How to Create Your Personal Literary Canon (Deep-Reading Assignment) 

I've decided to subscribe, not just because the content is off the charts, but because I can listen to this man's passion for literature forever! ☺😁 Just listening to him makes me feel smarter!😅😂

Benjamin you never fail to excite me to read. I just finished reading and simultaneously rereading the "brick" (Les Miserables). I approached my reading with reverence, like scripture, and limited myself to approximately 10 pages per day. At the moment I finished the book I, without thinking, held the book to my heart. It was so impactful and transformative. I would not have considered reading in this manner without your inspiration. Thank you so much.

I'm sure you realize that you are helping many people who do not have access to formal higher education. You do not treat your viewers like children, rather like people with a curiosity about literature and how they can navigate this vast world. God bless you.

9:02 "The experience of being the one responsible for having another fall in love with something you love is truly one of the peak experiences in life." Don't know if I could agree more. This is why I always try to recommend books, movies, video essays, albums, and such to people in the most invitational manner as I can manage. It is worth it for just that one time when someone actually takes you up on a recommendation and then the two of you have a new shared inner life that brings depth to the relationship.

I reread The Catcher in the Rye every ten years and I have found exactly this point to be true: what I notice changes because who I am changes. And the novel changes for me and I love it in new ways each time. A hauntingly beautiful idea for a personal canon - I have been developing it on my own without calling it that, and yet the intentionality inspires me to take this deeper. Thank you, Benjamin, for this fantastic call to define and create.

Wow, this video really moved me. Coming from a university with a strong core curriculum, I always found myself frustrated by the cannon. I could usually identify the merits in many works, but we blew through so many classics that I never had the opportunity to truly sit with them. Since the pandemic, I have been rereading books that I read in high school on my own time to see what a difference a decade has made. The biggest surprise was Jane Eyre, which as a teenager I despised. 10 years later, I could not put it down. I read it joyfully rather than with the begrudging discipline of assigned summer reading, and it has become one of my favorite books. Since that time, I have studied in depth the history of empire, slavery, abolition, and women’s rights, all of which brought the world of Jane Eyre to life for me. Jane Eyre, however, at least has a place in *the* literary cannon. Other authors, I feel, because of their literary aesthetics and their race, language, gender, and sexuality have been overlooked. The Sudanese Tayyib Salih has been considered the greatest Arabic novelist, and I have returned to his books more than any others. The great Lebanese author Leila Balbaaki’s work is now largely out of print in the Arab world and has not been translated into English yet have influenced me greatly. That used to frustrate me, but this video has put into focus the purpose of a literary cannon as a form of joy and personal edification. I have been drawing surprising connections between Montaigne and Russian novelist Vassily Grossman, between Al-Attar’s Conference of the Birds and Rilke’s Book of Hours. I tend to discredit these observations because they are unconventional, but maybe I should start to take them more seriously. I am excited to begin journaling about the things I read and the connections I make, to reorganize my bookshelf based on those books that are most meaningful to me, and determining what my personal literary canon says about me and how I see and interact with the world! Thank you for such a moving and motivating video!

I’m a high school English teacher and I’ve been nerding out on all your videos! Awesome content. Been looking to recharge my reading life and these talks are helping 🌸

I was reading Vonnegut when I was 12, along with Richard Brautigan. I remember I gave my 6th grade teacher "Breakfast of Champions" to read and she told me it was terribly cynical. I said, "Yes. Exactly." It fit my mind-set perfectly -- or, perhaps it fit 1970s America perfectly. Anyway: so it goes.

Oh, I love this! The notion of curating a collection of books that are a reflection of who we are is so inspiring and exciting. You are such of gift.

