Classics for Beginners discussion

How do you personally define something as a classic?

When it was written?
Because someone told you it was?
The author it was written by?

I tend to believe whatever Penguin tell me... Plus if it's still in print after 100 years it must have something going for it.

I tend to classify things as classics if they're still well-known after 50 years >.<

It's depressing that if you write a book in your old ages you will never know whether it was a classic. Just as a painter could not sell his paintings for as much as they are bought for when he is dead.

Yeah, it is :(

after 100 years?

There are so many classics i want to give a go now. I was at work and for some reason a load of them popped into my head.

Yes...

Well, usually I think of classics as books written between 1700 and 1900, but I sometimes refer to books like Harry Potter and The Giver as classics. After all, technically a classic is a work of art that remains popular for ages.

Yes, I will get an official definition and see what they say...

This is a modern classic...
http://classiclit.about.com/od/basics...

Tehe, I just started reading Catch 22 today and it was mentioned in that article :3

I guess I have two different definitions for classic books:

1)Books written many years ago that are available for people to read today.

2)Books that have endured in the minds of readers for many years, and have continued to gain the affection of new readers throughout the years.

I agree.

Nicolle wrote: "This is a modern classic...

Sorry, but there ain't no such animal.

I think of classics as books written at least 50 years ago and that are still in print.

Everyman wrote: "Nicolle wrote: "This is a modern classic...

Sorry, but there ain't no such animal."

Care to elaborate?

Nicolle wrote: "Everyman wrote: "Nicolle wrote: "This is a modern classic...

Sorry, but there ain't no such animal."

Care to elaborate?"

By definition, mine at least and I think most other readers, a classic is a book that has proved itself of enduring value over time. A modern book hasn't have the chance to prove whether it is or isn't a classic. I know that blurb writers are fond of pushing books by calling them modern classics, but that's like saying that a three year old is the next musical prodigy because she can play a toy piano. She might or might not be, but it's way premature to say so.

What about To Kill a Mockingbird? That is considered a modern classic...

Everyman you have a valid argument and it would be interesting to see what most Colleges and University Instructors would have to say about it? Margaret Attwood is not only considered a Classic Canadian writer but a Contemporary Classic writer - I tend to disagree, (she is not my cup of tea) however her understanding of the Dystopian genre is so disarming/alarming I find it understanding that she could be considered such a writer.

Lazarus, I tend to agree with your comment about Penguin books. LOL it made me look at my book shelf at every classic novel I have bought, been given ect and they are ALL Penguin. The only copies that are not Penguin are the books bought for school, I have Signet, Penguin, Prentice-Hall and other school based publications,

Nicolle, I think that To Kill a Mockingbird has reached such an age that it fits into 20th century classic but not contemporary. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, has some potential to eventually be considered contemporary classic.

I really like this question, and I might give it some more thought and either repost or edit this.

What is a Classic here is another page to check out to add to the information Nicolle found.

I'm not really sure. Just old books I guess.

I think classic requires that the book stands the test of time. As time passes if we still remember it then it is a classic.

I think it is a lot like Hollywood movie stars. Hundreds walk the carpet but only a handful will be remembered in a hundred years. We can guess and debate about which ones will be remembered, but only time will tell.

The problem with adding current books, like current movie stars, to any list of classics is that it is very easy to overwhelm a reading list with modern classics. Time sifts and sifts until only the very best remain.

Well said!

I'd say books written at least a generation ago that still holds significant meaning even outside it's time period. The Slaughterhouse Five and On the Road were both written only about 40 years ago, but count as classics in my mind.

I have to agree, Groovy. Books from the past show a snapshot of how it was back then.

I was actually discussing this with a friend today. While I have set the line my frien said that anything written a generation ago and has universal themes could be considered a classic. He also does not believe in such a thing as a "modern classic." It's interesting to see how everyone defines these terms. I love the "modern classics" I've read just as much, if not way more, than any of the "classics."

Here is a long but interesting article on classics....
http://classicbook.info/

also has some great lists to look over.

ok...the links are not all that great after all, but an interesting article.

I think there has to be some passage of time. I don't think a book like Harry Potter, (which I love,) can be considered a classic because it technically has not stood the test of time, even though I believe it will. Like a lot of people have said, fifty years is the ideal time in my mind.

Alicia 慧娴 wrote: "I think there has to be some passage of time."

I agree. The other critical thing in my mind is that once having read the book you want to re-read it at least once more in future, and when you do you find an abundance of meanings you missed the first time.

The true classics are still giving new and exciting insights after the third, fourth, fifth, etc. readings.

Thanks for sharing the article, Kristine. It was very interesting.

I was just thinking about this subject when I stumble on this forumn, and it has given me a lot of idea normally when i think of a classic I don't really think about the meaning but the list of books I come to known as a classic. So it interesting how a book can actually be classifield as a classic and it is very diverse.

It is very diverse and can sometimes be debatable.

True, true I can totally see it here and it is really fascinating.

For me, I think that some classics are personal...I know that where the red fern grows isn't really classified as a classic, nor is Charlotte's Web...but when you can recite the book and not have to look at the words, that is a book that has been read countless times. I believe that any book can be a classic if it means something to you.

I agree, Teri-lynn.

