Why read the classics?

Because these are works that we have agreed, as a society, are important parts of our cultural heritage. Remember, school is supposed to prepare one to be a good member of society as well as prepare one for his or her future occupations.

In addition, they have value in preparing students as consumers of literature--the classics influenced the works that came after them (e.g., Poe invented the detective story and the modern horror story, and Twain was the first author to have his characters talk like real people--until then, even the lowest street urchin spoke like a college grad.). It really is amazing how often we find allusions to classic literature--on the news, in other books, even in the sports section of the paper. Recognizing them enriches the reading/viewing/listening experience.

The reason these specific authors were chosen is the same reason most classical authors are chosen--the quality of their work and their importance to literature is undisputable.

Because they are great.

The short answer would be, if you don't like it, don't read it, it's sure no skin off my nose.

The reasonable answer would be that such authors are assigned because of the enduring value of their prose and poetry. By and large, Poe's poetry is all that is offered, although his short fiction is among the best in the English language. The Fall of the House of Usher is the "perfect" short story. There is nothing, not a single line, in that story which is not directed to the climax of the story. His other short fiction was innovative, too--The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Purloined Letter are among the earliest examples of "crime" fiction. The Gold Bug evokes a gothic mood which has the most important, and typical, of the attributes of Poe's fiction--surreality. It is also a story of buried treasure written long before Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. Discovering what is actually real, what the truth is, lies at the heart of his short fiction, whether it is actual detective fiction, or other types of stories. Either the reader cannot discern immediately the reality, or the protagonist of the story has lost touch or is losing touch with reality. The Premature Burial, The Tell-tale Heart and The Pit and the Pendulum are the earliest examples of "horror" stories. Poe was extremely inventive, and that was not appreciated in America in his time, and it was only after the French poet Charles Baudelaire "discovered" Poe a few years after the latter's death, and translated what he considered the best of his short fiction in a compilation entitled Histoires Extraordinaires that he became well-known in Europe. Today, he is better appreciated in Europe than in the the United States, where it is chiefly his poetry which is taught (not a bad thing, his poetry is quite good), but the short fiction is either ignored, or the crucial aspects of the psychology of his stories is glossed over. The titles in blue above are "clickable" and all lead to a site at which his entire body of work may be accessed.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, known to the world as Mark Twain remains to this day my favorite American author. I cannot recommend a reading list for you, because i like everything i've ever read by him. It is odd that you have mentioned these two authors, as both were iconoclasts. Poe was a rebel against the Protestant Ascendancy in America and its pinchpurse ethics and prudish morality. Twain was a rebel against American imperialism and the "manifest destiny" clapytrap which gripped our nation in his lifetime. Just as Poe's more fantastic literature is usually not reviewed in schools, so Twain's strongest condemnation's of American Policy in the Philippines after the Spanish War do not get taught in schools. The War Prayer was an attack on unquestioning patriotism at the beginning of the war, and To the Person Sitting in Darkness was a bitter diatribe against American policy after the end of that brief war, when American troops fought the Moro and Hukbalahap "insurgents." Twain also wrote a strong work condemning Mary Baker Eddy and Christian Science, after both his wife and daughter died in terrible agony, refusing all medical treatment because they had become devotees of that "religion." Christian Science was withdrawn within weeks of its publication, and was out of print for more than 75 years. Christian Science may have made Protestant clergymen uncomfortable, but any attack on religion made them more uncomfortable. An excellent collection of Clemen's short work which takes a scalpel to society was published within the last ten years or so, and entitled A Pen Warmed up in Hell--i highly recommend it.

Both Poe and Twain wrote in an American "idiom." That means that they used the speech patterns of the times and places in which they lived. Poe was much more the innovator literarily than was Clemens, but Clemens was not behind hand in exploring subjects "polite society" did not discuss, and his consistent scorn for religion and government means that most of his best work will never be taught in American schools. For his novels, i recommend A Connecticutt Yankee in King Arthur's Court, The Mysterious Stranger, The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg and The Tragedy of Puddin' Head Wilson.

Both these authors stand head and shoulders above all but a handful of American authors. The only problem with teaching about them in school is that the best of their work makes "normal" people uncomfortable, or is not understood by them, and so is not taught in school.

And so, in school, a kid ends up getting the most mediocre of the author's work, told that it's the best American literature has to offer, and inspiring nobody...

Yer jsut tryin' to cheer us all up, eh doggy?

Make 'em read all of Harry Potter and 'The Da Vinci Code' - that about covers the last few years worth of 'literature'.

Because the classics rock......

Just like learning Latin - you won't speak the actual language, but it will give you a better vocabulary and increase the chances of being able to understand a word or phrase by being able to recognize it's root.

