The Western Lit Survival Kit

There they sit, the great tomes of classical literature, taunting you with their length and difficulty, as you ask: which books are the most important and why - and whats actually any good? Why does most writing about the classics have words like seminal or oeuvre in it? What does postmodernism mean? Can I get away with just reading the introduction?

Now you can enjoy the classics without fear. This survival kit will guide you painlessly through the Western literary canon, century by century: from Ancient Greek drama to the modern novel, via Beowulf, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Romantic poetry, Tolstoy and Proust. There are entertaining plot summaries, unpretentious definitions of literary movements and fresh insights into authors lives. With each work assigned ratings from 1 to 10 on Importance, Accessibility and Fun, youll discover whats really worth bothering with and what you can safely discard without guilt.

This book will make the things youve read clearer, inspire you to tackle the ones youve always meant to and make you sound far cleverer than you really are.