I've decided to subscribe, not just because the content is off the charts, but because I can listen to this man's passion for literature forever! ☺😁 Just listening to him makes me feel smarter!😅😂
Same here! I haven't felt this excited about my reading since college (30+ years ago). Now that my kids are all grown and my time is my own, BRING ON THE BOOKS!
Benjamin you never fail to excite me to read. I just finished reading and simultaneously rereading the "brick" (Les Miserables). I approached my reading with reverence, like scripture, and limited myself to approximately 10 pages per day. At the moment I finished the book I, without thinking, held the book to my heart. It was so impactful and transformative. I would not have considered reading in this manner without your inspiration. Thank you so much.
Thank you, Tom. I appreciate that so much. Congratulations on making in through the "brick". Les Misérables is a perfect book for the scriptural reading approach. With 365 mini-chapters, Victor Hugo makes for a great daily companion across the course of a year too. I'm so happy this was a meaningful read for you. I see the novel as being very much a flickering light in the darkness!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy I'm doing something similar with Tess of the D'Urbervilles except limiting myself to 30 pages a day. I'm trying to get used to reading a book more slowly...
I'm sure you realize that you are helping many people who do not have access to formal higher education. You do not treat your viewers like children, rather like people with a curiosity about literature and how they can navigate this vast world. God bless you.
Thank you so much. That's so kind of you to say, and I really appreciate that :) I'm so grateful to have wonderful lovers of literature like yourself reading with me!
9:02 "The experience of being the one responsible for having another fall in love with something you love is truly one of the peak experiences in life." Don't know if I could agree more. This is why I always try to recommend books, movies, video essays, albums, and such to people in the most invitational manner as I can manage. It is worth it for just that one time when someone actually takes you up on a recommendation and then the two of you have a new shared inner life that brings depth to the relationship.
I reread The Catcher in the Rye every ten years and I have found exactly this point to be true: what I notice changes because who I am changes. And the novel changes for me and I love it in new ways each time. A hauntingly beautiful idea for a personal canon - I have been developing it on my own without calling it that, and yet the intentionality inspires me to take this deeper. Thank you, Benjamin, for this fantastic call to define and create.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate that :) I'm rereading The Catcher in the Rye myself at the moment and am astonished at how different the book has become since I last read it several years ago. Extraordinary work!
I would have loved for any literature teacher I encountered to have assigned something like this. This assignment is something you would get at the top 1% of 1% of schools in this day and age.
Wow, this video really moved me. Coming from a university with a strong core curriculum, I always found myself frustrated by the cannon. I could usually identify the merits in many works, but we blew through so many classics that I never had the opportunity to truly sit with them. Since the pandemic, I have been rereading books that I read in high school on my own time to see what a difference a decade has made. The biggest surprise was Jane Eyre, which as a teenager I despised. 10 years later, I could not put it down. I read it joyfully rather than with the begrudging discipline of assigned summer reading, and it has become one of my favorite books. Since that time, I have studied in depth the history of empire, slavery, abolition, and women’s rights, all of which brought the world of Jane Eyre to life for me. Jane Eyre, however, at least has a place in *the* literary cannon. Other authors, I feel, because of their literary aesthetics and their race, language, gender, and sexuality have been overlooked. The Sudanese Tayyib Salih has been considered the greatest Arabic novelist, and I have returned to his books more than any others. The great Lebanese author Leila Balbaaki’s work is now largely out of print in the Arab world and has not been translated into English yet have influenced me greatly. That used to frustrate me, but this video has put into focus the purpose of a literary cannon as a form of joy and personal edification. I have been drawing surprising connections between Montaigne and Russian novelist Vassily Grossman, between Al-Attar’s Conference of the Birds and Rilke’s Book of Hours. I tend to discredit these observations because they are unconventional, but maybe I should start to take them more seriously. I am excited to begin journaling about the things I read and the connections I make, to reorganize my bookshelf based on those books that are most meaningful to me, and determining what my personal literary canon says about me and how I see and interact with the world! Thank you for such a moving and motivating video!
Thank you for sharing your wonderful story with us, Christina :) After university, I never would have thought I would be returning to many of the books I despised in high school. But, like you, I found some tremendous surprises when I did. Jane Eyre is one of those books that changes over the years, and really benefits from bringing lived experience to the work. I feel like Wuthering Heights is similar in that respect. Our relationship with Emily and Charlotte is quite different at thirty, for example, compared to when we were fifteen. And thank you for the great recommendations of Tayyib Salih and Leila Balbaaki - I will be on a keen lookout for translations of Balbaaki. I often wonder at how many great works are cut off to me because I'm confined to just a few languages. Thanks for the great comment! I'm thrilled to have such a great lover of literature here with me :)
I was reading Vonnegut when I was 12, along with Richard Brautigan. I remember I gave my 6th grade teacher "Breakfast of Champions" to read and she told me it was terribly cynical. I said, "Yes. Exactly." It fit my mind-set perfectly -- or, perhaps it fit 1970s America perfectly. Anyway: so it goes.
You gave your teacher 'Breakfast of Champions' when you were twelve! That's so cool :) I haven't read too much Brautigan - I really need to address that!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy Oh, yeah, I loved Brautigan, Ben, when I was an adolescent: "The Hawkline Monster," "The Abortion," and my favorite, "Willard and His Bowling Trophies." He had a pretty perverse sense of humor which appealed to me. I saw him speak at the Albright Knox Art Gallery in 1981 when I was 18. He was very funny reading his poems and prose selections. He toId the audience it was the only time he had ever been east of the Mississippi River. A year or so later he committed suicide.
I’m a high school English teacher and I’ve been nerding out on all your videos! Awesome content. Been looking to recharge my reading life and these talks are helping 🌸
I feel so blessed to have an English teacher watching my videos! It was the English teachers who positively influenced me the most in my life :) Thank you so much for being here!
Ludwig Wittgenstein bringing his copy of The Brothers Karamazov to the WW1 frontlines was what inspired me to start it myself, having completed C&P (and it feels so much simpler in comparison to TBK even though I'm barely a quarter in).
Wow. That's an incredible story. Imagine what it would feel like to get your hands on Wittgenstein's well-loved copy from the frontlines.. That would be special!
This made me think how thinking about books in relation to each other, as opposed to in a vacuum, seems to highlight their particular aspects, bringing out more of their individual character via the contrast. And often I find that I will be reading one book and the previous one's impression will start haunting me because of that.
That's a brilliant insight - so true! It's quite a special experience to find that your previous read is intruding into your current read. It's worth writing down what you hear from that conversation. These great writers certainly talk to each other as much as they talk to us!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy I am currently up to part six in Crime and Punishment after just having read Charlotte Bronte's Villette and I can feel Lucy Snowe's shadow being cast upon the work, which I think might be bearing an unconscious influence in how I feel about Raskolnikov. And in light of that, it is interesting to muse upon the idea that we can tie all these imaginative works together into a tapestry in our mind to create some sort of alternate universe where they all co-inhabit.
I can’t think of a finer encouragement to keep alive & enhance one’s passion for reading literature than your very stimulating lectures, Ben. Thank you!
Dear Benjamin. Thank you so very much for all that you do and putting yourself out there as you simply are. It feels like being talked to face to face, having a conversation that is spoken from the heart, soul and mind and without the frills, or listening to a recital from a prewritten essay. Absolutely love and appreciate all your videos that I have watched so far. Your sharing is paramount to me as a homeschooling mom living in rural Nepal with very limited resources. I am on my personal journey to grow and to inspire my own kids and this channel has elevated it in so many ways. I know children learn best by observing! There is much gratitude to you from the Himalayas so please please keep churning more videos! 🙏🏼
The idea of creating a personal canon of literary works resonates with me. I rarely hear anyone mention Sherwood Anderson's "Winesburg, Ohio," for example, but this slim volume of short stories set in small town America is a personal favorite of mine. Anderson’s theory of the "grotesque" warns us that viewing the world based on a single "truth" is likely to lead one astray. Everyday I meet people who are following their "truth" and who have unwittingly created a falsehood. I often think about the lost souls in Winesburg, Ohio and try my best to look at my own behavior in order to see whether or not I am being led astray by focusing on a single "truth." Another favorite of mine is Walt Whitman's great American poem "Song of Myself." I read this poem every year and it always leaves me full of joy and in love with the world. Thank you, Benjamin, for this magnificent video! I plan to show it to members of my film club. I believe there is a cinematic canon just as there is a literary canon. This video is pure "fire" for anyone who loves the arts. It inspires self reflection and reassures those of us who love to weigh and compare different works of art.
Thank you for putting out this sort of content! Your videos have reawakened a passion for reading the classics in me, and they have fundamentally altered the way I approach these works; not as milestones and tasks, but as the touching, troubling, curious and comical insights into humanity that they are. I'm currently reading War and Peace for the first time, and finding great solace and delight in it. I'd love to see a video on Dante's Divina Commedia at some point! Once again, thank you!
Thank you, Max! That makes me so happy to hear. I love how you've put that - "the touching, troubling, curious and comical insights into humanity that they are." Beautiful. I'm enjoying War and Peace at the moment too. I've always read the Maude translation, but this time am loving the Pevear and Volokhonsky. A chapter a day is a nice rhythm. As for Dante, I'm currently planning some content for the Divine Comedy at the moment :)
I just found your channel today and this 59 year old, lover of classic literature, is going to have so much fun delving through your videos! I love rereading novels because I always see things in a different light, or maybe one character I enjoyed suddenly falls back in the mist while another takes front and center! I adore Thomas Hardy and his "satires of circumstance" hit home with me. How many times do we reflect on the ripple effect of our decisions and actions, or those thrust on us? His characters and events seem so real to me. This year I am expanding my Russian Literature reads and presently halfway through Dead Souls, which I am enjoying immensely. Next year I want to rework my way through al of Dickens again! Thank you for your wonderful channel and input!!
Thank you so much :) I'm so happy to have you here! You're so right about characters fading or coming into focus with each reread. I've noticed this with Middlemarch, Anna Karenina, and the novels of Thomas Hardy. It's a great reflection of how we have changed ourselves over the years. It's exciting to hear you're expanding your Russian Literature reads. Those big Russian works from the 19th Century really nail the human condition. Dead Souls is terrific, isn't it? Gogol, Pushkin, Dostoyevsky, Turgenev, Tolstoy, Chekhov.. What a tradition. I wish you great fun with Dickens :)
"The experience of being the one responsible for having another fall in love with something you love is truly one of the peak experiences in life." What a resplendent description of love. Personally, I believe that to be the ultimate form of affection--endearing another unto your own plain of appreciation is rare and magical.
