# Classics Discussion Group: Planning and Recruitment Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 8, 2008, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classics-discussion-group-planning-and-recruitment-thread/436812 "2008-02-08T16:33:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classics-discussion-group-planning-and-recruitment-thread/436812/41 "2008-02-13T20:50:30Z")
[QUOTE=Maeglin] Just as long as you recognize that the above says more about you than it does about the contents of the reading list, I think we’re all good. [/QUOTE] Perhaps, but I would be disinclined to think so for at least the majority of people. If you’ve ever read a collection of similar stories–even wondrous, amazing ones like A Thousand and One Nights, The Collected Short Stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Grimm Brother Fairy Tales, The Essential Harlan Ellison, etc.–you’ll find that even just a hundred pages through it stops being entertaining just because you’ve already well-gotten the idea and each new story really isn’t a “new” story; it’s just a new stage of something you’ve already encountered in sufficient supply. Anything without large variety, repeated over a sufficient length, no matter how exciting each piece may be, becomes gruelling and tedious. I would generally believe that to be a human condition, not one localised to myself. So, I’m just saying that I’d personally advise choosing a list that was more rounded if you truly want to get through them all together, but if you all don’t feel it’s a worry then I guess I’ll just wish you all luck. ---
**Author:** ![Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Helen\_s\_Eidolon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helen_s_Eidolon)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classics-discussion-group-planning-and-recruitment-thread/436812/42 "2008-02-13T22:24:24Z")
Just looking through the list now - way more philosophy than I like. I may wuss out and opt out of some of the books. But the thought of discussing Herodotus with SDMB people makes me go ‘squeee’. And I don’t believe I’ve ever typed that out before. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2008, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classics-discussion-group-planning-and-recruitment-thread/436812/43 "2008-02-13T22:36:23Z")
[QUOTE=Helen’s Eidolon] Just looking through the list now - way more philosophy than I like. I may wuss out and opt out of some of the books. But the thought of discussing Herodotus with SDMB people makes me go ‘squeee’. And I don’t believe I’ve ever typed that out before. [/QUOTE] Talking about Herodotus, this is madness! THIS IS THE SDMB!!! ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classics-discussion-group-planning-and-recruitment-thread/436812/44 "2008-02-14T05:50:47Z")
I would love to join this, but I can’t make any promises, as I’ve got the actual St. John’s program to deal with IRL. To those who don’t find the SJC list to your taste, [here’s](http://www.nas.org/reports/gt_bks/gb_programs.htm) a list of Great Books programs elsewhere, and I’m sure you can easily find their reading lists. I believe that both NYU and UChicago have very good programs, though I don’t have time to find their lists right now. With regard to rules: Definitely try to keep anything that you haven’t read for that seminar or prior ones out of the conversation. If you must bring something in, and there are sometimes valid reasons to do so, explain it. General suggestions: Read carefully and slowly, of course, and I highly recommend taking notes. If you say something about the text, try to reference where you’re getting it from. Listen to (well, read) what others say. It’s far better to have quiet periods in the conversation when people are thinking and listening than lots of scattered conversation. Often in seminars at St. John’s, the tutor will ask the ‘opening question’, and there will be a full minute or three of silence and page-flipping. A cautionary note: Unless it was originally written in English, you’re not reading the original text. If the language at a certain point interests or intrigues you, ask what other people using other translations have there. How one word is translated can make a huge difference (for an excellent example, pick up both the Fagles and the Lattimore translation of either the Iliad or the Odyssey. Both have a lot going for them, but they are vastly different). Above all: enjoy the text, listen to each other, have fun. ---
**Author:** ![Maeglin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@Maeglin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maeglin)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classics-discussion-group-planning-and-recruitment-thread/436812/45 "2008-02-14T14:59:00Z")
[QUOTE=NinjaChick] I would love to join this, but I can’t make any promises, as I’ve got the actual St. John’s program to deal with IRL. To those who don’t find the SJC list to your taste, [here’s](http://www.nas.org/reports/gt_bks/gb_programs.htm) a list of Great Books programs elsewhere, and I’m sure you can easily find their reading lists. I believe that both NYU and UChicago have very good programs, though I don’t have time to find their lists right now. [/QUOTE] I think you mean Chicago and [Columbia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_Curriculum_%28Columbia_College%29). I went to Columbia as an undergrad and NYU as a grad, and there is pretty much no comparison between the Core and NYU’s program. ---
**Author:** ![burundi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@burundi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burundi)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2008, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classics-discussion-group-planning-and-recruitment-thread/436812/46 "2008-02-14T16:41:01Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by **commasense** > \*By taking Huckleberry Finn (for example) on its own terms, you accept that “nigger” was a commonly used word in the world of the book, and don’t judge the characters that use the word in the book as you would a 21st century person who used it the same way. > > My point is that the discussion shouldn’t allow people to dismiss the ideas from some other time and place as “just the way they thought back then,” with the implicit assumption that we’re better now\*. > [@](#): > > Originally posted by **Larry Borgia** > _As far as the tabula rasa thing goes, it doesn’t mean you have to pretend that the writer isn’t writing at a different time. That would be silly. It means you try to understand the writer on his (almost always his) own terms. The Illiad contains attitudes about killing, slavery, honor and revenge that will horrify many modern readers, and not just pacifists either. You can deal with this by simply saying “Well, it’s an ancient tale. People thought differently back then.” Or you can try to deal directly with the text, and try to understand the mentality that Homer celebrated, not as a historical artifact, but as a way of looking at life._ Okay, I see where you guys are coming from now. I agree, that seems like a good way to approach things. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/classics-discussion-group-planning-and-recruitment-thread/436812.md?page=2)