Comments on: The Great Conversation

By: lance

lance — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 19:26:45 +0000

Back in 2001 I just by chance decided to pick up How to Read a Book and have become a devotee of that reading list since. I think I combined it with the goal of reading 50 books a year from not only the “great books” lists like the ones mentioned but also just what’s popular now or recommended by others. Time being a factor, audiobooks and even ebooks have allowed me to maintain that pace the past few years.

I feel it has made life richer in picking up subtle context and in-jokes as part of the conversation, and I certainly dazzled during trivia night when the literature category came up.

Your mention of discussing with Lisa about a book and that seems very important as well for synthesizing the ideas and connections. To that aim myself I joined in some online discussion groups done by barnes and noble that were interesting. Two of note were Michael Crighton’s State of Fear and Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray.

Of note, I was not a frequent reader while in school, but it was picking up that book by Adler that changed my course.

By: Tim Lacy

Tim Lacy — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 22:58:12 +0000

I’ve used the following distinctions in my work on Adler, Hutchins, and the canon:

a. Great Books - All modern, medieval, and ancient books considered great. Although in its history the term has primarily designated Western books, I think it can be broadened out to include Eastern greats. In fact I’ve noticed this expanded usage in a number of recent contexts;
b. Classics - A term that generally describes the ancient, Roman and Greek great books. With some modern exceptions, these were the works that Allan Bloom primarily wanted college students to read;
c. Great Conversation - A phrase invented by Adler and Hutchins to describe the interconnections between Western great books. It is associated with the abovementioned set of Britannica’s ‘Great Books of the Western World’ (GBWW)
d. Great Ideas - Another term invented by Adler to describe nodes of conversation within the Great Conversation. The Great Idea’s were in GBWW’s two-volume ‘Syntopicon’;
e. Western Canon - A term invented later in the twentieth century to describe the important books of fiction (generally) that all students must know. The phrase is used most often by literature professors. It’s a particular subset of what E.D. Hirsch called “cultural literacy.” Of course ‘Western canon’ is sometimes used synonymously with the term ‘great books.’

- TL

By: Bonnie Rothman

Bonnie Rothman — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 19:42:26 +0000

Not only will reading the “classics” make your life richer and more fun
because you will be able to recognize those references in modern
literature, but you will find yourself quickly recognizing self-delusion,
public BS when you hear it, and truly bad historical/political choices when
they are made by modern politicians — e.g. Iraq, Vietnam. Why? Because
the reasons for these poor choices, no matter the geographical location
involved, is often the same: arrogance, greed, ignorance, bravado, lack of
historical perspective. Unfortunately, it’s a bit like being Casandra –
no one will listen to you until it is too late.

The “classics” usually refers to Homer, the great Greek theater [Euripides,
Aeschylus etc.], Aristotle,Tacitus, the great Romans, some of the
medievalists, Dante, Shakespeare etc. Some of the writers mentioned in the
post are wonderful but not what I would call part of the ancient Western
canon. They are part of the modern canon but be aware that they themselves
will reference the more ancient writers — might as well get to the
originals first, no?