I almost never leave comments on youtube videos but these are, without a doubt, the best videos I have ever had the chance to watched. I just found your channel yesterday and I have already watched a lot of your videos. The quality and passion you put on them is just mesmerazing and so captivating. Even though the videos are, in theory, long I'm so emerged on them that I lose track of time and end up finding them extremely short. Keep up the great work mate you are fantastic, and thank you for the amazing content. By the way, Spanish is my native language and I absolutely love the way you pronounce spanish names, such as Quijote and Cervantes
Thank you, Josue. You have completely made my day, my friend. I really appreciate passionate lovers of literature like yourself watching and reading along. And thank you for the compliment on my pronunciation! I don't always get the pronunciations perfect, but I try very hard - particularly with languages I am keen to learn in the future. Spanish is top of my list. I would love to be able to read Cervantes' masterpiece in the original. Muchas gracias :)
Toni Morrison ! I fell in love with the Bluest Eye at 17 and I've never turned back. Most recenty I've read Beloved. i'm so used to her fiction (although it feels realer than that), but this month I'm really excited to get into her non-fiction works. I have one of her longer essays on whiteness on my May TBR
I started appreciating Aestheticism while I was reading 'The Portrait of an Artist as a Young man' the second time as i found my mind had opened some dimensions which were not active before. There were ofcourse social references and background in it which was hard for me to understand being from another country ,however it didnot stop me from capturing the essence of the journey ,the narrator was going through as I tend to believe that every writer can relate to.
Without overthinking it right now, my canon would definitely include: The Brothers Karamazov, East of Eden, Till We Have Faces, & Augustine's Confessions. I'll probably reread those four till I die.
Well, luckiest day for me that The Universe sent you my way via the UA-cam algorithm! You are hugely inspiring, kind, massively intelligent, and insightful. Looking forward to my retirement now and doing all the reading I’ve wanted to do with time to delve and focus. It’s a WIDE WIDE world isn’t it?? Thank you Benjamin!
Thank you Benjamin for constantly pushing me to look at literature in so many different ways. Anna Karenina, dare I say, is my favourite novel of all time. I am on my third rereading of this absolutely beautiful text. The novel has resonated differently with me at the different stages of my life when I have returned to it. I found your channel when I was at a very low point in my life and you and the great books have helped me through it. So thank you for making all this wonderful content possible. I am also rereading Viktor Frankl's Man's Search For Meaning. Once I'm done with Anna Karenina, after some time for reflection. I will tackle "the brick" Les Miserables for the second time. Lots of great stuff to keep my soul and mind fed.
Literally devouring this channel over the past week or so. Can't get enough! Your passion is extremely contagious, Ben! God bless you and keep going with those videos, buddy.
It’s wonderful to hear one passionate and knowledgeable talking about literature. It’s highly subjective however, and depends on what you’re seeking. Some of us read most of these a half century ago. Classic literature remains relevant, whether it be a voyage into memory, the marathon beginning w/ Swan’s Way by the incomparable Marcel Proust, or works by Joyce, Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky; or shorts by Borges or Chekhov. The first pages of Cormac McCarthy’s Suttree are as good as descriptivity gets. It’s too bad that world leaders haven’t read and digested great literary works.
Bravo! UA-cam sometimes greets me with jewels like this video of yours, Benjamin. Enlightening and enjoyable. Thanks for sharing this. I've been always a rebellious reader, and never followed the "canonical" literary canon. So, I completely agree with your concepts about the unique readers we are and should be. I insist, you are a fantastic discovery. Receive my warm greetings from Yucatan, Mexico.
My compliments on another excellent and informative presentation. My methods are far less organized or worthy of dissemination to others, but here they are for what they may be worth ... First, I come into contact with a recommendation of a book from sources as divergent as videos such as this or as remote as reading lists that I still have from my school days. Then I will read short reviews being careful to avoid spoilers. Next I will read the book, form my opinions, and examine thoughtfully what the work has imparted to me. Finally, I will research the author if the author is not already intimately known to me and examine the period he/she lived in and the possible effect his personal environment and ethos of his times may have had on his work as well as those influences of other authors which might have (as you mention in your video) influenced the work. Then I will take note of literary criticisms of the specific book with regard to its reception at the time of publication and note the positive and negative critiques and the reasons expressed for same. Ultimately, if there is a film version of the book, I will watch it, but only after determining the most highly acclaimed presentation and compare the video to the book; for example, _Moby Dick_ - the book vs the movie . The fundamental difference being that the book was a representation of the entire spectrum of whaling and the movie was focused primarily on the obsession of a sea captain and his determination to hunt a specific whale to its destruction. I may have mentioned this in one of my other comments in your videos and I am sorry if I am repeating myself: another thing I do, in this case with regard to book notation, is to put a simple dot the size of a period mark in the margin next to the passage I want to record in pencil, and then record the page number on one of the back flyleaves with a word or two to suggest the gist of why I am noting it. The eyes of others who might eventually own the book would never even notice the dot, but if I return to that page I will notice it because I will be looking for it. If I returned to that page even years later I would remember why I noted it in the first place because the passage would have the same import to me then as it did in the past. After categorically going through all of the notated pages I will record my impressions of these passages in a notebook citing the page numbers I had recorded on the flyleaves as reference. I have taken note of the excellent advice you've given in this presentation and intend to more fully examine how I might faithfully incorporate it into my own system. As always, many many thanks!
Thank you so much for sharing that with us. I thoroughly enjoyed reading through your methods. You have a really well thought-out approach that has clearly developed through years and years of deep-reading. We share the same steps too - If I love a book, I simply have to watch/listen to as many adaptations as I can find. It helps make my understanding more robust, and keeps the relationship with the book open, with lots of opportunities to return and reread throughout life. Shakespeare, in particular, remains relevant because there is always a new production of Hamlet or a new string of Histories conceptualised in a new way for us to enjoy. And I love the imperceptible dot in the margins - imperceptible to others, but monumental to us!
Your videos are like a gauntlet tossed down at my feet. I'm old, and no longer have the energy to read as I did when younger, but the enthusiasm of youth is a good tonic to resist retreating. I never got along too well with Dostoevsky but want to read "Brothers K", and may be I will. I've always been a Tolstoy guy who loves Levin and Nikolai Rostov. Levin is such a perfectly realized character, and AK, to me, is the perfect novel. The Vonnegut discussion was very enlightening. I've only read a bit of his stuff, and, obviously, there is much more there than I was aware of. When you're 70+, you might think the reaction would be to think you have to read more, to speed up, but a better solution (perhaps) is to be more judicious in choosing what you read and to read those thoroughly. I think we always know quickly when we've made a good (or very poor) choice. I just have to learn to take my (and your suggested) advice. Thanks for these videos.
No one has ever described reading like you do! When you spoke of your teaching books and running your hand over the titles I knew exactly what you meant. For several years I taught 6th and 7th grade English. I love looking at the books and running my hands over the titles too!
Thank you, Heather. They're honestly my prized possessions. When the question of what one would go back for in an emergency, I would load up on the books that have my marginalia. Also, 6th and 7th grade is like the best grade to teach in my opinion!
I think this is my fourth time watching/listening to this vid, Ben. I often rewatch and relisten your YT videos and your lectures. As a great read, I am sure to miss something the first time around, there's just sooo much. Your gusto further fuels my love for reading and my why. There are helpful tips here I shall make treasure of, especially in my journaling. By he way I now take my journal along with me. I often think about what I read and that's my parameter for how good a book (or a film for that matter) is. As you mention here, the work continues after the last page read and the cover closed. . Since I found you on YT 2 years ago (?) and joined the club, my reading experience has become more rich and layered. You are such a reading guru to me. Thank you.
Beatrice, you have absolutely made my day. Thank you for such a beautiful comment. Your inspiring insights on the great books here and in the book club always fill me with so much joy. I'm thrilled to hear you're taking your journal around with you. I always have a little pocket-sized journal with me when I'm out and about too. I personally always love coming to the end of a year, and writing out a list of the dozen or so books that I read deeply, and seeing which one gives me the greatest emotional response months after closing the book. Happy reading :)
Just wow! Finished brothers karamazov but still everyday I feel I'm reading Ivan's conversation with the devil And now "call me Ishmael '' from Moby dick has evoked nothing but awe , feel like marking every line of this masterpiece just after having read 150 pages
Such a useful and motivating video, thank you! I have been meaning to get into the habit of documenting my thoughts on the books I have read. When I try to think about a book and collect my thoughts in my brain it's all too muddled and I can't quite articulate what it is I actually enjoyed. I started making mind maps on the books I had read and thoughts I didn't even know were there poured out. I do think a more 'finished' review would be even more beneficial so I might try making an audio review for my own reference. Thanks again!
Thank you, my friend. Mind maps are incredible! It sounds like you had a ton of knowledge and the mind map teased it all out :) It's such a satisfying feeling when that happens. Great idea on the audio reviews. I strongly believe this can be a game changer when it comes to reading and retention!
When you read the assignment, I said to myself, "This sounds like such a UChicago supplemental essay prompt." I looked up Kurt Vonnegut's alma mater and, lo and behold, that's where he went. One of my biggest regrets is not taking advantage of the Great Books curriculum during my undergrad years. I really love this approach to "The Core" you've presented and it makes me want to revisit it and try again.
I absolutely love your idea of a book report. I do one every time I read a good book that I have loved or even a book that missed the mark for me. I like to write down my thoughts....it helps me to understand what bothered me about the book or why I loved it and I feel I understand myself more with every book... As a collector of great quotes I often stick my favourite quotes from the book in my report and put it up on my WhatsApp status for my friends and acquaintances to read. Often a random and unexpected person in my contacts will read the book report and message me their thoughts on it and it really makes my day...sometimes a person will read a book upon a glowing book report from me and that really excites me
Bless the algorithm for bringing this video up. I try to read a book a week every year and now I’m going to rank them and write about it. Stay up, brother.
I think my favorite books I'm reading right now is: The Enlightenment; The Pursuit of Happiness, Crime and Punishment, and along with Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.
thank you for this idea and this project; i'm not sure what i will do with it yet, but in a sense, i have already started something like it; a couple of years ago, i got the idea of an "essential library" - books that i didn't want to do without, and that i didn't want to have to search very far for in my stacks. these books are the ones that have, in one way or another, engaged me with wisdom, alternative perspectives, unexpectedly relevant information, challenges to my ways of thinking, even with the style of the writing (William Least Heat-Moon and Ann Zwinger's poetic prose, for example), etc. I will think about how to apply this "ranking" of my personal canon to the already begun project of my personal library. again, much appreciation for this idea. -eve
My personal canon? Shakespeare, Montaigne, and Dante to start. Since I love to read essays, Montaigne is my hero After the trio, I'd add Henry James, Conrad, Daniel Defoe, Tolstoy, Zola, Chekhov, Turgenev, Babel, Willa Cather, Twain, Edith Wharton, Flaubert, Stendhal, Hardy, and the Brontes. Also: Robert Walser, Dashiel Hammett, Nabokov, Zweig, Ray Bradbury, Ursula K. LeGuin, Phillip K. Dick, J.G. Ballard, Sherwood Anderson, Ross McDonald, Raymond Chandler, Dawn Powell, Steve Erickson, Denis Johnson, Philip Roth, and Cynthia Ozick. And that's just fiction.
