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The Great Books: A Journey through 2,500 Years of the West's Classic Literature
The Odyssey, Paradise Lost, The Canterbury Tales: great literature can be read by anyone, with a little help. The eminent British philosopher Anthony O’Hear leads the way with this captivating journey through two-and-a-half millennia of books as powerful, thrilling, erotic, politically astute, and awe-inspiring as any modern bestseller.
O’Hear begins with Homer, whose poems of epic struggle have made him the father of Western literature. After Greek tragedy, Plato, and Virgil’s Aeneid comes Ovid, whose encyclopedic Metamorphoses is an inexhaustible source for European art and literature. Via Saint Augustine, O’Hear reaches Dante and his terrifying and sublime Divine Comedy. Chaucer, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Milton, Pascal, Racine, and finally Goethe complete the cast list. In each case, O’Hear patiently draws out themes, focuses on key passages, and explains why they are important.
Not simply a grand work of reference, The Great Books is also a narrative history shot through with a love of literature and the author’s deeply held belief in its power to enrich and enliven everyone’s world.
O’Hear begins with Homer, whose poems of epic struggle have made him the father of Western literature. After Greek tragedy, Plato, and Virgil’s Aeneid comes Ovid, whose encyclopedic Metamorphoses is an inexhaustible source for European art and literature. Via Saint Augustine, O’Hear reaches Dante and his terrifying and sublime Divine Comedy. Chaucer, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Milton, Pascal, Racine, and finally Goethe complete the cast list. In each case, O’Hear patiently draws out themes, focuses on key passages, and explains why they are important.
Not simply a grand work of reference, The Great Books is also a narrative history shot through with a love of literature and the author’s deeply held belief in its power to enrich and enliven everyone’s world.
400 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
January 1, 2017
This is a rather scholarly approach to some of the European (Western) books the author thinks are 'great', and limited to those mostly prior to the 19th century.
He deals with selected works of Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Plato, Virgil, Ovid, Augustine of Hippo, Dante, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Milton, Pascal, Racine and Goethe. The author admits that these are books he personally considers 'great', and that no doubt others might choose different works and authors.
In many cases O'Hear provides detailed summaries of the works he chooses, as well as little essays on why he considers them important, and thus they can be useful for people wishing to gain an insight into these works (most of them, note, would only be accessible to English Readers in translation); and the book also has an Index, which also helps.
If I have qualms about this book, it is in the choice presented. This is not to downplay the Author, but for some reason I was always aware that the volumes chosen are not necessarily sufficient for me to consider them above all others as necessarily deserving the title of 'The Great Books'. That may be a personal quibble on my part, but the suspicion that a certain (unconscious?) agenda underlies the selection...
Be that as it may, the treatment of the works chosen is presented pretty thoroughly (so thoroughly, that in some cases the sheer volume of information provided (unavoidable when trying to 'summarise' some of the more complex works) was almost overwhelming). O'Hear is obviously 'enamoured' of these books, and it shows. His overwhelming desire seems to be to encourage his readers to re-discover these books for themselves, both for the pleasure and for the insight they can provide.
Ironically, for me, the result was the opposite... Perhaps it was because there was too much information provided? Is that possible? One effect was that the complexities of plot and event narration was so great that I felt a relief that I would NOT have to read the work in question! I would be content merely to keep this work as a reference as required.
Perhaps the real reason might be that, important and/or glorious as these works might be, they represented a certain tyoe of Western Culture which I believe is increasingly becoming meaningless to modern society in general. I believe we are currently experiencing the throes of the loosening of the hold some of these works have had on the 'west'. Certainly, these works might have been significant in their day, and they deserve to be cherished for explicating those ideal and ideas; but I cannot help feel that many of them would be considered 'old hat', as representing concepts which simply no longer resonate as loudly or as well to the modern world.
Be that as it may, O'Hear's work does provide as good an introduction as any to these classic texts, and on that basis it is recommended.
