MODULE II

THE GREAT BOOKS

Lesson 1 The Most Influential

Books

Lesson 2 Key-traits of Best-selling

Books
 MODULE I

THE GREAT BOOKS

 INTRODUCTION

This module will introduce the greatest masterpieces of literature which

influenced the world. It will provide the students a gist of each literary work. It
will enable students to think and to examine those literary piece on how they
became the most influential literature. This module will also discuss the various
key-traits of best-selling books. Thus, students will discover the universal nature
of best-selling books.

OBJECTIVES

After studying the module, you should be able to:

1. familiarize with the literary pieces that influenced the world;

2. make a discussion paper about the most influential books;
3. give a sample literary piece for each element of great literature; and
4. enumerate the key-traits of best-selling books.

 DIRECTIONS/ MODULE ORGANIZER

There are two lessons in the module. Read each lesson carefully then answer the
exercises/activities to find out how much you have benefitted from it. Work on these
exercises carefully and submit your output to your instructor/professor.

In case you encounter difficulty, you can discuss this with your
instructor/professor in your Facebook group chat. You can also contact your instructor/
professor using their given contact details.

Good luck and Let the Learning Begin!

Lesson 1

 The Most Influential

Books

After we discussed the nature of Great

Books, let us now move on to the literary work
that influenced the world. Generally, there is
a long list of literature that can be deemed as
great. However, we will only discuss eleven
literary work which are considered as the most
influential books in the world. Before we will
start, we shall first begin with a short activity.

In a sheet of paper, write a list of literary work which you think can be
considered as great books or literature. You don’t have to research or read
any textbook to do this activity. Please, keep a copy of your answer.

After this lesson, we will try to see how many great books that you know. Are you ready
for this lesson? We shall start now. Below is the list of Great books according to Carter
and John McRae (2017).

1. The Bible or the Sacred Writings

The Bible is the sacred Book, or collection of

books, accepted by the Christian Church as uniquely
inspired by God, and thus authoritative, providing
guidelines for belief and behavior.

Many verses throughout the Bible attest to its

divine origin (Genesis 6:9-13, Exodus 20:1-
17, 2 Timothy 3:16, 2 Peter 1:20-21, Revelation 1:1-
2, etc.). But the Bible was not simply dictated word-
for-word by God; it is also the work of its many
different human authors. The different writing skills,
writing styles, personalities, world views, and cultural
backgrounds of the human authors can be seen in
their works. Many of the New Testament books were
originally written as letters rather than as Scripture.
Some Bible writings include the authors' own research
and recollection of historical events (Luke 1:1-4) and
their own opinions (1 Corinthians 7:12).

The Old Testament

Background
The Old Testament is the first of the two major
sections of the Christian Bible. The Old Testament
contains the sacred writings of the Jews. It was
written over the period of roughly 1000 B.C. to 100
B.C., but it includes narration of events that occurred
many centuries earlier and had been passed from
generation to generation in oral form. The Old
Testament was originally written in the Hebrew
language with a few sections written in the Aramaic
language.

There was no "official" list of accepted books of

Jewish scripture until around 100 A.D. when Jewish
rabbis revised their Scripture and established an
official canon of Judaism, rejecting some books not
found in Hebrew versions of the Scripture. This
revision accounts for the fact that Protestant, Roman
Catholic and Orthodox Christians use slightly different
versions of the Old Testament.

Jesus Christ, the central figure of Christianity,

was born a Jew and practiced Judaism all His earthly
life. Christianity began as a sect of Judaism and only
emerged as a separate religion after large numbers of
Gentiles had been converted. The Jewish Scripture
had predicted the coming of a savior, the Messiah,
and Jesus fulfilled that role. So it is natural that
Christians would retain the Jewish Scripture as part of
their Bible.

The New Testament

Background
The New Testament contains the sacred books
that are unique to Christianity. All the New Testament
 books were written in the Greek language over the
period of about 50 to 120 A.D. None of the New
Testament books were originally written as part of a
Christian Bible, but they were read at church services
for instruction in the faith.

