Utne Reader, The Loose Canon: 150 Great Works to Set Your Imagination on Fire [1998]
110 entries: 96 monographical, 14 otherwise
Unrankedarranged topically
Jay Walljasper and Jon Spayde, if not others, at the Utne Reader magazine devised The Loose Canon: 150 Great Works to Set Your Imagination on Fire [1998]. The current version available at the magazine's site is truncated; a link to an Internet Archive version is provided instead. Like Kanigel's Vintage Reading or Dirda's Classics for Pleasure, the project seems driven by a goal of offering an addendum to "great books" lists and other canons. Each two works in the list form a pair whose linkage is often, but not always, obvious.
This list is one of only two documented at Greater Books to include music, film, and opera/ musical theatre works. These items are included but not numbered; nor are they included in the master list. The other is Jane Mallison's ("Smart").
- The Book of Isaiah_4
part of the BibleHebrew; Aramaic; Greek
*Durant* *Classics* *Utne* *Great*
--
- Zohar_1
ca. Second-Thirteenth centuriesAramaic
*Utne*
- Lǎozǐ (Lao-tzu) (Laocius)
Dàodéjǐng_11
Tao te Ching
ca. Sixth Century B CChinese
*Rexroth* *Ward* *Oriental* *Good* *Recommended* *SeymourSmith* *Utne* *Dirda* *Great* *World* *Graphic*
- Zhuāngzī (Zhuāng Zhōu) (Chuang-tzu)
Zhuāngzī_5
Nánhuá Zhēnjīng
ca. Third Century B CChinese
*Ward* *Oriental* *Utne* *Great* *World*
- Thucydides
History of the Peloponnesian War_23
early Fifth Century B CGreek
*Lubbock* *Durant* *Classics* *Downs* *Rexroth* *Read* *List* *Ward* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Adler* *Good* *Bloom* *Fadiman* *Foundation* *Kanigel* *SeymourSmith* *Trinity* *Utne* *Great* *Telegraph* *World* *Educated*
- Hesiod
Erga kai Hēmerai_5
Works and Days
ca. Eighth-Seventh centuries B CGreek
*Downs* *Magill* *Bloom* *Utne* *Newman*
- Vyasa
Mahabharata_13
includes Bhagavad Gita; ca. Ninth Century B C-Fourth CenturySanskrit
*Lubbock* *Baldwin* *Rexroth* *Oriental* *Magill* *Bloom* *Fadiman* *Utne* *Norway* *Great* *GlobeMail* *World* *Graphic*
- Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
I Am That_1
1973; revised 1981Marathi
*Utne*
- Marcus Aurelius
Ta Eis Heauton_17
Meditations
written 161-80Greek
*Lubbock* *Baldwin* *Eliot* *Durant* *Classics* *Hundred* *Rexroth* *Read* *Ward* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Adler* *Fadiman* *SeymourSmith* *Trinity* *Utne* *Great*
- Apuleius
Metamorphoseon_6
Asinus Aureus; The Golden Ass
Second CenturyLatin
*Rexroth* *Ward* *Bloom* *Utne* *Great* *Newman*
- Hildegarde of Bingen
Scivias_1
ca. 1151-52Latin
*Utne*
- Elaine Pagels
The Gnostic Gospels_1
1979English
*Utne*
- Rumi
Diwan-e Shams-e Tabrizi_1
written ca. 1250Persian
*Utne*
- Margaret Smith
Rabi'a the Mystic and Her Fellow-Saints in Islam. Being the Life and Teachings of Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya al-Qaysiyya of Basra, Sufi Saint, ca. A H 99-185, A D 717-801_1
1928English
*Utne*
- François Rabelais
La Vie de Gargantua et de Pantagruel_22
originally published in five volumes: Les Horribles et Épouvantables Faits et Prouesses du Très Renommé Pantagruel Roi des Dipsodes, Fils du Grand Géant Gargantua, 1532; La Vie Très Horrifique du Grand Gargantua, Père de Pantagruel, 1534; Le Tiers Livre des Faicts et Dicts Héroïques du Bon Pantagruel, 1546; Le Quart Livre des Faicts et Dicts Héroïques du Bon Pantagruel, 1552; Le Cinquiesme et Dernier Livre des Faicts et Dicts Héroïques du Bon Pantagruel, 1564; Mallison ("Smart") specifies Thomas Urquhart and Peter Motteux's English translationFrench
*Powys* *Durant* *Invitation* *Hundred* *France* *Rexroth* *Read* *List* *Ward* *Van Doren* *Magill* *Adler* *Good* *Bloom* *Fadiman* *SeymourSmith* *Trinity* *Utne* *Norway* *Great* *Smart* *Newman*
- Wú Chéng-ēn (Ruzhong)
Xi Yóu Jì_6
Journey to the West; Monkey
late Sixteenth CenturyChinese
*Ward* *Oriental* *Fadiman* *Utne* *Great* *Graphic*
- William Shakespeare
Coriolanus_8
written ca. 1605-08English