Dear Benjamin. Thank you so very much for all that you do and putting yourself out there as you simply are. It feels like being talked to face to face, having a conversation that is spoken from the heart, soul and mind and without the frills, or listening to a recital from a prewritten essay. Absolutely love and appreciate all your videos that I have watched so far. Your sharing is paramount to me as a homeschooling mom living in rural Nepal with very limited resources. I am on my personal journey to grow and to inspire my own kids and this channel has elevated it in so many ways. I know children learn best by observing! There is much gratitude to you from the Himalayas so please please keep churning more videos! 🙏🏼

I feel like you missed the inverse of "Go back to who your favorites read" which can be just as exciting and that is to discover who your favorites influenced. To use your own example: if you adore Faulkner, then consider McCarthy.

I would have loved for any literature teacher I encountered to have assigned something like this. This assignment is something you would get at the top 1% of 1% of schools in this day and age.

You seem like a terrific teacher. Such exuberance is infectious.

I can’t think of a finer encouragement to keep alive & enhance one’s passion for reading literature than your very stimulating lectures, Ben. Thank you!

Ludwig Wittgenstein bringing his copy of The Brothers Karamazov to the WW1 frontlines was what inspired me to start it myself, having completed C&P (and it feels so much simpler in comparison to TBK even though I'm barely a quarter in).

The idea of creating a personal canon of literary works resonates with me. I rarely hear anyone mention Sherwood Anderson's "Winesburg, Ohio," for example, but this slim volume of short stories set in small town America is a personal favorite of mine. Anderson’s theory of the "grotesque" warns us that viewing the world based on a single "truth" is likely to lead one astray. Everyday I meet people who are following their "truth" and who have unwittingly created a falsehood. I often think about the lost souls in Winesburg, Ohio and try my best to look at my own behavior in order to see whether or not I am being led astray by focusing on a single "truth." Another favorite of mine is Walt Whitman's great American poem "Song of Myself." I read this poem every year and it always leaves me full of joy and in love with the world. Thank you, Benjamin, for this magnificent video! I plan to show it to members of my film club. I believe there is a cinematic canon just as there is a literary canon. This video is pure "fire" for anyone who loves the arts. It inspires self reflection and reassures those of us who love to weigh and compare different works of art.

This made me think how thinking about books in relation to each other, as opposed to in a vacuum, seems to highlight their particular aspects, bringing out more of their individual character via the contrast. And often I find that I will be reading one book and the previous one's impression will start haunting me because of that.

I almost never leave comments on youtube videos but these are, without a doubt, the best videos I have ever had the chance to watched. I just found your channel yesterday and I have already watched a lot of your videos. The quality and passion you put on them is just mesmerazing and so captivating. Even though the videos are, in theory, long I'm so emerged on them that I lose track of time and end up finding them extremely short. Keep up the great work mate you are fantastic, and thank you for the amazing content. By the way, Spanish is my native language and I absolutely love the way you pronounce spanish names, such as Quijote and Cervantes

I just found your channel today and this 59 year old, lover of classic literature, is going to have so much fun delving through your videos! I love rereading novels because I always see things in a different light, or maybe one character I enjoyed suddenly falls back in the mist while another takes front and center! I adore Thomas Hardy and his "satires of circumstance" hit home with me. How many times do we reflect on the ripple effect of our decisions and actions, or those thrust on us? His characters and events seem so real to me. This year I am expanding my Russian Literature reads and presently halfway through Dead Souls, which I am enjoying immensely. Next year I want to rework my way through al of Dickens again! Thank you for your wonderful channel and input!!

This is the most enlightening video about reading I have ever seen in my life! WOW!

Thank you for putting out this sort of content! Your videos have reawakened a passion for reading the classics in me, and they have fundamentally altered the way I approach these works; not as milestones and tasks, but as the touching, troubling, curious and comical insights into humanity that they are. I'm currently reading War and Peace for the first time, and finding great solace and delight in it. I'd love to see a video on Dante's Divina Commedia at some point! Once again, thank you!

Literally devouring this channel over the past week or so. Can't get enough! Your passion is extremely contagious, Ben! God bless you and keep going with those videos, buddy.

Well, luckiest day for me that The Universe sent you my way via the RU-vid algorithm! You are hugely inspiring, kind, massively intelligent, and insightful. Looking forward to my retirement now and doing all the reading I’ve wanted to do with time to delve and focus. It’s a WIDE WIDE world isn’t it?? Thank you Benjamin!

