Great Book (Contemporary Reading of Western Classics)

Author: (American) Deng Bi, translated by Wei Hang
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: This book takes readers from the Bible to Machiavelli, then to Boccaccio, and finally to Nietzsche, making it a delightful read for anyone who loves literature. I couldn’t put it down the moment I started reading. It’s one of the most interesting books I’ve ever read, and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to continue exploring literature. The book offers a captivating narrative about the literary world, and no matter what your questions about literature are, you’ll find answers. – Philanthropist Brooke Astor
A brilliant and talented individual who had immersed himself in the new media era for three decades felt that he only had “principled opinions but a lack of belief in instinct.” He needed to be reeducated and so turned back to the classic works he had not touched since adulthood. In this book, filled with engaging insights and reflections, he shares his year of reading experiences, inspiring both himself and the readers to regain vitality and revitalize their spiritual lives. I feel I owe Columbia University and Deng Bi a tuition fee. – New York State Governor Mario Cuomo
Colleges are filled with trained individuals who can write and write about writing, but Deng Bi can write about reading—such a skill is rare, and he adds sincerity, humility, and a consistently sharp and relentless intelligence. Deng Bi may be the most perceptive and enthusiastic person in the Western world. His casual, conversational style makes reading this emotional education a pleasure. – Cultural Scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Going back to university to read great literary works may not sound like the plot of an adventure story, but Mr. Deng Bi’s work is exactly that. The book is filled with passionate observations about literature and society, offering the thrill of exploration and discovery. It’s a magnificent book. – Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Kidder
At 48, film critic Deng Bi grew tired of his fragmented life in modern media and made the bold decision to return to school, reading Homer, Plato, Kant, Nietzsche, Machiavelli, Montaigne, and Austen, Conrad, Woolf, and others alongside 18- to 19-year-old students. This book is the third encounter between the 1990s’ frustrated middle class, university freshmen, and timeless classics. These two millennia of accumulated cornerstone of Western culture have fallen upon the eyes of the new new humans of the 21st century and the middle-aged with mixed emotions, becoming a new field ripe for reinterpretation.
Deng Bi boldly casts off the curse of “political correctness” and views these classics from the perspective of a social being, a husband, and a father, to see what new impact they bring to our secular lives in the electronic age. This is an adventurous journey that is sometimes perilous, sometimes tranquil, and sometimes full of surprises.