*Classics* *Ward* *Adler* *SeymourSmith* *Utne* *Taylor* *World* *Newman*
Kurosawa Akira
The Seven Samurai
film; 1954Japanese
Johann Sebastian Bach
Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello
composed ca. 1717-23
Arvo Pärt
Te Deum
1985
Essays from the Rambler and the Idler_4
unspecified essays originally published in the Rambler, 1750-2; the Idler, 1758-60; Cowan and Guinness ("Trinity") and the Utne Reader also specify essays from the Adventurer, 1753-4English
*Trinity* *Utne* *Dirda* *Newman*
Journey's Echo: Selected From Freya Stark_1
1963
*Utne*
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Don Giovanni
libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte; originaly performed 1787
Alban Berg
Wozzeck
based in part on Georg Büchner's play, Woyzeck; libretto by Berg; composed 1914-1922; originally performed 1925
- William Blake
The Book of Urizen_5
originally entitled The First Book of Urizen, published 1794English
*Rexroth* *Ward* *Bloom* *Utne* *Newman*
Illuminated Poems
1996; poems previously published plus two new poems; illustrations by Eric DrookerEnglish
*Utne*
- Jane Austen
Persuasion_6
originally anonymously published 1817English
*Bloom* *Fadiman* *Utne* *Guardian* *Zane* *Newman*
- Murasaki Shikibu
Genji Monogatari_12
The Tale of Genji
ca. early Eleventh Century; Mallison ("Smart") specifies Royall Tyler's English translationJapanese
*Rexroth* *Ward* *Oriental* *Magill* *Fadiman* *Utne* *Norway* *Great* *GlobeMail* *Smart* *World* *Graphic*
Ludwig Van Beethoven
Symphony No. 9 in D Minor
composed 1822-4
Gustav Mahler
Symphony No. 4
composed 1899-1900
- Henry David Thoreau
Walden; or, Life in the Woods_20
1854English
*Durant* *Classics* *Hundred* *Zulli* *Read* *Ward* *Magill* *Good* *Learning* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Utne* *Campbell* *Great* *Smart* *Deposit* *Newman* *Graphic* *Educated*
- Mary Oliver
New and Selected Poems_1
1992; selections from No Voyage, and Other Poems, 1963, expanded 1965; The River Styx, Ohio, and Other Poems, 1972; The Night Traveler, 1978; Twelve Moons, 1979; American Primitive, 1983; Dream Work, 1986; House of Light, 1990; plus a section entitled New Poems (1991-1992)English
*Utne*
'Song of Myself'_1
part of Leaves of Grass; complete work originally published 1855; expanded and revised through ninth edition, 1892English
*Utne*
A Muriel Rukeyser Reader_1
1994; edited by Jan Heller LeviEnglish
*Utne*
- Leo Tolstoy
Anna Karenina_20
published in part serially 1873-7 in Rússkij Véstnik; in its entirety, 1877; Mallison ("Smart") specifies Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky's English translationRussian
*Eliot* *Zulli* *Read* *Ward* *Magill* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Trinity* *Utne* *Norway* *Great* *Guardian* *Zane* *Smart* *Harvard* *Reynolds* *Newman* *Graphic* *Educated*
- Alexander Herzen
Byloe i Dumy_2
My Past and Thoughts
published in part serially 1855-9, 1861-2, and 1869 in Poliarnaia Zvezda (Pole Star); and 1857-67 in KolokolRussian
*Bloom* *Utne*
The Gandhi Reader: A Source Book of His Life and Writings_1
1956; edited by Homer A Jack
*Utne*
- Paulo Freire and Myles Horton
We Make the Road by Walking: Conversations on Education and Social Change_1
1990English
*Utne*
--
- The Encyclopædia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and General Information_1
eleventh edition; published in 29 volumes, 1910-1English
*Utne*
- Bill Bryson
Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States_1
1994English
*Utne*
- Marcel Proust
À la Recherche du Temps Perdu_17
In Search of Lost Time; In Remembrance of Things Past
originally published in seven volumes, two of which originally published as two books each, 1913-27French
*Classics* *France* *Read* *List* *Ward* *Magill* *Good* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Trinity* *Utne* *Norway* *Zane* *GlobeMail* *Telegraph* *Newman*
- E M Forster
Howards End_4
1910English
*Bloom* *Fadiman* *Utne* *Zane*
- Rainer Maria Rilke
Duineser Elegien_5
The Duino Elegies
1923German
*Ward* *Magill* *Bloom* *Fadiman* *Utne*
Poems_3
Eighth CenturyChinese
*Rexroth* *Ward* *Utne*
- Antonio Gramsci
Quaderni del Carcere_1
Prison Notebooks
written 1929-35Italian
*Utne*
Shadows of Tender Fury: The Letters and Communiqués of Subcomandante Marcos and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation_1
1995Spanish
*Utne*
Leo McCarey
Duck Soup
starring Groucho, Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo Marx; film; 1933
Stanley Kubrick
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
film; 1964
Robert Johnson
The Complete Recordings
music album; 1990; recorded 1936-7
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
'The Message'
music composition; 1982
- Pablo Neruda
Canto General_3
1950; English translation of 'Alturas de Machu Picchu', the second canto, published 1948 in the Tiger's Eye and 1950 in Let the Rail Splitter Awake and Other PoemsSpanish
*Ward* *Bloom* *Utne*
- Clarice Lispector
A Hora da Estrela_1
1977Portuguese
*Utne*
Duke Ellington
'In a Mellotone'
'In a Mellow Tone'
music composition; lyric by Milt Gabler; based in part on 'Rose Room' by Art Hickman; 1939
John Coltrane
A Love Supreme
music album; 1965
Billie Holiday
Lady in Autumn: The Best of the Verve Years
music album; 1991
Amalia Rodrigues
Monitor Presents Portugal's Great Amalia Rodrigues
music album; recorded 1956
Hank Williams
40 Greatest Hits
music album; 1978
Johnny Cash
The Sun Years
music album; 1990
- James Agee
Let Us Now Praise Famous Men_6
1941; photography by Walker EvansEnglish
*Bloom* *Recommended* *Utne* *Dirda* *Smart* *Deposit*
- John Berger
Pig Earth_1
1979English
*Utne*
Orson Welles
Citizen Kane
film; 1941
Robert Altman
Nashville
film; 1975
United States: Essays 1952-1992_1
essays previously publishedEnglish
*Utne*
- Howard Zinn
A People's History of the United States, 1492-Present_2
1980; expanded and revised through fifth edition, 2005English
*Utne* *Harvard*
Howlin' Wolf
His Best
music album; 1997
Los Lobos
Just Another Band From East L A
music album; 1993
- Simone Beauvoir
Le Deuxième Sexe_7
The Second Sex
published in part serially in Les Temps Modernes; in its entirety in two volumes, 1949French
*Good* *Bloom* *Fadiman* *SeymourSmith* *Utne* *Great* *Taylor*
- Mary Daly
Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism_1
1978English
*Utne*
- Ralph Ellison
Invisible Man_12
1952English
*Good* *Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Utne* *Campbell* *Norway* *Great* *Zane* *Smart* *Harvard* *Educated*
Nathaniel Mackey
- Bedouin Hornbook_1
1986English
*Utne*
- Djbot Baghostus's Run_1
1993English
*Utne*
Collected Essays_1
1998; includes Notes of a Native Son, 1955 [originally published 1949-53 in varied periodicals: Zero, Partisan Review, Commentary, the New Leader, Harper's, and the Reporter]; Nobody Knows My Name: More Notes of a Native Son, 1961 [originally published 1956-61 in varied periodicals: the New York Times, Encounter, Esquire, Harper's, Partisan Review, and the New Leader; plus two edited 1960 lectures; and part of an essay previously unpublished]; The Fire Next Time [1963]; No Name in the Street [1972]; The Devil Finds Work [1976]; plus a section entitled Other Essays: 36 essays previously published, 11 of which previously uncollected in book form (and including Baldwin's portion of the collaborative book with photographer Richard Avedon, entitled Nothing Personal, 1974)English
*Utne*
- The Fire Next Time_4
originally published Dec. 1962 as 'Letter From a Region in My Mind', in the Progressive; and Nov. 1963 as 'Down at the Cross', in the New YorkerEnglish
*Bloom* *Recommended* *Fadiman* *Utne*
- No Name in the Street_2
1972English
*Bloom* *Utne*
- The Devil Finds Work_2
1976English
*Bloom* *Utne*
- Cornel West
Race Matters_1
1994English
*Utne*
Satyajit Ray
The Apu Trilogy
three films: Pather Panchali, 1955; Aparajito, 1956; Apur Sansar, 1959
Abbas Kiarostami
Where Is My Friend's Home?