Without overthinking it right now, my canon would definitely include: The Brothers Karamazov, East of Eden, Till We Have Faces, & Augustine's Confessions. I'll probably reread those four till I die.

Bravo! RU-vid sometimes greets me with jewels like this video of yours, Benjamin. Enlightening and enjoyable. Thanks for sharing this. I've been always a rebellious reader, and never followed the "canonical" literary canon. So, I completely agree with your concepts about the unique readers we are and should be. I insist, you are a fantastic discovery. Receive my warm greetings from Yucatan, Mexico.

Thank you Benjamin for constantly pushing me to look at literature in so many different ways. Anna Karenina, dare I say, is my favourite novel of all time. I am on my third rereading of this absolutely beautiful text. The novel has resonated differently with me at the different stages of my life when I have returned to it. I found your channel when I was at a very low point in my life and you and the great books have helped me through it. So thank you for making all this wonderful content possible. I am also rereading Viktor Frankl's Man's Search For Meaning. Once I'm done with Anna Karenina, after some time for reflection. I will tackle "the brick" Les Miserables for the second time. Lots of great stuff to keep my soul and mind fed.

I started appreciating Aestheticism while I was reading 'The Portrait of an Artist as a Young man' the second time as i found my mind had opened some dimensions which were not active before. There were ofcourse social references and background in it which was hard for me to understand being from another country ,however it didnot stop me from capturing the essence of the journey ,the narrator was going through as I tend to believe that every writer can relate to.

I think this is my fourth time watching/listening to this vid, Ben. I often rewatch and relisten your YT videos and your lectures. As a great read, I am sure to miss something the first time around, there's just sooo much. Your gusto further fuels my love for reading and my why. There are helpful tips here I shall make treasure of, especially in my journaling. By he way I now take my journal along with me. I often think about what I read and that's my parameter for how good a book (or a film for that matter) is. As you mention here, the work continues after the last page read and the cover closed. . Since I found you on YT 2 years ago (?) and joined the club, my reading experience has become more rich and layered. You are such a reading guru to me. Thank you.

No one has ever described reading like you do! When you spoke of your teaching books and running your hand over the titles I knew exactly what you meant. For several years I taught 6th and 7th grade English. I love looking at the books and running my hands over the titles too!

"The experience of being the one responsible for having another fall in love with something you love is truly one of the peak experiences in life." What a resplendent description of love. Personally, I believe that to be the ultimate form of affection--endearing another unto your own plain of appreciation is rare and magical.

What a magnificent post, Benjamin. Massively meaningful, thought-provoking stuff. A ton to chew on here. And another reason to love Vonnegut!

I absolutely love your idea of a book report. I do one every time I read a good book that I have loved or even a book that missed the mark for me. I like to write down my thoughts....it helps me to understand what bothered me about the book or why I loved it and I feel I understand myself more with every book... As a collector of great quotes I often stick my favourite quotes from the book in my report and put it up on my WhatsApp status for my friends and acquaintances to read. Often a random and unexpected person in my contacts will read the book report and message me their thoughts on it and it really makes my day...sometimes a person will read a book upon a glowing book report from me and that really excites me

I absolutely LOVE your point about Plato’s Republic and referring out AS WELL AS referring inward. Spellbinding job, sir!