The collection of books we know as the New

Testament emerged in the late second century, A.D.
The church leaders accepted books they believed
were based on eyewitness accounts of the events
narrated, while rejecting many other early Christian
writings. Eventually, the 27 books which form the
present New Testament, along with the Old
Testament books, became the Christian Bible as we
know it today. The New Testament canon was
formally adopted by the Synod of Carthage in 397 A.D.

2. Koran

The Qur'an (in Anglicized form: Koran) is

certainly the greatest literary work in classical Arabic
and for all Muslims stands as the definitive word of
God (in Arabic: Allah) spoken to the
prophet Muhammad by the angel Gabriel. When
reading the Qur'an , you should realize that, for all
Muslims, the text you are reading is quite literally the
voice of God. Because the Qur'an is the direct speech
of God in Arabic, translation of the work is seen as
blasphemy, as an unforgivable tampering with God's
own speech. Nevertheless, the Qur'an has been
translated into Turkish and Farsi (the language of
Iran) in this century and is recited in these languages
in religious services in Turkey and Iran. The Muslim
community tolerates this but just barely. For all
practical purposes, to be Muslim, then, means almost
universally to be able to read and understand classical
Arabic, despite what one's native language is [a
Muslim reader noted that many Muslims do not
 understand the language, but they must only read or
say the words correctly].
3. The Iliad and the Odyssey

The two oldest surviving examples of Greek

literature are the Iliad and the Odyssey, epic poems
that describe the Trojan War, a conflict between the
Greeks and the city of Troy that the epics say was
fought almost 1200 years before the Common Era. The
Trojan War was fought over Helen, who according to
legend was the beautiful daughter of Zeus and the
wife of the king of the Greek polis of Sparta. The war
began after a Trojan prince named Paris kidnapped
Helen.
According to the Odyssey, the Trojan War
ended when the Greeks pretended to give up their
quest for Helen. The Greeks left a huge wooden horse
as a peace offering to the Trojans. The Greek navy
pretended to sail away, but they only sailed out to a
hidden location. The joyous Trojans opened the city
gates and pulled in the giant statue. After a great
victory celebration of their defeat of the Greek army,
the people of Troy slept for the night. As the Trojans
slept, Greek soldiers emerged from their hiding place
inside the wooden horse, opened the city gates, and
began to burn the sleeping city.
Modern scholars believe the Iliad and
the Odyssey are based on oral legends, but the epics
are often attributed to a storyteller named Homer.
The language of the Iliad and the Odyssey suggest that
Homer came from the western coast of the modern
nation of Turkey. Homer’s name can be translated
from a word that means blind, but the vivid imagery
of the Iliad and the Odyssey suggest that the author
of the poems must have had sight at some point in his
life.
4. The Mahabharata

Appearing in its present form about 400 CE,

the Mahabharata consists of a mass of mythological
and didactic material arranged around a central
heroic narrative that tells of the struggle
for sovereignty between two groups of cousins, the
Kauravas (sons of Dhritarashtra, the descendant of
Kuru) and the Pandavas (sons of Pandu). The poem is
made up of almost 100,000 couplets—about seven
times the length of the Iliad and
the Odyssey combined—divided into 18 parvans, or
sections, plus a supplement
titled Harivamsha (“Genealogy of the God Hari”; i.e.,
of Vishnu). Although it is unlikely that any single
person wrote the poem, its authorship is traditionally
ascribed to the sage Vyasa, who appears in the work
as the grandfather of the Kauravas and the Pandavas.
The date and even the historical occurrence of the
war that is the central event of the Mahabharata are
much debated.

