Sorry to point this out, Steve, but Goethe's Faust is a duplicate (also at no. 47, I think). Enjoying the list very much, though - great to see Dostoyevsky in this one!
@@Tolstoy111 I'd say Don Quixote Part Two is better (richer, darker) than Part One but Steve says no! I forget whether Bloom thought both parts equal or if he preferred the second one.
It's such an under-rated work. I went into it blind and was floored by the third act which is so weird and sudden and poignant and surreal. But I think it's overlooked now as quaint or antiquated or something. This is my first exposure to Steve Donoghue's opinions but I'm going to trawl the rest of his videos and see what else he thinks worth exploring.
Almost through with the Henry Adams. It kept appearing on "best of" lists, so I took the bait. [It helped having inherited 50 volumes of The Library of America in which it's included]. It's marvelous. Jaw-dropping. Poetic. Advanced for its time. I expect to read it a couple more times. It was slow going for me because I purposely slowed down in many passages that were so beautiful that I didn't want to miss anything. I re-read entire pages. I'm happy that his 10 volume history of America (first 20 years of the 1800s) is part of the LOA I have. Thanks for the excellent reviews.
Although it's nice to see you come out to bat for 'Crime and Punishment', I think you'll find that the trusted critic J.E Spivey gave it twelve strong lashes and left it for dead.
I've been hoping, in vain, for a Broadway revival of Our Town starring Tom Hanks as the Stage Manager. Could you imagine a more perfect pairing of an actor and a role?
"In America, a very rare thinker by the name of Henry Thoreau existed. When he was close to death an old aunt of his, a religious old lady, who thought Thoreau was not religious because he never went to church or read the Bible, she came to him and asked compassionately, “Henry, have you made your peace with God?” Lying on his death-bed, Thoreau opened his eyes and said, “I didn’t know we’d ever quarreled. What is there to make peace about?” Henry Thoreau was not the type of man to quarrel with God. He never went to church because it wasn’t necessary. If there is no quarrel, then what is the point of going to court? He never made a mantra of God’s name; he never said a rosary. None of this was necessary because a continuous hymn to God was being sung within him. Henry Thoreau was an incomparable flower among men. He was always calm and unperturbed and never quarreled with God. So how could he pray? Whom would he worship? Whom would he adore? The quarrel between you and God disappears when you are at peace. Otherwise, you would be in conflict twenty-four hours a day. And the more you are in conflict, the more agitated you will become. How can a tree that quarrels with the earth remain calm and tranquil? Its roots are in the earth! Its roots are buried in the earth! Are you fighting with the earth? Are you fighting with your own roots? If you are, uneasiness will become your natural state. Then you will be disturbed; you will be perplexed and confused. If they fought with the earth the trees would go mad. The earth is the womb… No sooner does God come to your door than everything is suffused with calm. A new kind of intoxication pervades your body, your soul, your every heartbeat. The beauty of that intoxication is that it is a thousand times more intoxicating than wine, and yet there is no trace whatsoever of the unconsciousness caused by wine. This is its beauty."
The result of the bombing of Hiroshima was horrific. John Hersey's book is an incredible telling of that story - and it's just as important today as it was 80 years ago.
If one were to choose the 10 greatest novels of all time, five would have to be Russian, leaving only five for the rest of the world. "Just a single man, Fyodor Dostoevsky, is enough to defeat all the creative novelists of the world. If one has to decide on 10 great novels in all the languages of the world, one will have to choose at least 3 novels of Dostoevsky in those 10. Dostoevsky’s insight into human beings and their problems is greater than your so-called psychoanalysts, and there are moments where he reaches the heights of great mystics. His book BROTHERS KARAMAZOV is so great in its insights that no BIBLE or KORAN or GITA comes close. In another masterpiece of Dostoevsky, THE IDIOT, the main character is called ‘idiot’ by the people because they can’t understand his simplicity, his humbleness, his purity, his trust, his love. You can cheat him, you can deceive him, and he will still trust you. He is really one of the most beautiful characters ever created by any novelist. The idiot is a sage. The novel could just as well have been called THE SAGE. Dostoevsky’s idiot is not an idiot; he is one of the sanest men amongst an insane humanity. If you can become the idiot of Fyodor Dostoevsky, it is perfectly beautiful. It is better than being cunning priest or politician. Humbleness has such a blessing. Simplicity has such benediction."
