tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post9100522255043826985..comments2023-06-20T02:25:36.578-07:00Comments on The Scholar's Stage: A Non-Western Canon: What Would a List of Humanity's 100 Greatest Writers Look Like?T. Greerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04621529800248145193noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-31946177673860497352021-03-22T18:09:40.082-07:002021-03-22T18:09:40.082-07:00(Sorry to comment at such length on an old post, b...(Sorry to comment at such length on an old post, but you linked to it recently and I'm surprised that no-one has made the following objection, though it seems rather obvious.) <br /><br />To me, the whole project seems too large for any one person to carry out more than superficially while also living a productive life of their own, and in any case it lacks a clear purpose. <br /><br />SimplyAlex Jamesonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-1176376236009124762021-02-12T11:17:02.969-08:002021-02-12T11:17:02.969-08:00I really like the idea of being more universal, ...I really like the idea of being more universal, I think the problem is that there are too many philosophers, critics and essayists, I would ask for more space for narrators, poets and playwrights. The philosophers after the Greeks better we leave them to the philosophical classroom, Nietzsche for example can because he wrote novels and without a doubt Machiavelli was a great but we better leaveAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-16534651583287264212020-08-21T07:43:16.546-07:002020-08-21T07:43:16.546-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Lim WTnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-47643835046578637622020-05-16T00:57:58.250-07:002020-05-16T00:57:58.250-07:00I'm sorry but if you don't have Descartes ...I'm sorry but if you don't have Descartes Geometry then I don't know how you have a canon. And it may just be me but the development of mathematics in the western world from the elements and conic sections to Descartes Geometry is probably one of the more fascinating developments. I'm not saying everyone needs to read Newtons Principia but at least knowing the two lemma's Parmenideshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09700288346695323166noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-79258588867852130402020-01-28T23:43:59.342-08:002020-01-28T23:43:59.342-08:00P.S. Mill, Dostoyevsky, and Augustine are included...P.S. Mill, Dostoyevsky, and Augustine are included. Read again!T. Greerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04621529800248145193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-64185093703411473662020-01-28T23:42:22.814-08:002020-01-28T23:42:22.814-08:00@January 12 Unknown--
Instead of listing all of t...@January 12 Unknown--<br /><br />Instead of listing all of the texts not included that "must" be, tell me which ones you would remove from the list to make room for yours. You get 25 picks.<br /><br />Re Marx vs. Hegel--The answer is fairly obvious. Marx is still relevant. The whole country of China rams him down the throats of the officials and the school children, and of course he T. Greerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04621529800248145193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-82404874698823471492020-01-13T19:37:34.361-08:002020-01-13T19:37:34.361-08:00Excellent ideas with one objection. The Western ca...Excellent ideas with one objection. The Western canon would greatly benefit from the insights contained in the Introduction section of “Europe - A History” by historian Norman Davies. It is still too much like Swiss cheese.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-20563732732136409772020-01-12T13:31:13.420-08:002020-01-12T13:31:13.420-08:00If we consider Icelandic sagas, why not stories an...If we consider Icelandic sagas, why not stories and legends of indigenous people, such as the Kiowa or Inuit,or from Africa?<br />The canon remains too "civilized," not to mention too male.