5. Canterbury Tales
The Canterbury Tales, frame
story by Geoffrey Chaucer, written in Middle
English in 1387–1400. The framing device for the
collection of stories is a pilgrimage to the shrine
of Thomas Becket in Canterbury, Kent. The 30
pilgrims who undertake the journey gather at the
Tabard Inn in Southwark, across
the Thames from London. They agree to engage in a
storytelling contest as they travel, and Harry Bailly,
host of the Tabard, serves as master of ceremonies
for the contest. Most of the pilgrims are introduced
by vivid brief sketches in the “General Prologue.”
Interspersed between the 24 tales are short dramatic
scenes (called links) presenting lively exchanges,
usually involving the host and one or more of the
pilgrims. Chaucer did not complete the full plan for
 his book: the return journey from Canterbury is not
included, and some of the pilgrims do not tell stories.
The use of a pilgrimage as the framing device
enabled Chaucer to bring together people from many
walks of life: knight, prioress, monk, merchant, man
of law, franklin, scholarly clerk, miller, reeve,
pardoner, wife of Bath and many others. The
multiplicity of social types, as well as the device of
the storytelling contest itself, allowed presentation of
a highly varied collection of literary genres:
religious legend, courtly romance,
racy fabliau, saint’s life, allegorical tale, beast
fable, medieval sermon, alchemical account, and, at
times, mixtures of these genres. The stories and links
together offer complex depictions of the pilgrims,
while, at the same time, the tales present remarkable
examples of short narratives in verse, plus two
expositions in prose. The pilgrimage, which in
medieval practice combined a fundamentally
religious purpose with the secular benefit of a spring
vacation, made possible extended consideration of
the relationship between the pleasures and vices of
this world and the spiritual aspirations for the next.

6. Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Uncle Tom’s Cabin tells the story of Uncle Tom,
depicted as a saintly, dignified slave. While being
transported by boat to auction in New Orleans, Tom
saves the life of Little Eva, whose grateful father then
purchases Tom. Eva and Tom soon become great
friends. Always frail, Eva’s health begins to decline
rapidly, and on her deathbed she asks her father to
free all his slaves. He makes plans to do so but is then
killed, and the brutal Simon Legree, Tom’s new
owner, has Tom whipped to death after he refuses to
divulge the whereabouts of certain runaway slaves.
Tom maintains a steadfastly Christian attitude toward
 his own suffering, and Stowe imbues Tom’s death with
echoes of Christ’s.

7. The Divine Comedy

Divided into three major sections—
Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso—the narrative
traces the journey of Dante from darkness and error
to the revelation of the divine light, culminating in
the Beatific Vision of God. The Divine Comedy,
Italian La divina commedia, original name La
commedia, long narrative poem written in Italian
circa 1308–21 by Dante.
The plot of The Divine Comedy is simple: a
man, generally assumed to be Dante himself, is
miraculously enabled to undertake an ultramundane
journey, which leads him to visit the souls in Hell,
Purgatory, and Paradise. He has two guides: Virgil,
who leads him through the Inferno and Purgatorio,
and Beatrice, who introduces him to Paradiso.
Through these fictional encounters taking place
from Good Friday evening in 1300 through Easter
Sunday and slightly beyond, Dante learns of the exile
that is awaiting him (which had, of course, already
occurred at the time of the writing). This device
allowed Dante not only to create a story out of his
pending exile but also to explain the means by which
he came to cope with his personal calamity and to
offer suggestions for the resolution of Italy’s troubles
as well. Thus, the exile of an individual becomes a
microcosm of the problems of a country, and it also
becomes representative of the fall of humankind.
Dante’s story is thus historically specific as well as
paradigmatic.
9. The Song of Roland
La Chanson de Roland, English The Song of
Roland, Old French epic poem that is probably the
earliest (c. 1100) chanson de geste and is considered
the masterpiece of the genre. The poem’s probable
author was a Norman poet, Turold, whose name is
introduced in its last line.
The poem takes the historical Battle
of Roncesvalles (Roncevaux) in 778 as its subject.
Though this encounter was actually an insignificant
skirmish between Charlemagne’s army and Basque
forces, the poem transforms Roncesvalles into a
battle against Saracens and magnifies it to the heroic
stature of the Greek defense of Thermopylae against
the Persians in the 5th century BC.
The poem opens as Charlemagne, having
conquered all of Spain except Saragossa, receives
overtures from the Saracen king and sends the knight
Ganelon, Roland’s stepfather, to negotiate peace
terms. Angry because Roland suggested Ganelon for
the dangerous task, Ganelon plots with the Saracens
to achieve his stepson’s destruction and, on his
return, ensures that Roland will command the rear
guard of the army when it withdraws from Spain. As
the army crosses the Pyrenees, the rear guard is
surrounded at the pass of Roncesvalles by an
overwhelming Saracen force. Trapped against
crushing odds, the headstrong hero Roland is the
paragon of the unyielding warrior victorious in defeat.
Placed in the foreground is the personality
clash between the recklessly courageous Roland and
his more prudent friend Oliver (Olivier), which is also
a conflict between divergent conceptions of feudal
loyalty. Roland, whose judgment is clouded by his
personal preoccupation with renown, rejects Oliver’s
advice to blow his horn and summon help from
Charlemagne. On Roland’s refusal, the hopeless
battle is joined, and the flower of Frankish
knighthood is reduced to a handful of men. The horn
is finally sounded, too late to save Oliver, Turpin, or
 Roland, who has been struck in error by the blinded
Oliver, but in time for Charlemagne to avenge his
heroic vassals. Returning to France, the emperor
breaks the news to Aude, Roland’s betrothed and the
sister of Oliver, who falls dead at his feet. The poem
ends with the trial and execution of Ganelon.

