Kennedy Amanda - The Harvard Classics in a Year: A Liberal Education in 365 Days

Table of Contents

A Liberal Education in 365 Days

Collected and edited by Amanda Kennedy

Copyright Amanda Kennedy 2014

This is an edited collection of reading material sourced from the public domain, inspired by Dr. Eliot's reading guide for the Harvard Classics anthology.

While the individual public domain elements are still in the public domain, the organisation and arrangement of these selections are subject to copyright. This ebook is licensed for the personal enjoyment of the reader, and may not be reproduced, copied or redistributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes. Thank you for respecting the hard work of the editor.

This ebook aims to provide a whirlwind tour of classic literature. By reading for just 15 minutes a day throughout the year, you can discover text from twelve main divisions of knowledge including History, Poetry, Natural Science, Philosophy, Biography, Prose Fiction, Criticism and the Essay, Education, Political Science, Drama, Voyages and Travel and Religion.

Based on Dr. Eliot's reading guide for The Harvard Classics , a complete chapter of reading material is included for each day of the year (even February 29 th , in case you are reading during a Leap Year):

"These selections assigned for each day in the year as you will see, are introduced by comments on the author, the subjects or the chief characters. They will serve to introduce you in the most pleasant manner possible to the Harvard Classics. They will enable you to browse enjoyably among the worlds immortal writings with entertainment and stimulation in endless variety.."

Each reading is framed by an introduction, a context in which the text can be read and understood, often with insightful information about the author, it's wider history, or why that particular selection is appropriate reading for that day.

First published in 1909, The Harvard Classics is a 52 volume anthology which includes "so far as possible, entire works or complete segments of the world's written legacies".

Originally known as Dr. Eliot's Five Foot Shelf, the Harvard Classics was compiled and edited by Dr. Charles W. Eliot, then president of Harvard University. Two editors from the the publisher, Collier, read a speech which Eliot (then preparing to retire) had read to an audience of working men in which he declared that a five-foot shelf of the right books could provide "a good substitute for a liberal education in youth to anyone who would read them with devotion, even if he could spare but fifteen minutes a day for reading".

Seeing this as a highly profitable potential anthology, P. F. Collier and Son challenged Eliot to make good on this statement. With the help of William Nelson, a professor of English, Eliot selected the works to be included, added notes where required and a year later the original anthology was born.

Volumes 1-49 of the anthology contain the great works of literature which Eliot suggested would comprise the five-foot shelf. Volume 50 comprises Eliot's introduction to the Harvard Classics, his original reading guides, and a comprehensive index of the works.

Volumes 51 and 52 were published a little later. The former comprises a set of 60 lectures, five for each of twelve core subjects ranging from poetry to philosophy, political science, history and religion. The latter, Volume 52, forms the central core of what the Harvard Classics 365 project is about.

Dr. Eliot placed great importance on the value of selected reading. He believed that disorganised reading was of negative value, while directed reading which led progressively through a subject was "the best possible training".

The Daily Reading Guide forms the most accessible route into the enjoyment and consumption of The Harvard Classics. Whereas complete reading of any single volume, or even one of Eliot's more comprehensive reading guides could be a daunting task, the Fifteen Minutes a Day guide dives right in to the more interesting, important and ultimately enjoyable passages and works:

In the summer of 2013, I chanced upon mention of the Harvard Classics while searching for an interesting MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) to complete. Being acquainted with The Great Books anthology and other guides such as The Intellectual Devotional, I found the Five Foot Shelf to be a fascinating concept, particularly due to the requirement of only fifteen minutes reading a day.

Being a busy mum of three, I barely find time in the day to catch up with the classic literature I've always intended to read, so I relished the concept of following Dr. Eliot's suggested readings for each day of the year. Since the Harvard Classics were published over a century ago, all volumes are now in the public domain and can be readily found in digital format on sites such as The Internet Archive or the Bookshelf at Project Gutenberg.

Unfortunately, I found it both difficult and time-consuming to scour through fifty different volumes in order to find the passages or pages for my daily readings. Digital scans of the original volumes proved to be a few pages, with the print all-too-often distorted when read on my (archaic) Kindle, while locating the correct page in other ebook formats proved almost impossible.

I decided to collect all of the reading materials in a single, organised and easily accessible volume. And the more I collected, the more I began to realise that such a volume was too great to be kept only for my own use. If I were enjoying the prospect of the completed project so much, I was sure many others the world over would love this too!

This ebook is a springboard for what I hope will become a wider project. It is accompanied by a comprehensive website: www.harvardclassics365.com, which is updated with each day's reading material; links to digital downloads for the complete 52 volume Harvard Classics collection, and a wealth of useful material which you may find useful as a springboard for your personal learning journey.

There is no set manner for how this ebook should be read. While you may choose to read chronologically from January to December, you could just as easily select passages of interest or dive in occasionally to read the text for a particular day.

Each daily reading is presented in the following format:

• The date

• The title attributed to the reading

• Details of the author and title of the original work

• Eliot's introduction to the day's reading, which adds context and draws attention to interesting features or timely relevance

• The passages/essay/selections of text, referenced from Eliot's reading guide.

I have included numbered footnotes where they originally appeared in the Harvard Classics volumes. The notes themselves appear either where there is a break in the text, or at the end of the text, depending on the length of the reading and whether it is broken into sections/chapters.

A full table of contents is provided, with links to each month and day, allowing you easy access to the texts of your choice.

The full text from Dr. Eliot's Reading Guide is presented as a preface to the daily readings, which provides a comprehensive overview of The Harvard Classics and his aspirations for those who would read from the complete works.

Whether you are new to The Harvard Classics or consider yourself a seasoned scholar of literature, I hope you might discover new or interesting works; familiar texts framed in a new light, or perhaps an unfamiliar author about whom you'd like to learn more. Above all, I hope that you may enjoy reading this ebook, as I have certainly enjoyed compiling it!