My compliments on another excellent and informative presentation. My methods are far less organized or worthy of dissemination to others, but here they are for what they may be worth ... First, I come into contact with a recommendation of a book from sources as divergent as videos such as this or as remote as reading lists that I still have from my school days. Then I will read short reviews being careful to avoid spoilers. Next I will read the book, form my opinions, and examine thoughtfully what the work has imparted to me. Finally, I will research the author if the author is not already intimately known to me and examine the period he/she lived in and the possible effect his personal environment and ethos of his times may have had on his work as well as those influences of other authors which might have (as you mention in your video) influenced the work. Then I will take note of literary criticisms of the specific book with regard to its reception at the time of publication and note the positive and negative critiques and the reasons expressed for same. Ultimately, if there is a film version of the book, I will watch it, but only after determining the most highly acclaimed presentation and compare the video to the book; for example, _Moby Dick_ - the book vs the movie . The fundamental difference being that the book was a representation of the entire spectrum of whaling and the movie was focused primarily on the obsession of a sea captain and his determination to hunt a specific whale to its destruction. I may have mentioned this in one of my other comments in your videos and I am sorry if I am repeating myself: another thing I do, in this case with regard to book notation, is to put a simple dot the size of a period mark in the margin next to the passage I want to record in pencil, and then record the page number on one of the back flyleaves with a word or two to suggest the gist of why I am noting it. The eyes of others who might eventually own the book would never even notice the dot, but if I return to that page I will notice it because I will be looking for it. If I returned to that page even years later I would remember why I noted it in the first place because the passage would have the same import to me then as it did in the past. After categorically going through all of the notated pages I will record my impressions of these passages in a notebook citing the page numbers I had recorded on the flyleaves as reference. I have taken note of the excellent advice you've given in this presentation and intend to more fully examine how I might faithfully incorporate it into my own system. As always, many many thanks!

Your videos are like a gauntlet tossed down at my feet. I'm old, and no longer have the energy to read as I did when younger, but the enthusiasm of youth is a good tonic to resist retreating. I never got along too well with Dostoevsky but want to read "Brothers K", and may be I will. I've always been a Tolstoy guy who loves Levin and Nikolai Rostov. Levin is such a perfectly realized character, and AK, to me, is the perfect novel. The Vonnegut discussion was very enlightening. I've only read a bit of his stuff, and, obviously, there is much more there than I was aware of. When you're 70+, you might think the reaction would be to think you have to read more, to speed up, but a better solution (perhaps) is to be more judicious in choosing what you read and to read those thoroughly. I think we always know quickly when we've made a good (or very poor) choice. I just have to learn to take my (and your suggested) advice. Thanks for these videos.

Thank you Benjamin. I've been struggling so much through university accepting that I have to take in the canon that is presented to me and sometimes being forced to read things that I do not care about or cannot connect to. I guess your insight gives me a little bit of peace to accept it now but maybe being able to participate in changing it later. Building your own canon is something that very much appeals to me!

Such a useful and motivating video, thank you! I have been meaning to get into the habit of documenting my thoughts on the books I have read. When I try to think about a book and collect my thoughts in my brain it's all too muddled and I can't quite articulate what it is I actually enjoyed. I started making mind maps on the books I had read and thoughts I didn't even know were there poured out. I do think a more 'finished' review would be even more beneficial so I might try making an audio review for my own reference. Thanks again!

Bless the algorithm for bringing this video up. I try to read a book a week every year and now I’m going to rank them and write about it. Stay up, brother.

Just found your channel! I am so excited to do Kurt Vonnegut‘s assignment myself! You have inspired me to approach reading in a different way, namely, discovering what moves me and why and to actually write “book reports” about the books I read. I’m an avid and long time reader of all kinds of books and have examined why that is, but not down to why certain books or themes really speak to me. My personal cannon off the top of my head consists of Thomas Hardy’s novels, especially Tess, Charles Dickens, Frank Herbert’s Dune Saga, Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, The Great Gatsby, all of Jane Austen, Vanity Fair, and GRRM’s Game of Thrones series

I needed to hear so much of this lecture. It bleeds into my personal struggle with wrangling and defining my identity as a person, and I shan’t go into it. But I absolutely loved this video, Ben. Thank you for popping up onto my recommended! :)

you're basically my favorite yt channel. so inspiring🧡🧡 i'm planing now in january (summer's vacation here in brazil) a personal project including this good stuff that you talk about

AMAZING video! I got so inspired I can't wait to start reading again. I definitely plan on doing that deep reading program with the ranking and reviewing now that you've talked about its reflective power in examining who we are. Thanks for this video, I just subbed 😁

This channel has become the best way to answer my family and friends when they ask why I read so much. Just watch and listen to this channel.

