Excerpt from World Literature: And Its Place in General Culture This book presents a conception of World Literature, not in the sense of the sum total of particular literatures, but as a unity, the literary field seen in perspective from the point of view of the English-speaking peoples. Theoretical treatment is throughout supplemented by exposition of masterpieces. To the general reader the book suggests a rational scheme of connection such as should be at the back of every attempt to make choice of "the best books." For the student it illustrates a treatment of the subject unhampered by divisions between particular literatures in different languages, divisions which make the weakness of literary study in our academic systems. Its plea is that such World Literature belongs to every st of general culture, from the most elementary to the most advanced. My life has been entirely occupied with the study and the teaching of literature. I have sought in the present work to embody the main results of my experience, so far as these bear upon the field of literature and the general interest of the subject. I purpose, at no distant date, to follow up this work with another, which will be a more formal introduction to literary theory and interpretation. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.