For 10 points, name this broadly defined body of literature, ranging from Thucydides to Tolstoy, which is considered especially important to and established within a culture or language.
An essay on works in this category compares them to MallarmÃ©'s idea of the "total book" and describes them as "on a level with the ancient talismans." That essay argues that there is a personal element in defining what qualifies in this category, as exemplified by the author's antipathy toward Rousseau and an art historian's love for The Pickwick Papers. A quote about Socrates learning a flute song just before drinking hemlock ends that essay on these works, which we engage with "only out of love," and not "duty or respect." Th e distinction between "reading" and "rereading" is offered as one definition for works of this type, which can also be said to be works that have "never (*) finished saying what [they have] to say." Italo Calvino wrote an essay answering the title query, "Why Read [these works]?" For 10 points, name this broadly defined body of literature, ranging from Thucydides to Tolstoy, which is considered especially important to and established within a culture or language.
An essay on works in this category compares them to MallarmÃ©'s idea of the "total book" and describes them as "on a level with the ancient talismans.
the  Classics