The Gulag Archipelago being on this list is highly disappointing, and frankly disgusting. Solzhenitsyn was jailed for trying to overthrow the government, was treated for his cancer while there, and released upon serving his time. He was an ardent anti-Semite, and once said it was a pity that Hitler's army had not liberated Russia. His wife has said many times that the work is fiction, composed of folktales. Disappointed in you, Steve. Stop believing everything the State Department puts in front of you.
I'm about 2/3 of the way through "Crime and Punishment." "Brothers Karamazov" will come soon. Everyone in the US certainly should read "The Age of Reason". I own and will tackle "Gulag Archipelago" in the future. In your discussion of "Hiroshima", you mentioned that the scientists didn't know what the extent of the devastation would be and that there had only been explosions on atolls for testing. That is inaccurate. There had only been 1 bomb tested - in New Mexico - before the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Nuclear testing on the Pacific atolls would occur years later. And many scientists had witnessed the test in New Mexico; they had a pretty darn good idea about the damage it would cause....
Yes indeed, I should have said New Mexico rather than the Pacific, good catch! And no indeed, the scientists involved weren't completely certain of what the dropped bombs would actually do!
Sorry to point this out, Steve, but Goethe's Faust is a duplicate (also at no. 47, I think). Enjoying the list very much, though - great to see Dostoyevsky in this one!
Yeah it was at 47. Steve owes us another entry! I actually love Faust Part 2. So did Harold Bloom.
Just wanted to point that out too!
@@Tolstoy111 I'd say Don Quixote Part Two is better (richer, darker) than Part One but Steve says no! I forget whether Bloom thought both parts equal or if he preferred the second one.
Just enough room for The Sorrows of Young Werther (rolling on floor laughing)
Gah! a duplicate! Guess this list is going to 200!
Our Town. What a surprising and interesting choice. Excellent!
It's such an under-rated work. I went into it blind and was floored by the third act which is so weird and sudden and poignant and surreal. But I think it's overlooked now as quaint or antiquated or something.
This is my first exposure to Steve Donoghue's opinions but I'm going to trawl the rest of his videos and see what else he thinks worth exploring.
The deluxe ‘Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe’ is going to be higher than I thought.
Hee - do I have the strength of will to leave it off the list?
I am one of those people who read Crime and Punishment in 2 days. It was fantastic. One of my favorites.
I'll have to get to Gulag Archipelago some time. I have read s few of Solzhenitsyn's eorks, I was impressed by First Circle.
i've never laughed so hard as I have at Crime and Punishment. When he returns to the scene of the crime...amazing
Almost through with the Henry Adams. It kept appearing on "best of" lists, so I took the bait. [It helped having inherited 50 volumes of The Library of America in which it's included]. It's marvelous. Jaw-dropping. Poetic. Advanced for its time. I expect to read it a couple more times. It was slow going for me because I purposely slowed down in many passages that were so beautiful that I didn't want to miss anything. I re-read entire pages. I'm happy that his 10 volume history of America (first 20 years of the 1800s) is part of the LOA I have. Thanks for the excellent reviews.
Saving all of Houellebecq and Knausgaard for the top 10 I see… bold choice, Steve!
Oh yes, Walden Pond!! ❤
I love Crime and Punishment and the influence it had on Raymond Chandler.
I count one book that I have read, and three that I feel inspired to read thanks to you. Not bad, for a diffident reader of fiction (me).
Although it's nice to see you come out to bat for 'Crime and Punishment', I think you'll find that the trusted critic J.E Spivey gave it twelve strong lashes and left it for dead.
All of this Spivey character's most ardent fans were BAFFLED by that particular verdict of his! Baffled!
I knew Cormac McCarthy was gonna be on this list, but not in the top 10!
Love the Paine on the list !
What's your position on Mario Puzo's novel "The Godfather"?
You know he sleeps with it beneath his pillow. It's too precious to be even included in a list.
These are so good I wish you started at 1,000 😅
I've been hoping, in vain, for a Broadway revival of Our Town starring Tom Hanks as the Stage Manager. Could you imagine a more perfect pairing of an actor and a role?
I hadn't thought of that, but it would be pretty darn good -
"In America, a very rare thinker by the name of Henry Thoreau existed. When he was close to death an old aunt of his, a religious old lady, who thought Thoreau was not religious because he never went to church or read the Bible, she came to him and asked compassionately, “Henry, have you made your peace with God?”
