progressing in the reading of "Piligrim's progress"

The story is a long parable. It is a moral tale of a man who receives divine revelation, that his city (aptly named the City of Destruction) will be destroyed for its sins, and he must leave and go to a place close to G-d, heaven or otherwordly place. This recalls famous biblical stories of Lot and that of Jonah. Only Lot fled with his wife, and our hero here (Christian) must go alone because his family laughs at him and they don't wish to follow him; in the end he doesn't seem to insist too much.

The narrative continues to be saturated with quotes from the Christian Bible, especially densely in the beginning of the book. The names of the cities, places and people are descriptive of the lesson that they are supposed to convey: Mr Worldly Wiseman, Mr. Legality, the Slough of Despond... This makes reading this book easier, because lessons it is trying to teach and its view of christian morality are foreign to me and not easily guessed at or understood. 

I am trying to derive the values and read meaning into allegories of the book's images. The Slough of Despond is located almost next to the little wicket gate leading to the holy place where Christian journeys, symbolizing that base and dirty exists next to holy and elevated in this world; and also that temptation and obstructions are likely to hinder one when the goal is so close... 

What puzzled me was that some things and values that are considered positive in our society, in the author's time are not necessarily so. For example, Mr. Legality and Mr. Civility are portrayed as powerless and at best empty and foolish, at worst evil and plotting...

The piligrim is asked to singlemindedly pursue his goal, follow the teaching of Evangelist, without giving in to reason and logical thinking. He severely regrets his "error" of almost following the advice of Mr. Worldly Wiseman, that temporarily diverts him from his goal, when I, the modern reader, can find no fault or wrong with this advice. The only thing "wrong" with it is that it contradicts the initial direction of Evangelist. Evangelist's words though caused the Piligrim to abandon his family, and part of Mr. Worldly Wiseman's advice is that Christian will be able to reunite with his family. When repentant Christian laments his taking Worldly's advice to heart to Evangelist, who steps in to "rescue" him, he renounces his family again. 

It seems that the prerequisite for attaining holiness and following the right way is separation from all the things of this world - family, physical comforts and needs, sometimes even reason and logic... Mr. Worldly Wiseman's only fault is holding things of this world and its order in high esteem, as even the Evangelist explains. 

to be continued... 

John Bunyon, The Piligrim's Progress, starting to read

Today I started reading John Bunyon's "The Piligrim's Progress".

The author's introduction to it is lengthy, and in a form of a poem. I think it is more than just an introduction,  but a separate (and beautiful!) work in itself. I truly enjoyed reading it, despite the archaic language - a true test of a classic, a work that stands the test of time and is able to engross and touch a reader of any place, age, generation... 

The rhymes are flowing and easy, natural. The language sophisticated,  the meaning is deep and the logic is very clever. A great mind of an author really shines through this poem. 

But enough about beauty. The poem is an argument with an invisible opponent, or a small group of opponents, who would not want the author's work (being introduced) to be published. Even though I haven't studied the author's time and life, it is easy to see that this is an unconventional work of literature for the time, breaking some unwritten rules of good and proper writing, or even taboos.  I am starting to like this author, who is evidently a revolutionary in his time. In justifying the value of this tale, the author brings to his side arguments weighted with biblical references and comparisons, which in middle ages, when the work was written, were probably the gravest arguments in existence. Since I peaked a little beyond the introduction, I see that these references foreshadow what is to come... the work quotes the holy writings almost in every line..  

Well, the author convinced me. I was very eager to dig into the book itself, or shall I say, the second masterpiece contained in this volume. 

And in the end, I will quote some of the last lines of the beautiful introductory poem... It will convince anybody to read ahead!

"Dost thou love picking meat? Or wouldst thou see

A man in clouds, and hear him speak to thee?

Wouldst thou be in a dream, and yet not sleep?

Or wouldst thou in a moment laugh and weep?

Wouldest thou lose thyself and catch no harm,

And find thyself again without a charm?

Wouldst read thyself, and read thou knowest not what,

And yet know whether thou art blest or not,

By reading the same lines? Oh, then come hither,

And lay my book, thy head, and heart together."

My reading plan

I have collected and combined a few of "100 best novels/books" lists, and put the results here

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pgzsjenN7IBcfmQQnXUnASg

The very front tab lists all the books that repeat in all the lists more than once. I will be reading through it, skipping the books I already read, and blogging here about my progress (among other things).