The Western Lit Survival Kit - How to Read the Classics Without Fear

Why does most writing about the classics have words like 'seminal' or 'oeuvre' in it? What does postmodernism mean? Can I get away with just reading the introduction? This title guides you through the Western literary canon, century by century: from Ancient Greek drama to the modern novel, via Beowulf, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Tolstoy, and Proust.