Chapter XXIV -- Retrospect

The books of four great writers
have been used almost exclusively
by way of illustration throughout this
discussion of the relation of books to
culture. This limited selection may
have seemed at times too narrow and
rigid; it may have conveyed an im-
pression of insensibility to the vast
range and the great variety of literary
forms and products, and of indiffer-
ence to contemporary writing. It
needs to be said, therefore, that the
constant reference to Homer, Dante,
Shakespeare, and Goethe has been
made for the sake of clearness and

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v?