The Humanities Reader

Book excerpt: The Humanities Reader: Where Literary Cultures Meet provides students with a collection of interdisciplinary readings from various genres that are not usually seen as interrelated, challenging readers to examine familiar readings with a new perspective. The anthology introduces students to the study of the humanities and its exploration of humankind. The book is organized into five distinct units. Unit 1 underscores the universality, longevity, and value of parables and fables. Unit 2 spotlights Middle English writing and the classic frame story with emphasis on the work of Geoffrey Chaucer. Unit 3 allows students to explore early short story writings by Washington Irving and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Unit 4 exposes readers to the genre of autobiography, with selections from two quintessential Black authors, Frederick Douglass and Langston Hughes. The final unit examines contemporary works and themes through Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery," Toni Cade Bambara's "The Lesson," and Zora Neale Hurston's "Sweat." Designed to help students evaluate their world and develop their free imagination of the mind, The Humanities Reader is an ideal resource for foundational courses within the discipline.