Speechless, heartfelt gratitude to your words which have blown me away , all your ideas and suggestions of how to get the greatest reading experience possible , and to learn about yourself .. Sublime ! Thankssss Ben !

I am just discovering your videos, and the few I’ve watched have given me plenty of food for thought! Although I haven’t read a lot of classic literature, I am looking to start taking a few baby steps at a time. This video came at the right moment, as I have been contemplating rereading the ‘Catcher in the Rye,’ a book I did not much care for when I first read it in high school. I was discussing this novel with a friend who shared my feelings about it, but she did mention that her best friend had developed more positive feelings about it upon rereading it as an adult. That started me thinking about the book and giving it another chance. I expect I’ll find Holden Caulfield to be much more sympathetic upon rereading and plan to write a letter to him as my way of making peace with him😊 Thank you for providing the motivation!

Bravo Benjamin! Some say the journey is the destination. You can’t have a journey without movement. You’ve moved me.

thank you for this idea and this project; i'm not sure what i will do with it yet, but in a sense, i have already started something like it; a couple of years ago, i got the idea of an "essential library" - books that i didn't want to do without, and that i didn't want to have to search very far for in my stacks. these books are the ones that have, in one way or another, engaged me with wisdom, alternative perspectives, unexpectedly relevant information, challenges to my ways of thinking, even with the style of the writing (William Least Heat-Moon and Ann Zwinger's poetic prose, for example), etc. I will think about how to apply this "ranking" of my personal canon to the already begun project of my personal library. again, much appreciation for this idea. -eve

Thank you for this. What you are describing is the way I naturally approach literature. Not that I have done the grading and writing project, I hate having to rank anything. But the willingness to be delighted, yet having no patience with those who present the universe in a way that misalignes with my deepest views, letting a book percolate, reading books in conversation with other books and with your own life, rediscovering and reassessing at later points in life - this is how I read. It has led me to dislike or be indifferent to books that I am, according to canon, supposed to love, and there's always the question of "is it me or is it the book?" I guess the answer is "both" and that's ok. But I do have to remind myself that it is ok to not be able to connect with every classic. Reading in this way has also led me to long lasting and highly rewarding relationships with other books and authors.

It’s wonderful to hear one passionate and knowledgeable talking about literature. It’s highly subjective however, and depends on what you’re seeking. Some of us read most of these a half century ago. Classic literature remains relevant, whether it be a voyage into memory, the marathon beginning w/ Swan’s Way by the incomparable Marcel Proust, or works by Joyce, Tolstoy or Dostoyevsky; or shorts by Borges or Chekhov. The first pages of Cormac McCarthy’s Suttree are as good as descriptivity gets. It’s too bad that world leaders haven’t read and digested great literary works.

3 min in and I'm absolutely delighted to have come across from this video : THANK you so much, and I will watch, read and listen your videos with great pleasure :)

One of your most passionate videos, and personal, and best

This, to me, has been a good reminder that our genuine interest reveals to us who we really are, and that we would therefore do good to take a step back sometimes and reflect over what it is that something is touching in us, exactly. As someone who is engaged in writing myself, I might add that this realization can also be stifling at times. To write is to reveal what interests you, and that is to reveal who you are.

Toni Morrison ! I fell in love with the Bluest Eye at 17 and I've never turned back. Most recenty I've read Beloved. i'm so used to her fiction (although it feels realer than that), but this month I'm really excited to get into her non-fiction works. I have one of her longer essays on whiteness on my May TBR

My personal canon? Shakespeare, Montaigne, and Dante to start. Since I love to read essays, Montaigne is my hero After the trio, I'd add Henry James, Conrad, Daniel Defoe, Tolstoy, Zola, Chekhov, Turgenev, Babel, Willa Cather, Twain, Edith Wharton, Flaubert, Stendhal, Hardy, and the Brontes. Also: Robert Walser, Dashiel Hammett, Nabokov, Zweig, Ray Bradbury, Ursula K. LeGuin, Phillip K. Dick, J.G. Ballard, Sherwood Anderson, Ross McDonald, Raymond Chandler, Dawn Powell, Steve Erickson, Denis Johnson, Philip Roth, and Cynthia Ozick. And that's just fiction.