Now that’s a canon! I could spend many joyful hours with your book collection, Donald. We share so many favourites. And Montaigne is a hero of mine too :)
My canon includes: Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, C. S. Lewis, Tolkien... And also George R. R. Martin, Isaac Asimov, Anne & Serge Golon, Jules Verne, Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Judith McNaught, M. Delly, Barbara Cartland... These are authors I am constantly going back to, for various reasons. Sometimes, just for nostalgia. And then there's the Bible. That's a deep reading program for eternity, my friends.
Hello, Benjamin! As a film student, I'm tempted to try this assignment with directors. Hearing you talk about McCarthy, Melville, and Shakespeare makes me think of Robert Eggers, Ingmar Bergman, and August Strindberg.
This exercise would work beautifully for film, Brett. You should totally do it. And I may have to join you in that! Film was actually my first love. There was a time when I would watch 2-3 movies a night with a notepad beside me, freezing the frames, bingeing the commentaries. Back when Netflix was a company that sent out DVDs in the mail. Good times :)
Brett, I am currently immersed in a project in which I identify the greatest films for each stage of life. The stages of life that I sketched out at the beginning of my project (but after fifty years as an avid movie goer) are: Family, Childhood, Coming of Age, Romance, Sex, Relationships, Love, Old Age, Memory, and Death. I was transfixed by Benjamin's lecture. I was gratified that ranking our favorite works of art is such an intimate and revealing activity. Truly, we learn who we are as we study and rank art. This is true for art, music, literature, cinema, etc. I am an avid great books person, but I think film is more accessible for many people. A good film club is perfect for conversing with other film lovers. I would love to know, for example, which outstanding movies you would select for each stage of life. Best Regards, Tom.
I am just discovering your videos, and the few I’ve watched have given me plenty of food for thought! Although I haven’t read a lot of classic literature, I am looking to start taking a few baby steps at a time. This video came at the right moment, as I have been contemplating rereading the ‘Catcher in the Rye,’ a book I did not much care for when I first read it in high school. I was discussing this novel with a friend who shared my feelings about it, but she did mention that her best friend had developed more positive feelings about it upon rereading it as an adult. That started me thinking about the book and giving it another chance. I expect I’ll find Holden Caulfield to be much more sympathetic upon rereading and plan to write a letter to him as my way of making peace with him😊 Thank you for providing the motivation!
Thank you Benjamin. I've been struggling so much through university accepting that I have to take in the canon that is presented to me and sometimes being forced to read things that I do not care about or cannot connect to. I guess your insight gives me a little bit of peace to accept it now but maybe being able to participate in changing it later. Building your own canon is something that very much appeals to me!
Thank you for this. What you are describing is the way I naturally approach literature. Not that I have done the grading and writing project, I hate having to rank anything. But the willingness to be delighted, yet having no patience with those who present the universe in a way that misalignes with my deepest views, letting a book percolate, reading books in conversation with other books and with your own life, rediscovering and reassessing at later points in life - this is how I read. It has led me to dislike or be indifferent to books that I am, according to canon, supposed to love, and there's always the question of "is it me or is it the book?" I guess the answer is "both" and that's ok. But I do have to remind myself that it is ok to not be able to connect with every classic. Reading in this way has also led me to long lasting and highly rewarding relationships with other books and authors.
This brought to mind the experience I've had with a particular novel. I've re-read Herman Wouk's The Caine Mutiny at least four or five times over my life. And I've been intrigued by how much that story changed for me as I matured (well, simply "aged" might be a more accurate term). Not just nuances, but the fundamental notions of who exactly the "heroes" and "villains" are. As I grew older, I identified with different characters, and kept seeing the novel's events through different eyes. Edit: a perfect example of "How you see is who you are".
Most enjoyable and illuminating. "Personal Canon": great concept--when I think of mine, I have to laugh. Eclectic. One of my favorites that seems to be largely forgotten is Robert Ruark. He was a top journalist, novelist, memoirist and Africa expert in the 40s and 50s. I've been reading him since the 50s. I'm antiquated. Love your channel--just found it.
This, to me, has been a good reminder that our genuine interest reveals to us who we really are, and that we would therefore do good to take a step back sometimes and reflect over what it is that something is touching in us, exactly. As someone who is engaged in writing myself, I might add that this realization can also be stifling at times. To write is to reveal what interests you, and that is to reveal who you are.
You started this blog with the idea of short stories and that set me off right away. I love them. Short stories can be little gems or even bigger than the biggest novel. There are so many short story writers that hardly ever (sme never) get a mention. Sadly, again, Thomas Hardy gets left out, Maupassant, Roald Dahl, Borges, Gorky (Master and Man is a milestonne in one's memor). Some are predominantly short story writers yet they only get a mention for a novel, like Somerset Maugham.
Benjamin, I loved this video. I'm a retired bookseller. I miss having regular conversations with other readers. I haven't read as many 'important' books as I'd have liked. I felt a duty to keep up with newer book I thought my customers might enjoy. I read for myself now. I've enjoyed the memoirs of Langston Hughes and am a huge fan of the works of Willa Cather. I plan to watch more of your book talks. Thank you.
Thank you, Curt. I'm so happy you enjoyed it. That means a lot to me coming from a man of your profession. I had always thought I would go into bookselling myself, or become a librarian, so I could indulge in those great conversations with readers too. I love the poems of Langston Hughes, so I will check out his memoirs, and I've been meaning to read Willa Cather more deeply for the longest time - her great plains trilogy are calling out to me!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy The most enjoyable of the memoirs was The Big Sea. My favorite Cather works are Death Comes For the Archbishop, and The Song of the Lark.
Just found your channel! I am so excited to do Kurt Vonnegut‘s assignment myself! You have inspired me to approach reading in a different way, namely, discovering what moves me and why and to actually write “book reports” about the books I read. I’m an avid and long time reader of all kinds of books and have examined why that is, but not down to why certain books or themes really speak to me. My personal cannon off the top of my head consists of Thomas Hardy’s novels, especially Tess, Charles Dickens, Frank Herbert’s Dune Saga, Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, The Great Gatsby, all of Jane Austen, Vanity Fair, and GRRM’s Game of Thrones series
This is your best video yet. I'll be re-viewing it. I'm a Cannon rebel. I recommend Camille Paglia to you. Have you compared Cormac McCarthy with Carlos Castaneda?
Thank you, Ned :) Ah, Camille Paglia - I've heard this name a lot recently. I very briefly checked out an interview with her, but I must return to it. I realised I would need to be concentrating thoroughly. So I'll listen and let you know what I think. As for Carlos Castaneda, I'm afraid I haven't read him in any depth. Where would you recommend I start?
@@BenjaminMcEvoy I haven't read Blood Meridian yet, but from what I've heard The Judge (and given his milieu) sounds like one of don Juan's sorcerers, or maybe an ally. Castaneda's books should be read from the start, chronologically, for complete understanding. The second in the series (A Separate Reality) was the best in my point of view; I suggest you just read that one if you have limited time resources. (I have reread the Castaneda books several times, so they are in _my_ Cannon.) - The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, 1968. ISBN 978-0-520-21757-7. (Summer 1960 to October 1965.) - A Separate Reality: Further Conversations with Don Juan, 1971. ISBN 978-0-671-73249-3. (April 1968 to October 1970.) - Journey to Ixtlan: The Lessons of Don Juan, 1972. ISBN 978-0-671-73246-2. (Summer 1960 to May 1971.)
Whoa. I haven't read anything seriously in ages. This video gave me so much motivation to get back into one of my forgotten hobbies. Thank you so much!
Nice one, Nick :) I consider that a successful video then! Happy reading! I'd love to know which work you choose to reenter the world of literature with!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy For the moment I'm stuck between the first book of the Wheel of Time series and Crime and Punishment. Both have been on my shelf for ages and neither have gotten any attention.
@@Toxcys Both brilliant books. I have really fond memories of listening to The Wheel of Time audiobook over the long-term a few years ago. I really must go back to it!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy My brother absolutely loved the series, so much so that he gifted me the first book. Im not sure if that makes me obligated to read it or not but I feel like I should try. I've only heard great things about it and it seems you enjoyed it as well.
Thank you for sharing your enthusiasm and passion for books! Some years ago I started a card system of the books I read, writing a few paragraphs on what I thought of it. My intention was mainly to keep a record and to remember what I had been reading. Now, you've given me some other ideas. I really value your view of literature as a constructive force in the world.
Thank you, Barbara! Your card system sounds amazing. Montaigne used to write a paragraph at the end of every book he read, along with the date. I feel as though a catalogue like this would be more exhilarating than keeping a diary, and such a brilliant prompt for self-reflection. You've reminded me to resurrect my own system :)
Great video. You have inspired me to begin thinking about the books that I would include in my personal canon. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and enthusiasm for books with us. 📚
you're basically my favorite yt channel. so inspiring🧡🧡 i'm planing now in january (summer's vacation here in brazil) a personal project including this good stuff that you talk about
Required to read "The Power and the Glory" at 17, it did not connect with me. Twenty-five years later, I bought it for 25 cents at a yard sale. I began it that day and, wow, what a difference time and life had made! I went on to read all of Graham Greene.
This was so insightful. Im always wanting to read the authors works that have inspired other authors, for instance i want to read Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen and as a result Ann Radcliffes work is now something I will be reading to see how it inspired Austen.
I like the optimism and resistance to name-calling and complaints about traditional canons that I was, frankly, worried this video was going to engage in. Well done.
Two commentes: 1 - You showed one of mt favourite paintings ever - "Wanderer" - above the Sea of Fog" by Caspar David Friedrich.. I even have a copy. . Magnificent !!! 2 - i use literary canons as a guide but I'm not very fond of them . Sometimes I feel like I've to enjoy a certain book or I'm stupid. Sometimes you say you're reading "Crime and Punishment" and people are so impressed you're readig Dostoevsky that they find themselves inferior and embarrassed.
Benjamin, yours is a very well-crafted and presented channel. You mention Richardson's Clarissa. I started this seminal "novel" 6 years ago and put it down admittedly out of frustration with its lack of progression. I read Boswell's unabridged Life of Samuel Johnson recently and saw Johnson's quote (which you mention) about Richardson's style, which at first seems to be disparaging: "'ERSKINE. Surely, Sir, Richardson is very tedious'. JOHNSON. 'Why, Sir, if you were to read Richardson for the story, your impatience would be so much fretted that you would hang yourself. But you must read him for the sentiment, and consider the story as only giving occasion to the sentiment'". I think that is an endorsement from as good a source as one could get. I need to pick it back up where I left off. Jay
Thank you, Jay! Boswell's Life of Johnson is superb, isn't it? Wonderful quote - "consider the story as only giving occasion to the sentiment." The thing that always helped me with Samuel Richardson was something Colin Wilson wrote in The Craft of the Novel, talking about his Pamela. He really emphasised the almost total lack of amusement at the time, other than weekly church sermons, and just how gripping such a tale would be during an era that was starting to see the rise of the novel. First readers would be absorbed in works like Clarissa in the same way we become absorbed in TV dramas today, and after that weekly church meeting, one could imagine everyone gossiping about what happened with Lovelace and Clarissa :)
Thank you for this interesting video! I’m currently working on Macbeth & Moby Dick; in an effort to experience “transformative” literature. Also I’m analyzing the parallels between the two, specifically the influence on Herman Melville. I’m still trying to build up the confidence for Milton’s promethean, Paradise Lost.. extraordinarily beautiful, poetic and epic. An incredible mark of human achievement, which I feel will be impactful on me as a writer. It’s a read that demands your attention and an emotional bond, which was beyond what I was prepared for.
