"(F.J.: How do we define the classics?) Rao: Whatever talks of realities, not supposed realities, interests me. Iread the classics because of their concerns with fundamentals. The classics are concerned only with fundamentals; otherwise, they wouldn't endure. I would much rather read a great spiritual writer like Dostoevsky or Valery than what is written today. Why read a superficial novel when I could read the Mahabharata or Shankaracharya?...(F.J. Could you name the key classics for you? Rao: The Odyssey, Tristan und Isolde, Genji in Japan, Chinese classical poetry, and of course the Indian literature of all ages. The revival of old Greek myths, in the contemporary literature of France, is very important The classics are always contemporary because they speak of our essential relation to love, life and death. (F.J.: Is the cultural context important here?) Rao: There is no cultural context to love, life and death - Hamlet is universal. Orpheus, Oedipus- these are the fundamental myths of man."