The Classics

[haldir]

Philosohers mmm

Plato's Republic
Man and Superman - Neitzche
On Liberty - John Stuart Mill

spring to mind as a start

 

[Vincent E]

The novel that should have been considered "The Great American Novel", and the book that should be on everyone's to read list is Frank Norris' The Octopus.

3113 will be relieved to know that it has nothing to do with fish, in fact it is the story of the expansion of the railroad into the farmland of California in the 1800s, and the impact that expansion had on the people who depended on the railroad. For those who fear big business and the impact it has on our lives in the 21st century, you will find something to fear in this novel.

Do not go in thinking that you are going to be uplifted by the story of perseverence of man's will or some other literary bullshit like that. After reading this novel you will be moved, but you will be depressed. You will not be happy, you will be disturbed. Families are crushed, lives are destroyed, and fortunes that should have been assured are lost forever.

Then again there is one memorable scene of poetic justice that makes the book worth reading even if only for that one moment. In Norris' world, bastards get their just desserts too it seems.

Norris' intent was to write three novels that followed a shipment of grain from the farms of California ( The Octopus ) to the trading floors of Chicago ( The Pit ) to its ultimate destination in a famine ravaged village in Europe ( The Wolf which he died before writing.)

The struggle that the farmers have against the railroad is similar to any struggle the little guy has against the big guy today. The underlying message is as applicable today as it was back then, and that is what makes The Octopus a classic.

 

[ElizabethWest]

SJ,

I think I have posted this site before. It's awesome for reading some of the classics without having to buy the books. These were authors who wrote before those pesky copyright laws came into being.

Great Literature!

I don't really have any favorites to list that haven't aready been mentioned.

 

[LadyJeanne]

Stay away from The Grapes of Wrath unless you want to be severely depressed for the length of the book, and ready to commit suicide at the end. The Sun Also Rises struck me that way, too. Many of the 'classic' novels are bleak.

On the read list:

Jonathan Livingston Seagull - Ray Bradbury
Woman Warrior - Maxine Hong Kingston

To read (or sleep), not novels

Wealth of Nations - Adam Smith
Marx-Engels Reader
Protestant Work Ethic
Plato
Kant
Aristotle

 

[Guest]

Stay away from The Grapes of Wrath unless you want to be severely depressed for the length of the book, and ready to commit suicide at the end. The Sun Also Rises struck me that way, too. Many of the 'classic' novels are bleak.

On the read list:

Jonathan Livingston Seagull - Ray Bradbury
Woman Warrior - Maxine Hong Kingston

Wealth of Nations - Adam Smith
Marx-Engels Reader
Protestant Work Ethic
Plato
Kant
Aristotle

Richard Bach wrote Jonathan Livingston Seagull . I shall not forget this because in college, it was the first book in a two year course I took. We had to analyse it philisophically and write multiple essays and papers. We were burning seagulls in effigy before that section was over.

After that, we did similar things to Dune, The Prince, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, MacBeth, and The Tao of Physics. It was an interesting two years.

 

[LadyJeanne]

Richard Bach wrote Jonathan Livingston Seagull . I shall not forget this because in college, it was the first book in a two year course I took. We had to analyse it philisophically and write multiple essays and papers. We were burning seagulls in effigy before that section was over.

After that, we did similar things to Dune, The Prince, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, MacBeth, and The Tao of Physics. It was an interesting two years.

My apologies to Richard Bach, and to you for having bad teachers!

Over-analysis will kill the joy, but you can always re-read in later years and get something more out of it.

 

[BlackShanglan]

On Liberty - John Stuart Mill

I knew you were more than just a deliciously tempting kilt. Mill's a wonderful thinker. Anything he has ever written is worth reading.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Wealth of Nations - Adam Smith
Marx-Engels Reader
Protestant Work Ethic
Plato
Kant
Aristotle

Amen. I think everyone should read a sampling of philosophical works if only to learn the amazings ways humans have found to examine and define the human experience. I think Marx particularly key reading myself, but then, I am biased.

I would also suggest, to those with the stamina and drive for philosophy, that they also consider a few key works of literary criticism. Raymond William's "Marxism and Literature," for instance, coupled with Brooks' "The Formalist Critics" and perhaps a little Todorov on narratology, opens up amazing new ways of perceiving both reading and writing. It's not something that everyone will want to pursue in depth, but even a quick dabble lets one at least recognize the vast depths that lay beyond.

I think that's a goal in any field, really; if not to become expert, at least to recognize the potential that exists, and the very humble position one occupies in relation to it.

