Classics and the Western Canon discussion

Wow! It is hard to believe it is September already and time to discuss our fifth read of 2023. The selection of nominees includes the top three from the last poll since Mansfield Park and The Song of Hiawatha tied for second plus three random selections from the bookshelf. Have fun discussing them here.

POPULAR NOMINEES FROM THE LAST POLL
Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Random Book Generator (RBG)
The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler
The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud
Pensées by Blaise Pascal

UPCOMING SCHEDULE

Sep 6	Fathers and Sons Week 4	& THIS member discussion
Sep 13	Fathers and Sons Week 5	& Next read poll
Sep 20	Fathers and Sons Week 6
Sep 27	Interim Week 1	
Oct 4	Interim Week 2	
Oct 11	2023 Fifth Read Discussion Begins

I vote for Mansfield Park.

This is a very difficult choice. I don't know if I want to vote for Chaucer (literature), Freud (science) or Pascal (religion).

Mansfield Park is "the best novel by the best novelist," but Troilus has been on my TBR much longer than the others.

All pretty worthwhile.

Donnally wrote: "This is a very difficult choice. I don't know if I want to vote for Chaucer (literature), Freud (science) or Pascal (religion)."


I just finished reading "The Interpretation of Dreams" and would love to discuss it within the group. I wouldn't call it "science", his approach was unorthodox, at least when having the scientific method in mind.

"The Way of All Flesh" is one of my favourite novels, I would welcome an opportunity to read it again.

Regarding Pensées... I am quite sceptical of a mathematician talking about religion.

the poll has been posted and my be found here:
https://www.goodreads.com/poll/show/2...

Voting starts on: Sep 13, 2023 12:00AM PDT and will run for a week.

This is a tough one! I love Mansfield Park, but I know it, so I'm going for the Song of Hiawatha, which I've never read.

I read Mansfield Park a long time ago accompanied by Nabokov's treatment. I loved the discovery then and want to feel once more the presence of masterful Austen's architecture.

Kerstin wrote: "This is a tough one! I love Mansfield Park, but I know it, so I'm going for the Song of Hiawatha, which I've never read."

I'm going for Hiawatha too, and for the same reason.

Rethinking this one in favor of Hiawatha. Influenced by Graeber and Wengrow's "Dawn of Everything" which traces significance of Northeast indigenous tribes' influence on The Enlightenment in Europe, Montesquieu and the conferences leading to the formation of the new American government.

I am changing my vote in favour of Hiawatha

I vote for Chaucer! I’m so tired of Jane Austen - hope no one minds my honesty.

There is still time to vote, or change your vote. The poll ends
Sep 19, 2023 11:59PM PDT

The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow has won the poll and will be our next read.

Our upcoming discussion schedule looks like this:

Sep 20	Fathers and Sons Week 6
Sep 27	Interim Week 1
Oct 4	Interim Week 2
Oct 11	The Song of Hiawatha - Week 1
Oct 18	The Song of Hiawatha - Week 2
Oct 25	The Song of Hiawatha - Week 3
Nov 1	The Song of Hiawatha - Week 4