He deals with selected works of Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Plato, Virgil, Ovid, Augustine of Hippo, Dante, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Milton, Pascal, Racine and Goethe. The author admits that these are books he personally considers 'great', and that no doubt others might choose different works and authors.
In many cases O'Hear provides detailed summaries of the works he chooses, as well as little essays on why he considers them important, and thus they can be useful for people wishing to gain an insight into these works (most of them, note, would only be accessible to English Readers in translation); and the book also has an Index, which also helps.
If I have qualms about this book, it is in the choice presented. This is not to downplay the Author, but for some reason I was always aware that the volumes chosen are not necessarily sufficient for me to consider them above all others as necessarily deserving the title of 'The Great Books'. That may be a personal quibble on my part, but the suspicion that a certain (unconscious?) agenda underlies the selection...
Be that as it may, the treatment of the works chosen is presented pretty thoroughly (so thoroughly, that in some cases the sheer volume of information provided (unavoidable when trying to 'summarise' some of the more complex works) was almost overwhelming). O'Hear is obviously 'enamoured' of these books, and it shows. His overwhelming desire seems to be to encourage his readers to re-discover these books for themselves, both for the pleasure and for the insight they can provide.
Ironically, for me, the result was the opposite... Perhaps it was because there was too much information provided? Is that possible? One effect was that the complexities of plot and event narration was so great that I felt a relief that I would NOT have to read the work in question! I would be content merely to keep this work as a reference as required.
Perhaps the real reason might be that, important and/or glorious as these works might be, they represented a certain tyoe of Western Culture which I believe is increasingly becoming meaningless to modern society in general. I believe we are currently experiencing the throes of the loosening of the hold some of these works have had on the 'west'. Certainly, these works might have been significant in their day, and they deserve to be cherished for explicating those ideal and ideas; but I cannot help feel that many of them would be considered 'old hat', as representing concepts which simply no longer resonate as loudly or as well to the modern world.
Be that as it may, O'Hear's work does provide as good an introduction as any to these classic texts, and on that basis it is recommended.
November 14, 2009
Well, this was not at all what i expected. When the subtitle said "A Journey through 2,500 Years of the West's Classic Literature", I assumed it would be the last 2,500 years ... WRONG!
I think the most "recent" thing in here might be Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
Anyways, if you like Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Plato, Virgil, Ovid, Dante, Shakespeare -- I take back what I said about Chaucer, above ... Shakespeare might be the most recent -- then this is the book for you!
Obviously, it was not the book for me!
I think the most "recent" thing in here might be Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
Anyways, if you like Homer, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Plato, Virgil, Ovid, Dante, Shakespeare -- I take back what I said about Chaucer, above ... Shakespeare might be the most recent -- then this is the book for you!
Obviously, it was not the book for me!
August 1, 2024
Right off this is not one big Cliff’s Notes.
There is no substitute for reading the real thing; even in the original language if possible. Many works, such as the Iliad are translated in several ways and it is a good idea to read them all to come close to what the original work is trying to convey.
The next best thing is to find out what other people have to say about the work as it is like telling you that your shoe is untied. So, you cannot have too many views. Who knew that Hamlet may have been a woman?
As with many collections we just have to take the collector’s word for it that these are the “Great Books” as everyone has a different opinion. And it is the opinions that we are reading the book for.
Antony O’Hear said that he chose these books because they best represent the foundations of Western Society. That is why we do not see any Eastern writings. We also cut the time off around Goethe-Foust as the newer works represent a later change in Western society and do not need any help with understanding the time and place of the earlier works.
As I stated this is not a Cliff’s Notes as many other collection books are. We actually get a clean-cut story and a view of what other people think.
I find myself re-reading this book after re-reading the Books suggested.
There is no substitute for reading the real thing; even in the original language if possible. Many works, such as the Iliad are translated in several ways and it is a good idea to read them all to come close to what the original work is trying to convey.