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08943617856352474356noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-25197910722672996532020-01-12T07:24:11.793-08:002020-01-12T07:24:11.793-08:00Thank you for the list of Asian texts. I will put ...Thank you for the list of Asian texts. I will put the ones I have not read at the top of my reading list. <br /><br />The Western list is strangely hit and miss, however. No Presocratics, Augustine, William of Ockham, Goethe, Darwin, Moliere, Spinoza, Smith, Mill, Dostoyevsky, Hobbes, Marcus Aurelius, Cicero, Voltaire, Federalist Papers, Austen, Joyce, Rawls, Wittgenstein, Mann... <br /><br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02380010670651032305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-40109084210163461352019-11-06T02:59:02.186-08:002019-11-06T02:59:02.186-08:00As what comes to anonymous commenter's suggest...As what comes to anonymous commenter's suggestion for Islamicate canon a few comments before, I wonder what kind of madrasas that list is intended for? I'm not expert in the field myself, but I have heard that in Iran, names like "Suhrawardi" and "Mulla Sadra" are important, although a bit metaphysical? Also in modern times, for Pakistan, Muhammad (Allama) Iqbal is Kartturihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05665180338794009040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-76036834404738627022019-11-06T02:20:34.411-08:002019-11-06T02:20:34.411-08:00@Katuri-
If I am restricted myself to English lit...@Katuri-<br /><br />If I am restricted myself to English literature, then the answer is something I wrote about here: https://scholars-stage.blogspot.com/2019/03/on-tolkienic-hero.html<br /><br />Of course that is with the five century view. Harder to say on a shorter timescale. And then as you mentioned earlier, translation is a hindrance. Vasily Grossman's work lay behind the iron curtain T. Greerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04621529800248145193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-74921323145690854032019-11-06T01:46:45.794-08:002019-11-06T01:46:45.794-08:00Regarding the literature (written anywhere) after ...<br />Regarding the literature (written anywhere) after Marcel Proust (who died in 1922): Which author's works you would consider to have most chances of surviving in the coming centuries? <br /><br />E.g., I guess Orwell, although his fame fading a bit, like Kipling's is today. Solzhenitsyn for certain, and perhaps some other Russians? For the Middle-East part of (20th century) canon I Kartturihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05665180338794009040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-136575480363517352019-11-05T22:32:55.797-08:002019-11-05T22:32:55.797-08:00" wouldn't it be more fruitful to list au..." wouldn't it be more fruitful to list authors whose works have been seminal in starting a certain kind of genre, or even a new way of seeing the world?"<br /><br />I would argue that this is exactly what this list is. If an author is on here it is because they pioneered a genre (or exemplified the genre at its strongest) or were the originators of a new way of seeing the world.T. Greerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04621529800248145193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-74620911132876405972019-11-05T14:49:14.964-08:002019-11-05T14:49:14.964-08:00Instead of drafting fixed length "you-must-re...<br />Instead of drafting fixed length "you-must-read-these-books canons", wouldn't it be more fruitful to list authors whose works have been seminal in starting a certain kind of genre, or even a new way of seeing the world?<br /><br />Like e.g., Tolkien for Fantasy. Lewis Carroll for his "Carrollian nonsense".<br /><br />Jorge Luis Borges for ... what exactly, Kartturihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05665180338794009040noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-55299928013377142772019-11-04T22:57:08.112-08:002019-11-04T22:57:08.112-08:001. Qur'an
2. Bukhari's Sahih (hadith)
3. T...1. Qur'an<br />2. Bukhari's Sahih (hadith)<br />3. Tahawi's Aqeedah (creed)<br />4. Shafii's Kitab al-Umm (law)<br />5. Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah (hadith/āthār/history)<br /><br />6. Al-Dhahabi Tarikh+Siyar (history)<br />7. Ibn Kathir's Bidayah (history)<br />8. Tafsir al-Tabari (encyclopedia)<br />9. Zamakhshari's Al-Kashshaaf (tafsir)<br />10. Juwayni (creed/law/Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-7856293018365923682019-11-02T04:27:51.846-07:002019-11-02T04:27:51.846-07:00Women?Women?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-43840799673493677292019-10-27T05:00:18.869-07:002019-10-27T05:00:18.869-07:00Thanks for the reply. Well, Zola built exactly the...Thanks for the reply. Well, Zola built exactly the same kind of encyclopedia of the society he lived in through his novels than Balzac did (which is why they are often discussed together in histories of French litterature) but did it much better in my humble opinion (I think I’m back up by most scholars and by the general popularity of the respective authors, though Balzac also has many fans of Antoinenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-76708065697607646482019-10-26T20:05:13.478-07:002019-10-26T20:05:13.478-07:00On the apparent narrowing of the Indian tradition ...On the apparent