Sunday, September 21, 2014

HOMER'S ODYSSEY & THE HARVARD CLASSICS

Dear Son,

The (partial) sequel to Homer's Iliad, the Odyssey, is in our library in multiple copies.  The various copies are scattered about the house; as I write this, I don't know the total. But Dad believes we have it in The Easton Press' Greatest Hundred Books ever written series, as well as in the Harvard Classics series.

If you click on this link to Adam Kirsch's article reconsidering the list of the Harvard Classics, you'll get an introduction to the controversy surrounding this series for its (limited) choices regarding science, philosophy and literature.  Son, this is just an earlier version of what critics and others like to play: a "Best of" game (even though the roots underlying the Harvard Classics was not as shallow as many of today's best-of lists).  Be always dubious of such Best of lists, Son -- they're only as legitimate as their author(s)'s tastes, but no single author or group of authors ever can articulate what's best by all tastes.  Expose yourself to many opinions and then form your own educated opinion based on your own investigations, rather than simply by adhering to others' opinions.  Read with your eyes and not with your ears.

Meanwhile, we can enjoy the Harvard Classics version of the Odyssey as its production is wonderful indeed.  The first image presents it as part of the Harvard Classics which we have as a near-complete set of  50 volumes (Dad is looking for the 51st to complete the set; you can see the complete title list HERE):






Love,

Mom and Dad





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