My canon includes: Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell, Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, C. S. Lewis, Tolkien... And also George R. R. Martin, Isaac Asimov, Anne & Serge Golon, Jules Verne, Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Judith McNaught, M. Delly, Barbara Cartland... These are authors I am constantly going back to, for various reasons. Sometimes, just for nostalgia. And then there's the Bible. That's a deep reading program for eternity, my friends.

This brought to mind the experience I've had with a particular novel. I've re-read Herman Wouk's The Caine Mutiny at least four or five times over my life. And I've been intrigued by how much that story changed for me as I matured (well, simply "aged" might be a more accurate term). Not just nuances, but the fundamental notions of who exactly the "heroes" and "villains" are. As I grew older, I identified with different characters, and kept seeing the novel's events through different eyes. Edit: a perfect example of "How you see is who you are".

Just found your channel and you’re amazing! Great video. Can’t wait to watch more

Thank you for sharing your enthusiasm and passion for books! Some years ago I started a card system of the books I read, writing a few paragraphs on what I thought of it. My intention was mainly to keep a record and to remember what I had been reading. Now, you've given me some other ideas. I really value your view of literature as a constructive force in the world.

Such a joy immersing into your content!

So many great points in your video!! Reminds me of books I have read that I didn't think I liked but couldn't stop thinking about afterwards, considering why I can't stop rehashing them and maybe even changing my mind after time has passed. Also, made me consider why my favorite authors are my favorite, I think just wonderful adventures rank high, such as Jules Verne gave me when I was younger. I also love writers that make fabulous use of the English language, such as Dickens and Shakespeare. Something in my brain really enjoys full use of the English language which is why I have a hard time reading some modern books. Thanks for the thoughts!!

Thank you for finally giving me a meaningful, interesting video about literature to listen to and draw from. I recently finished Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas by Tom Robbins, and he is my number one literary canon. It came at the right time, just as this video did for me. Thanks for the introspection, and time to rewrite!

You read my mind! I was just thinking about this this morning. YAY

I think the problem with me as a literary critic, or editor is i'm ignorrant. I read 'waiting for Godot' at uni before I began my drama and philosophy studies, after 3 weeks i had an assignment in drama to pick one of the plays on the reading list, as I enjoyed the comedy in 'waiting for Godot' I did that one, by then I'd learned some basic philosophy and was delighted to find there were more jokes, philosophical jokes, then when I did some background research into the text I discovered there are also even more theological jokes. It made me realise that there are a lot of texts I read that I didn't get or appreciate from ignorrance. Who am I to pass judgement on a text when I am so ill informed on the subjects these texts are based upon, or life experiences I've never experienced and probably never will.

Most enjoyable and illuminating. "Personal Canon": great concept--when I think of mine, I have to laugh. Eclectic. One of my favorites that seems to be largely forgotten is Robert Ruark. He was a top journalist, novelist, memoirist and Africa expert in the 40s and 50s. I've been reading him since the 50s. I'm antiquated. Love your channel--just found it.

I have loved Tolkien since my first reading of the Lord of the Rings back in 1973. I have reread it several times since. I also love War and Peace, Bleak House, and Alice in Wonderland. I went on at university to study Shakespeare and I love his works as well; my personal favorite being the five act play, Romeo and Juliet.

Just wow! Finished brothers karamazov but still everyday I feel I'm reading Ivan's conversation with the devil And now "call me Ishmael '' from Moby dick has evoked nothing but awe , feel like marking every line of this masterpiece just after having read 150 pages

Your channel is absolutely brilliant. I’m so addicted to watching your videos 😅 💕

Benjamin, your passion for literature is all inspiring. ❤

Great video. You have inspired me to begin thinking about the books that I would include in my personal canon. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and enthusiasm for books with us. 📚

I've listened to you so much that your voice runs in the background of everything else i think about throughout the day 😂

A very, very important topic. A truly stimulating and mesmerising video. Your erudition shines throughout.

