Great Books

NATIONAL BESTSELLER "A lively adventure of the mind...The tone of the prose...is one of unqualified enthusiasm: energy, vigor, intellectual curiosity, and what might be called an ecstasy of imaginative journalism." ?The New York Times Book Review

At the age of forty-eight, writer and film critic David Denby returned to Columbia University and re-enrolled in two core courses in Western civilization to confront the literary and philosophical masterpieces -- the "great books" -- that are now at the heart of the culture wars. In Great Books, he leads us on a glorious tour, a rediscovery and celebration of such authors as Homer and Boccaccio, Locke and Nietzsche. Conrad and Woolf. The resulting personal odyssey is an engaging blend of self-discovery, cultural commentary, reporting, criticism, and autobiography -- an inspiration for anyone in love with the written word.

Autorentext

David Denby has been film critic and staff writer at The New Yorker since 1998; prior to that he was film critic of New York magazine. His reviews and essays have also appeared in The New Republic, The Atlantic, and The New York Review of Books. He lives in New York City.

Inhalt

Contents

Introduction

Reading Lists

FIRST SEMESTER

1. Homer I

2. Sappho

Interlude One

3. Plato I

4. Homer II

Interlude Two

5. Plato II

6. Sophocles

7. Aristotle

Interlude Three

8. Aeschylus and Euripides
   Interlude Four

9. Virgil

10. The Old Testament

11. The New Testament

12. Augustine

13. Machiavelli

Interlude Five

14. Hobbes and Locke

15. Examination

Winter Break

SECOND SEMESTER

16. Dante

17. Boccaccio

18. Hume and Kant

Interlude Six

19. Montaigne

20. Rousseau

21. Shakespeare

22. Hegel

23. Austen

24. Marx and Mill

25. Nietzsche

Interlude Seven

26. Beauvoir

27. Conrad

28. Woolf

Epilogue

Appendix: Earlier Reading Lists

Selected Bibliography

Index