The next best thing is to find out what other people have to say about the work as it is like telling you that your shoe is untied. So, you cannot have too many views. Who knew that Hamlet may have been a woman?
As with many collections we just have to take the collector’s word for it that these are the “Great Books” as everyone has a different opinion. And it is the opinions that we are reading the book for.
Antony O’Hear said that he chose these books because they best represent the foundations of Western Society. That is why we do not see any Eastern writings. We also cut the time off around Goethe-Foust as the newer works represent a later change in Western society and do not need any help with understanding the time and place of the earlier works.
As I stated this is not a Cliff’s Notes as many other collection books are. We actually get a clean-cut story and a view of what other people think.
I find myself re-reading this book after re-reading the Books suggested.
March 1, 2025
I appreciated O'Hear's compact summaries of, what is to today's modern society, incredibly difficult books/epic poems to read. In fact, O'Hear's epilogue, in which he presciently (written in 2007) alludes to the post-literate society we find ourselves approaching now, was very well-written and reminded me a little of Edward Said. Are the classics still relevant? Should they be read? Should they be read by all? Great questions to ponder.
I thought the best chapters were on Dante's Divine Comedy, Milton's Paradise Lost, and Racine's Phedre (which I had never heard of before). I thought the weakest was on the Canterbury Tales, but then I remembered how much I disliked reading that book when in high school myself.
I thought the best chapters were on Dante's Divine Comedy, Milton's Paradise Lost, and Racine's Phedre (which I had never heard of before). I thought the weakest was on the Canterbury Tales, but then I remembered how much I disliked reading that book when in high school myself.
December 18, 2025
I was looking for a survey of classics to guide my reading journey- in a way it satisfies that with the list of works it talks about, but in my view it lacked a depth or context. I read the first part of the chapter on Homer, which discussed The Iliad and details the plot in the manner of this happened, then that happened, etc. There is then a section talking about the themes, which seemed a bit disjointed to me, then on to The Odyssey.
This style may be useful for some, but it just didn’t flow for me. I might just take the list of books and go read them.
This style may be useful for some, but it just didn’t flow for me. I might just take the list of books and go read them.
October 11, 2012
An excellent introduction to many of the most important works of western literature. O'Hear gives context to these books and makes them make much more sense.
These are the books that are universally considered to have had a major impact on the formation of western civilization. They have influenced the thoughts of not just generations, but millenia. If you wonder why you think the way you do, this book will help you start to figure it out.
Not a scholarly book, but not on the lever of Twilight either.
These are the books that are universally considered to have had a major impact on the formation of western civilization. They have influenced the thoughts of not just generations, but millenia. If you wonder why you think the way you do, this book will help you start to figure it out.
Not a scholarly book, but not on the lever of Twilight either.
May 24, 2013
Every professor should have this book on their reading list as supplementary reading. It's spark notes without the collegiate laziness or dumbed-down obviousness. This is intro to classics in a book with a purpose to actually teach and elucidate for those open to learning and genuinely interested in literature. And while you could read this and skip the ancient epics and greek dramas, I find it actually leads you to wanting to read them and you find yourself prepared and excited to do so! Highly recommend it!!
March 28, 2013
If you do not have time or inclination to read the classic books of "The Great Conversation", this book forms an enjoyable and informative set of review notes for a substantial number of the books typically associated with that sequence. While not a replacement by any means, it does include helpful explanations and translations of plot, with some concise and interesting analysis.
October 6, 2009
A amazing account of the best books ever written, brilliant.
November 1, 2012
A heavy read!
June 30, 2013
I like those books.
April 4, 2014
An excellent guide to selected classics (the top ones mainly) from Homer to Goethe. Clear, incisive and appetising commentaries in which O'Hear's opinions are strongly argued.
December 9, 2016
Interesting but too classi.cal and way too conservative
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews