Debate the concept of Great Books

I know it's a controversial subject, so I'll just start it off right here!

Many lists of Great books are biased in some way or another. Dead White Western Males for instance, have been over-represented in the past.

Also, some of the supposedly Great books have left me cold, and others that I adore are not on anyones list.

My preference is to consider the lists but make my own descisions.

Erica

If you're going to create your own list of Great Books, that's up to you. The Great Books of the Western World is not a subject I feel is worth debating. If you wish to argue aesthetics outside of the Great Books of the Western World, that could possibly be interesting depending on the knowledge of those participating.

Those Dead White Western Males built the world you live in.

"The reading of all good books is indeed like a conversation with the noblest men of past centuries who were the authors of them, nay a carefully studied conversation, in which they reveal none to us but the best of their thoughts." - Rene Descartes, dead white western male.

Just because you choose not to read the books, does not mean they are over-represented- how could you say that without reading them? Also, do you even realize how many of our nation's leaders past and present have been taught by the works of these over-represented, dead white western males?

There are TWO lists, The Great Books encyclopedia set has been added to in 1990, therefore there are more than in the 1952 publishing.

Also take the time to find out how these were selected. Guess who's on the list...Jane Austen. If you didn't know, this is one of the largest publishing feats of all time.

~Jessica
http://www.literarycritic.com/adler.htm

One point that's seldom explicitly spelled out about the 'classics':

There are usually good reasons why a book has stayed in print for centuries.

That is to say:

If a work is considered to be a 'classic' it's probably not just some sort of hoax perpetrated by the literature professors of the world: it's more likely that it really is an interesting read that has something to tell the reader about some aspect of the human condition.

Hi TriviumAcademy-

Ah, but, the folks at GBotWW dropped two of my favorite classics when they updated the list: The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman and Conics (Books 1-3) by Apollonius of Perga.

They also dropped the delightful Tom Jones and the path-breaking Fourier's Analytical Theory of Heat.

I can never forgive them for this (I guess it was just too much ink to spill when adding the other books).

By the way, Wikipedia has a pretty good blurb about the Great Books of the Western World, including its history, its philosophy and selection criteria, and a good discussion of the various criticisms and responses to this collection.

I've owned a set for about 4 decades now and several of my volumes have been reread and marked up, while others remain untouched. There are so many great books from all time that any attempt to canonize a subset of them will meet with valid disagreements, but, still, the GBotWW is an astounding effort. There have also been other noteworthy collections ("Dr. Eliot's Five Foot Shelf" aka the Harvard Classics, to mention one of the more famous which I wish I owned to complement the GBotWW.

So, this rambling post doesn't seem to have any point, but, well, I agree that for some of the GBotWW titles, there are much better translations available and that the size of the type is getting harder and harder on these aging eyes, but, still, it's a great collection to just go up to and pull down any book off the shelf and browse over while nursing a cup of hot chocolate on some cold and blustery day.

Douglas

"In the end, only kindness matters."

Hi Douglas,
Well, we're classical homeschoolers and I'm reading the Great Books of the Western World for two reasons, to classically self-educate myself and to prepare for my children's education.

Starting in 7th or 8th grade my children will start the graded reading plan set forth in The Gateway to the Great Books and their high school years will a reading plan of the Great Books of the Western World. I have a little more invested than just reading these for myself or for pleasure. I understand that is not the case for many of the group participants here.

I'll just participant on this forum as I can when it pertains to something I have knowledge about. I have nothing against those that wish to pursue any type of reading plan or that wish to make a personal list of 'great' books, I just don't want those that want to pursue the reading of The Great Books of the Western World to be discourage due to others comments, know what I mean?

I like your quote by the way. My favorite is from Aristotle-
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."

Cheers,
Jessica