So many great points in your video!! Reminds me of books I have read that I didn't think I liked but couldn't stop thinking about afterwards, considering why I can't stop rehashing them and maybe even changing my mind after time has passed. Also, made me consider why my favorite authors are my favorite, I think just wonderful adventures rank high, such as Jules Verne gave me when I was younger. I also love writers that make fabulous use of the English language, such as Dickens and Shakespeare. Something in my brain really enjoys full use of the English language which is why I have a hard time reading some modern books. Thanks for the thoughts!!
Speechless, heartfelt gratitude to your words which have blown me away , all your ideas and suggestions of how to get the greatest reading experience possible , and to learn about yourself .. Sublime ! Thankssss Ben !
Academics scorn certain genres. Science Fiction. Crime. Mystery. Detective. I would place Stranger in a Strange Land, In Cold Blood, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and any novel by PD James or Elmore Leonard in my personal canon.
Great video Benjamin, thank you. Between 94 and 2010 my job was as a music sales rep in Alberta, Canada. So everyday I would get to share/ sell/ recommend music I loved with 'strangers'. Since 'retiring' I've created 3 FB pages, one for music, one for books and one for football and your video reminded me how important it is for me to share my passions. As for favourite authors? Dickens heads the list, George Elliott is a recent addition, Graham Greene and Orwell since I was a teen, but I also love modern writers like John Irving, Kate Atkinson, Peter Matthiessen, C.J.Sansom, Ian Rankin and many more too numerous to mention. And now I must get back to the hilarious and prescient Vanity Fair. Only 400 pages to go! Next up? Either Marco Polo The Travels or Stepehn Crane's The Red Badge of Courage. Coming soon? The Pickwick Papers, Moby Dick, Middlemarch and a re-read of Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse.
Thank you so much for another wonderful video! It got me thinking - have you ever thought of putting all of your insights into a book of your own? Now that would be a fascinating read 😊
Thank you, Jude. I've had it in my mind to put together a book of essays with each chapter dedicated to a specific work and the lessons we can learn from it. I've written the chapter on Great Expectations, which, for me, is all about accepting who you are and returning home in your heart. For a long-term project, I would love to do a book or a documentary series on Shakespeare :)
@@BenjaminMcEvoy well I am very much looking forward to pre-ordering this 😆 and a documentary series sounds like it would be a great project, I’ve been very much enjoying the visuals over at Patreon!
My personal canon is weird, so much scorn but with a bit of hope mixed with fantasy! In no order: Notes from Underground, The House of the Dead, Crime and Punishment, The Stranger/Outsider, The Trial, The Catcher in the Rye, The Grapes of Wrath, For whom the Bell Tolls...yet; The Little Prince, The Richest Man in Babylon, Pride and Prejudice, Great Expectations, Rendezvous with Rama, and A Fire Upon the Deep!
Thank you for finally giving me a meaningful, interesting video about literature to listen to and draw from. I recently finished Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas by Tom Robbins, and he is my number one literary canon. It came at the right time, just as this video did for me. Thanks for the introspection, and time to rewrite!
3 min in and I'm absolutely delighted to have come across from this video : THANK you so much, and I will watch, read and listen your videos with great pleasure :)
I needed to hear so much of this lecture. It bleeds into my personal struggle with wrangling and defining my identity as a person, and I shan’t go into it. But I absolutely loved this video, Ben. Thank you for popping up onto my recommended! :)
Mmm, personal canon, on top of my head: - Anne of Green Gables - Lucy Maud Montgomery - Till We Have Faces - C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman - Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë - Dracula - Bram Stoker - Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen - The Last at the Scaffold - Gertrud von le Fort - The Bloody Chamber - Angela Carter - The Count of Monte-Cristo - Alexandre Dumas - The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien - L'eau des collines - Marcel Pagnol - Cyrano de Bergerac - Edmond Rostand - Antigone - Jean Anouilh
Love it, Ben .Cant describe how much your content has rekindled my love of literature - and how to read it. You should do some content on Japanese literature too. Have you heard of Yukio Mishima? incredible mate.
Thank you, my friend. That means a lot to me. I adore Yukio Mishima :) We actually have a podcast on 'The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea' - Hardcore Literature, episode 14. I'll drop a link below for you! And I did a very short video on the book too. open.spotify.com/episode/6QDwit40JsFUKGMSGgu6qg
This has been a beautiful presentation of an effort and search that curious minds encounter in literature. The idea of a collection of favorites outside of the “canon” is in my opinion excellent. A canon outside of the canon. Maybe an episode in the future with that in mind could be very interesting. Perhaps will put out too much of one own for others to see…. Like the artist in the Picture of Dorian Gray.
The Art of the Short Story, edited by Dana Gioia is excellent. It has 52 authors. It is available on Amazon in paperback. This book will go to my grave with me.
This was extremely useful - it's good to see a focus on quality rather than quantity and depth versus reading at surface level. You should really consider setting up your own courses as I would definitely enroll!
My personal cannon would have to begin with Emily Bronte & Dostoevsky. One of the most profound experiences as a reader I've ever had was when I first read "The Grand Inquisitor" from "The Brothers Karamazov." All the philosophical reflections & meditations I'd had over the years were suddenly crystalized by this brilliant articulation of the human condition. What do the masses of humanity crave & find in organized religion: miracle, mystery & authority. It's a mirrored reflection of Ingmar Bergman's magnum opus "The Seventh Seal" where the knight has his discussion with Death about the very same subject. As Bergman puts it, the thought that oblivion follows physical death is too much for the vast majority of people to psychologically cope with so they invent a god & an afterlife of eternity. In "Wuthering Heights," Emily (my favorite of the Brontës) perfectly encapsulated the experience of true, profound, deeply passionate love for another human being. As Catherine says, "I AM Heathcliff" - amen. For anyone who has ever been powerfully in love with someone, the intensity of emotions so marvelously expressed in "Wuthering Heights" will resonate with great force & recognition. Others I would include are Dickens ("A Christmas Carol" & "Oliver Twist"), the stories & poetry of Edgar Allan Poe ("The Raven" is never far from my consciousness, "The Tell-Tale Heart" which is really an exact description of a paranoid schizophrenic having a psychotic breakdown & the deeply haunting "The Fall of the House of Usher"), Mikhail Bulgakov ("The Master & Margarita" is one of the most brilliant political satires ever written), Nathaniel Hawthorne (every year at Halloween I must read "The House of the Seven Gables" which I've visited in Salem a number of times), Evelyn Waugh ("Brideshead Revisited" which the Hardcore Literature group really should read) & Sigrid Undset ("Kristin Lavransdatter" is a masterpiece that the book club should also undertake). My unofficial cannon begins with William Peter Blatty's "The Exorcist" which is really a profound philosophical & spiritual study far more than it is a horror novel which is no wonder given that the author studied with the Jesuits at Georgetown University. I devour Ken Follett's Kingsbridge series & just now received his latest "The Armor of Light." Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With the Wind" is a masterpiece. Since historical fiction is my favorite genre, Edward Rutherfurd's copious series on countries & cities is simply unmatched. Sherman Alexie's novels on Native American life in the US are nonpareil. My favorite contemporary novelist was the incomparable Josephine Hart whose "Damage" simply blew me away along with every one of her other books. Finally, among the most brilliant authors writing today is Eugene Vodolazkin; everyone should read "Laurus" about mystics in medieval Russia. I could go on & on but I'll end here with a nod to the howling comedy of James Thurber whose short story, "The Night the Bed Fell" should be read out loud in good company. Thank you Benjamin for your delectable work!
AMAZING video! I got so inspired I can't wait to start reading again. I definitely plan on doing that deep reading program with the ranking and reviewing now that you've talked about its reflective power in examining who we are. Thanks for this video, I just subbed 😁
I've decided to subscribe, not just because the content is off the charts, but because I can listen to this man's passion for literature forever! ☺😁 Just listening to him makes me feel smarter!😅😂
Same here! I haven't felt this excited about my reading since college (30+ years ago). Now that my kids are all grown and my time is my own, BRING ON THE BOOKS!
I feel the same
I have become smarter! Just listening to him I’ve noticed an improvement in my vocabulary!
Benjamin you never fail to excite me to read. I just finished reading and simultaneously rereading the "brick" (Les Miserables). I approached my reading with reverence, like scripture, and limited myself to approximately 10 pages per day. At the moment I finished the book I, without thinking, held the book to my heart. It was so impactful and transformative. I would not have considered reading in this manner without your inspiration. Thank you so much.
Thank you, Tom. I appreciate that so much. Congratulations on making in through the "brick". Les Misérables is a perfect book for the scriptural reading approach. With 365 mini-chapters, Victor Hugo makes for a great daily companion across the course of a year too. I'm so happy this was a meaningful read for you. I see the novel as being very much a flickering light in the darkness!
You’re comment was great. And the reply he gave was great too. Is there a good modern translation of Les Miserable?
@@SplashyCannonBall I like the Norman Denny, Michael :)
@@BenjaminMcEvoy I'm doing something similar with Tess of the D'Urbervilles except limiting myself to 30 pages a day. I'm trying to get used to reading a book more slowly...
@@BenjaminMcEvoy That's the version which I happen to have. I didn't know who translated it, but I checked just now :)
I'm sure you realize that you are helping many people who do not have access to formal higher education. You do not treat your viewers like children, rather like people with a curiosity about literature and how they can navigate this vast world. God bless you.
Thank you so much. That's so kind of you to say, and I really appreciate that :) I'm so grateful to have wonderful lovers of literature like yourself reading with me!
9:02 "The experience of being the one responsible for having another fall in love with something you love is truly one of the peak experiences in life."
Don't know if I could agree more. This is why I always try to recommend books, movies, video essays, albums, and such to people in the most invitational manner as I can manage. It is worth it for just that one time when someone actually takes you up on a recommendation and then the two of you have a new shared inner life that brings depth to the relationship.
I reread The Catcher in the Rye every ten years and I have found exactly this point to be true: what I notice changes because who I am changes. And the novel changes for me and I love it in new ways each time.
