Great Books

Frankly I'm puzzled by the many negative reviews of this book, since Denby is a wonderfully sane and balanced writer who writes extremely well. His idea of returning to Columbia to retake a course on the 'Great Books' was a masterstroke. The blow-by-blow account of his struggles with the set texts, and of the meaning (or lack of it) which he found in them; the wonderful portraits he gives us of his professors, both male and female, and their varied approaches and teaching styles, and of his fellow students and the conflicts and animosities which were always simmering beneath the surface (and which occasionally broke through); his interesting and even valuable insights into the texts (see for example his masterful account of Boccaccio's Decameron); and his genuine concern with social and cultural issues, and with the meaning that at least some of the Great Books can still have for us today - all these and more held my interest throughout. It's possible that feminists don't like some of the things he said, though what he says about feminists is true enough and may easily be confirmed by a reading of Camille Paglia. It's also possible that some readers may have been misled by the title of the book, and may have overlooked the 'My Adventures With' of the subtitle, words which ought to tell anyone that this is not so much a book about the 'Great Books' as about the author's highly invidual and personal response to them. But for me Denby's book was one of the more interesting books I've read for some time. I only wish I could find more like it. And his piece about Boccaccio should definitely not be missed.Briefly, Denby seems to find a pagan exuberance in Boccaccio, a frank and wholesome celebration of the flesh. In contrast to medieval Christianity's loathing of woman we find in Boccaccio what Denby beautifully describes as "a tribute to the deep-down lovableness of women" (p.249). And today, when so many women are being taught by anti-sex radical feminists to deny their own bodies and feelings, Boccaccio's celebration of the sexual avidity of the natural woman should come as a very welcome antidote. So why the hostility to Denby? Could it be partly because he pointed out that Boccaccio's is a scandalous book, a book that liberates, a book that returns us to "the paradise from which, long ago, we had been expelled" (p.248)?

David Denby's GREAT BOOKS is a compellingly written, nostalgic joyride of a book proving that in some ways, we can go home again. Home for Denby is his alma mater, Columbia University, where during the 1991-92 academic year he retook the classic western literature courses that welcomed him to college thirty years before. With more than even your average eighteen-year-old's vigor, middle-aged Denby chronicles his own odyssey of sitting back down in the classroom and becoming a student again. The often amusing classroom scenes are interspersed with insightful commentary on the cultural scene of the early 1990s, as well as the movie critic's own musings on how certain of the works were and are tied significantly to moments and themes of his own life.The book is deeply enriched by Denby's capacity for wonder, and not harmed all that much by his prominent ego. Denby discovers that however much we think of ourselves, the great writers will always teach us humility--or at least the folly of hubris! Those who have also taken such courses and read similar works with serious intent may not agree with all of Denby's critiques, but then examining each other's interpretations is what we do in literature class and in life.Though some 460 pages, GREAT BOOKS rarely drags, and left me wishing it was even longer. There's no doubt that the author left a part of himself in college that it was killing him to get back, but he's mature enough to realize that attempting such reclamation is a doomed venture. Renewal is what Denby's after, and that's what reading the gargantuan likes of Homer, Dante and Shakespeare gives us. With a frank and friendly tone, Denby does a fresh and impressive job of inspiring this renewal in the reader.

Denby's book accomplishes what seems impossible; bringing meaning and life to the "Great Books" in an entertaining and literate way. In "Great Books" Denby, film critic for New York Magazine, describes his adventures as an adult student when he returns to his alma mater, Columbia University to take two "western civ" courses. Over two semesters, he reads works that range from the Iliad and the Odyssey to Plato, Sophocles, the Old and New Testaments, Machiavelli, Dante, Hobbes, Locke, Shakespeare, Austin and Woolf in the company of professors and undergraduate students. Denby relates each work to the text's historical context, to the class, to the other works and, in his most unusual achievement, to his own life and our modern culture by allowing us into his most personal experiences and relationships. You will enjoy this book enormously even if you have never read the "Great Books" and if you have read them, you will probably want to read them all over again. Bravo!

David Denby tells us that our everyday assumptions are arbitrary. He says power justifies itself by pointing to powerlessness as proof of incapacity. Gems of wisdom like these appear throughout this book. "Being examined is one of the things you become an adult to avoid," he writes. "Once you pass twenty-five, you learn how to cover your weaknesses and ignorance and lead with your strengths. Every adult, by definition, is a corner-cutting phony; experience teaches you what to attend to and what to slough off, when to rest and when to go all out." One of my criteria for a great book is finding I dread being finished reading with it. Such was the case with this one. Denby's work is truly inspirational for those who wish to uphold the sanctity of ideas. Highly recommended.

As a former classics major, I have followed the debate over the western canon with a great deal of interest. But after slogging through Harold Bloom's "The Western Canon" for over a year and a half, this book was an absolute delight. David Denby reminds us just why these books are so important--they make you strugle to build a self, which is (or should be, anyway) the true purpose of education. I am also fascinated by how much his perspective has changed in the thirty years since he read many of the books in college. And in the chapter on Shakespeare--focusing on the parallels between King Lear and Denby's own relationship with his mother--the essay itself actually brought me to tears. I have been recommending this book to everyone I know, and now I'll recommend it to everyone I don't know...read it! It's amazing!