What a gift. You have uplifted my soul today and I thank you !!!!

You’re are inspiring and generous with your knowledge… I am learning so much. Thanks 🙏🏻

As always, inspiring! Thank you Ben.

I think my favorite books I'm reading right now is: The Enlightenment; The Pursuit of Happiness, Crime and Punishment, and along with Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.

I’m excited too. Love this channel.

You started this blog with the idea of short stories and that set me off right away. I love them. Short stories can be little gems or even bigger than the biggest novel. There are so many short story writers that hardly ever (sme never) get a mention. Sadly, again, Thomas Hardy gets left out, Maupassant, Roald Dahl, Borges, Gorky (Master and Man is a milestonne in one's memor). Some are predominantly short story writers yet they only get a mention for a novel, like Somerset Maugham.

Hello, Benjamin! As a film student, I'm tempted to try this assignment with directors. Hearing you talk about McCarthy, Melville, and Shakespeare makes me think of Robert Eggers, Ingmar Bergman, and August Strindberg.

Oh wow. Discovering you for the first time and as a lit major this resonates with me so much! Thank you.

When you read the assignment, I said to myself, "This sounds like such a UChicago supplemental essay prompt." I looked up Kurt Vonnegut's alma mater and, lo and behold, that's where he went. One of my biggest regrets is not taking advantage of the Great Books curriculum during my undergrad years. I really love this approach to "The Core" you've presented and it makes me want to revisit it and try again.

Two commentes: 1 - You showed one of mt favourite paintings ever - "Wanderer" - above the Sea of Fog" by Caspar David Friedrich.. I even have a copy. . Magnificent !!! 2 - i use literary canons as a guide but I'm not very fond of them . Sometimes I feel like I've to enjoy a certain book or I'm stupid. Sometimes you say you're reading "Crime and Punishment" and people are so impressed you're readig Dostoevsky that they find themselves inferior and embarrassed.

This was so insightful. Im always wanting to read the authors works that have inspired other authors, for instance i want to read Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen and as a result Ann Radcliffes work is now something I will be reading to see how it inspired Austen.

Benjamin, I loved this video. I'm a retired bookseller. I miss having regular conversations with other readers. I haven't read as many 'important' books as I'd have liked. I felt a duty to keep up with newer book I thought my customers might enjoy. I read for myself now. I've enjoyed the memoirs of Langston Hughes and am a huge fan of the works of Willa Cather. I plan to watch more of your book talks. Thank you.

Thank you for this interesting video! I’m currently working on Macbeth & Moby Dick; in an effort to experience “transformative” literature. Also I’m analyzing the parallels between the two, specifically the influence on Herman Melville. I’m still trying to build up the confidence for Milton’s promethean, Paradise Lost.. extraordinarily beautiful, poetic and epic. An incredible mark of human achievement, which I feel will be impactful on me as a writer. It’s a read that demands your attention and an emotional bond, which was beyond what I was prepared for.

I'm going to try this ordering the book today.

Awesome Topic Video. Seriously. I too have formed my own. A Homer to Huck Finn. Really glad someone posted this.

This is fantastic, thank you

I just discovered your channel. You're brilliant!

I LOVE YOUR RU-vid CHANNEL!!💙

Whoa. I haven't read anything seriously in ages. This video gave me so much motivation to get back into one of my forgotten hobbies. Thank you so much!

very good, enjoyed that tremendously!!!

I never thought a RU-vid video could get me so pumped up to read more. I'm ready to run through a wall 😂

Great video Benjamin, thank you. Between 94 and 2010 my job was as a music sales rep in Alberta, Canada. So everyday I would get to share/ sell/ recommend music I loved with 'strangers'. Since 'retiring' I've created 3 FB pages, one for music, one for books and one for football and your video reminded me how important it is for me to share my passions. As for favourite authors? Dickens heads the list, George Elliott is a recent addition, Graham Greene and Orwell since I was a teen, but I also love modern writers like John Irving, Kate Atkinson, Peter Matthiessen, C.J.Sansom, Ian Rankin and many more too numerous to mention. And now I must get back to the hilarious and prescient Vanity Fair. Only 400 pages to go! Next up? Either Marco Polo The Travels or Stepehn Crane's The Red Badge of Courage. Coming soon? The Pickwick Papers, Moby Dick, Middlemarch and a re-read of Virginia Woolf's To The Lighthouse.