A hauntingly beautiful idea for a personal canon - I have been developing it on my own without calling it that, and yet the intentionality inspires me to take this deeper.
Thank you, Benjamin, for this fantastic call to define and create.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate that :) I'm rereading The Catcher in the Rye myself at the moment and am astonished at how different the book has become since I last read it several years ago. Extraordinary work!
I would have loved for any literature teacher I encountered to have assigned something like this. This assignment is something you would get at the top 1% of 1% of schools in this day and age.
Wow, this video really moved me. Coming from a university with a strong core curriculum, I always found myself frustrated by the cannon. I could usually identify the merits in many works, but we blew through so many classics that I never had the opportunity to truly sit with them. Since the pandemic, I have been rereading books that I read in high school on my own time to see what a difference a decade has made. The biggest surprise was Jane Eyre, which as a teenager I despised. 10 years later, I could not put it down. I read it joyfully rather than with the begrudging discipline of assigned summer reading, and it has become one of my favorite books. Since that time, I have studied in depth the history of empire, slavery, abolition, and women’s rights, all of which brought the world of Jane Eyre to life for me.
Jane Eyre, however, at least has a place in *the* literary cannon. Other authors, I feel, because of their literary aesthetics and their race, language, gender, and sexuality have been overlooked. The Sudanese Tayyib Salih has been considered the greatest Arabic novelist, and I have returned to his books more than any others. The great Lebanese author Leila Balbaaki’s work is now largely out of print in the Arab world and has not been translated into English yet have influenced me greatly. That used to frustrate me, but this video has put into focus the purpose of a literary cannon as a form of joy and personal edification.
I have been drawing surprising connections between Montaigne and Russian novelist Vassily Grossman, between Al-Attar’s Conference of the Birds and Rilke’s Book of Hours. I tend to discredit these observations because they are unconventional, but maybe I should start to take them more seriously. I am excited to begin journaling about the things I read and the connections I make, to reorganize my bookshelf based on those books that are most meaningful to me, and determining what my personal literary canon says about me and how I see and interact with the world!
Thank you for such a moving and motivating video!
Thank you for sharing your wonderful story with us, Christina :) After university, I never would have thought I would be returning to many of the books I despised in high school. But, like you, I found some tremendous surprises when I did. Jane Eyre is one of those books that changes over the years, and really benefits from bringing lived experience to the work. I feel like Wuthering Heights is similar in that respect. Our relationship with Emily and Charlotte is quite different at thirty, for example, compared to when we were fifteen. And thank you for the great recommendations of Tayyib Salih and Leila Balbaaki - I will be on a keen lookout for translations of Balbaaki. I often wonder at how many great works are cut off to me because I'm confined to just a few languages. Thanks for the great comment! I'm thrilled to have such a great lover of literature here with me :)
I was reading Vonnegut when I was 12, along with Richard Brautigan. I remember I gave my 6th grade teacher "Breakfast of Champions" to read and she told me it was terribly cynical. I said, "Yes. Exactly." It fit my mind-set perfectly -- or, perhaps it fit 1970s America perfectly. Anyway: so it goes.
You gave your teacher 'Breakfast of Champions' when you were twelve! That's so cool :) I haven't read too much Brautigan - I really need to address that!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy Oh, yeah, I loved Brautigan, Ben, when I was an adolescent: "The Hawkline Monster," "The Abortion," and my favorite, "Willard and His Bowling Trophies." He had a pretty perverse sense of humor which appealed to me. I saw him speak at the Albright Knox Art Gallery in 1981 when I was 18. He was very funny reading his poems and prose selections. He toId the audience it was the only time he had ever been east of the Mississippi River. A year or so later he committed suicide.
I’m a high school English teacher and I’ve been nerding out on all your videos! Awesome content. Been looking to recharge my reading life and these talks are helping 🌸
I feel so blessed to have an English teacher watching my videos! It was the English teachers who positively influenced me the most in my life :) Thank you so much for being here!
Ludwig Wittgenstein bringing his copy of The Brothers Karamazov to the WW1 frontlines was what inspired me to start it myself, having completed C&P (and it feels so much simpler in comparison to TBK even though I'm barely a quarter in).
Wow. That's an incredible story. Imagine what it would feel like to get your hands on Wittgenstein's well-loved copy from the frontlines.. That would be special!
Fascinating. One of my all time favourite books.
Oh, I love this! The notion of curating a collection of books that are a reflection of who we are is so inspiring and exciting. You are such of gift.
Thank you, Ashley :) That's so kind of you to say 😊
This made me think how thinking about books in relation to each other, as opposed to in a vacuum, seems to highlight their particular aspects, bringing out more of their individual character via the contrast. And often I find that I will be reading one book and the previous one's impression will start haunting me because of that.
That's a brilliant insight - so true! It's quite a special experience to find that your previous read is intruding into your current read. It's worth writing down what you hear from that conversation. These great writers certainly talk to each other as much as they talk to us!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy I am currently up to part six in Crime and Punishment after just having read Charlotte Bronte's Villette and I can feel Lucy Snowe's shadow being cast upon the work, which I think might be bearing an unconscious influence in how I feel about Raskolnikov.
And in light of that, it is interesting to muse upon the idea that we can tie all these imaginative works together into a tapestry in our mind to create some sort of alternate universe where they all co-inhabit.
@@iamnotthewalruss I love your phrase "tapestry in our mind." I experience the same thing when reading works one after the other.
I can’t think of a finer encouragement to keep alive & enhance one’s passion for reading literature than your very stimulating lectures, Ben. Thank you!
Thank you, Brenda :) That's lovely of you to say! Happy reading :)
Dear Benjamin. Thank you so very much for all that you do and putting yourself out there as you simply are. It feels like being talked to face to face, having a conversation that is spoken from the heart, soul and mind and without the frills, or listening to a recital from a prewritten essay. Absolutely love and appreciate all your videos that I have watched so far. Your sharing is paramount to me as a homeschooling mom living in rural Nepal with very limited resources. I am on my personal journey to grow and to inspire my own kids and this channel has elevated it in so many ways. I know children learn best by observing! There is much gratitude to you from the Himalayas so please please keep churning more videos! 🙏🏼
You seem like a terrific teacher. Such exuberance is infectious.
Thank you, David :) I appreciate that!
The idea of creating a personal canon of literary works resonates with me. I rarely hear anyone mention Sherwood Anderson's "Winesburg, Ohio," for example, but this slim volume of short stories set in small town America is a personal favorite of mine. Anderson’s theory of the "grotesque" warns us that viewing the world based on a single "truth" is likely to lead one astray. Everyday I meet people who are following their "truth" and who have unwittingly created a falsehood. I often think about the lost souls in Winesburg, Ohio and try my best to look at my own behavior in order to see whether or not I am being led astray by focusing on a single "truth." Another favorite of mine is Walt Whitman's great American poem "Song of Myself." I read this poem every year and it always leaves me full of joy and in love with the world. Thank you, Benjamin, for this magnificent video! I plan to show it to members of my film club. I believe there is a cinematic canon just as there is a literary canon. This video is pure "fire" for anyone who loves the arts. It inspires self reflection and reassures those of us who love to weigh and compare different works of art.
Thank you for putting out this sort of content! Your videos have reawakened a passion for reading the classics in me, and they have fundamentally altered the way I approach these works; not as milestones and tasks, but as the touching, troubling, curious and comical insights into humanity that they are. I'm currently reading War and Peace for the first time, and finding great solace and delight in it. I'd love to see a video on Dante's Divina Commedia at some point! Once again, thank you!
Thank you, Max! That makes me so happy to hear. I love how you've put that - "the touching, troubling, curious and comical insights into humanity that they are." Beautiful. I'm enjoying War and Peace at the moment too. I've always read the Maude translation, but this time am loving the Pevear and Volokhonsky. A chapter a day is a nice rhythm. As for Dante, I'm currently planning some content for the Divine Comedy at the moment :)
I just found your channel today and this 59 year old, lover of classic literature, is going to have so much fun delving through your videos! I love rereading novels because I always see things in a different light, or maybe one character I enjoyed suddenly falls back in the mist while another takes front and center! I adore Thomas Hardy and his "satires of circumstance" hit home with me. How many times do we reflect on the ripple effect of our decisions and actions, or those thrust on us? His characters and events seem so real to me. This year I am expanding my Russian Literature reads and presently halfway through Dead Souls, which I am enjoying immensely. Next year I want to rework my way through al of Dickens again! Thank you for your wonderful channel and input!!
Thank you so much :) I'm so happy to have you here! You're so right about characters fading or coming into focus with each reread. I've noticed this with Middlemarch, Anna Karenina, and the novels of Thomas Hardy. It's a great reflection of how we have changed ourselves over the years. It's exciting to hear you're expanding your Russian Literature reads. Those big Russian works from the 19th Century really nail the human condition. Dead Souls is terrific, isn't it? Gogol, Pushkin, Dostoyevsky, Turgenev, Tolstoy, Chekhov.. What a tradition. I wish you great fun with Dickens :)
"The experience of being the one responsible for having another fall in love with something you love is truly one of the peak experiences in life." What a resplendent description of love. Personally, I believe that to be the ultimate form of affection--endearing another unto your own plain of appreciation is rare and magical.
I almost never leave comments on youtube videos but these are, without a doubt, the best videos I have ever had the chance to watched. I just found your channel yesterday and I have already watched a lot of your videos. The quality and passion you put on them is just mesmerazing and so captivating. Even though the videos are, in theory, long I'm so emerged on them that I lose track of time and end up finding them extremely short. Keep up the great work mate you are fantastic, and thank you for the amazing content.
By the way, Spanish is my native language and I absolutely love the way you pronounce spanish names, such as Quijote and Cervantes
Thank you, Josue. You have completely made my day, my friend. I really appreciate passionate lovers of literature like yourself watching and reading along. And thank you for the compliment on my pronunciation! I don't always get the pronunciations perfect, but I try very hard - particularly with languages I am keen to learn in the future. Spanish is top of my list. I would love to be able to read Cervantes' masterpiece in the original. Muchas gracias :)
Toni Morrison ! I fell in love with the Bluest Eye at 17 and I've never turned back. Most recenty I've read Beloved. i'm so used to her fiction (although it feels realer than that), but this month I'm really excited to get into her non-fiction works. I have one of her longer essays on whiteness on my May TBR
I started appreciating Aestheticism while I was reading 'The Portrait of an Artist as a Young man' the second time as i found my mind had opened some dimensions which were not active before. There were ofcourse social references and background in it which was hard for me to understand being from another country ,however it didnot stop me from capturing the essence of the journey ,the narrator was going through as I tend to believe that every writer can relate to.
This is the most enlightening video about reading I have ever seen in my life! WOW!
Without overthinking it right now, my canon would definitely include: The Brothers Karamazov, East of Eden, Till We Have Faces, & Augustine's Confessions. I'll probably reread those four till I die.
