WHAT IS A GREAT BOOK ANYWAY?
By Dorothy Ohlhaver
When I go to discussions of "great" books around the Houston metropolitan area, one question keeps popping up: "Why is this considered a great book?" The
Chicago Foundation has a five-year syllabus of designated readings plus a fifty-year anniversary series of nine thematic volumes. How were these selections chosen,
readers ask? Maybe we could choose our own and do a better job. "Go for it," is the usual answer. Then the problems crop up. What criteria should we use? Is this
an "interesting" book, an "important" article, "a philosophical tour de force ?" "What exactly is relevant to our lives?" "Perhaps we should do the collected works of
one author to see if the greatness lies there." And "reading the whole book would seem preferable to reading just a short selection." To the last I always ask if the
group is really ready to tackle Gibbons" complete Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire , or Kantıs "Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals."
The time to pursue leisure reading apparently becomes more scarce at the same time our children are being taught that the skill of reading is crucial. Airline
passengers used to wile away the hours with a book; now they use their laptops in order not to fall behind. "I just donıt have the time" is the most often-heard reply
when the Houston Great Books Council telephones people to invite them to a winter seminar that will emphasize quality discussion of three short works. With leisure
time such a precious commodity, why would anyone choose to read book selections picked by some authority?
Fifty years ago when Mortimer Adler, Clifton Fadiman and Robert Maynard Hutchings filled Carnegie Hall with their insights into Great Books, the interested public
was willing to accept University credentialed authority to designate what was "required reading." Today Columbia University, The University of Chicago, and St.
Johnıs University still use an original syllabus of "Great Ideas of Western Man" created and little modified since that period. David Denby, film critic for New York
Magazine, recently wrote a best-seller called Great Books . In it he returns to his undergraduate days at Columbia for the Western Civilization curriculum. Denby's
twenty-year perspective seems to confirm that these were indeed the Grrreat Ideas. The problems rest in the fact that they were only the ideas of western men.
Surely great ideas had occurred in other parts of the world and by some women. The Great Books Foundation agreed. and their 50th anniversary theme series
emphasized a global perspective without gender bias.
But the ultimate Great Book authority, Mortimer Adler, disagrees. He says unequivocally that a Great Book
- Is contemporary in any time and place because it deals with human nature.
- Is Indefinitely re-readable because we can always learn more from it.
- Is most strongly connected to the Great Ideas and thereby to all the other Great Books.
To this some would add "and is always over everybodyıs head all the time."
Shakespeare certainly fits the bill in category one. Recent films with Kenneth Branaugh and the popular "Shakespeare in Love" confirm that Shakespeareıs ideas are
contemporary in any time and place because they deal with the human condition. While the language may be difficult to read, it is easy to see and hear because it was
intended to be spoken in the theater. In particular, his complex and sympathetic portrayals of the female gender validates Shakespeare as much in the 21st as in the
16th Century. Beowolf as Celtic myth, or Beowolf as a futuristic science fiction film portrays man fighting against demons of destruction. What Women Want began
in ancient myth, was carried forward by Chaucer in Canterbury Tales, dramatized by Scandanavian playwrights and Leo Tolstoy in the 19th Century, and still
amuses us as film in 2001. Ideas change, yet are always the same. The Great Books show us why.
When I think of Adlerıs Category number two, I try to remember the books I want to read again and again. My bookshelves are lined with works my university
professors thought "important." D.H. Lawrenceıs The Plumed Serpent, Aldous Huxleyıs Point, Counter Point, James Joyceıs Ulysses. I know that they helped me
to form some idea of what good literature is, but I can't honestly say I gain additional insight from reading them a second time. On the other hand, Joseph Conradıs
Heart of Darkness takes on more meaning every time I return to it, as does Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart., Richard Wright's, Native Son. and Gabriel Garcia
Marquez' One Hundred Years of Solitude. No one said a Great Book had to be antiquated. Discussing Conrad and Achebe as Great Book members have done in
both the old and the new series only confirms Adler's third criterion. These books are truly connected with other great books through the great ideas.
And those ideas are......This question invariably stirs up controversy. In my opinion, the criteria for meeting Mortimer Adlerıs great ideas requirement always hinges
on whether or not the writer is able either to analyze or actually to effect significant change for better or for worse in the human condition. We do not need to agree
that Sigmund Freudıs influence was beneficial, but there is no doubt that his theory and practice of psychoanalysis profoundly influenced the 20th Century.
Thycydides and Gibbon look at society in hindsight, and hope we are not doomed to repeat the errors. From Socrates to Freud, the Great Books inexorably point
us toward an evolution of the mind.
Some of the themes that run through the Foundation's original five-year series are: "What is good and what is evil?" "How do we recognize what is moral?" "Why
does mankind form social and moral structures?" "What influences mankindıs progress?" In the 50th anniversary series, poetry is a welcome addition. I suppose that
Percy Bysshe Shelleyıs comment , "poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world," may have had something to do with that decision.
