Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern — Volume 1

Hamilton Wright Mabie, Lucia Isabella Gilbert Runkle, George H. Warner, Charles Dudley Warner

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• Publié par: thowyung
• Publié le: 08 décembre 2010
• Nombre de lectures: 54
• Langue: English
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The Project Gutenberg eBook,
Library of the World's Best
Literature, Ancient and Modern, Vol.
1, Edited by Charles Dudley Warner
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Title: Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, Vol. 1
Editor: Charles Dudley Warner
Release Date: May 17, 2004 [eBook #12369]
Language: English
Character set encoding: iso-8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIBRARY OF THE
WORLD'S BEST LITERATURE, ANCIENT AND MODERN, VOL. 1***
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LIBRARY OF THE
WORLD'S BEST LITERATURE
ANCIENT AND MODERN
VOL. I.
CHARLES DUDLEY WARNER
EDITORHAMILTON WRIGHT MABIE
LUCIA GILBERT RUNKLE
GEORGE HENRY WARNER
ASSOCIATE EDITORS
Connoisseur Edition
PREFACE
he plan of this Work is simple, and yet it is novel. In its distinctive features it
differs from any compilation that has yet been made. Its main purpose is to
present to American households a mass of good reading. But it goes much
beyond this. For in selecting this reading it draws upon all literatures of all time
and of every race, and thus becomes a conspectus of the thought and
intellectual evolution of man from the beginning. Another and scarcely less
important purpose is the interpretation of this literature in essays by scholars
and authors competent to speak with authority.
The title, "A Library of the World's Best Literature," is strictly descriptive. It
means that what is offered to the reader is taken from the best authors, and is
fairly representative of the best literature and of all literatures. It may be
important historically, or because at one time it expressed the thought and
feeling of a nation, or because it has the character of universality, or because
the readers of to-day will find it instructive, entertaining, or amusing. The Work
aims to suit a great variety of tastes, and thus to commend itself as a household
companion for any mood and any hour. There is no intention of presenting
merely a mass of historical material, however important it is in its place, which
is commonly of the sort that people recommend others to read and do not read
themselves. It is not a library of reference only, but a library to be read. The
selections do not represent the partialities and prejudices and cultivation of any
one person, or of a group of editors even; but, under the necessary editorial
supervision, the sober judgment of almost as many minds as have assisted in
the preparation of these volumes. By this method, breadth of appreciation has
been sought.
The arrangement is not chronological, but alphabetical, under the names of the
authors, and, in some cases, of literatures and special subjects. Thus, in eachvolume a certain variety is secured, the heaviness or sameness of a mass of
antique, classical, or mediaeval material is avoided, and the reader obtains a
sense of the varieties and contrasts of different periods. But the work is not an
encyclopaedia, or merely a dictionary of authors. Comprehensive information
as to all writers of importance may be included in a supplementary reference
volume; but the attempt to quote from all would destroy the Work for reading
purposes, and reduce it to a herbarium of specimens.
In order to present a view of the entire literary field, and to make these volumes
especially useful to persons who have not access to large libraries, as well as
to treat certain literatures or subjects when the names of writers are unknown or
would have no significance to the reader, it has been found necessary to make
groups of certain nationalities, periods, and special topics. For instance, if the
reader would like to know something of ancient and remote literatures which
cannot well be treated under the alphabetical list of authors, he will find special
essays by competent scholars on the Accadian-Babylonian literature, on the
Egyptian, the Hindu, the Chinese, the Japanese, the Icelandic, the Celtic, and
others, followed by selections many of which have been specially translated for
this Work. In these literatures names of ascertained authors are given in the
Index. The intention of the essays is to acquaint the reader with the spirit,
purpose, and tendency of these writings, in order that he may have a
comparative view of the continuity of thought and the value of tradition in the
world. Some subjects, like the Arthurian Legends, the Nibelungen Lied, the
Holy Grail, Provençal Poetry, the Chansons and Romances, and the Gesta
Romanorum, receive a similar treatment. Single poems upon which the authors'
title to fame mainly rests, familiar and dear hymns, and occasional and modern
verse of value, are also grouped together under an appropriate heading, with
reference in the Index whenever the poet is known.
It will thus be evident to the reader that the Library is fairly comprehensive and
representative, and that it has an educational value, while offering constant and
varied entertainment. This comprehensive feature, which gives the Work
distinction, is, however, supplemented by another of scarcely less importance;
namely, the critical interpretive and biographical comments upon the authors
and their writings and their place in literature, not by one mind, or by a small
editorial staff, but by a great number of writers and scholars, specialists and
literary critics, who are able to speak from knowledge and with authority. Thus
the Library becomes in a way representative of the scholarship and wide
judgment of our own time. But the essays have another value. They give
information for the guidance of the reader. If he becomes interested in any
selections here given, and would like a fuller knowledge of the author's works,
he can turn to the essay and find brief observations and characterizations
which will assist him in making his choice of books from a library.
The selections are made for household and general reading; in the belief that
the best literature contains enough that is pure and elevating and at the same
time readable, to satisfy any taste that should be encouraged. Of course
selection implies choice and exclusion. It is hoped that what is given will be
generally approved; yet it may well happen that some readers will miss the
names of authors whom they desire to read. But this Work, like every other, has
its necessary limits; and in a general compilation the classic writings, and those
productions that the world has set its seal on as among the best, must
predominate over contemporary literature that is still on its trial. It should be
said, however, that many writers of present note and popularity are omitted
simply for lack of space. The editors are compelled to keep constantly in view
the wider field. The general purpose is to give only literature; and where
authors are cited who are generally known as philosophers, theologians,publicists, or scientists, it is because they have distinct literary quality, or
because their influence upon literature itself has been so profound that the
progress of the race could not be accounted for without them.
These volumes contain not only or mainly the literature of the past, but they aim
to give, within the limits imposed by such a view, an idea of contemporary
achievement and tendencies in all civilized countries. In this view of the
modern world the literary product of America and Great Britain occupies the
largest space.
It should be said that the plan of this Work could not have been carried out
without the assistance of specialists in many departments of learning, and of
writers of skill and insight, both in this country and in Europe. This assistance
has been most cordially given, with a full recognition of the value of the
enterprise and of the aid that the Library may give in encouraging and
broadening literary tastes. Perhaps no better service could be rendered the
American public at this period than the offer of an opportunity for a
comprehensive study of the older and the greater literatures of other nations. By
this comparison it can gain a just view of its own literature, and of its possible
mission in the world of letters.
THE ADVISORY COUNCIL
CRAWFORD H. TOY, A.M., LL.D.,
Professor of Hebrew,
HARVARD UNIVERSITY, Cambridge, Mass.
THOMAS R. LOUNSBURY, LL.D., L.H.D.,
Professor of English in the Sheffield Scientific School of
YALE UNIVERSITY, New Haven, Conn.
WILLIAM M. SLOANE, PH.D., L.H.D.,
Professor of History and Political Science,
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, Princeton, N.J.
BRANDER MATTHEWS, A.M., LL.B.,
Professor of Literature,
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, New York City.
JAMES B. ANGELL, LL.D.,
President of the
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN, Ann Arbor, Mich.
WILLARD FISKE, A.M., PH.D.,
Late Professor of the Germanic and Scandinavian
Languages and Literatures,
CORNELL UNIVERSITY, Ithaca, N.Y.EDWARD S. HOLDEN, A.M., LL.D.,
Director of the Lick Observatory, and Astronomer
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, Berkeley, Cal.
ALCÉE FORTIER, LIT.D.,
Professor of the Romance Languages,
TULANE UNIVERSITY, New Orl