Do you really think that the classics are special?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only "classic" that I have ever been able to read all the way through is "The Catcher in the Rye."

For some reason, that book is really good.

I re-read "The Catcher in the Rye" as an adult and it had a very different effect on me from when I read it as a teen. I saw it in a whole new light (and not a positive one).

Re: the basis of this thread - I do love reading the classics and continually go back to them after I've read some *popular* drivel.

[Anonymous]

I have made an effort over the last decade to read many of the classics. Some I absolutely love, some I merely like, and some I don't like. But there is value in reading all of them, for precisely the reasons a PP upthread outlined for you.

Incidentally I have similar reasons for wanting my children to have some religious education. It undergirds many other things I want them to understand and be curious about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The answerto your question is that you are asking the wrong question.

Most people don't read "the classics" and value them do so because they want to understand the impact those works had on history and on other works. If you haven't read the bible and a good anthology of greek myth, you won't be able to understand references to those two cultural touchstones that are included in every work of literature during hundreds of years or European history. You may or may not find The Illiad interesting, but it will enhance your ability to connect to many, many other works of literature.

In more recent "classics," we look at how it influenced style (James Joyce) or politics (Marx) or various social movements (Zora Neale Hurston) and read it because we want to understand how the original work interacted with society and influenced readers and subsequent authors.

So, if you want to read things that you, personally, connect to, then knock yourself out. But that has nothing to do with classic literature.

NP here. This covers it very well. I don't know if anyone would read Dante for the suspense or romance (although the Inferno is pretty funny in places). You read it for the insight it gives you into Dante's world, to admire his attempt to represent his own views on his religion, and to understand the references to "Abandon Hope" and the 9 circles.

Or you read it as a self-help guide, as this guy did: http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303663604579503700159096702

Now there's a nice example of someone in the 21st century connecting to a classic in a very real way.

[Anonymous]

I love reading the classics. In fact I like reading them better than reading most contemporary fiction.

I especially love 19th century novels. But I also get a kick out of reading earlier works and realizing how much human nature has stayed the same. It's pretty amazing, actually, to make such connections across the centuries.

[Anonymous]

Love the classics (well, not all but a lot) but also contemporary literature. I have to be in the mood for a classic novel though and be prepared to stretch my mind a little, not just read mindlessly for entertainment.