film; 1995
Naguib Mahfouz
- Bein el-Qasrein_2
Palace Walk
1956Arabic
*Utne* *Smart*
- Qasr el-Shoaq_2
Palace of Desire
1957Arabic
*Utne* *Smart*
- El-Sukkareyya_2
Sugar Street
1957Arabic
*Utne* *Smart*
Pramoedya Ananta Toer
- Bumi Manusia_2
This Earth of Mankind
1980Malay
*Fadiman* *Utne*
- Anak Semua Bangsa_2
Child of All Nations
1980Malay
*Fadiman* *Utne*
- Jejak Langkah_2
Footsteps
1985Malay
*Fadiman* *Utne*
- Rumah Kaca_2
House of Glass
1988Malay
*Fadiman* *Utne*
Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald
The Complete Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong on Verve
music album; 1997
Louis Armstrong
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man 1923-1934
music album; 1994
- Chinua Achebe
Things Fall Apart_9
1958English
*Ward* *Bloom* *Fadiman* *Utne* *Norway* *Great* *Zane* *Smart* *Taylor*
- Edward Said
Culture and Imperialism_1
1993English
*Utne*
- Jane Jacobs
The Death and Life of Great American Cities_2
1961English
*Utne* *Great*
- Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikama, Murray Silverstein, Max Jacobson, Ingrid Fiksdahl-King, and Shlomo Angel
A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction_1
1977English
*Utne*
Francois Truffaut
Jules et Jim
film; 1961
Jean-Luc Godard
2 ou 3 Choses que Je Sais d'Elle (Two or Three Things I Know About Her)
film; 1967
- Rachel Carson
Silent Spring_8
originally published Jun. 1962 in the New YorkerEnglish
*Downs* *Fadiman* *Utne* *Great* *GlobeMail* *Taylor* *Deposit* *Educated*
- Lynn Margulis and Dorion Sagan
What Is Life?_1
1995English
*Utne*
Thelonious Monk
Monk's Dream
music album; 1962
Miles Davis
Kind of Blue
music album; 1959
- Thomas S Kuhn
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions_5
1962; expanded 1970English
*Fadiman* *Kanigel* *SeymourSmith* *Utne* *Great*
- James Gleick
Chaos: Making a New Science_1
1987English
*Utne* *Educated*
- Kenneth Rexroth
An Autobiographical Novel_1
1965English
*Utne*
New American Splendor Anthology_1
1991English
*Utne*
Bob Dylan
Highway 61 Revisited
music album; 1965
Iris Dement
The Way I Should
music album; 1996
- Gabriel García Márquez
Cien Anõs de Soledad_18
One Hundred Years of Solitude
1967; Mallison ("Smart") specifies Gregory Rabassa's English translationSpanish
*Ward* *Van Doren* *Good* *Bloom* *Fadiman* *Trinity* *Utne* *Norway* *Great* *Guardian* *Zane* *GlobeMail* *Smart* *Telegraph* *Harvard* *Graphic* *Deposit* *Educated*
- Tony Kushner
Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes_2
originally presented in two parts: Millennium Approaches, 1990; and Perestroika, 1992English
*Bloom* *Utne*
Aretha Franklin
Queen of Soul: The Very Best of Aretha Franklin
music album; 1994
Marion Williams
Surely God Is Able
music album; 1989
- Michael Murphy
Golf in the Kingdom_1
1972English
*Utne*
Steve James, Fred Marx, and Peter Gilbert
Hoop Dreams
film; 1994
- E F Schumacher
Small Is Beautiful: A Study of Economics As If People Mattered_1
1973English
*Utne*
- Ivan Illich
Tools for Conviviality_1
1973English
*Utne*
- Ursula K Le Guin
The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia_1
1974English
*Utne*
- Starhawk
The Fifth Sacred Thing_1
1993English
*Utne*
Federico Fellini
Amarcord
film; 1974