If you have a natural curiosity about what is known and valued now that was not known and valued in the past, you may find the answer in works that are
philosphical, political, economic, and humanistic. And this may in turn whet your appetite for reading more. It's strange how ideas change yet remain the same.
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WHAT GOOD ARE GREAT BOOKS?
By
Esther Jones
In the last edition of The Wayfarer*, Dorothy Ohlhaver ably addressed the question, "What is a Great Book, Anyway?" The question that naturally follows is: "Okay, so what good are they?"
From picture writing to mechanically printed books to the Internet, man has always instinctively recorded his ideas and experiences so that other men might share them. The other side of the same coin reveals man's inquiring mind, young or old, which never tires of examining the human spirit whether it is presented in triumph or defeat. It appears that the small group of insightful individuals led by the recently deceased Dr. Mortimer Adler had both sides of this coin in mind when they established the Great Books Foundation in 1947. Its mission statement is: "To provide people of all ages with the opportunity to read, discuss and learn from outstanding works of literature." The Foundation is further "dedicated to helping people learn how to think and share ideas by educating them to become participants in, leaders of, and advocates for Shared Inquiry." And indeed the readings chosen by the editors at the Great Books Foundation present ideas that lend themselves to provocative inspection and stimulating discussion, always commenting on some aspect of the human condition. I believe those reasons alone justify the existence of Great Books, both as objects and as methodology. But read on, let's take a closer look.
Most people view readers as the passive and mute recipients of ideas gleaned from the printed page. The charge of passivity is easy to dismiss, because we automatically emote while we read. When a writer lays bare his or her mind and spirit to us, we are forced to commune with him or her. They delight or infuriate us, influence and transform us, enlarge our vision, inspire us, amuse us, disgust us, displease us. Even those feelings that appear negative on the surface can give meaning to both the reading and the reader when properly explored. But the charge of muteness is another matter. Let's say you just finished a book you loved, or hated, or didn't understand, whom do you tell? How do you generate a meaningful conversation about something you've read when no one you know is "on the same page" with you, literally? As an adult reader, except for a few isolated instances, I too was resigned to the frustration of muteness prior to joining a Great Books reading and discussion group. I have found that participation in discussion groups helps everyone unlock the treasures of information and ideas stored in books.
A popular slogan of the Great Books Foundation is "Literature Worth Talking About." I like to paraphrase this as "something to talk about and someone to tell it to." Involvement in Great Books gives reading a dimension you cannot experience alone-- the opportunity to share perspectives and questions. Interaction with people from varying backgrounds and cultures often results in both the great insights and the small epiphanies that add to our understanding. Talking about what we read also leads to a deeper self-consciousness, a more focused self-observation, and a fuller self-discovery, activities which when dealt with honestly help us to get in touch with our true selves and to formulate a sense of who we really are.
In today's world of increased longevity, one of the greatest outcomes for participants in Great Books programs is an unplanned one. The Houston-area membership, and I suspect most others, consists largely of older persons. Many members of the medical profession agree that some types of dementia can be prevented, or at least delayed, when older people continue to use their mental skills. Any kind of writing-- a poem, a short story, a novel, a play, an essay, a biography, a history, a scientific or philosophical treatise-- can engage our minds in man's highest skill, that of thinking. The challenge of analyzing and interpreting a piece of literature and explaining one's point of view helps the brain to remain sharp.
Finally, as readers we have the opportunity as well as the responsibility of giving life to the printed page. Without the help of imaginative, appreciative readers, books are reduced to a jumble of words. We function as both helpers and learners by bringing our own sets of images and emotions to everything we read, based on our knowledge and experiences. Our sense of the world can either limit or enhance the writer's efforts. We ultimately decide what the writer has said and how well he or she has said it. Small wonder Ralph Waldo Emerson says in his essay Success, "Tis the good reader that makes the good [great] book." This is not to say there is some mystique about reading or that the understanding and appreciation of books are reserved for the elitist, literary world of the intellectuals. On the contrary, reading well is a skill that can be learned and enjoyed by all.
Reading one book usually leads to reading another, and another, and another. The Great Books Foundation is aware of the insatiable appetite of readers and knows that readers are lifelong learners. The selections in their anthologies have been planned to help us continue to gain insight and understanding into the nature of human experiences and discover bridges to both the past and the future.
Have you read any Great Books lately? There's a Great Books reading and discussion group that meets near you. If not, you can help start one.
For more information about Great Books reading and discussion programs, log on to:
http://www.greatbooks.org/ and
http://www.houstongreatbooks.org/
* The Wayfarer referred to above is the semi-annual hardcopy newsletter of the Houston Great Books Council. The article on this page by Dorothy Ohlhaver titled What is a Great Book Anyway? was published in the Spring 2001 newsletter. The article above by Esther Jones titled What Good are Great Books? was published in the Fall 2001 newsletter.
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