in his autobiographical poem, The Prelude. Along with readings and dramatizations of works, key ideas in Wordsworth's poetry are analyzed in the context of 18th-century thought by such leading scholars as Professor James Butler of La Salle University, Pamela Woof...

Joseph Conrad's compelling novella, marked by an ominous tone and a sense of unspeakable menace, is a literary introduction to the savage 20th century. In this program, noted Conrad scholars Bruce Harkness, Frederick Karl, Jerome Meckier, and Dwight Purdy examine the author's life within the context of his times: the pervasive influence of his Polish background, the impact of the sense of isolation he experienced as a merchant marine, and the nightmarish...

This introduction to the life and literature of Oscar Wilde from the Famous Authors series begins by introducing Wilde's passionately political, literary, and flamboyant parents and nineteenth century Dublin, the earliest and strongest influences on the writer. Wilde went on to study classics at Oxford and develop his talents. The film discusses Walter Pater's large influence on Wilde's philosophy, most importantly his idea that everything beautiful...

How did three women-who lived in almost total isolation from others and sought with every means at their disposal to avoid human contact-except with one another-manage to write some of the greatest fiction in the English language, and some of the most insightful into the human heart? This program goes far towards finding the explanation, as it shows how their writings were woven out of the relationships between the sisters, out of the scenes and people,...

Illustrated with clips from movie and television adaptations of her novels, this program takes a visually rich approach to understanding the woman behind such classics as Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, and Emma. An extensive biographical and psychological profile of the author provides insight into what life was like for a woman in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Filmed at key locations, including Bath and Austen's later home in Chawton,...

It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. Dickens' tragic tale of love, friendship, and sacrifice begins against the backdrop of the French Revolution. Using affecting dramatizations of key passages, Dickens experts Professor Margaret Reynolds and Professor John Rignall analyze the many nuances and themes of this work. Topics discussed include dualism in characterization and plot; the impact of the ideas of the French Revolution; the rights...