10. The Book of the Dead

Divided into three major sections—
Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso—the narrative
traces the journey of Dante from darkness and error
to the revelation of the divine light, culminating in
the Beatific Vision of God. The Divine Comedy,
Italian La divina commedia, original name La
commedia, long narrative poem written in Italian
circa 1308–21 by Dante.
The plot of The Divine Comedy is simple: a
man, generally assumed to be Dante himself, is
miraculously enabled to undertake an ultramundane
journey, which leads him to visit the souls in Hell,
Purgatory, and Paradise. He has two guides: Virgil,
who leads him through the Inferno and Purgatorio,
and Beatrice, who introduces him to Paradiso.
Through these fictional encounters taking place
from Good Friday evening in 1300 through Easter
Sunday and slightly beyond, Dante learns of the exile
that is awaiting him (which had, of course, already
occurred at the time of the writing). This device
allowed Dante not only to create a story out of his
pending exile but also to explain the means by which
he came to cope with his personal calamity and to
offer suggestions for the resolution of Italy’s troubles
as well. Thus, the exile of an individual becomes a
microcosm of the problems of a country, and it also
becomes representative of the fall of humankind.
Dante’s story is thus historically specific as well as
paradigmatic.
11. Arabian Nights (1001 Nights)

The One Thousand and One Nights, or the

Arabian Nights, as it is also known, is constructed as
a “frame story” to which all the other tales are
subsequently added. The tales themselves come in a
very wide variety of genres, including fables,
adventures, mysteries, love-stories, dramas,
comedies, tragedies, horror stories, poems,
burlesque, and erotica. Very simply put, the frame
story itself is one of a king, King Shahrayar, who has
been betrayed by his wife, and who is off
commiserating with his brother, King Shahzaman, who
had suffered a similar fate himself. On their journey,
they encounter a beautiful woman who is being held
captive by the most fearsome genie. The woman
threatens to awaken the genie and thus incur certain
death upon them, unless they have sexual relations
with her. This encounter reinforces King Shahrayar’s
loathing of women and confirms his paranoia that
women are simply not to be trusted. While his brother
simply swears off women completely, our main
protagonist, Shahrayar has a more shockingly sinister
plan in mind. He rides off back to his kingdom, and
swears that he will wed every eligible bride in the
land, only to have her executed the next morning
before she has had a chance to cuckold him. As might
be expected, the king soon runs out of brides to
marry, and his grand vizier’s daughter, Shahrazad,
who is well-known for her penchant for story-telling,
decides to take it upon herself to marry the king
despite the vehement protests of her father.
Shahrazad, however, has a plan herself : at a certain
point every night, she has her young sister Dunyazad
come to the royal quarters and urge the new queen
to entertain the King and her with one of her famous
 stories. Shahrazad then puts her talent to good use,
beginning a tale every night, but never ending it
before daybreak, thus leaving the King enthralled,
and willing to spare her life one more night so he can
find out what happens with the story. Hence,
whenever she finishes a tale — never at daybreak —
Shahrazad is sure to start another equally captivating
tale, which will go on for another night or so. This
continues for one thousand and one nights, until
finally, the King is cured of his paranoia and decides
he wants keep his queen forever after.

