The Fifth Desk

A reader’s canon, in the school of Frye.

Every work on the same twelve axes, the reasoning published, the rubric public.

“The worship of God is: Honouring his gifts in other men, each according to his genius, and loving the greatest men best: those who envy or calumniate great men hate God; for there is no other God.”

William Blake · The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

How a work is judged

rubric v4
ANAALEHYPMYTPARENTAPEAGOAPHTECCOSMEG One wedge for each axis, twelve in all,clockwise from Ananke at the top. Its length is the score: the centre 7.0,the dashed ring 8.0, the dotted rim 9.0. The open outline is what was not earned.A score above 9.0 breaks the rim. The standing is the plain mean of thetwelve. No axis weighs more than another. THE DESK’S MEAN MARK

Every work is scored on the same twelve axes, equally weighted, and each score is published with a hundred words of reasons drawn from the work itself. The standing is the mean of the twelve, and the tier follows from it: Canonical from 8.0, Epochal from 9.0. The summit is gated as well as averaged, and two of its gates measure elapsed time, so it is closed to living work.

Read the rubric →

Latest reviews

59 entries · 5 media

Standings

the twelve highest · mean standing 9.0
  1. 1 The Divine ComedyDante Alighieri · Literature 9.7
  2. 2 The IliadHomer · Literature 9.6
  3. 3 King LearWilliam Shakespeare · Literature 9.5
  4. 4 Oedipus TyrannusSophocles · Literature 9.5
  5. 5 Paradise LostJohn Milton · Literature 9.5
  6. 6 The AeneidVirgil · Literature 9.5
  7. 7 The Book of JobAnonymous · Literature 9.5
  8. 8 The Brothers KaramazovFyodor Dostoevsky · Literature 9.5
  9. 9 The OdysseyHomer · Literature 9.5
  10. 10 The OresteiaAeschylus · Literature 9.5
  11. 11 UlyssesJames Joyce · Literature 9.5
  12. 12 Don QuixoteMiguel de Cervantes · Literature 9.4

Full standings, all 59 →

Standings by desk

five desks · the twelve highest at each · a desk opens its full standings

I · Visual Arts · 12 →

Visual art 12

  1. 1 Sistine Chapel CeilingMichelangelo 9.4
  2. 2 The Last JudgmentMichelangelo 9.3
  3. 3 The Ghent AltarpieceJan van Eyck 9.2
  4. 4 The Last SupperLeonardo da Vinci 9.2
  5. 5 GuernicaPablo Picasso 9.1
  6. 6 Las MeninasDiego Velázquez 9.1
  7. 7 DavidMichelangelo 9.0
  8. 8 The Calling of Saint MatthewCaravaggio 9.0
  9. 9 The Garden of Earthly DelightsHieronymus Bosch 9.0
  10. 10 The Third of May 1808Francisco Goya 9.0
  11. 11 The Rothko ChapelMark Rothko 8.6
  12. 12 The Night WatchRembrandt van Rijn 8.5

II · Auditory Arts · 14 →

Concert music 2 · Popular music 12

  1. 1 Symphony No. 9Ludwig van Beethoven · Concert music 9.3
  2. 2 String Quartet Op. 131Ludwig van Beethoven · Concert music 9.1
  3. 3 GhosteenNick Cave and the Bad Seeds · Popular music 8.8
  4. 4 Highway 61 RevisitedBob Dylan · Popular music 8.8
  5. 5 OK ComputerRadiohead · Popular music 8.8
  6. 6 RevolverThe Beatles · Popular music 8.8
  7. 7 The Velvet Underground & NicoThe Velvet Underground · Popular music 8.8
  8. 8 Kid ARadiohead · Popular music 8.7
  9. 9 Kind of BlueMiles Davis · Popular music 8.7
  10. 10 NevermindNirvana · Popular music 8.7
  11. 11 The Joshua TreeU2 · Popular music 8.7
  12. 12 CloserJoy Division · Popular music 8.6

III · Literary Arts · 21 →

Literature 21

  1. 1 The Divine ComedyDante Alighieri 9.7
  2. 2 The IliadHomer 9.6
  3. 3 King LearWilliam Shakespeare 9.5
  4. 4 Oedipus TyrannusSophocles 9.5
  5. 5 Paradise LostJohn Milton 9.5
  6. 6 The AeneidVirgil 9.5
  7. 7 The Book of JobAnonymous 9.5
  8. 8 The Brothers KaramazovFyodor Dostoevsky 9.5
  9. 9 The OdysseyHomer 9.5
  10. 10 The OresteiaAeschylus 9.5
  11. 11 UlyssesJames Joyce 9.5
  12. 12 Don QuixoteMiguel de Cervantes 9.4

IV · Audiovisual & Interactive Media · 12 →

Film 12

  1. 1 2001: A Space OdysseyStanley Kubrick 9.0
  2. 2 8½Federico Fellini 8.9
  3. 3 The Godfather Part IIFrancis Ford Coppola 8.9
  4. 4 VertigoAlfred Hitchcock 8.9
  5. 5 Raging BullMartin Scorsese 8.8
  6. 6 The Tree of LifeTerrence Malick 8.8
  7. 7 Blue VelvetDavid Lynch 8.7
  8. 8 PersonaIngmar Bergman 8.7
  9. 9 DekalogKrzysztof Kieślowski 8.6
  10. 10 The Discreet Charm of the BourgeoisieLuis Buñuel 8.6
  11. 11 Fight ClubDavid Fincher 8.5
  12. 12 There Will Be BloodPaul Thomas Anderson 8.5

V · Spatial & Environmental Art · 0 →

Architecture

Nothing entered yet.

Standings by axis

the highest on each criterion

Scores compare down an axis, not across them.

ANA · 1

The Inevitable

Ananke

  1. 9.6Oedipus Tyrannus
  2. 9.4The Last Supper
  3. 9.3String Quartet Op. 131

ALE · 2

The Unconcealment

Aletheia

  1. 9.7King Lear
  2. 9.7The Brothers Karamazov
  3. 9.6Hamlet

HYP · 3

The Sublime

Hypsos

  1. 9.7King Lear
  2. 9.7Symphony No. 9
  3. 9.7The Book of Job

MYT · 4

The Archetypal Deep

Mythos

  1. 9.8Oedipus Tyrannus
  2. 9.8The Divine Comedy
  3. 9.8The Iliad

PAR · 5

The Swerve

Parekklisis

  1. 9.8Ulysses
  2. 9.6Don Quixote
  3. 9.6Jerusalem

ENT · 6

The Living Form

Entelecheia

  1. 9.8The Divine Comedy
  2. 9.7Oedipus Tyrannus
  3. 9.7The Oresteia

APE · 7

The Bottomless Well

Apeiron

  1. 9.9Hamlet
  2. 9.8Don Quixote
  3. 9.8King Lear

AGO · 8

Pressure on Tradition

Agon

  1. 9.8Don Quixote
  2. 9.8Oedipus Tyrannus
  3. 9.8Sistine Chapel Ceiling

APH · 9

The Imperishable

Aphtharsia

  1. 9.8The Aeneid
  2. 9.8The Iliad
  3. 9.7Hamlet

TEC · 10

The Made

Techne

  1. 9.8Las Meninas
  2. 9.8The Divine Comedy
  3. 9.8The Ghent Altarpiece

COS · 11

The Inner Law

Cosmos

  1. 9.6String Quartet Op. 131
  2. 9.6The Divine Comedy
  3. 9.5Paradise Lost

MEG · 12

The Encompassed

Megethos

  1. 9.8The Divine Comedy
  2. 9.7Paradise Lost
  3. 9.7The Aeneid