How Obscure

A friend gave me this book after I had dropped out of college. I barely remember it now. Mostly, the only image that remains is Jude looking at the distant towers of Oxford and realizing that he will probably never make it. Reading the recap on Wikipedia, I can understand why. I guess my friend knew me too well. I will never make to academia, though I work as staff in a major University (USC). It's just as well. They would have held me back. I have the freedom to be irreverent as I want. (My wife, who appreciates me, has told me that's what I am)

Lets's quiz: How obscure have you gone?

Charles Brockden Brown? (The first American Novelist, for those who don't know)
Queste del Saint Graol (English Translation, of course) 11th century French King Arthur allegory
The Story Of The Stone- Cao Xueqin, Vol 1 (Dream of The Red Chamber) Chinese 1700s, only managed to almost finish the first volume- about where I am with Proust
Headwaters of The Mississippi by Captain William Glazier 1901
The Autobiography of August Saint-Gaudens 2 vol.
The Mistress of the Manse by Dr. Holland

I once was in a class with John Rechy and mentioned that my ex-wife had bought me a great copy of Flaubert's Temptation of St. Anthony and he disappeared into his bedroom (he only taught in his apartment) because I was sure he wanted to look it up.

How many have read all the Mars and Venus books of Edgar Rice Burroughs?