Lying on his death-bed, Thoreau opened his eyes and said, “I didn’t know we’d ever quarreled. What is there to make peace about?”
Henry Thoreau was not the type of man to quarrel with God. He never went to church because it wasn’t necessary. If there is no quarrel, then what is the point of going to court? He never made a mantra of God’s name; he never said a rosary. None of this was necessary because a continuous hymn to God was being sung within him. Henry Thoreau was an incomparable flower among men. He was always calm and unperturbed and never quarreled with God. So how could he pray? Whom would he worship? Whom would he adore? The quarrel between you and God disappears when you are at peace. Otherwise, you would be in conflict twenty-four hours a day. And the more you are in conflict, the more agitated you will become. How can a tree that quarrels with the earth remain calm and tranquil? Its roots are in the earth! Its roots are buried in the earth! Are you fighting with the earth? Are you fighting with your own roots? If you are, uneasiness will become your natural state. Then you will be disturbed; you will be perplexed and confused. If they fought with the earth the trees would go mad. The earth is the womb…
No sooner does God come to your door than everything is suffused with calm. A new kind of intoxication pervades your body, your soul, your every heartbeat. The beauty of that intoxication is that it is a thousand times more intoxicating than wine, and yet there is no trace whatsoever of the unconsciousness caused by wine. This is its beauty."
So he is saving Ulysses and Gravity's Rainbow for the ultimate GOD-TIER list. I can't wait for that video.
The result of the bombing of Hiroshima was horrific. John Hersey's book is an incredible telling of that story - and it's just as important today as it was 80 years ago.
If one were to choose the 10 greatest novels of all time, five would have to be Russian, leaving only five for the rest of the world.
"Just a single man, Fyodor Dostoevsky, is enough to defeat all the creative novelists of the world. If one has to decide on 10 great novels in all the languages of the world, one will have to choose at least 3 novels of Dostoevsky in those 10. Dostoevsky’s insight into human beings and their problems is greater than your so-called psychoanalysts, and there are moments where he reaches the heights of great mystics. His book BROTHERS KARAMAZOV is so great in its insights that no BIBLE or KORAN or GITA comes close.
In another masterpiece of Dostoevsky, THE IDIOT, the main character is called ‘idiot’ by the people because they can’t understand his simplicity, his humbleness, his purity, his trust, his love. You can cheat him, you can deceive him, and he will still trust you. He is really one of the most beautiful characters ever created by any novelist. The idiot is a sage. The novel could just as well have been called THE SAGE. Dostoevsky’s idiot is not an idiot; he is one of the sanest men amongst an insane humanity. If you can become the idiot of Fyodor Dostoevsky, it is perfectly beautiful. It is better than being cunning priest or politician. Humbleness has such a blessing. Simplicity has such benediction."
My guess the top spot will go to Anna Karenina
👍🏾 😃
Holy cow you're speeding up again!
I wonder which book by John Barth will be in the top 10?
I've read all the books on your list except Hiroshima I guess I need to find a copy
Steve arranging videos in a playlist? Absurd. Unprecedented.
ua-cam.com/video/gOsciFgC68s/v-deo.html
The Gulag Archipelago being on this list is highly disappointing, and frankly disgusting. Solzhenitsyn was jailed for trying to overthrow the government, was treated for his cancer while there, and released upon serving his time. He was an ardent anti-Semite, and once said it was a pity that Hitler's army had not liberated Russia. His wife has said many times that the work is fiction, composed of folktales. Disappointed in you, Steve. Stop believing everything the State Department puts in front of you.
If you’re disgusted by my eight-year-old naïveté, best not to watch my videos.
I'm about 2/3 of the way through "Crime and Punishment." "Brothers Karamazov" will come soon. Everyone in the US certainly should read "The Age of Reason". I own and will tackle "Gulag Archipelago" in the future. In your discussion of "Hiroshima", you mentioned that the scientists didn't know what the extent of the devastation would be and that there had only been explosions on atolls for testing. That is inaccurate. There had only been 1 bomb tested - in New Mexico - before the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Nuclear testing on the Pacific atolls would occur years later. And many scientists had witnessed the test in New Mexico; they had a pretty darn good idea about the damage it would cause....
Yes indeed, I should have said New Mexico rather than the Pacific, good catch! And no indeed, the scientists involved weren't completely certain of what the dropped bombs would actually do!