There is a text about classical works that, in turn, has become a classic of literary studies. In his Western Canon, published in 1994, the great American critic Harold Bloom collected a series of texts offering a portrait of the culture on which generations of students have been formed: a list of masterpieces standing at the very heart of our civilization.  

The key question that inspired his extensive research was which works and which writers shaped the way we think and see the world we live in. Beyond the distinctive characteristics of each author and literary movement, beyond the success of a book and the personal taste informing our reading choices – from the books we read to those we discard, all the way to those we passionately fall in love with – we can, in fact, identify the works that helped create a collective heritage.