The Harvard Classics: Complete 51-Volume Collection: The Greatest Works of World Literature

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe · Gotthold Ephraim Lessing · Thomas Carlyle · Plato · René Descartes · Immanuel Kant · Charles Darwin · Martin Luther · Robert Louis Stevenson · William Shakespeare · Dante Alighieri · Euripides · Percy Bysshe Shelley · Charles Lamb · Henry David Thoreau · Samuel Johnson · John Stuart Mill · David Hume · Joseph Addison · John Locke · John Fletcher · Francis Beaumont · Leigh Hunt · Epictetus · Thomas De Quincey · Samuel Taylor Coleridge · Jonathan Swift · Christopher Marlowe · Jacob Grimm · Wilhelm Grimm · William Hazlitt · Marcus Tullius Cicero · Daniel Defoe · Aesop · Richard Henry Dana · John Dryden · Philip Massinger · Pedro Calderón de la Barca · John Ruskin · Oliver Wendell Holmes · Ernest Renan · Robert Burns · David Garrick · Ralph Waldo Emerson · John Webster · Izaak Walton · John Bunyan · James Russell Lowell · Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve · Homer · Edmund Burke · Plutarch · Molière · Aeschylus · Michael Faraday · Sophocles · William Makepeace Thackeray · Benjamin Franklin · Pierre Corneille · Jean Racine · Voltaire · Robert Browning · Oliver Goldsmith · Thomas Dekker · John Milton · Aristophanes · Blaise Pascal · Virgil · Simon Newcomb · William Penn · Walter Bigges · Philip Sidney · Herodotus · Walter Raleigh · Francis Bacon · Giuseppe Mazzini · Francis Pretty · George Berkeley · Thomas Hobbes · Adam Smith · Alessandro Manzoni · Abraham Cowley · Michel de Montaigne · Ben Jonson · John Woolman · Benvenuto Cellini · Sydney Smith · Jean Froissart · William Henry Harrison · William Harvey · Marcus Aurelius · Hans Christian Andersen · Thomas Malory · George Gordon Byron · Thomas à Kempis · Richard Steele · Thomas Browne · Archibald Geikie · Thomas Babington Macaulay · Tacitus · William Roper · Hippocrates · Miguel de Cervantes · Thomas More · Friedrich von Schiller · Philip Nichols · Louis Pasteur · Joseph Lister · Jean Jacques Rousseau · Pliny the Younger · Edgar Alan Poe · Saint Augustine · Brinsley Sheridan · Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz · Francis Drake · Edward Haies · Niccolo Machiavelli · Ambroise Paré · William A. Neilson

Nov 2023 · DigiCat

About this ebook

The Harvard Classics: Complete 51-Volume Collection stands as a monumental anthology that traverses the vast expanse of human thought and creativity. Within its pages, readers encounter an unparalleled diversity of literary styles, ranging from the foundational texts of Western philosophy and drama to groundbreaking scientific treatises and poignant poetry. The collection boasts a breathtaking assembly of works, including pivotal pieces by Shakespeare, Plato, Goethe, and Darwin, among others, presenting an invaluable cross-section of global intellectual heritage. This anthology not only reflects the rich tapestry of human experience but also highlights the evolution of literary expression, showcasing the dialogue between different epochs and their contributions to universal themes of human existence. The contributing authors and editors of The Harvard Classics are luminaries in their respective fields, whose collective efforts have shaped the course of literature, philosophy, science, and political thought. Spanning ancient civilizations through to the early modern period, these figures—such as Darwin, Shakespeare, and Kant—have profoundly influenced the trajectory of intellectual history. Their works, emblematic of significant historical, cultural, and literary movements, converge within this anthology to enrich the reader's understanding of the human condition. The backgrounds of these authors, ranging from the classical antiquity of Plato to the enlightenment era of Rousseau and beyond, offer a comprehensive overview of the cultural contexts and philosophical schools that have underpinned Western civilization. The Harvard Classics: Complete 51-Volume Collection is an essential scholarly resource that invites readers on an enlightening journey through the annals of human thought and creativity. It offers an unmatched opportunity to explore a constellation of perspectives, themes, and literary forms, all within a single collection. This anthology is recommended not only for its unparalleled educational value but also for its ability to foster a deeper understanding of the interconnectedness of diverse intellectual traditions. As readers traverse its vast landscape, they uncover the dialogue that exists between epochs, disciplines, and cultures—a dialogue that continues to shape our understanding of the world. Engaging with this collection, students, scholars, and bibliophiles alike are afforded a rare panoramic view of humanity's enduring legacy and its ongoing conversation across the ages.

About the author

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) remains one of the towering figures in Western literature and intellectual history. Born in Frankfurt, Germany, his body of work encompasses poetry, drama, literature, theology, humanism, and science. Goethe's magnum opus, the two-part dramatic poem 'Faust', is a canonical text that delves into themes of good, evil, and human fallibility. His early novel 'The Sorrows of Young Werther' (1774) became a sensation in its day and is heralded for its contribution to the Sturm und Drang—Storm and Stress—movement that prefigured Romanticism. Goethe's literary output is comprehensive, reflective of his lifelong engagement with the arts and sciences, as vividly evidenced in his contributions to the 'Harvard Classics: Complete 51-Volume Collection'. This collection serves as a testament to his status as a polymath, engrossing his profound understanding of humanistic disciplines with a unique narrative style marked by introspection, a quest for knowledge, and an exploration of metaphysical concepts. The scholar's empirical approach towards nature and his novel ideas articulated in the 'Metamorphosis of Plants' and 'Theory of Colours' laid foundational stones in the field of natural science, and his influence extended to various fields including philosophy and psychology. Goethe's legacy continues to inspire as his works remain a subject of extensive scholarly discussion, attesting to his genius and his indelible impact on the annals of cultural history.