My personal cannon would have to begin with Emily Bronte & Dostoevsky. One of the most profound experiences as a reader I've ever had was when I first read "The Grand Inquisitor" from "The Brothers Karamazov." All the philosophical reflections & meditations I'd had over the years were suddenly crystalized by this brilliant articulation of the human condition. What do the masses of humanity crave & find in organized religion: miracle, mystery & authority. It's a mirrored reflection of Ingmar Bergman's magnum opus "The Seventh Seal" where the knight has his discussion with Death about the very same subject. As Bergman puts it, the thought that oblivion follows physical death is too much for the vast majority of people to psychologically cope with so they invent a god & an afterlife of eternity. In "Wuthering Heights," Emily (my favorite of the Brontës) perfectly encapsulated the experience of true, profound, deeply passionate love for another human being. As Catherine says, "I AM Heathcliff" - amen. For anyone who has ever been powerfully in love with someone, the intensity of emotions so marvelously expressed in "Wuthering Heights" will resonate with great force & recognition. Others I would include are Dickens ("A Christmas Carol" & "Oliver Twist"), the stories & poetry of Edgar Allan Poe ("The Raven" is never far from my consciousness, "The Tell-Tale Heart" which is really an exact description of a paranoid schizophrenic having a psychotic breakdown & the deeply haunting "The Fall of the House of Usher"), Mikhail Bulgakov ("The Master & Margarita" is one of the most brilliant political satires ever written), Nathaniel Hawthorne (every year at Halloween I must read "The House of the Seven Gables" which I've visited in Salem a number of times), Evelyn Waugh ("Brideshead Revisited" which the Hardcore Literature group really should read) & Sigrid Undset ("Kristin Lavransdatter" is a masterpiece that the book club should also undertake). My unofficial cannon begins with William Peter Blatty's "The Exorcist" which is really a profound philosophical & spiritual study far more than it is a horror novel which is no wonder given that the author studied with the Jesuits at Georgetown University. I devour Ken Follett's Kingsbridge series & just now received his latest "The Armor of Light." Margaret Mitchell's "Gone With the Wind" is a masterpiece. Since historical fiction is my favorite genre, Edward Rutherfurd's copious series on countries & cities is simply unmatched. Sherman Alexie's novels on Native American life in the US are nonpareil. My favorite contemporary novelist was the incomparable Josephine Hart whose "Damage" simply blew me away along with every one of her other books. Finally, among the most brilliant authors writing today is Eugene Vodolazkin; everyone should read "Laurus" about mystics in medieval Russia. I could go on & on but I'll end here with a nod to the howling comedy of James Thurber whose short story, "The Night the Bed Fell" should be read out loud in good company. Thank you Benjamin for your delectable work!

The Art of the Short Story, edited by Dana Gioia is excellent. It has 52 authors. It is available on Amazon in paperback. This book will go to my grave with me.

This has been a beautiful presentation of an effort and search that curious minds encounter in literature. The idea of a collection of favorites outside of the “canon” is in my opinion excellent. A canon outside of the canon. Maybe an episode in the future with that in mind could be very interesting. Perhaps will put out too much of one own for others to see…. Like the artist in the Picture of Dorian Gray.

I like the optimism and resistance to name-calling and complaints about traditional canons that I was, frankly, worried this video was going to engage in. Well done.

This is so useful. Thanks

Wonderful, love this and indeed I shall. Thank you : )

This is your best video yet. I'll be re-viewing it. I'm a Cannon rebel. I recommend Camille Paglia to you. Have you compared Cormac McCarthy with Carlos Castaneda?