Canonical centers
Which five books are at the center of western civilization?
After reading The Odyssey, I now appreciate how the Faust story is an Odyssean story. I realize there’s a whole range of books that will resnoate more now that I have more context into Homer (ie: I’m inspired to read Dante's Divine Comedy, knowing Odysseus is in it). The Odyssey unlocked Joyce’s Ulysses, Virgil’s Aenid, Gulliver’s Travels, O Brother Where Art Thou?, as well as books that are extensions and reimaginings of Homer’s World—like Atwood’s The Pennelopiad, and Kazantazkis’ sequel.
It got me asking: what are the 5 cornerstone works of western civilization? Which five books, if read, would give you the context to appreciate almost any other book? I came up with The Odyssey (narrative), Plato (reason), The Bible (morality), Shakespeare (psychology), Montaigne (inquiry?).
I share the category in parenthesis to note that each one has to live within a distinct sphere (ie: you can't have Plato and Aristotle, nor can you have Lord of the Rings, because the Odyssey has the narrative/mythic/epic slot). Also, a work should have a minimum of 500 years of influence.
Montaigne may be a stretch (related mini-essay on this here), but it does seems like the entire form of essays points back to him.
Worth noting other picks I considered: Arthurian legend, One Thousand and One Nights, Frankenstein, Sherlock Holmes, A Christmas Carol, Alice in Wonderland, Moby Dick, Dracula, Lord of the Rings, something by Kafka, One Thousand Years of Solitude, Harry Potter, Augustine’s Confessions, Paradise Lost, Infinite Jest, Faust, The Divine Comedy, Hesiod’s Theogony, and Ovid’s Metamorphosis.