When you've read at least some of the classics, you'll understand passing references people make, as well as many of the lyrics written by Sting.

Not only that, but many of the stories are great.

capice?

I'd argue you could get the same benefit by learning another romance language, as well as having a useful language skill. I learned Spanish at the age of 10 and it helped me to gain a much deeper understanding of the English language.



Agreed. Also, the more you read, the more you appreciate literature. I discovered this in part in college. I was always a big reader, but in what amounted to a crash course in literature starting with ancient Greek lit, we blew through centuries of classics, and spent a lot of time analyzing the references to the other works we'd read.

Try reading TS Eliot without extensive literary knowledge is like trying to decode sign language with no idea of what sign language is. You might catch something now and again, but aren't going to follow it too well. Once you begin to understand what's behind it, and the things Eliot's referencing, you suddenly reach a point where you say "I get it!" and his poetry goes from being mind-numbing drivel that you're forced to slog through for class to a fascinating work of literature that blows your mind for it's complexity.

Sorry, that was long-winded.

Exactly.

Writers like Shakespear literally transcent time. The stories apply today just as they did when they were written. You need to get past the language barrier but after you do, you'll see how much people have not changed.

I agree for the most part with other posters so far.

However I think it's a mistake to assume that the classics, or the Modern Library's top 100 novels have some inherent value. The public too easily accepts the opinions of codgers like Harold Bloom, who have narrowed the canon down to a cluster of mostly European authors.

There is a LOT of literature out there besides the canonized classics.

I do respect a great number of the "usual suspects," Hemingway, Fitzgerald (my real favorites are the Russians), and they deserve credit for pioneering new forms and styles. Many were innovators. The short story is a relatively recent form, Poe one of the first short story writers.

I goddman hate D.H. Lawrence, though. I'd like to get that off my chest.

Basically, I think we could dispense with a good percentage of the classics and read some non-white authors.

How bad can they really be? I figure if they have been around this many years (as many of them have been) then there must be some reason and/or value to them. Even more recent books from the twentieth century such as The Catcher In The Rye, Brave New World, 1984, Down These Mean Streets , The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter etc. have value. They show ideas of not only what may be happening at a particular time, which will serve as a wonderful historical view in the future, they also show what people think and believe the future may look like-----physically, ecologically, mentally etc. Books are creations and just like pieces of art work that you find in museums and galleries, they might not appeal to everyone. In school you don't get a lot of choice and so in order to receive a decent grade it is wise to read the book which in turn will give you an invaluable skill later to help fill hours of boredom when you find the electric is out and you cant access either the internet or your favorite television program.

Read a few Dickens and Wharton books and find yourself carried away to a land of incredible things.


One last thing: Reading Is FUNdamental------website link

I re-read The Odyssey not too long ago, a good new translation. And I got as much of a kick out of it as I did when I read it in freshman English many moons ago.

One value to reading this stuff is that you begin to see that our modern concerns aren't something new. Love, war, loyalty, treachery--it's been going on for a long time. Figuring that out is worth the price of admission, IMHO...

Oof. Dickens...to me reading Dickens is building a house by hand. It's hellish work while you're doing it and not very enjoyable, but once you're done you can remember that work fondly. In other words, when I read Tale of Two Cities, I wanted to tear my own eyes out every page, but once I finished it, I was so enthralled with it that I went back and reread sections because it was so good.

I'd start with something lighter. Go with Margaret Atwood or Hemingway.

Reading classics equals to building fundaments of a house.
With not-so-well fundaments you CAN, of course, read books, but you CANNOT fully apprehend and/or interpret them.
With some decent knowledge of history of literature your approach to books is not only more competent, but also gives you greater pleasure in reading. From Homer on, there are books which have marked periods of history, even influenced them; books which have started new movements in history of literature or marked it some other way. These books are commonly called "classics" and they're worth of our attention not only because of their "position" in literature, but also because of the reason WHY are they considered masterpieces of literature.
Even if you don't find (at first!) entertainment in them, it is always smart to read them, at least for "basic knowledge" and better understanding of history and culture - and not to mention that it's also a sign of well education: imagine, for example, finding yourself among the group of people and then somebody suddenly compares someone you discuss about to some extra-famous character from literature (Raskolynikov, Ana Karenina, Little Nell....it doesn't really matter) and you have only vague idea of what he/she wants to say, or somebody quotes something and you have to wonder where is this from...Of course that nobody can be completely educated in this field because of different backgrounds and culture, but if these happen too often you will be characterized as ignorant :wink:

I agree that some classics are challenging to read, especially if their covers seem to be too far away or if the usage of words in them seems to be too "rich" - but is it not a great way to increase vocabulary?