Having only skimmed the surface when I read Moby Dick, I look forward to future reads and experiencing all of the many layers this book has to show me.
The previous omission of Jane Austen was a bit suspicious. Hearing you talk about her now made me smile because it has not been half an hour since I ordered Mansfield Park for the Reddit Book Club in October.
This is the first one of these from your starter kits where I have already read all of them. I did pretty well on the other Victorian novels as well, but had not read 2 of them.
I tried Uncle Tom's Cabin, but the language got me. I do enjoy that part of The King and I though 😄 My favorite American Victorian novel(la) is The Awakening. And Kate Chopin's short stories are pretty good too.
John David That might be a more common usage, but most lists of great books, etc., include quite a bit of non-fiction. There is certainly a philosophical tradition that I would say is a part of the "western canon."
I started reading Jane Austen as a pre-teen in response to being much younger than my sisters and wanting to read what they did and also to the 1995 BBC P&P adaption. I avoided Persuasion for some reason, just couldn't bring myself to read it until I hit 30. Wow. It's now my favourite, much better than anything else by Austen, in my opinion. So yes you do need to read ALL of Austen. 20th C here come the isms: modernism, structuralism, poststructuralism, postmodernism and postcolonialism
I read Huckleberry Finn when I was 12, on my own, never studied it in school. Never saw a movie of it. Several decades later I thought I should reread it as an adult. As I did, it was so familiar it seemed as if I needn't have. Great story, much great writing, serious theme laced with humor, But although I never studied lit, it also seemed what I might now call flawed and uneven were it new, fizzing out at the end. One moment in it struck me as the reason it rates as a, if not the, great American novel. It's when Huck is agonizing over whether to save Jim. He believes what he was taught, that it would be a sin and he'd go to hell. He finally decides "then I'll go to hell". Every time I think of that, tears start to come. With that one scene, Twain puts the knife to a certain kind of false religion. Without realizing it, Huck proves to be worthier, holier, than those who follow religion intending to save themselves. Had Huck only saved Jim without struggling over this, what would qualify the book for the highest honor?
Kate Chopin should be here! /The Awakening/ is critical reading. Yes, l am biased. She is not sentimental nor is her Edna Pontillier an angel of the household. She writes a woman who has it all on the surface--everything a woman of her century was socialized to want--and it isn't enough. I suppose all of us lit people are wishing you added something we feel is a must read 🙂!
Waaaaiiiit a minute there, Steve, did you mean to forget the popularizer of the short story, not to mention mystery fiction? The great Gothic writer Edgar Allan Poe?!? Uuuhh... Steve, please tell me this was on accident! You add Hemingway in your next vid but leave out Poe? Blasphemy!!
I am enjoying your Western Canon Starter Kit videos. But, I cannot help but ask something. If a reader is astute, shouldn't they have a rather good feel for what essential literature they should be reading anyway? I don't think the casual reader is that engaged with something like a Western Canon. I am not disagreeing with your choices but it seems to me that if a reader is astute and engaged, they should be making decisions about these books without having someone recommend them. Their intellectual curiosity should draw them to these books without anyone suggesting them as being necessary reads. By no means have I read all the books you have suggested. But, with the exception of the philosophers, I found I had read almost all the plays of the Greeks and all of Homer. I did not read them because someone told me to. I read them because I was interested in them as literature and for the impact they have upon civilization. But, I also know human nature. Some people have best of intentions but are timid about deciding these things for themselves. Your Western Canon Starter Kit will be what they long for.
Southern Biscuits you're right, in a sense, but everyone has to start somewhere. Many casual readers may find they actually love reading the classics--if they are exposed to them. Most people are exposed to some Homer or Shakespeare in school, but that is often torturous for many reasons. It helps to have something like an outline of what most informed readers consider the essentials. Obviously you should modify it to your own taste and go off in unexpected directions. There are a lot of lengthy, dusty old books to sift through. Most of them are also a joy to read if you are given a little nudge and some guidance.