Solid personal canon, Toby. You could definitely go on reading them forever and never exhaust them!
These would probably be my exact list as well! Except I’d replace East of Eden with Steinbeck’s To a God Unknown.
@@AnglicanFish Well, I haven't read that so I guess I know what book I'll be looking for next.
Well, luckiest day for me that The Universe sent you my way via the UA-cam algorithm! You are hugely inspiring, kind, massively intelligent, and insightful. Looking forward to my retirement now and doing all the reading I’ve wanted to do with time to delve and focus. It’s a WIDE WIDE world isn’t it?? Thank you Benjamin!
Thank you Benjamin for constantly pushing me to look at literature in so many different ways. Anna Karenina, dare I say, is my favourite novel of all time. I am on my third rereading of this absolutely beautiful text. The novel has resonated differently with me at the different stages of my life when I have returned to it. I found your channel when I was at a very low point in my life and you and the great books have helped me through it. So thank you for making all this wonderful content possible. I am also rereading Viktor Frankl's Man's Search For Meaning. Once I'm done with Anna Karenina, after some time for reflection. I will tackle "the brick" Les Miserables for the second time. Lots of great stuff to keep my soul and mind fed.
This channel has become the best way to answer my family and friends when they ask why I read so much. Just watch and listen to this channel.
That is so incredibly lovely of you to say :) Thank you so much for being here and sharing your love of reading with me!
Literally devouring this channel over the past week or so. Can't get enough! Your passion is extremely contagious, Ben! God bless you and keep going with those videos, buddy.
Wow, thank you so much for watching, Kamal! I really appreciate you being here. God bless you too, my friend :)
It’s wonderful to hear one passionate and knowledgeable talking about literature. It’s highly subjective however, and depends on what you’re seeking. Some of us read most of these a half century ago. Classic literature remains relevant, whether it be a voyage into memory, the marathon beginning w/ Swan’s Way by the incomparable Marcel Proust, or works by Joyce, Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky; or shorts by Borges or Chekhov.
The first pages of Cormac McCarthy’s Suttree are as good as descriptivity gets.
It’s too bad that world leaders haven’t read and digested great literary works.
Bravo! UA-cam sometimes greets me with jewels like this video of yours, Benjamin. Enlightening and enjoyable. Thanks for sharing this. I've been always a rebellious reader, and never followed the "canonical" literary canon. So, I completely agree with your concepts about the unique readers we are and should be. I insist, you are a fantastic discovery. Receive my warm greetings from Yucatan, Mexico.
My compliments on another excellent and informative presentation. My methods are far less organized or worthy of dissemination to others, but here they are for what they may be worth ...
First, I come into contact with a recommendation of a book from sources as divergent as videos such as this or as remote as reading lists that I still have from my school days. Then I will read short reviews being careful to avoid spoilers. Next I will read the book, form my opinions, and examine thoughtfully what the work has imparted to me. Finally, I will research the author if the author is not already intimately known to me and examine the period he/she lived in and the possible effect his personal environment and ethos of his times may have had on his work as well as those influences of other authors which might have (as you mention in your video) influenced the work. Then I will take note of literary criticisms of the specific book with regard to its reception at the time of publication and note the positive and negative critiques and the reasons expressed for same. Ultimately, if there is a film version of the book, I will watch it, but only after determining the most highly acclaimed presentation and compare the video to the book; for example, _Moby Dick_ - the book vs the movie . The fundamental difference being that the book was a representation of the entire spectrum of whaling and the movie was focused primarily on the obsession of a sea captain and his determination to hunt a specific whale to its destruction.
I may have mentioned this in one of my other comments in your videos and I am sorry if I am repeating myself: another thing I do, in this case with regard to book notation, is to put a simple dot the size of a period mark in the margin next to the passage I want to record in pencil, and then record the page number on one of the back flyleaves with a word or two to suggest the gist of why I am noting it. The eyes of others who might eventually own the book would never even notice the dot, but if I return to that page I will notice it because I will be looking for it. If I returned to that page even years later I would remember why I noted it in the first place because the passage would have the same import to me then as it did in the past. After categorically going through all of the notated pages I will record my impressions of these passages in a notebook citing the page numbers I had recorded on the flyleaves as reference.
I have taken note of the excellent advice you've given in this presentation and intend to more fully examine how I might faithfully incorporate it into my own system. As always, many many thanks!
Thank you so much for sharing that with us. I thoroughly enjoyed reading through your methods. You have a really well thought-out approach that has clearly developed through years and years of deep-reading. We share the same steps too - If I love a book, I simply have to watch/listen to as many adaptations as I can find. It helps make my understanding more robust, and keeps the relationship with the book open, with lots of opportunities to return and reread throughout life. Shakespeare, in particular, remains relevant because there is always a new production of Hamlet or a new string of Histories conceptualised in a new way for us to enjoy. And I love the imperceptible dot in the margins - imperceptible to others, but monumental to us!
Your videos are like a gauntlet tossed down at my feet. I'm old, and no longer have the energy to read as I did when younger, but the enthusiasm of youth is a good tonic to resist retreating.
I never got along too well with Dostoevsky but want to read "Brothers K", and may be I will. I've always been a Tolstoy guy who loves Levin and Nikolai Rostov. Levin is such a perfectly realized character, and AK, to me, is the perfect novel.
The Vonnegut discussion was very enlightening. I've only read a bit of his stuff, and, obviously, there is much more there than I was aware of.
When you're 70+, you might think the reaction would be to think you have to read more, to speed up, but a better solution (perhaps) is to be more judicious in choosing what you read and to read those thoroughly. I think we always know quickly when we've made a good (or very poor) choice.
I just have to learn to take my (and your suggested) advice.
Thanks for these videos.
No one has ever described reading like you do! When you spoke of your teaching books and running your hand over the titles I knew exactly what you meant. For several years I taught 6th and 7th grade English. I love looking at the books and running my hands over the titles too!
Thank you, Heather. They're honestly my prized possessions. When the question of what one would go back for in an emergency, I would load up on the books that have my marginalia. Also, 6th and 7th grade is like the best grade to teach in my opinion!
I think this is my fourth time watching/listening to this vid, Ben. I often rewatch and relisten your YT videos and your lectures. As a great read, I am sure to miss something the first time around, there's just sooo much. Your gusto further fuels my love for reading and my why. There are helpful tips here I shall make treasure of, especially in my journaling. By he way I now take my journal along with me. I often think about what I read and that's my parameter for how good a book (or a film for that matter) is. As you mention here, the work continues after the last page read and the cover closed. . Since I found you on YT 2 years ago (?) and joined the club, my reading experience has become more rich and layered. You are such a reading guru to me. Thank you.
Beatrice, you have absolutely made my day. Thank you for such a beautiful comment. Your inspiring insights on the great books here and in the book club always fill me with so much joy. I'm thrilled to hear you're taking your journal around with you. I always have a little pocket-sized journal with me when I'm out and about too. I personally always love coming to the end of a year, and writing out a list of the dozen or so books that I read deeply, and seeing which one gives me the greatest emotional response months after closing the book. Happy reading :)
Just wow!
Finished brothers karamazov but still everyday I feel I'm reading Ivan's conversation with the devil
And now "call me Ishmael '' from Moby dick has evoked nothing but awe , feel like marking every line of this masterpiece just after having read 150 pages
Could you pls tell me which English translation you read the Brother karamazov
@@sriranjit3684 David mcduff
Such a useful and motivating video, thank you! I have been meaning to get into the habit of documenting my thoughts on the books I have read. When I try to think about a book and collect my thoughts in my brain it's all too muddled and I can't quite articulate what it is I actually enjoyed. I started making mind maps on the books I had read and thoughts I didn't even know were there poured out. I do think a more 'finished' review would be even more beneficial so I might try making an audio review for my own reference. Thanks again!
Thank you, my friend. Mind maps are incredible! It sounds like you had a ton of knowledge and the mind map teased it all out :) It's such a satisfying feeling when that happens. Great idea on the audio reviews. I strongly believe this can be a game changer when it comes to reading and retention!
When you read the assignment, I said to myself, "This sounds like such a UChicago supplemental essay prompt." I looked up Kurt Vonnegut's alma mater and, lo and behold, that's where he went. One of my biggest regrets is not taking advantage of the Great Books curriculum during my undergrad years. I really love this approach to "The Core" you've presented and it makes me want to revisit it and try again.
I absolutely love your idea of a book report. I do one every time I read a good book that I have loved or even a book that missed the mark for me. I like to write down my thoughts....it helps me to understand what bothered me about the book or why I loved it and I feel I understand myself more with every book... As a collector of great quotes I often stick my favourite quotes from the book in my report and put it up on my WhatsApp status for my friends and acquaintances to read. Often a random and unexpected person in my contacts will read the book report and message me their thoughts on it and it really makes my day...sometimes a person will read a book upon a glowing book report from me and that really excites me
Bless the algorithm for bringing this video up. I try to read a book a week every year and now I’m going to rank them and write about it.
Stay up, brother.
Thank you, Adam :) I must thank the algorithm myself for bringing you here! Happy reading, my friend :)
I think my favorite books I'm reading right now is: The Enlightenment; The Pursuit of Happiness, Crime and Punishment, and along with Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.
thank you for this idea and this project; i'm not sure what i will do with it yet, but in a sense, i have already started something like it; a couple of years ago, i got the idea of an "essential library" - books that i didn't want to do without, and that i didn't want to have to search very far for in my stacks. these books are the ones that have, in one way or another, engaged me with wisdom, alternative perspectives, unexpectedly relevant information, challenges to my ways of thinking, even with the style of the writing (William Least Heat-Moon and Ann Zwinger's poetic prose, for example), etc. I will think about how to apply this "ranking" of my personal canon to the already begun project of my personal library. again, much appreciation for this idea. -eve
My personal canon? Shakespeare, Montaigne, and Dante to start. Since I love to read essays, Montaigne is my hero
After the trio, I'd add Henry James, Conrad, Daniel Defoe, Tolstoy, Zola, Chekhov, Turgenev, Babel, Willa Cather, Twain, Edith Wharton, Flaubert, Stendhal, Hardy, and the Brontes.
Also: Robert Walser, Dashiel Hammett, Nabokov, Zweig, Ray Bradbury, Ursula K. LeGuin, Phillip K. Dick, J.G. Ballard, Sherwood Anderson, Ross McDonald, Raymond Chandler, Dawn Powell, Steve Erickson, Denis Johnson, Philip Roth, and Cynthia Ozick.
And that's just fiction.
Now that’s a canon! I could spend many joyful hours with your book collection, Donald. We share so many favourites. And Montaigne is a hero of mine too :)
What a magnificent post, Benjamin. Massively meaningful, thought-provoking stuff. A ton to chew on here. And another reason to love Vonnegut!
Thank you so much :) I completely agree! So many reasons to love Kurt Vonnegut!
My canon includes: Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, C. S. Lewis, Tolkien...
