What's the greatest literature of all time?
Check out Editor Eric's famous list of the 1,000 greatest literary works in the world—from
2000 BCE to 2000 CE—from Gilgamesh to Get Shorty. Plus more than 300
commentaries on authors, books, translations and film adaptations of the greatest literature.
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The Greatest Literature pages
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Go right to the list
Middlemarch
At the middle of the world
What's incredible about Middlemarch, George Eliot's masterwork, is how engrossing it is. I mean, this is a novel that deals
with issues of art, education reform, scholarly research, medical science and provincial British politics of the early nineteenth
century. Oh, yes, and male-female....
more
George Eliot
The worlds of George and Marian
Calling her a great female writer—even the greatest—may be an insult to George Eliot. Eliot distanced her own work from that
of other writers of her sex, deriding "silly novels by lady novelists", purportedly even criticizing the celebrated Jane Austen for dealing with....
more
James M. Cain
After the fall
For a time, I thought of James M. Cain as an also-ran of American writing. On the third or fourth pillar below the greats in the literary pantheon. In the less exalted gallery of crime writers, he would come well after the holy trinity of Hammett, Chandler, and Macdonald....
more
The Odyssey
The original crowd pleaser
This one has it
all. The Odyssey is not only a great romantic, adventure epic,
but it's terribly realistic in its depiction of human nature and a
brilliantly crafted narrative. Authors today could learn from how
Homer lays out his plot and plays the characters off against each other
for maximum....
more
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See full list of Recent Commentaries >
Movies for people who love books
Guide to over 200 films, film series and television productions—from the silly to the
authentic—based on the greatest works of literature.
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The Movie pages
The greatest SF works of all time
Editor Eric's list of the 200 greatest works of speculative and science fiction—the
greatest SF stories and novels published on the planet.
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The SF pages
The 150 best novels, drama and poetry from writers in the
great white north, plus commentaries on selected books and
Canadian authors.
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The CanLit pages
Eric's reviews of Toronto-related books, as published in the
Town Crier community newspapers.
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Toronto Reads pages
The Hungry GhostsWriting Gordon Lightfoot
Giant
The Green Man
Best Girl
Let's
Put the Beatles Back Together AgainHow to Assemble and Appreciate the 2nd Half of the Beatles' Legacy
A new book by Jeff Walker, author of The Ayn Rand Cult
The Unknown Beatles
Has the myth of their breakup in 1970 kept you from appreciating their later recordings? See Editor
Eric's re-imagining of the Beatles' story, inspired by Jeff Walker's work.
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The Beatles 1970-2002
Aliens? UFOs?
Messages from beyond? Miracle cures? Ghosts? Homeopathy?
Clairvoyance? ESP? Critical thinking to sort out fact from fiction.
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Editor Eric's guide to popular skepticism
Related pages:
Story
The Killers
Author
Willa Cather
Novel
A Tale of Two Cities
See also:
Gilgamesh, Mitchell version
Get at Amazon:
US •
Can •
UK
Men Without Women
Get at Amazon:
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Can •
UK
The Odyssey, trans. Lattimore
Get at Amazon:
US •
Can •
UK
On the Road
Get at Amazon:
US •
Can •
UK
Oliver Twist
Get at Amazon:
US •
Can •
UK
