A comedy collection for the highly literate

ENGLISH MAJORS. You know who you are and here is a double-CD celebrating the secret society of those who, though they may be chauffeuring kids to swim lessons or writing Unix programs or frying cheeseburgers, still could, if need be, write a term paper on the water imagery in The Waste Land.

Includes the Six-Minute Hamlet, tributes to Hawthorne and Kerouac and Emily Dickinson, a Guy Noir adventure that exposes an M.F.A. scam, Garrison Keillor’s recollection of growing up bookish in a football-loving town, the Ballad of John Henry ('John Henry was an English major and poetry was his line. He sat by the window with his yellow legal pad and he wrote one sentence at a time.'), and some 'Lives of the English Majors' dramas.

With guest appearances by Billy Collins, Roy Blount Jr., Robert Bly, Donald Hall, and Calvin Trillin.

Track Listing:

Disc 1

1. English Majors with Dave Barry (11:56)
2. John Henry, Garrison Keillor & The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band (3:20)
3. "The Old Life," Donald Hall (5:55)
4. Guy Noir, Private Eye with Billy Collins (13:03)
5. "The Lanyard," Billy Collins (2:23)
6. "The Revenant," Billy Collins (2:24)
7. Emily Dickinson Suite, Roy Blount Jr. (6:02)
8. The Six-Minute Hamlet (6:29)
9. Long Time Leaving, Roy Blout Jr. (6:02)
10. English Majors: For Whom? (6:11)
11. The Hochstetter House (14:11)

Disc 2

1. Celebrity Classics: The Ten-Minute Macbeth (10:59)
2. Red, Red Rose, Garrison Keillor & The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band (5:45)
3. Starting a Poem, Robert Bly (0:54)
4. Song of Myself, Walt Whitman, read by Allen Ginsberg (11:10)
5. Kerouac (5:38)
6. The Scarlet Letter with Calvin Trillin (4:29)
7. Family Man, Calvin Trillin (7:40)
8. The Family Shakespeare (6:43)
9. "Wild Geese," Mary Oliver, read by Meryl Streep (1:17)
10. Helen Marie (23:06)

About the Author

Garrison Keillor is America’s favorite storyteller. For more than 30 years as the host of A Prairie Home Companion, he has captivated millions of public radio listeners with his weekly News from Lake Wobegon monologues. Keillor is also the author of several books and a frequent contributor to national publications including Time, The New Yorker, and National Geographic, in addition to writing his own syndicated column. He has been awarded a National Humanities Medal from the National Endowment of the Humanities. When not touring, he resides in St. Paul, Minnesota.