Teaching a world literature class at a public college presented an opportunity to test Allan Bloom's and E. D. Hirsch, Jr.'s charges that today's college students are not only ignorant of great literature, but also ill-equipped to seriously consider such works. Beginning with a class survey of reading tastes and experiences, it was discovered that students shared an enthusiasm for reading but felt apprehension about demanding texts. Using a journey motif as a unifying theme allowed for misstarts and misinterpretations as students learned their way around classic texts. Student presentations established a pattern that was later used on midterm and final exams: students measured their values against those in the literary classic. In contradiction to Bloom's assumptions, students did profitably measure their own values against those expressed in the great book. Drawing on personal experience allows a measure for assessing great literature that should not be overlooked. Bloom and Hirsch notwithstanding, the contemporary student is open to the enrichment and illumination great literature offers. (SAM)