narrowing of the Indian tradition - I think it has a lot to do with the Islamic conquest. From that point on, the greatest patrons of high culture in most of India belonged to Islamic civilization, and there would have been an imbalance between the categories of indigenous cultural elites that survived/didn't convert to Islam. Secular-minded elites would be more likely to fraxinicusnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-43950730571711944452019-10-26T14:01:45.061-07:002019-10-26T14:01:45.061-07:00Just to tie in my Iberian comment to Anon 1, above...Just to tie in my Iberian comment to Anon 1, above--I recommend Eça de Queirós's <i>The Maias</i> (<i>Os Maias</i>) to anybody whose tastes run to 19th-century realism, tales of well-meaning upper-class scions being charmingly useless, or societies in decline; Zola himself considered Queirós greater than Flaubert, but alas it was his fate to write in Portuguese, and so he languishes in Winthrop Wickardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12451338396608983530noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-84218385104973018102019-10-26T13:58:36.717-07:002019-10-26T13:58:36.717-07:00Crik-
"Your Western list includes a lot of g...Crik-<br /><br />"Your Western list includes a lot of good and influential works, but they don't strike me as the most canonical so much as the most celebrated."<br /><br />The canon changes with the season. Works canonical in the 16th century were neglected in the 19th; works canonical in the 20th were not thought much about in the 17th. The canonical is a construction -- somethingT. Greerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04621529800248145193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-42536620702947579642019-10-26T13:49:24.096-07:002019-10-26T13:49:24.096-07:00@Anon 1--
"which seems to be that it should ...@Anon 1--<br /><br />"which seems to be that it should be about making forceful and clear arguments for a particular set of work, with the end in mind that these should be *for* the formation of readers as a certain kind of persons, superior to what they were before in some sense and united by profound shared experiences and ideas."<br /><br />Not necessarily! Often times it is enough T. Greerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04621529800248145193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-81374812120403897962019-10-26T13:46:57.425-07:002019-10-26T13:46:57.425-07:00Antonine says:
""I find Zola infinitely...Antonine says:<br /><br />""I find Zola infinitely more powerful and captivating to read than Balzac."<br /><br />I must admit two things: 1) I have never read a sentence in French; I know French literature entirely though translation. 2) I have never read Zola! <br /><br />Part of my love for Balzac comes through his attempt to create something like an encyclopedia of his entire T. Greerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04621529800248145193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-52056420572310521292019-10-26T12:09:46.935-07:002019-10-26T12:09:46.935-07:00It is for this reason I never seriously considered...<i>It is for this reason I never seriously considered adding Hegel or Freud to the list, though they often appear on many other lists of this type. These thinkers were wrong. Their ideas were appallingly ill thought out. Everybody admits this; few living readers find anything redeeming in their philosophy. </i><br /><br />Can this be right? Regardless of your opinion of Freud he seems enormously Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-12910235989533937122019-10-26T10:51:20.827-07:002019-10-26T10:51:20.827-07:0025 certainly doesn't leave too much room and b...25 certainly doesn't leave too much room and but I'm a little surprised in a list of East Asian canon texts, not a single Korean text was included. Surely, something like Chinul's excerpts on Zen buddhism or the Four-Seven debate that engaged the most influential Neo-Confucians in Korea would have been worth a mention, despite some overlap with the other Zen/Neo-Confucian writers you&Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7378807093271153119.post-65319085180457350152019-10-26T09:55:34.169-07:002019-10-26T09:55:34.169-07:00On Bloom: The word "prove" in this post ...On Bloom: The word "prove" in this post seems slippery. I think perhaps, at best, you are looking for a contrast between assertion and argument or persuasion. "Proof" does not exist in art! To use the word "prove" suggests a bit of a subterfuge on the subjectivity inherent in art.<br /><br />I am not familiar with Bloom, so I shan't further waste too much commentAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com