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Great Literature
FaceBook ^ | February 16, 2020 | Tony Esolen

Posted on 02/17/2020 7:52:44 PM PST by Fester Chugabrew

Not that anybody is wondering, but if you asked me what books have been of the greatest influence on how and what I think, aside from the BIBLE, and the plays of Shakespeare, I'd answer:

Homer, Odyssey
Plato, Phaedrus
Plato, Symposium
Virgil, Aeneid
Augustine, Confessions
Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy
Anonymous, The Quest of the Holy Grail
Dante, The Divine Comedy
Spenser, The Faerie Queene
Herbert, The Temple
Pascal, Pensees
Milton, Paradise Lost
Fielding, Tom Jones
Boswell, Life of Johnson
Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France
Manzoni, The Betrothed
Dickens, Bleak House
Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
Marcel, Man Against Mass Society
Guardini, The End of the Modern World
Pieper, Leisure: The Basis of Culture
Lewis, The Abolition of Man
Kirk, The Conservative Mind
Muggeridge, autobiography
Lasch, Culture of Narcissism
Chesterton, The Everlasting Man

For what it's worth...


TOPICS: Books/Literature; Miscellaneous; Poetry; Society
KEYWORDS: books; classics; greatbooks; literature; nonfiction
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To: stubernx98

Thucydides, not Herodotus.


21 posted on 02/17/2020 8:17:16 PM PST by nwrep
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To: Fester Chugabrew

While I’ve read and value a number of those books, in regards to the “greatest influence on how and what I think” I would have to have Orwell’s 1984 near the top of my list.


22 posted on 02/17/2020 8:29:16 PM PST by norcal joe
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To: Ransomed

With you on that. Photography came in at around 1830 (not sure). Then movies and phone. Millenia ahead of us had none of that. The social ramifications are enormous.


23 posted on 02/17/2020 8:35:29 PM PST by Fester Chugabrew
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To: Lurkina.n.Learnin

As a youth, the book had to have pictures. Hardy Boys was one of my first ventures into “real reading.” Big whoop!


24 posted on 02/17/2020 8:36:50 PM PST by Fester Chugabrew
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To: Fester Chugabrew

No Dreams from my Father? Racist list.


25 posted on 02/17/2020 8:38:37 PM PST by Rastus
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To: norcal joe

That was an assignment for me in school. 1984. Definitely a classic. Never did read “Brave New World,” but Dems would like to make us live it these days if I’ve garnered comments on that work correctly.


26 posted on 02/17/2020 8:40:39 PM PST by Fester Chugabrew
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To: Rastus

Pretty sure that volume ranks low on the list of classics. Or has that volume influenced culture in a big way?


27 posted on 02/17/2020 8:56:16 PM PST by Fester Chugabrew
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To: Fester Chugabrew

Canterbury Tales.

L


28 posted on 02/17/2020 9:04:38 PM PST by Lurker (Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending that it is.)
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To: Fester Chugabrew; Ransomed
I disagree.

Amongst the handful of written classics there undoubtedly was a phalanx of really bad books, pamphlets, magazines etc. Indeed, there is likely an even greater pile of written rubbish - scribbles and sophomoric syntax - that never made it to a proper publisher.

The same holds true for almost every art form: for every Quadrophenia, we have scores of Yoko Ono albums. And for every Breaking Bad or Mad Men or Monty Python's Flying Circus that ultimately excels as a magnificent examination of the human condition, we have a gazillion horrid TV shows.

But I agree, the apex of every art form is to be celebrated and held up as a bellwether.

29 posted on 02/17/2020 9:06:53 PM PST by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s^2)
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To: Fester Chugabrew

Two of those tomes reside in my humble abode, awaiting their time to be read.


30 posted on 02/17/2020 9:19:45 PM PST by matthew fuller (Truth is where you find it-https://rudygiulianics.com/)
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To: Fester Chugabrew

I’m in my 70s and in declining health, making it unlikely I could make much headway on such a list in this life’s remainder. Happily, I’ll soon have Christ’s 1,000-year reign in which to accomplish this, along with any number of worthy endeavors during any free time—perhaps including expanding my repertoire of Bible memorization globally. Anyway, thanks for the list.


31 posted on 02/17/2020 9:26:18 PM PST by Hebrews 11:6 (Do you REALLY believe that (1) God IS, and (2) God IS GOOD?)
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To: Lurkina.n.Learnin

I see that The Call of the Wild is being redone, don’t know if it is in theaters or on TV.


32 posted on 02/17/2020 9:26:36 PM PST by matthew fuller (Truth is where you find it-https://rudygiulianics.com/)
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To: Deaf Smith

*facepalm*


33 posted on 02/17/2020 9:30:20 PM PST by JohnBrowdie
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To: Fester Chugabrew
Aesop's Fables.

There is more insight into the human condition in his work then anything outside the Bible.

34 posted on 02/17/2020 9:34:02 PM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear (A hero is a hero no matter what medal they give him. Likewise a schmuck is still a schmuck.)
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To: Fester Chugabrew

Yes he does. Eliot was a big signpost for Kirk.


35 posted on 02/17/2020 9:38:50 PM PST by KC Burke (If all the world is a stage, I would like to request my lighting be adjusted.)
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To: Fester Chugabrew

Excellent observations by the professor.

Our civilization is dying. We have let liberal termites infest our educational system from top to bottom. The structure is crumbling. There is not one solid support left. It looks OK on the outside, but a little gust of wind will knock it down.


36 posted on 02/17/2020 9:41:42 PM PST by Rocky
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To: Fester Chugabrew

I have read a lot in my 70 years for one outside of academics. A lot of it was crud but also a lot that was sound.

Writing from earlier times was tough to address until I had worked many hours on those I wanted to get through and profit from having digested. Those sort of works became easier the more of them I finished.


37 posted on 02/17/2020 9:43:55 PM PST by KC Burke (If all the world is a stage, I would like to request my lighting be adjusted.)
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To: Fester Chugabrew

Where is Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren and their “Great Books” from the University of Chicago 1940?

Many people no longer read books...any books.


38 posted on 02/17/2020 9:44:33 PM PST by Netz ( and looking for a way ti IMPROVE mankind.i)
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To: Rastus

...hilarious comment, thanks!


39 posted on 02/17/2020 9:45:31 PM PST by Netz ( and looking for a way ti IMPROVE mankind.i)
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To: Fester Chugabrew
Last night I stayed up till 4am reading a literary fiction book by a local writer and the prose was so elegant, it made up for any weakness in the story.
It felt so good to read hard cover lit, taken out of the library - I felt squeeky clean. Like I just took a shower after missing a few fays! Thanks for posting, great timing.
40 posted on 02/17/2020 9:50:10 PM PST by GreatRoad
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