Shanglan

 

[Aurora Black]

Many of my favorite classics have already been listed, so I'll throw in a few that weren't mentioned:

The Odyssey
The Good Earth
Treasure Island
Ethan Frome
Lady Chatterley's Lover and Women in Love (both by Lawrence)
Anything by Edgar Allan Poe

PS: I fourth "The Yellow Wallpaper."

 

[Guest]

My apologies to Richard Bach, and to you for having bad teachers!

Over-analysis will kill the joy, but you can always re-read in later years and get something more out of it.

No need to apologise, but thank you

Actually, after suffering through JLS, going through the rest of the books was actually quite fun. It was easily one of the most challenging classes I'd ever taken, (an interdiciplinary studies course with the goal, as we were told the first day, of turning our mushy little highschool brains into something that could think properly -- quite the interesting approach, I'd say.)

But I still quiver a little when I think of those papers handed back with the command "Do it again" on that silly little book.

Which are your favorite Bradbury books, tho? I had the good luck to sit in on some of his writing seminars several years ago. He's a fascinating man to hear talk about writing, but, surprisingly enough, despite being an SF fan, I've read only some of his short stories. No idea why, his books just never lept into my hands.

 

[Aurora Black]

How could I have forgotten this?

The Divine Comedy

 

[Quinn71]

Les Miserable is My all-time favourite. I would recommend it to anyone

 

[SnoopDog]

I'd definitely include some Edgar Allan Poe. No specific title since it's all good. I know those are only short stories, but he was so damn good and so influential. He invented the detective story and therefore made Sherlock Holmes possible.


Quoth the Snoopy, "Nevermore"

 

[CharleyH]

Part of my plan this summer is to read some of the "classics" that I seem to have missed. So, I'm curious- what "classic" books do you think should be required reading (not necessarily in school, but in life)? Which classics do you hate? Also, any recommendations for me? What I have on my list so far:

Mark Twain (never read any of his books, I'm so ashamed)
Faust
Madame Bovary
The Awakening
Jane Eyre

also plan to reread The Bell Jar and read some Whitman, Thoreau and works by Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth. During my Humanities classes, various essays, poems and books were casually mentioned in the text so I just kept adding things to my list that seem interesting and/or important.

So many - so many. I have always loved Tess of the D'Urbervilles (Thomas Hardy), The Chrysalids (Wyndham? do not recall author off hand). Those have been favourites, although I could name many more. Nathalie Bobbit's Tuck Everlasting is excellent for a children's story and I always suggest Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland for every age, even if one read it before - it changes in meaning as much as Alice depending on your age.

 

[gauchecritic]

It's interesting that some people recommend reading plays (shakespear, Miller) in connection with 'classics'. If you ask the 'man-in-the-street' it seems unlikely to me that they would name Death Of A Salesman as light reading (one of my faves).

The very barest kind of reading available really. and some plays are there only to be read (in my view) rather than performed or at least equally entertaining in either format. (Brecht, Chekhov, Beckett)

Forget Stanislavsky he knows nothing, read Brecht.

 

[CharleyH]

It's interesting that some people recommend reading plays (shakespear, Miller) in connection with 'classics'. If you ask the 'man-in-the-street' it seems unlikely to me that they would name Death Of A Salesman as light reading (one of my faves).

The very barest kind of reading available really. and some plays are there only to be read (in my view) rather than performed or at least equally entertaining in either format. (Brecht, Chekhov, Beckett)

Forget Stanislavsky he knows nothing, read Brecht.

Hm Brecht - I thought you detested Beckett and well, Jean Genet is my fave dramatist - shall we dance on the subject?

 

[gauchecritic]

Hm Brecht - I thought you detested Beckett and well, Jean Genet is my fave dramatist - shall we dance on the subject?

Gogo and Didi? never. Two of my favourite nameless characters ever. Up there with Ros and Guil now there are two people who are definitely waiting for Godot despite what it says in the letter.

(I saw you do it)

 

[kendo1]

Janet and John.

 

[haldir]

hey Kendo man!

Janet & John certainly looms large on the shelves of my childhood library!
How about Spot, or Noddy?

 

[Aurora Black]

hey Kendo man!

Janet & John certainly looms large on the shelves of my childhood library!
How about Spot, or Noddy?

Blues Clues!

 

[haldir]

here's another one - not in the canon of "classic" literature but well worth reading i would suggest

"Man and His Symbols" CJ Jung (the title is a child of the times it was written in - but this does not invalidate it as a great psychological work in my view).

 

[haldir]

Mr Men - my fave was Mr tickle

 

[Aurora Black]

The Interpretation of Dreams by Freud.

 

[haldir]

I'd go with that Aurora - the two together provide an excellent balance.

 

[gauchecritic]

The interpretation of dreams and Mr Tickle?

Sounds about right and equally instructive.