.
Now, check your list of books. How many did you get from the Great
books discussed above?

 LEARNING ACTIVITY
Research Time!

Choose 3 influential books (except the Bible and Koran) that we

discussed. Research and make a discussion paper on how these books
influenced the world.
Lesson 2

 Key-Traits of Best-Selling
Books

We are done with the most influential books in the world. How did you
find the previous lesson? I hope you enjoyed exploring the various literary pieces.
Now before we will start to another lesson, we will have first two questions to
answer. You are again compelled to answer these questions.

What are your favourite books?

What are your personal preferences in buying or choosing a book?

At the end of this lesson, we shall see if your personal preferences are
included in the list of key-traits of best-selling books. Now, we are ready to
discuss our lesson. Let us first tackle the various elements of Great Literature as
it will lead us to the different characteristics of best-selling books. This
comprises the emotional appeal, intellectual appeal, and humanistic appeal.

Elements of Great Literature (Bland, 2016)

1. Emotional appeal –
Language choice affects the audience’s emotional response,
and emotional appeal can effectively be used to enhance the
literature. Literary work conveys a message that touches the
readers’ values or beliefs. It is attained when the reader is
emotionally moved or touched by any literary work like

2. Intellectual Appeal
It can be attained by obtaining knowledge from the literary
work. This appeals to the mind in contrast with emotional appeal.
It adds knowledge or information, and reminds the readers of what
they forgotten.
 3. Humanistic value
This can be attained when a literary work makes the reader
an improved person with a better outlook in life and with a clear
understanding of his/her inner self.

Breaking down the characteristics of best-selling books is akin to analyzing

what makes a hit song – or a viral video. A sterile dissection just does not work.
That said, analyzing the numbers does give you some indication of what people
are reading and what a typical top seller might look like.

This infographic breaks down some core elements in today’s bestsellers.

You can also see trends change over time below: take the average sentence
length for example. When Jane Austen wrote Sense and Sensibility in 1811, the
average sentence contained more than 23 words. That number dipped to fewer
than 10 words per sentence by the time Twilight was published in 2005.
 We now move on to the key-traits of best-selling books. We
have here 8 main key-traits of a best-selling book according to
Ronald Carter and John McRae (2017).

1. Artistry
 It is the quality of literary work which appeals to our sense of
beauty.

2. Intellectual Value
 The literary work enriches our mental life by making us realize
fundamental truths about life and human nature.

3. Suggestiveness
 The quality of literary work is associated with the emotional power
of literature, such that it should move us deeply and stir our
creative imagination, giving and evoking vision above and beyond
the plane of ordinary life and experience.

4. Spiritual Value
 The literary work elevates the spirit by bringing out moral values
which makes us better persons—this capacity to inspire is part of
the spiritual value of literature.

5. Permanence
 This means that a great work of literature endures. It can be read
again and again as each reading gives fresh delight and new insights
and open new worlds of meaning and experience.

6. Universality
 It means that a great literature is timeless and timely—forever
relevant in terms of its theme and conditions.

7. Transcendence
 It is the writing that elevates with its heroism, justice, beauty,
honor.
 8. A sense of connection
 It is the power of personal involvement from the literary work.

Another list of Key-Traits of a Best-selling Book according to (Burns, 2014)

1. A bestseller ‘knows’ what it is and for whom it is written. It knows

its audience. It is clear what the story is really about and conveys
that clearly to the reader. It is written for an identifiable audience
and genre, so making itself more easily discoverable.

2. Bestsellers have a good backstory. This creates authenticity around a novel, as

well as providing ready-made hooks and angles for publicity. It is also the why and
the how of the book’s creation, which readers are invariably fascinated by.

3. Bestsellers either present a unique concept or a fresh spin on an old subject. The
material is unique in some way; or, if not, it shows how it is demonstrably different
from the competition. So, if, for example, it is important to the subject matter to
be timely or contemporary, then it captures the zeitgeist at just the right time. If it
covers an old subject, the writing casts fresh new light that dazzles with its
cleverness, or has such a clear stamp of a winning approach that everyone wonders
why no one thought of it before.