And also George R. R. Martin, Isaac Asimov, Anne & Serge Golon, Jules Verne, Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Judith McNaught, M. Delly, Barbara Cartland...
These are authors I am constantly going back to, for various reasons. Sometimes, just for nostalgia.
And then there's the Bible. That's a deep reading program for eternity, my friends.
Hello, Benjamin! As a film student, I'm tempted to try this assignment with directors. Hearing you talk about McCarthy, Melville, and Shakespeare makes me think of Robert Eggers, Ingmar Bergman, and August Strindberg.
This exercise would work beautifully for film, Brett. You should totally do it. And I may have to join you in that! Film was actually my first love. There was a time when I would watch 2-3 movies a night with a notepad beside me, freezing the frames, bingeing the commentaries. Back when Netflix was a company that sent out DVDs in the mail. Good times :)
Brett, I am currently immersed in a project in which I identify the greatest films for each stage of life. The stages of life that I sketched out at the beginning of my project (but after fifty years as an avid movie goer) are: Family, Childhood, Coming of Age, Romance, Sex, Relationships, Love, Old Age, Memory, and Death. I was transfixed by Benjamin's lecture. I was gratified that ranking our favorite works of art is such an intimate and revealing activity. Truly, we learn who we are as we study and rank art. This is true for art, music, literature, cinema, etc. I am an avid great books person, but I think film is more accessible for many people. A good film club is perfect for conversing with other film lovers. I would love to know, for example, which outstanding movies you would select for each stage of life. Best Regards, Tom.
I am just discovering your videos, and the few I’ve watched have given me plenty of food for thought! Although I haven’t read a lot of classic literature, I am looking to start taking a few baby steps at a time. This video came at the right moment, as I have been contemplating rereading the ‘Catcher in the Rye,’ a book I did not much care for when I first read it in high school. I was discussing this novel with a friend who shared my feelings about it, but she did mention that her best friend had developed more positive feelings about it upon rereading it as an adult. That started me thinking about the book and giving it another chance. I expect I’ll find Holden Caulfield to be much more sympathetic upon rereading and plan to write a letter to him as my way of making peace with him😊 Thank you for providing the motivation!
Thank you Benjamin. I've been struggling so much through university accepting that I have to take in the canon that is presented to me and sometimes being forced to read things that I do not care about or cannot connect to. I guess your insight gives me a little bit of peace to accept it now but maybe being able to participate in changing it later. Building your own canon is something that very much appeals to me!
What a brilliant challenging project for his students.
Thank you slso for sharing your insight into method.
👍❤📚🖤🤗😃
Thank you for this. What you are describing is the way I naturally approach literature. Not that I have done the grading and writing project, I hate having to rank anything. But the willingness to be delighted, yet having no patience with those who present the universe in a way that misalignes with my deepest views, letting a book percolate, reading books in conversation with other books and with your own life, rediscovering and reassessing at later points in life - this is how I read. It has led me to dislike or be indifferent to books that I am, according to canon, supposed to love, and there's always the question of "is it me or is it the book?" I guess the answer is "both" and that's ok. But I do have to remind myself that it is ok to not be able to connect with every classic. Reading in this way has also led me to long lasting and highly rewarding relationships with other books and authors.
This brought to mind the experience I've had with a particular novel. I've re-read Herman Wouk's The Caine Mutiny at least four or five times over my life. And I've been intrigued by how much that story changed for me as I matured (well, simply "aged" might be a more accurate term). Not just nuances, but the fundamental notions of who exactly the "heroes" and "villains" are. As I grew older, I identified with different characters, and kept seeing the novel's events through different eyes. Edit: a perfect example of "How you see is who you are".
I absolutely love this assignment! And I love your suggestion about doing this with any format. 💖
Thank you so much!! I'm so happy you loved it! ☺️
Most enjoyable and illuminating. "Personal Canon": great concept--when I think of mine, I have to laugh. Eclectic. One of my favorites that seems to be largely forgotten is Robert Ruark. He was a top journalist, novelist, memoirist and Africa expert in the 40s and 50s. I've been reading him since the 50s. I'm antiquated. Love your channel--just found it.
This, to me, has been a good reminder that our genuine interest reveals to us who we really are, and that we would therefore do good to take a step back sometimes and reflect over what it is that something is touching in us, exactly.
As someone who is engaged in writing myself, I might add that this realization can also be stifling at times. To write is to reveal what interests you, and that is to reveal who you are.
You started this blog with the idea of short stories and that set me off right away. I love them. Short stories can be little gems or even bigger than the biggest novel. There are so many short story writers that hardly ever (sme never) get a mention. Sadly, again, Thomas Hardy gets left out, Maupassant, Roald Dahl, Borges, Gorky (Master and Man is a milestonne in one's memor). Some are predominantly short story writers yet they only get a mention for a novel, like Somerset Maugham.
I absolutely LOVE your point about Plato’s Republic and referring out AS WELL AS referring inward. Spellbinding job, sir!
Bravo Benjamin! Some say the journey is the destination. You can’t have a journey without movement. You’ve moved me.
Benjamin, I loved this video. I'm a retired bookseller. I miss having regular conversations with other readers. I haven't read as many 'important' books as I'd have liked. I felt a duty to keep up with newer book I thought my customers might enjoy. I read for myself now. I've enjoyed the memoirs of Langston Hughes and am a huge fan of the works of Willa Cather. I plan to watch more of your book talks. Thank you.
Thank you, Curt. I'm so happy you enjoyed it. That means a lot to me coming from a man of your profession. I had always thought I would go into bookselling myself, or become a librarian, so I could indulge in those great conversations with readers too. I love the poems of Langston Hughes, so I will check out his memoirs, and I've been meaning to read Willa Cather more deeply for the longest time - her great plains trilogy are calling out to me!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy The most enjoyable of the memoirs was The Big Sea. My favorite Cather works are Death Comes For the Archbishop, and The Song of the Lark.
This dude is gonna change my life
Just found your channel! I am so excited to do Kurt Vonnegut‘s assignment myself! You have inspired me to approach reading in a different way, namely, discovering what moves me and why and to actually write “book reports” about the books I read. I’m an avid and long time reader of all kinds of books and have examined why that is, but not down to why certain books or themes really speak to me.
My personal cannon off the top of my head consists of Thomas Hardy’s novels, especially Tess, Charles Dickens, Frank Herbert’s Dune Saga, Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, The Great Gatsby, all of Jane Austen, Vanity Fair, and GRRM’s Game of Thrones series
This is your best video yet. I'll be re-viewing it. I'm a Cannon rebel. I recommend Camille Paglia to you.
Have you compared Cormac McCarthy with Carlos Castaneda?
Thank you, Ned :) Ah, Camille Paglia - I've heard this name a lot recently. I very briefly checked out an interview with her, but I must return to it. I realised I would need to be concentrating thoroughly. So I'll listen and let you know what I think. As for Carlos Castaneda, I'm afraid I haven't read him in any depth. Where would you recommend I start?
@@BenjaminMcEvoy I haven't read Blood Meridian yet, but from what I've heard The Judge (and given his milieu) sounds like one of don Juan's sorcerers, or maybe an ally. Castaneda's books should be read from the start, chronologically, for complete understanding. The second in the series (A Separate Reality) was the best in my point of view; I suggest you just read that one if you have limited time resources. (I have reread the Castaneda books several times, so they are in _my_ Cannon.)
- The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge, 1968. ISBN 978-0-520-21757-7. (Summer 1960 to October 1965.)
- A Separate Reality: Further Conversations with Don Juan, 1971. ISBN 978-0-671-73249-3. (April 1968 to October 1970.)
- Journey to Ixtlan: The Lessons of Don Juan, 1972. ISBN 978-0-671-73246-2. (Summer 1960 to May 1971.)
Whoa. I haven't read anything seriously in ages. This video gave me so much motivation to get back into one of my forgotten hobbies. Thank you so much!
Nice one, Nick :) I consider that a successful video then! Happy reading! I'd love to know which work you choose to reenter the world of literature with!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy For the moment I'm stuck between the first book of the Wheel of Time series and Crime and Punishment. Both have been on my shelf for ages and neither have gotten any attention.
@@Toxcys Both brilliant books. I have really fond memories of listening to The Wheel of Time audiobook over the long-term a few years ago. I really must go back to it!
@@BenjaminMcEvoy My brother absolutely loved the series, so much so that he gifted me the first book. Im not sure if that makes me obligated to read it or not but I feel like I should try. I've only heard great things about it and it seems you enjoyed it as well.
Thank you for sharing your enthusiasm and passion for books! Some years ago I started a card system of the books I read, writing a few paragraphs on what I thought of it. My intention was mainly to keep a record and to remember what I had been reading. Now, you've given me some other ideas. I really value your view of literature as a constructive force in the world.
Thank you, Barbara! Your card system sounds amazing. Montaigne used to write a paragraph at the end of every book he read, along with the date. I feel as though a catalogue like this would be more exhilarating than keeping a diary, and such a brilliant prompt for self-reflection. You've reminded me to resurrect my own system :)
Great video. You have inspired me to begin thinking about the books that I would include in my personal canon. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and enthusiasm for books with us. 📚
Aw, thank you :) I appreciate that! Happy reading, my friend!
you're basically my favorite yt channel. so inspiring🧡🧡
i'm planing now in january (summer's vacation here in brazil) a personal project including this good stuff that you talk about
Required to read "The Power and the Glory" at 17, it did not connect with me. Twenty-five years later, I bought it for 25 cents at a yard sale. I began it that day and, wow, what a difference time and life had made! I went on to read all of Graham Greene.
This was so insightful. Im always wanting to read the authors works that have inspired other authors, for instance i want to read Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen and as a result Ann Radcliffes work is now something I will be reading to see how it inspired Austen.
I like the optimism and resistance to name-calling and complaints about traditional canons that I was, frankly, worried this video was going to engage in. Well done.
Thank you, Vivian :) I appreciate that, and I know what you mean. I like to try and keep positive 😊
Two commentes:
1 - You showed one of mt favourite paintings ever - "Wanderer" - above the Sea of Fog" by Caspar David Friedrich..
I even have a copy.
.
Magnificent !!!
2 - i use literary canons as a guide but I'm not very fond of them .
Sometimes I feel like I've to enjoy a certain book or I'm stupid.
Sometimes you say you're reading "Crime and Punishment" and people are so impressed you're readig Dostoevsky that they find themselves inferior and embarrassed.
Benjamin, yours is a very well-crafted and presented channel. You mention Richardson's Clarissa. I started this seminal "novel" 6 years ago and put it down admittedly out of frustration with its lack of progression. I read Boswell's unabridged Life of Samuel Johnson recently and saw Johnson's quote (which you mention) about Richardson's style, which at first seems to be disparaging: "'ERSKINE. Surely, Sir, Richardson is very tedious'. JOHNSON. 'Why, Sir, if you were to read Richardson for the story, your impatience would be so much fretted that you would hang yourself. But you must read him for the sentiment, and consider the story as only giving occasion to the sentiment'". I think that is an endorsement from as good a source as one could get. I need to pick it back up where I left off.
