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
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, 1547-1616, Don Quixote 87
PARTTHREE
William Shakespeare, 1564-1616, Complete Works 93
John Donne, 1573-1631, Selected Works 94
Anonymous, published 1618, The Plum in the Golden Vase (Chin PHng Mei) 97
Galileo Galilei, 1574-1642, Dialogue Concerning the Ttvo Chief World Systems 100
Thomas Hobbes, 1588-1679, Leviathan 103
Renй Descartes, 1596-1650, Discourse on Method 105
John Milton, 1608-1674, Paradise Lost, Lycidas, On the Morning of Chrisfs Nativity, Sonnets, Areopagitica 107
Moliиre, 1622-1673, Selected Plays 109
Blaise Pascal, 1623-1662, Thoughts (Pensйes) 111
John Bunyan, 1628-1688, Pilgrims Progress 114
John Locke, 1632-1704, Second Treatise of Government 115
Matsuo Bashх, 1644-1694, The Narrotv Road to the Deep North 117
Daniel Defoe, 1660-1731, Robinson Crusoe 120
Jonathan Swift, 1667-1745, Gullivers Traveis 122
Voltaire, 1694-1778, Candide and other works 124
David Hume, 1711-1776, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding 126
Henry Fielding, 1707-1754, Tom Jones 127
Ts'ao Hsьeh-ctTin, 1715-1763, The Dream of the
Red Chamber (also called The Story of the Stone) 129
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1712-1778, Confessions 131
Laurence Sterne, 1713-1768, Tristram Shandy 134
James Boswell, 1740-1795, The Life of Samuel Johnson 136
Thomas Jefferson and others, Basic Documents in American History, edited by Richard B. Morris 138
Hamilton, Madison, and Jay, The Federalist Papers, 1787, edited by Clinton Rossiter 139
PART FOUR
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832, Faust 143
William Blake, 1757-1827, Selected Works 144
William Wordsworth, 1770-1850, The Prelude, Selected Shorter Poems, Preface to the Lyrical Ballads (1800) 147
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1772-1834, The Ancient Mariner, Christabel, Kubla Khan, Biographia Literaria, Writings on Shakespeare 150
Jane Austen, 1775-1817, Pride and Prejudice, Emma 152
Stendhal, 1783-1842, The Red and the Black 154
Honorй de Balzac, 1799-1850, Pиre Goriot, Eugйnie Grandet, Cousin Bette 156
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882, Selected Works 158
Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1804-1864, The Scarlet Letter, Selected Tales 160