What you are saying makes perfect sense. But, I cannot help but wonder at what point the readers will feel confident enough to make these decisions for themselves. The point of the Western Canon Starter Kit is not that you have read the books. It is that you have read them, considered them and allowed them to impact the way you think. This impact, if it is spontaneous and unique to the individual reader, should have the result where the reader is much more autonomous in their thinking. The world has too many followers as it is. What the world needs is good leaders, people who can step out of their comfort zone and make decisions based upon a foundation of thought rather than being spoon fed what they should think. Steve's choices are exemplary. But, like he says, the choices are bare bones. The reader needs to take the knowledge gained from the experience of reading and make their own choices. They need to pick up a responsible and confident belief in their ability to make choices which will enhance their life rather than looking to others to do it for them. This is, as Steve says, a starter kit. Hopefully it will provide the boost for the individual reader to start viewing books and the world around them in consideration of their own thought processes rather than feeling timid and relying on others. But, that's just me. When I graduated from high school (I am not college educated), I compiled a list of books I felt would help me become culturally literate and intellectually informed. And, as time went by and I was exposed to different forms of literature, the realm of books I considered grew. It was not hard. I just paid attention to the world around me, what was out there and charged ahead. Of course, it helped that I came from a background where my mom had me watch a production of Euripides' Medea when I was in elementary grade school. No lie. She said if I had any questions to feel free to ask them and she'd answer them the best she could. Now THAT is getting an education! LOLOLOL!!! I am not wanting to come across as negative. I just want to express a consideration that maybe others have not thought about.
Southern Biscuits your mother deserves an award. What you described is ideal, and kudos to you for educating yourself. I was fortunate enough to make it through college, but I still felt the need to seek out some essentials that were either not covered, or given a cursory overview. Ideally, people will learn to make these decisions on their own as they progress, but I understand your concern. People are far too often taught what to think and not how to think. Like math or music, though, you need some sort of foundation to start from. Once you gain some moderate level of competence, then...hopefully...the study/reading, etc., can become self-directed.
Works Steve mentions:
- Harriet Beecher Stowe: Uncle Tom's Cabin
- Mark Twain: Huckleberry Finn
- Herman Melville: Moby Dick
(+ all by Jane Austen!)
Having only skimmed the surface when I read Moby Dick, I look forward to future reads and experiencing all of the many layers this book has to show me.
Will there be an Eastern Canon Starter series? (Please.)
I guess it's not happening.
Your videos make my morning!
The previous omission of Jane Austen was a bit suspicious. Hearing you talk about her now made me smile because it has not been half an hour since I ordered Mansfield Park for the Reddit Book Club in October.
This is the first one of these from your starter kits where I have already read all of them. I did pretty well on the other Victorian novels as well, but had not read 2 of them.
I read Uncle Tom’s Cabin last summer and absolutely loved it. I understand it’s criticisms but it’s definitely very well written and touching.
I tried Uncle Tom's Cabin, but the language got me. I do enjoy that part of The King and I though 😄
My favorite American Victorian novel(la) is The Awakening. And Kate Chopin's short stories are pretty good too.
I trust the nonfiction canon is next, right? Nudge nudge.
YES
I'm waiting for this.
John David That might be a more common usage, but most lists of great books, etc., include quite a bit of non-fiction. There is certainly a philosophical tradition that I would say is a part of the "western canon."
I started reading Jane Austen as a pre-teen in response to being much younger than my sisters and wanting to read what they did and also to the 1995 BBC P&P adaption. I avoided Persuasion for some reason, just couldn't bring myself to read it until I hit 30. Wow. It's now my favourite, much better than anything else by Austen, in my opinion. So yes you do need to read ALL of Austen. 20th C here come the isms: modernism, structuralism, poststructuralism, postmodernism and postcolonialism
I love Jane Austen!!!!!
I read Huckleberry Finn when I was 12, on my own, never studied it in school. Never saw a movie of it. Several decades later I thought I should reread it as an adult. As I did, it was so familiar it seemed as if I needn't have. Great story, much great writing, serious theme laced with humor, But although I never studied lit, it also seemed what I might now call flawed and uneven were it new, fizzing out at the end. One moment in it struck me as the reason it rates as a, if not the, great American novel. It's when Huck is agonizing over whether to save Jim. He believes what he was taught, that it would be a sin and he'd go to hell. He finally decides "then I'll go to hell". Every time I think of that, tears start to come. With that one scene, Twain puts the knife to a certain kind of false religion. Without realizing it, Huck proves to be worthier, holier, than those who follow religion intending to save themselves. Had Huck only saved Jim without struggling over this, what would qualify the book for the highest honor?
