It may seem more and more difficult to get a good classical, liberal education these days. The demands of professional training force many of us to skimp on our understanding of major artistic achievements. So, this class is for those people who should have read some of the best books around, but haven¿t managed to yet¿books you should have read by now. Kurt Vonnegut¿s character Kilgore Trout sings the praises of Dostoevski¿s The Brothers Karamazov, (and the same thing might be said about Crime and Punishment) pointing out that it contains everything you need to know about life. He then ruefully adds that unfortunately that¿s not enough any more. It may not be enough, but it might be a place to start. Each book will be considered in itself for whatever it might offer by way of understanding the world, then and now. Finally we shall use the idea that literature is equipment for living as a way of understanding and evaluating our experiences. A recurrent interest will be in improving our language ability in general. Possible texts: The Odyssey, Njal¿s Saga, Gulliver¿s Travels The Brothers Karamazov.