A ‘Great Books’ Festival on Cable’s Learning Channel

Coincidence? On the weekend before the fall television season begins, cable’s Learning Channel will present a 36-hour festival of its “Great Books” series.

The marathon will feature the premieres of nine new installments of the 3-year-old series, which examines both the contents and the cultural repercussions of important books.

“By exploring the impact of each book through archival footage, original material and insights provided by leading scholars and prominent personalities, we intend to make the world’s most influential classics accessible and profound for our viewers,” says John Ford, senior vice president and general manager of the Learning Channel.

The “Great Books” festival will air from 6 a.m. to midnight on Sept. 14 and Sept. 15, featuring repeats of hourlong documentaries about “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” “Frankenstein,” “Alice in Wonderland” and Darwin’s “Origin of Species,” among others.

Premiering on the first day will be Homer’s “The Odyssey” (at 11 a.m.), Plato’s “The Republic” (noon), “The Scarlet Letter” (5 p.m.), “Moby Dick” (6 p.m.) and “The Prince” (7 p.m.).

The second-day premieres are “Native Son” (noon), “Gulliver’s Travels” (4 p.m.), “Catch-22” (6 p.m.) and “Freud’s Interpretation of Dreams” (7 p.m.).

The programs feature a wide array of people talking about the books. The one on “Catch-22,” for example, includes interviews with author Joseph Heller; Mike Nichols, who directed the film adaptation; Alan Arkin, who starred in the movie; newspaper columnist Art Buchwald; cartoonist Bill Mauldin and several men who served with Heller in the Air Force during World War II.

Others who turn up in some of the new programs include former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (“The Prince”), Ray Bradbury (“Moby Dick”), Rev. Victor Griffin, former dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin (“Gulliver’s Travels”), former Librarian of Congress Daniel Boorstin (“The Odyssey”) and Nobel Prize-winning poet Joseph Brodsky (“The Republic”).