Fascinating. I've wondered if I need to read Uncle Tom's Cabin. Here's my answer.
Kate Chopin should be here! /The Awakening/ is critical reading. Yes, l am biased. She is not sentimental nor is her Edna Pontillier an angel of the household. She writes a woman who has it all on the surface--everything a woman of her century was socialized to want--and it isn't enough.
I suppose all of us lit people are wishing you added something we feel is a must read 🙂!
Waaaaiiiit a minute there, Steve, did you mean to forget the popularizer of the short story, not to mention mystery fiction? The great Gothic writer Edgar Allan Poe?!? Uuuhh... Steve, please tell me this was on accident! You add Hemingway in your next vid but leave out Poe? Blasphemy!!
I am enjoying your Western Canon Starter Kit videos. But, I cannot help but ask something. If a reader is astute, shouldn't they have a rather good feel for what essential literature they should be reading anyway? I don't think the casual reader is that engaged with something like a Western Canon. I am not disagreeing with your choices but it seems to me that if a reader is astute and engaged, they should be making decisions about these books without having someone recommend them. Their intellectual curiosity should draw them to these books without anyone suggesting them as being necessary reads. By no means have I read all the books you have suggested. But, with the exception of the philosophers, I found I had read almost all the plays of the Greeks and all of Homer. I did not read them because someone told me to. I read them because I was interested in them as literature and for the impact they have upon civilization. But, I also know human nature. Some people have best of intentions but are timid about deciding these things for themselves. Your Western Canon Starter Kit will be what they long for.
Southern Biscuits you're right, in a sense, but everyone has to start somewhere. Many casual readers may find they actually love reading the classics--if they are exposed to them. Most people are exposed to some Homer or Shakespeare in school, but that is often torturous for many reasons. It helps to have something like an outline of what most informed readers consider the essentials. Obviously you should modify it to your own taste and go off in unexpected directions. There are a lot of lengthy, dusty old books to sift through. Most of them are also a joy to read if you are given a little nudge and some guidance.
What you are saying makes perfect sense. But, I cannot help but wonder at what point the readers will feel confident enough to make these decisions for themselves. The point of the Western Canon Starter Kit is not that you have read the books. It is that you have read them, considered them and allowed them to impact the way you think. This impact, if it is spontaneous and unique to the individual reader, should have the result where the reader is much more autonomous in their thinking. The world has too many followers as it is. What the world needs is good leaders, people who can step out of their comfort zone and make decisions based upon a foundation of thought rather than being spoon fed what they should think. Steve's choices are exemplary. But, like he says, the choices are bare bones. The reader needs to take the knowledge gained from the experience of reading and make their own choices. They need to pick up a responsible and confident belief in their ability to make choices which will enhance their life rather than looking to others to do it for them. This is, as Steve says, a starter kit. Hopefully it will provide the boost for the individual reader to start viewing books and the world around them in consideration of their own thought processes rather than feeling timid and relying on others. But, that's just me. When I graduated from high school (I am not college educated), I compiled a list of books I felt would help me become culturally literate and intellectually informed. And, as time went by and I was exposed to different forms of literature, the realm of books I considered grew. It was not hard. I just paid attention to the world around me, what was out there and charged ahead. Of course, it helped that I came from a background where my mom had me watch a production of Euripides' Medea when I was in elementary grade school. No lie. She said if I had any questions to feel free to ask them and she'd answer them the best she could. Now THAT is getting an education! LOLOLOL!!! I am not wanting to come across as negative. I just want to express a consideration that maybe others have not thought about.
Southern Biscuits your mother deserves an award. What you described is ideal, and kudos to you for educating yourself. I was fortunate enough to make it through college, but I still felt the need to seek out some essentials that were either not covered, or given a cursory overview. Ideally, people will learn to make these decisions on their own as they progress, but I understand your concern. People are far too often taught what to think and not how to think. Like math or music, though, you need some sort of foundation to start from. Once you gain some moderate level of competence, then...hopefully...the study/reading, etc., can become self-directed.