Introduction to the Outline of Great BooksBy John Erskine

THIS work, already well known in a more expensive form, needslittle testimony from me as to its usefulness or its charm. Theeditor in his Introduction explains his method and his purpose.

I should like to underline, as it were, what seem to me his most importantpoints, and to add some information he was too modest to convey.

These "outlines" of great books are summaries of them, or condensa-tions, but always in the words of the original. They differ, therefore,from those digests which, however useful, do not pretend to reproduce thestyle or the atmosphere. To read these pages is as though you asked afriend to explain what Plato or Hegel or Darwin stood for in the greattradition of mankind, and the friend, having read all of these authors,picked out the typical and significant spots in their work, and laid thembefore you, as self-explaining.

The value of this service would depend, of course, on the ability ofthe friend to pick the right passages. The worth of this Outline restsupon the skill and competence of the editor. I am glad to remind youthat his position among English men-of-letters is high, and that he de-veloped early a singular gift for getting at the heart of an author, a giftdemonstrated by years of successful editing, and rewarded by many publichonors in the field of literature and scholarship.

You may possibly ask why great books should be condensed at all.Why read masterpieces in outline ?

I'd be glad to argue that question with anyone who habitually readsall authors in their complete works, and who reads every work completely.But I strongly suspect that those who shy off from outlines and sum-maries, and argue for the original text, are merely striking a pose. Thoughscholarship is my own profession, I acknowledge with no sense of em-barrassment that I have read completely no more than a small proportionof the great writers of the world. I know the Chinese, Japanese, Hindoo,Persian and Russian authors only in condensations or paraphrases, andall of them, of course, in translation, the accuracy of which I cannot judge.Though I have read more than most men, even among scholars, my read-ing in the literature of western Europe is spotty. Plato I know entire,almost by heart, but I have read little of Luther, or Calvin, and not muchof Darwin, and practically nothing of Galileo. English, Greek, and Frenchliteratures were the region I first tried to be at home in, and after manyyears I'm not yet completely settled, not even within these limits, and otherworlds remain unvisited, or too casually glanced at.

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I tell you this, not to dismiss lightly great and voluminous authors,but to encourage the reader, scholar or layman, who knowing some im-mortal books well, wishes information about the others. This informationmust be had from experts who read for us, and convey the result in con-densed form. If you consider the rate at which books are now published,and the high quality of some of them, you will see that in another hundredyears we shall depend on condensations even more than we now do. Eachof us will know intimately his favorite classics—and be increasinglyunfamiliar with the classics which are not his favorites.

Doubtless you will discover in these condensations some famous author,hitherto known to you by name, whom you will now wish to read atlength in his complete work. That happy result has occurred many timesfrom the use of these pages. It is likely also that though you are not ledstraight to the original text, you will find here great quotations, preciousin themselves, to which you will come back, from time to time, until theyare imbedded in your memory.

Or even if you have on your shelves the originals from which thesecondensations were made, you will find, as I do, no little pleasure inturning the pages and reminding yourself of great thoughts and nobleemotions, familiar to you in a general way, but dimmed by the press ofthe day's business.

You will observe that this Outline does not attempt to include dramaor fiction, those two branches of world literature being too large tohandle, even in condensed form. There are well-known summaries offiction, but none is or can be broad in its scope, and none therefore istruly representative.

Yet even if drama and fiction could be included, I'm glad the editorleft them out. History, philosophy, science, poetry, biography, travels—these are topics enough. Though I have little reason to speak slightinglyof fiction or drama, though I consider them, with poetry, the main cur-rents of literature, yet we need access, more than we yet have enjoyed,to the historians and the philosophers. All the names are familiar, butfew of us have read the pages which made the names. Every educatedperson, among English-speaking folk, has heard of Gibbon's "Decline andFall of the Roman Empire," but have you read the marvelous story?

If you have read it, or any other great history, you know that thepleasure of historical writing lies less in the chronicle of events than inthe personality of the author. Some historians object to such an opinion,but most readers feel it is just. Gibbon, for example, thought that theRoman Empire went to the dogs completely in the thirteenth century—and from his point of view perhaps it did. Henry Adams, the Americanhistorian who wrote so eloquently about St. Michel and Chartres, thoughtEuropean civilization reached its highest climax in that thirteenth centurywhich Gibbon didn't admire.

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If the physicians can't agree, what is the layman, the patient, to do?Well, I think he can gather profound information by watching the twistin each physician which sends him off after his personal brand of truth.And much the same pleasure—something deeper than pleasure—can behad by comparing the views of scientists or philosophers.

The end of complete reading is to acquire more knowledge of humannature. If we read only for esthetic pleasure, a masterpiece or so would beenough. What drives us to wider study, even in the form of outline orcondensation, is the desire to glimpse the total activity of the human mind,and the strength or weakness of human character, consciously or uncon-sciously revealed.

To any reader, young or old, scholar or layman, I would say onething: no great book was ever written to be lectured on or explained inschools. Every masterpiece was first written for the use of men.

Don't be frightened by famous names. Don't think that famous booksare dull. They wouldn't be famous now if they hadn't interested their firstreaders.

Get yourself a comfortable chair and a good light—and have confidencein your own mind.

John Erskine

Columbia University February 28, 1937

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Editor's Introduction

IN preparing this choice of great books from ancient and modernliterature an effort has been made to present the selection in a way thatmight help the reader to remember the order of their appearance and

so to acquire a lasting mental impression of their sequence in time.Choosing the section of Philosophy as an example, it is instructive to

note the order in which the books were first given to the world from about400 B.C. to A.D. 1903. And in some degree, less or greater, the sameapplies to the other divisions, excepting perhaps Poetry and Miscellaneous,where the order of dates is of minor consequence. A different arrange-ment, however, was demanded for the presentation of the works ofHistory. Instead of their order being determined by the dates of theiroriginal publication, it has been based upon the historical periods of whichthey treat. The reason for this exception will be obvious.

The distinguishing feature of the work is that it offers the pith andmarrow of some two hundred and fifty famous books in condensedversions. It is not a collection of "specimen passages." Let anyone withoutprevious knowledge of Locke's Human Understanding or Karl Marx'sCapital—taking two examples at random—spend the twenty minutesnecessary to the careful reading of each of our abridgements, and he willacquire a knowledge of these works beyond all comparison with that ofanyone who has read merely an equivalent amount of "illustrative extracts."And the same applies to all the other outlines appearing in this volume.

HE work has a three-fold appeal, and this, briefly stated, may helpthe reader to determine in what measure it meets his particular

case.(1) Young Students of Literature will find it a pleasant and profitable

introduction to a very wide range of booklore. Books that may still bebut names to them will become so vital when read in our condensed versionsthat many readers will seek closer acquaintance with the originals, con-fident of being interested.

(2) For Busy Men and Women deficient in book knowledge, theOUTLINE supplies an actual "short cut" to acquaintance with many booksthat otherwise might exist for them in vain.

(3) To the Bookman and Scholar who may have read the originals ofmost of these two hundred and fifty books, the OUTLINE will prove invalu-able as an aid to memory. Though one might read more than five hundredbooks in the course of five years, it is improbable that one could everrecall two hundred and fifty of these with any measure of clearness. Withthe help of our abridgements that becomes easy of achievement.

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