Edgar Reitz
Heimatz
film series; 1984
Bob Marley
Songs of Freedom
music album; 1992
I K Dairo and His Bluespots
Juju Master
1990; recorded 1960's; music album
- Leslie Marmon Silko
Ceremony_1
1977English
*Utne*
- John G Neihardt
Black Elk Speaks_2
1932English
*Utne* *Graphic*
- Anaïs Nin
Delta of Venus_1
1977English
*Utne*
- Margot Anand
The Art of Sexual Ecstasy_1
1989English
*Utne*
The Clash
London Calling
music album; 1979
The Pogues
If I Should Fall From Grace With God
music album; 1988
- Dario Fo
Morte Accidentale di un Anarchico_1
1970Italian
*Utne*
- Caryl Churchill
Cloud Nine_1
1979English
*Utne*
Poems_2
1982Italian
*Bloom* *Utne*
- Miyazawa Kenji
Haru to Shura_1
Spring and Asura
1924Japanese
*Utne*
- Riane Eisler
The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future_1
1987English
*Utne*
- Susan Griffin
Woman and Nature: The Roaring Inside Her_1
1978English
*Utne*
- Toni Morrison
Beloved_9
1987English
*Recommended* *Trinity* *Utne* *Norway* *Great* *Telegraph* *Zane* *Harvard* *Deposit*
- Zora Neale Hurston
Dust Tracks on a Road_1
1942English
*Utne*
- August Wilson
Joe Turner's Come and Gone_2
1984English
*Bloom* *Utne*
- Anna Deavere Smith
Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992_1
1994English
*Utne*
- Jamaica Kincaid
A Small Place_1
1988English
*Utne*
- Gloria Anzaldua
Borderlands/ La Frontera: The New Mestiza_1
1987English; Spanish
*Utne*
- Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman
Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media_1
1988English
*Utne*
Rick Goldsmith
Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press
film; 1996
- Charlotte Joko Beck
Everyday Zen: Love and Work_1
1989English
*Utne*
- Sogyal Rinpoche
The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying_1
1992English
*Utne*
Matt Groening et al.
The Simpsons
Television program; 1989-present
Ernie Kovacs
Unspecified selections of several television programs
1951-1962
- Viana La Place
Verdura: Vegetables Italian Style_1
1991English
*Utne*
- Erich Schiffmann
Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving Into Stillness_1
1996English
*Utne*
- Julia Cameron
The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity_1
1992English
*Utne*
- Brenda Ueland
If You Want to Write: A Book About Art, Independence and Spirit_1
1938English
*Utne*
- Dorothy Allison
Bastard Out of Carolina_1
1992English
*Utne*
- Sharon Olds
The Dead and the Living_1
1983English
*Utne*
- James Hillman and Michael Ventura
We've Had a Hundred Years of Psychotherapy - And the World's Getting Worse_1
1992English
*Utne*
- Alice Miller
Das Drama des Begabten Kindes_1
The Drama of the Gifted Child
1979German
*Utne*
- Rupert Sheldrake
Seven Experiments That Could Change the World: A Do-It-Yourself Guide to Revolutionary Science_1
1995English
*Utne*
Wim Wenders
Der Himmel Über Berlin
Wings of Desire
film; 1987
Cesária Évora
Cesária
music album; 1995
Umm Kulthum
'Al-Atlal'
song; 1966
- David Abram
The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World_1
1996English
*Utne*
- Fritjof Capra
The Web of Life: A New Scientific Understanding of Living Systems_1
1996English
*Utne*
- Paul Hawken
The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability_1
1993English
*Utne*