Jay
Thank you, Jay! Boswell's Life of Johnson is superb, isn't it? Wonderful quote - "consider the story as only giving occasion to the sentiment." The thing that always helped me with Samuel Richardson was something Colin Wilson wrote in The Craft of the Novel, talking about his Pamela. He really emphasised the almost total lack of amusement at the time, other than weekly church sermons, and just how gripping such a tale would be during an era that was starting to see the rise of the novel. First readers would be absorbed in works like Clarissa in the same way we become absorbed in TV dramas today, and after that weekly church meeting, one could imagine everyone gossiping about what happened with Lovelace and Clarissa :)
Thank you for this interesting video! I’m currently working on Macbeth & Moby Dick; in an effort to experience “transformative” literature. Also I’m analyzing the parallels between the two, specifically the influence on Herman Melville.
I’m still trying to build up the confidence for Milton’s promethean, Paradise Lost.. extraordinarily beautiful, poetic and epic. An incredible mark of human achievement, which I feel will be impactful on me as a writer. It’s a read that demands your attention and an emotional bond, which was beyond what I was prepared for.
So many great points in your video!! Reminds me of books I have read that I didn't think I liked but couldn't stop thinking about afterwards, considering why I can't stop rehashing them and maybe even changing my mind after time has passed. Also, made me consider why my favorite authors are my favorite, I think just wonderful adventures rank high, such as Jules Verne gave me when I was younger. I also love writers that make fabulous use of the English language, such as Dickens and Shakespeare. Something in my brain really enjoys full use of the English language which is why I have a hard time reading some modern books. Thanks for the thoughts!!
One of your most passionate videos, and personal, and best
Thank you, Kevin :) I appreciate that!
Speechless, heartfelt gratitude to your words which have blown me away , all your ideas and suggestions of how to get the greatest reading experience possible , and to learn about yourself .. Sublime !
Thankssss Ben !
Academics scorn certain genres. Science Fiction. Crime. Mystery. Detective. I would place Stranger in a Strange Land, In Cold Blood, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and any novel by PD James or Elmore Leonard in my personal canon.
Great video Benjamin, thank you. Between 94 and 2010 my job was as a music sales rep in Alberta, Canada. So everyday I would get to share/ sell/ recommend music I loved with 'strangers'. Since 'retiring' I've created 3 FB pages, one for music, one for books and one for football and your video reminded me how important it is for me to share my passions. As for favourite authors? Dickens heads the list, George Elliott is a recent addition, Graham Greene and Orwell since I was a teen, but I also love modern writers like John Irving, Kate Atkinson, Peter Matthiessen, C.J.Sansom, Ian Rankin and many more too numerous to mention. And now I must get back to the hilarious and prescient Vanity Fair. Only 400 pages to go! Next up? Either Marco Polo The Travels or Stepehn Crane's The Red Badge of Courage. Coming soon? The Pickwick Papers, Moby Dick, Middlemarch and a re-read of Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse.
Thank you so much for another wonderful video! It got me thinking - have you ever thought of putting all of your insights into a book of your own? Now that would be a fascinating read 😊
Thank you, Jude. I've had it in my mind to put together a book of essays with each chapter dedicated to a specific work and the lessons we can learn from it. I've written the chapter on Great Expectations, which, for me, is all about accepting who you are and returning home in your heart. For a long-term project, I would love to do a book or a documentary series on Shakespeare :)
@@BenjaminMcEvoy well I am very much looking forward to pre-ordering this 😆 and a documentary series sounds like it would be a great project, I’ve been very much enjoying the visuals over at Patreon!
My personal canon is weird, so much scorn but with a bit of hope mixed with fantasy! In no order: Notes from Underground, The House of the Dead, Crime and Punishment, The Stranger/Outsider, The Trial, The Catcher in the Rye, The Grapes of Wrath, For whom the Bell Tolls...yet; The Little Prince, The Richest Man in Babylon, Pride and Prejudice, Great Expectations, Rendezvous with Rama, and A Fire Upon the Deep!
Your channel is absolutely brilliant. I’m so addicted to watching your videos 😅 💕
Thank you, Luna 😊I appreciate that :)
Benjamin, your passion for literature is all inspiring. ❤
Aw, thank you so much. That is so kind of you ❤️🙏
Thank you for finally giving me a meaningful, interesting video about literature to listen to and draw from. I recently finished Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas by Tom Robbins, and he is my number one literary canon. It came at the right time, just as this video did for me. Thanks for the introspection, and time to rewrite!
3 min in and I'm absolutely delighted to have come across from this video : THANK you so much, and I will watch, read and listen your videos with great pleasure :)
I needed to hear so much of this lecture. It bleeds into my personal struggle with wrangling and defining my identity as a person, and I shan’t go into it. But I absolutely loved this video, Ben. Thank you for popping up onto my recommended! :)
What a gift. You have uplifted my soul today and I thank you !!!!
Aw, thank you, Joy :) That makes me so happy to hear!
Mmm, personal canon, on top of my head:
- Anne of Green Gables - Lucy Maud Montgomery
- Till We Have Faces - C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman
- Jane Eyre - Charlotte Brontë
- Dracula - Bram Stoker
- Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen
- The Last at the Scaffold - Gertrud von le Fort
- The Bloody Chamber - Angela Carter
- The Count of Monte-Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
- The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
- L'eau des collines - Marcel Pagnol
- Cyrano de Bergerac - Edmond Rostand
- Antigone - Jean Anouilh
You’re are inspiring and generous with your knowledge… I am learning so much. Thanks 🙏🏻
Thank you, Fatema :) I'm so happy you're here!
Thank you for liberating my incorrect presumption that a book I enjoyed as an 8 year old should be reread later in life
I never thought a UA-cam video could get me so pumped up to read more. I'm ready to run through a wall 😂
That's so awesome! I'm glad you're pumped up :) 💪
Love it, Ben .Cant describe how much your content has rekindled my love of literature - and how to read it. You should do some content on Japanese literature too. Have you heard of Yukio Mishima? incredible mate.
Thank you, my friend. That means a lot to me. I adore Yukio Mishima :) We actually have a podcast on 'The Sailor Who Fell From Grace with the Sea' - Hardcore Literature, episode 14. I'll drop a link below for you! And I did a very short video on the book too. open.spotify.com/episode/6QDwit40JsFUKGMSGgu6qg
@@BenjaminMcEvoy amazing! Cheers, Ben. Keep up the great content my man. Really great stuff.
A very, very important topic. A truly stimulating and mesmerising video. Your erudition shines throughout.
High quality content today and always. Thank you.
Thank you so much, my friend!! I really appreciate that :)
This has been a beautiful presentation of an effort and search that curious minds encounter in literature. The idea of a collection of favorites outside of the “canon” is in my opinion excellent. A canon outside of the canon. Maybe an episode in the future with that in mind could be very interesting. Perhaps will put out too much of one own for others to see…. Like the artist in the Picture of Dorian Gray.
Thank you Benjamin! I am struck by the deep truth of the "psychic residue" ...
The Art of the Short Story, edited by Dana Gioia is excellent. It has 52 authors. It is available on Amazon in paperback. This book will go to my grave with me.
You read my mind! I was just thinking about this this morning. YAY
This was extremely useful - it's good to see a focus on quality rather than quantity and depth versus reading at surface level. You should really consider setting up your own courses as I would definitely enroll!
Thank you, Dean :) I appreciate that! We have the book club, which currently has hundreds of hours of lectures on different great books :)
@@BenjaminMcEvoy I will definitely look into that - great content, keep it up!
Thank you Ben,currently reading middlemarch and enjoying it.could you do a bookcase view sometime? Thanks!
Nice one, Lesa :) I'm so happy to hear that. Middlemarch is superb, isn't it? And, yes, absolutely, we can do a bookcase tour!
I just discovered your channel. You're brilliant!
Thank you, Jack! :)
My personal cannon would have to begin with Emily Bronte & Dostoevsky. One of the most profound experiences as a reader I've ever had was when I first read "The Grand Inquisitor" from "The Brothers Karamazov." All the philosophical reflections & meditations I'd had over the years were suddenly crystalized by this brilliant articulation of the human condition. What do the masses of humanity crave & find in organized religion: miracle, mystery & authority. It's a mirrored reflection of Ingmar Bergman's magnum opus "The Seventh Seal" where the knight has his discussion with Death about the very same subject. As Bergman puts it, the thought that oblivion follows physical death is too much for the vast majority of people to psychologically cope with so they invent a god & an afterlife of eternity.
In "Wuthering Heights," Emily (my favorite of the Brontës) perfectly encapsulated the experience of true, profound, deeply passionate love for another human being. As Catherine says, "I AM Heathcliff" - amen. For anyone who has ever been powerfully in love with someone, the intensity of emotions so marvelously expressed in "Wuthering Heights" will resonate with great force & recognition.
Others I would include are Dickens ("A Christmas Carol" & "Oliver Twist"), the stories & poetry of Edgar Allan Poe ("The Raven" is never far from my consciousness, "The Tell-Tale Heart" which is really an exact description of a paranoid schizophrenic having a psychotic breakdown & the deeply haunting "The Fall of the House of Usher"), Mikhail Bulgakov ("The Master & Margarita" is one of the most brilliant political satires ever written), Nathaniel Hawthorne (every year at Halloween I must read "The House of the Seven Gables" which I've visited in Salem a number of times), Evelyn Waugh ("Brideshead Revisited" which the Hardcore Literature group really should read) & Sigrid Undset ("Kristin Lavransdatter" is a masterpiece that the book club should also undertake).
My unofficial cannon begins with William Peter Blatty's "The Exorcist" which is really a profound philosophical & spiritual study far more than it is a horror novel which is no wonder given that the author studied with the Jesuits at Georgetown University. I devour Ken Follett's Kingsbridge series & just now received his latest "The Armor of Light." Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With the Wind" is a masterpiece. Since historical fiction is my favorite genre, Edward Rutherfurd's copious series on countries & cities is simply unmatched. Sherman Alexie's novels on Native American life in the US are nonpareil. My favorite contemporary novelist was the incomparable Josephine Hart whose "Damage" simply blew me away along with every one of her other books. Finally, among the most brilliant authors writing today is Eugene Vodolazkin; everyone should read "Laurus" about mystics in medieval Russia. I could go on & on but I'll end here with a nod to the howling comedy of James Thurber whose short story, "The Night the Bed Fell" should be read out loud in good company. Thank you Benjamin for your delectable work!
Oh wow. Discovering you for the first time and as a lit major this resonates with me so much! Thank you.
AMAZING video! I got so inspired I can't wait to start reading again. I definitely plan on doing that deep reading program with the ranking and reviewing now that you've talked about its reflective power in examining who we are. Thanks for this video, I just subbed 😁