Clay tablet containing part of the Epic of Gilgamesh
“All books are divisible into two classes: the books of the hour, and the books of all time.”
This blog is the chronicle of one ordinary reader’s ambitious project: to read, digest, and write about a large selection of the world’s great classic literature. These books used to be the common currency of educated people, from elites trained at universities to scrappy, self-taught types like Benjamin Franklin. Nowadays, we quote The Simpsons.
There are legitimate arguments against raising these books to the level of sacred canon, including the non-representative nature of the authors on Great Books lists (not to mention the books themselves), but it is not the intention of this project to treat them as sacred. It is the intention of this blog to treat them like plain old books. Is The Odyssey a good story? What do people find so enthralling about Nitzsche’s ideas? What’s the big fuss about Aristotle?
Every title read will provide material for at least three essays. Topics may include major themes of the work, historical context of the author or text, modern-day references, character analysis (where appropriate), or the book’s legacy. Essays are the opinion of the author, who is certainly not any sort of literary authority. Your own opinions and thoughts are more than welcome in the comments.
The Books of All Time reading list is here.
To find out more about the author of this blog, click here.