4. Bestsellers contain good enough writing. Bestsellers are well written: they’re
readable, not necessarily literary masterpieces, but written well enough to keep
readers turning the pages. And, more often than not, they will have been improved
through feedback and professional editing.

5. Bestsellers have a strong and clear voice. They can be loud or quiet but they’re
distinctive and sound unlike any other writer. They’re not dulled or swamped by
being stuffed with every thought, opinion and idea the author has. If there is a
cathartic aspect to the writing they make it work, taking Hemingway’s advice to
‘write hard and clear about what hurts.’

6. Bestsellers engage with their readers to create powerful word of mouth. They
speak to the reader by telling a story that readers will care about and enjoy enough
to invest their money and time in it, and afterwards their energy in telling others
about it.

7. Bestsellers have impactful covers. Bestselling authors know that their cover is a
key marketing tool that can create a winning first impression. They have covers that
adhere to genre conventions and don’t mislead the reader by having an off-genre
cover.
8. Bestsellers can grow out of being part of a series. Each book in a series helps to
sell another. Publicity and marketing yield more return for effort because they
benefit multiple books rather than a single one.

9. Bestselling authors use brand and platform to make their book visible. They
understand that visibility is everything and they work hard to build it. And they’re
switched on to the value of genuinely and effectively engaging with readers.

10. Bestselling authors have bold and energetic marketing plans. Whether trade or
self-published, bestselling authors market their books guided by a clear marketing
plan. What’s more, they start doing so well in advance of the publication date, and
they keep on going well after it. They also measure and monitor what works and what
doesn’t for every book’s campaign.
 LEARNING ACTIVITY

We have three element of Great Literature— Emotion Appeal, Intellect

Appeal, and Humanistic Appeal. Your task is to find books which depict
the various elements of Great Literature. Follow the format provided
below.

A. Emotion Appeal

Title of the book

I. Brief background of the book

II. Explanation how did the book attain emotional appeal.

A. Intellect Appeal

Title of the book

I. Brief background of the book

II. Explanation how did the book attain intellect appeal.

A. Humanistic Appeal

Title of the book

I. Brief background of the book

II. Explanation how did the book attain humanistic appeal.

 SUMMATIVE TEST
1. Make an essay about the importance of great literature in today’s world.

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2. “A Great Literature is timeless and timely.”

Explain this statement by making a poem.

Rubrics for the Poem

Exceptional Good Work Developing Beginning
CATEGORY (5 pts) (3 pts) (2 pts) (1 pt)
Focus on The entire poem is Most of the poem is Some of the poem is No attempt has
Assigned Topic related to the related to the related to the been made to relate
assigned topic and assigned topic. The assigned topic, but a the poem to the
allows the reader to poem wanders off at reader does not assigned topic.
understand much one point, but the learn much about
more about the reader can still learn the topic.
topic. something about the
topic.
Creativity The poem contains The poem contains a The poem contains a There is little
many creative few creative details few creative details evidence of
details and/or and/or descriptions and/or descriptions, creativity in the
descriptions that that contribute to but they distract poem. The author
contribute to the the reader's from the poem. The does not seem to
reader's enjoyment. enjoyment. The author has tried to have used much
The author has really author has used his use his imagination. imagination.
used his imagination. imagination.
Spelling and There are no spelling There is one spelling There are 2-3 The final draft has
Punctuation or punctuation errors or punctuation error spelling and more than 3 spelling
in the final draft. in the final draft. punctuation errors in and punctuation
the final draft. errors.

Title Title is creative, Title is related to Title is present, but No title.

sparks interest and is the poem and topic. does not appear to
related to the poem be related to the
and topic. poem and topic.

Imagery Many vivid, Some vivid, The reader can The reader has
descriptive words descriptive words figure out what to trouble figuring out
are used. The reader are used. The reader picture in the poem, what imagery the
can picture the can somewhat but the author didn't poem is using and
imagery in the picture the imagery supply much detail. what the author
poem. in the poem. wants him/her to
picture.