We will meet live monthly to discuss the readings. You do not have to own a set of the GBWW, though we encourage you to get a set when possible. The group members, who would like the opportunity, will take turns leading the discussions. Everyone participating is also welcome to discuss on this blog. We invite our friends, family, community members as well as others who are interested in taking on the challenge of studying the Great Books to dive into this challenge with us at any point.
We can each decide individually whether we will replace or omit any books we have already read, listen to any on libravox or read them in other translations or formats, or adapt the plan in any other way. If you are considering replacing readings, we encourage you to do so only if you have read the scheduled reading in the past and you are replacing it with something similarly significant to The Great Conversation, and similarly challenging for you such as another writing by the same author.
Also, there is an updated version of the Ten Year Reading Plan with more writings from minorities and women. It requires more reading than the other plan. You may want to adapt your personal reading schedule to include some or all of those readings.
In ten years you will have either read these books or not. If you do, you will have an excellent introduction to "The Great Conversation."
Here are some specifics*:
FIRST YEAR
October 2013
PLATO: APOLOGY, CRITO Vol. 7, pp. 200-219
ARISTOPHANES: CLOUDS, LYSISTRATA Vol. 5, pp. 488-506, 583-599
November PLATO: REPUBLIC [Book I-II] Vol. 7, pp. 295-324 ARISTOTLE: ETHICS [Book I] Vol. 9, pp. 339-348 December ARISTOTLE: POLITICS [Book I] Vol. 9, pp. 445-455 PLUTARCH: THE LIVES OF THE NOBLE GRECIANS AND ROMANS [Lycurgus, Numa Pompilius, Lycurgus and Numa Com- pared, Alexander, Caesar] Vol. 14, pp. 32-64, 540-604 January 2014 NEW TESTAMENT [The Gospel According to Saint Matthew, The Acts of the Apostles] February ST. AUGUSTINE: CONFESSIONS [Book I-VIII] Vol. 1 8, pp. i -6 1 MACHIAVELLI: THE PRINCE Vol. 23, pp. 1-37 March RABELAIS: GARGANTUA AND PANTAGRUEL [Book I-II] Vol. 24, pp. 1-126 April & May MONTAIGNE: ESSAYS [Of Custom, and That We Should Not Easily Change a Law Received; Of Pedantry; Of the Education of Children; That It Is Folly to Measure Truth and Error by Our Own Capacity; Of Cannibals; That the Relish of Good and Evil Depends in a Great Measure upon the Opinion We Have of Them; Upon Some Verses of Virgil] Vol. 25, pp. 42-51, 55-82, 91-98, 115-125, 406-434
June SHAKESPEARE: HAMLET Vol. 27, pp. 29-72
LOCKE: CONCERNING CIVIL GOVERNMENT [Second Essay] Vol. 35, pp. 25-81
July ROUSSEAU: THE SOCIAL CONTRACT [Book I-II] Vol. 38, pp. 387-406
GIBBON: THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE [Ch. 15-16] Vol. 40, pp. 179-234
August THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, THE CONSTITU-
TION OP THE UNITED STATES, THE FEDERALIST [Numbers i-io, 15, 31, 47, 51, 68-71] Vol. 43, pp. 1-3, 11-20, 29-53, 62-66, 103-105, 153-156, 162-165, 205-216
September SMITH: THE WEALTH OF NATIONS [Introduction Book I,
Ch. 9 ] Vol. 39, pp. 1-41
MARX-ENGELS: MANIFESTO OP THE COMMUNIST PARTY Vol. 50, pp. 415-434
Are you shaking with excitement?? We are about to embark. (You can do it one step at a time!)
*Here are links to the plans we will be loosely following:
Someone had this question:
ReplyDeleteJA: What age group, more or less, is participating in this? It sounds wonderful. My kids are still a bit young (at almost 8 and 10). Will there be a chance to jump in later, and will it really be going for the next 10 years?
MP:Good question. Anyone can join in at any time. It will be going for the next ten years. Late starters will just adapt the schedule to their start date and finish ten years later or or make up the past readings as they go. Also, I know some people are interested in a faster reading plan (5-year has been discussed). Feel free to adapt the schedules on the links at the end of the first blog post to make a schedule that fits you. I will be happy to post that schedule as well and we can even set up separate discussions if there is enough interest.
By the way, The McGuffey Readers set is a good way for young people to gain the reading and study skills they need to be able to read the great books. You can start whenever they are interested in learning to read.
JA: I have several of the McGuffey readers, but I haven't known exactly how to go about "using" them, aside from just reading them. Maybe I can talk to some parents of younger aged kids about this too.
MP: I have been doing a lesson per day or so from the Primer with my five-year old, Abner. It's not the kind of thing you want to push too hard, but my son enjoys reading them and it is easy for me to be inspiring about them because I love looking through and showing him the set. He wants to get to the "six-year old" (first reader) by the time he is six in Feb. and it only takes a few minutes per day. You could just start wherever your kids are as far as reading skills. Maybe others have more experience with them, and could chime in.
Hi, is this still going?
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