The New

LIFETIME

Reading Plan

 

The classic guide to world literature,

revised and expanded

Clifton Fadiman and John S. Major

The New Lifetime Reading Plan

FOURTH EDITION

Clifton Fadiman and John S. Major

HarperCoWmsPublishers

the new lifetime reading plan. Copyright © 1997 by Clifton Fadiman and John S. Major. Ali rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in criticai articles and reviews. For information address HarperCollinsPublishers, Inc., 10 East 53rd Street, New York, New York 10022.

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fourth edition

Designed by Ruth Lee

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Fadiman, Clifton, 1904-

The new lifetime reading plan / Clifton Fadiman and John S. Major.— 4th ed.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-06-270208-4

1. Best books. 2. Books and reading. I. Major, John S. 1942- . II. Title. Z1035.F29 1997

011'.7—dc2i 97-2975

97 98 99 00 01 ❖/RRD 10 98765432 1

_c0CONTENTS

Preface xiii

A Preliminary Talk with the Reader xix PART ONE

н. Anonymous, ca. 2000 B.c.E. (Scribe Sin-Leqi-Unninni, ca. 700 B.c.E.), The Epic of Gilgamesh 3

Homer, ca. 800 B.c.E., The Iliad 5

Homer, ca. 800 B.c.E., The Odyssey 7

Confucius, 551-479 B.c.E.,

The Analects 8

Aeschylus, 525-456/5 B.c.E., The Oresteia 10

Sophocles, 496-406 B.c.E., Oedipus Rex, Oedipus at Colonus, Antigone 12

Euripides, 484-406 B.c.E., Alcestis, Medea, Hippolytus, The Trojan Women, Electra, 77ie Bacchae 15

Herodotus, ca. 484-425 B.c.E., The Histories 16

Thucydides, ca. 470/460-ca. 400 B.c.E., The History of the Peloponnesian War 18

Sun-tzu, ca. 450-380 B.c.E., The Art ofWar 20

Aristophanes, 448-388 B.c.E., Lysistrata, The Clouds, The Birds 22

Plato, 428-348 B.c.E., Selected Works 24

Aristotle, 384-322 B.c.E., Ethics, Politics, Poetics 26

Mencius, ca. 400-320 B.c.E., The Book of Mencius 28

Attributed to Valmiki, ca. 300 B.c.E., The Ramayana 31

Attributed to Vyasa, ca. 200 b.c.e., The Mahabharata 34

Anonymous, ca. 200 B.c.E., The Bhagavad Gita 36

Ssu-ma Ch'ien, 145-86 b.c.e., Records of the Grand Historian 37

Lucretius, ca. 100-ca. 50 b.c.e., Of the Nature of Things

40

Virgil, 70-19 b.c.e., The Aeneid 42

Marcus Aurelius, 121-180, Meditations 44

PARTTWO

Saint Augustine, 354-430, The Confessions 49

Kгlidгsa, ca. 400, The Cloud Messenger and Sakuntala 50

Revealed to Muhummad, completed 650, The Koran 52

Hui-neng, 638-713, The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch 55

Firdausi, ca. 940-1020, Shah Nameh 59

Sei Shхnagon, ca. 965-1035, The Pillow-Book 61

Lady Murasaki, ca. 976-1015, The Tale of Genji 64

Omar Khayyam, 1048-?, The Rubaiyat 66

Dante Alighieri, 1265-1321, The Divine Comedy 69

Luo Kuan-chung, ca. 1330-1400, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms 71

Geoffrey Chaucer, 1342-1400, The Canterbury Tales 74

Anonymous, ca. 1500, The Thousand and One Nights 76

Niccolo Machiavelli, 1469-1527, The Prince 78

Franзois Rabelais, 1483-1553, Gargantua and Pantagruel 80

Attributed to Wu Ch'eng-en, 1500-1582, Journey to the West 82

Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, 1533-1592, Selected Essays 85