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PaperclipPerfector  9mo ago (text post)   3614 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 30, 2023

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What's a reasonable base/canon of Western literature to be familiar with to call oneself "educated" like a man from the early 20th century? I want to read in chronological order the great works and ideas of western civilization and am hoping Mottizens can help me fill in some gaps. I'm mainly interested in literature but of course there is room for philosophical works as well. Obviously this can be a really wide range of works, but I'm looking for the absolute indisputable foundation, things you cannot skip at all.

What I have so far (very basic in rough chronological order):

Iliad/Odyssey by Homer

Dialogues by Plato

Metamorphoses by Ovid

The Bible (King James version for the literary value?)

Beowulf (already read this one)

Summa Theologica by Aquinas? (Not sure how foundational this is)

Canterbury Tales by Chaucer

Divine Comedy by Dante

Shakespeare's Works

Paradise Lost by Milton

Don Quixote by Cervantes

Moby-Dick by Melville

In Search of Lost Time by Proust

Thoughts? Please help me fill in some gaps!

Start with the Greeks. Continue with the Romans. The rest is just gravy.

I'm only partially memeing with the above advice, but here are some big lists that I would recommend picking and choosing from at least initially as they are genuinely lifetime reading lists. Fadiman and Major Bloom

As for your list so far, a few recommendations on translations + some resources:

Fagles for the Iliad/Odyssey/Aeneid (throwing this in here to round out the epic poetry)

A guide to Plato: https://www.plato-dialogues.org/plato.htm (DO NOT read the Republic first; common mistake. If you've never read him try the Trial and Death sequence of dialogues first: Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phædo)

I would recommend the New Oxford Annotated Bible if you're approaching it from a literary/historical angle. Incredible notes.

For Dante, Ciardi is a good translation that keeps the terza rima format of the original and has extensive notes. That said, there are a lot to pick from, some comparisons here.

And a couple of cool websites to accompany you on your journey with Dante and Virgil: https://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/ https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/

Hello fellow /lit/erati. I think you might want to upload that Dante infographic in higher resolution unless it’s just me.

Exposed! Found and added a higher quality upload.

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