When I was about to enter high school as a freshman the school mailed out a list of about 80 books which it said was a recommended reading list for Junior High and Senior High (I am not so sure I could have handled the Illiad, or The Devine Comedy then, but it's what they recommended). I am slowly working off that list and I occaisionally other works that didn't make their cut (reading Atlas Shrugged now)...

Chris wrote: "When I was about to enter high school as a freshman the school mailed out a list of about 80 books which it said was a recommended reading list for Junior High and Senior High (I am not so sure I c..."

Chris do you know what books are all on that list....I would very much like to see how many I have read and that way I can work on reading them as well

I agree to what Teri said, I'm interested in knowing the classics on the list required for Junior and Senior High.

Me too, please post them Chris.

I once heard someone say that a classic is a book that can stand the test of time. To me, that's a great defintion.

Very well said Sashana....I think that is the best way to describe it....but I do have to say that some stand the test of time in a personal way so they should be considered classics to us as individuals!!!!

Here is a question about the test of time ....

Does a classic has an age? In another words, let us suppose, a book is considered as a classic after test of 100 years of publication, by all scholars as well general readers, who respect and love the literary quality. After another 100 years due to change in the culture, social structure, and development, the book is not much adored by many based on the same criteria.

The book will no more be a classic. So can one argue that because after 200 years the book has lost it’s literary appeal to scholars and people it never was a classic?

If the answer to this is no (or even may be), we should think of some dynamic definition of classic. It means the the way classic is defined today may not be a valid definition of Classic after few years. In that case some books which are considered as classic today, may not be classic for tomorrow and vice varsa.

There are one examples: Many books once banned are now classics. banned classics

When we think of test of time we should also consider the “test of time” in Shakespeare's age and test of time today are way different. Today the number of publications, availability of the books, readership of percentage of people is thousand times more than the old age, and that is the reason, in earlier days if it took, 100 years for a book to stand the test of time, today it may take only 10 years (or even less). This reminded me “Future Shock” and “Third Wave” by Alvin Toffler.

I am curious about every one’s thoughts over here.

I don't like the idea of having one strict definition of classic. Of course, you will have circles that determine classicality (not a word, I know) in a more demanding fashion, and people can rely on those if they wish. I think it's perfectly fine for each person and subgroup to have their own definition of classic to work with for their own purposes.

Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" wrote: "I don't like the idea of having one strict definition of classic. Of course, you will have circles that determine classicality (not a word, I know) in a more demanding fashion, and people can rely..."

I totally agree.

I think its a classic if it tells of the universal human condition and there is meaning and value humanity can derive from its pages no matter what walk of life or time in history one may live.

On my first day of English class back in my Sophmore year (many years ago) my English teacher asked the class what we had read over the summer. No one answered. I vowed then and their that I would always have an answer to that question. Hear's to you Judy Jarvis!

As requested, here is the list that was mailed to me the summer before my Freshman year at Mount Saint Joseph Academy in Rutland Vermont. At the time I was horrified :-)! I should note that no where do they claim this is a list of "classics" but it is the list I am working from:

"The following are recommended reading lists for junior and senior high school students as compiled by the English department and students at Mount Saint Joseph Academy."

JUNIOR HIGH

Accross Five Aprils
All Creatures Great and Small
Bullfinch's Mythology
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, A
Count of Monte Cristo, The
David Copperfield
Day No Pigs Would Die, A
Deerslayer, The
Diary of Anne Frank, The
Eric
Flowers for Algernon
Go Tell it on the Mountain
Great Expectations
Hobbit, The
Huckleberry Finn
Human Comedy, The
Hunchback of Notre Dame, The
I Am the Cheese
Illiad, The
Jane Eyre
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Kidnapped
Little Women
Morte D'Arthur
Odyssey, The
Of Mice and Men
Oliver Twist
Pearl, The
Prince and the Pauper, The
Romeo and Juliet
Separate Peace, A
Short Season
Silas Marner
Tolkien's Trilogy: 1 Fellowship of the Ring
Tolkien's Trilogy: 2 Two Towers
Tolkien's Trilogy: 3 Return of the King
Tom Sawyer
True Grit
Uncle Tom's Cabin

SENIOR HIGH

1984
A Raison in the Sun
Animal Farm
Anna Karenina
Antigone
Babbit
Catch 22
Catcher in the Rye
Crime and Punishment
Cry, the Beloved Country
Cyrano de Bergerac
Death in the Family, A
Devine Comedy, The
Don Quixote
Farewell to Arms, A
Go Ask Alice
Gone with the WInd
Good Earth, The
Grapes of Wrath
Great Gatsby, The
Gulliver's Travels
House of Seven Gables, The
Idylls of the King
Ivanhoe
Jungle, The
King Must Die, The
Les Miserables
Lord Jim
Lord of the Flies
Manchild of the Wedding
Member of the Wedding
Mill on the Floss, The
Moby DIck
My Antonia
Oedipus Rex
Old Man and the Sea, The
One Day in the life of Ivan Denisovich
Picture of Dorian Gray, The
Pride and Prejudice
Pygmalion
Rebecca
Scarlett Letter, The
Siddhartha
Stranger, The
Sun Also Rises, The
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
To Kill a Mockingbird
Travels with Charley
Walden
Wuthering Heights

I agree that they must "stand up to the test of time", but I will accept that something is a classic based on a general consensus.

I reserve the right to determine what truly speaks to me as a classic.

Although I appreciate works like "The Sun Also Rises" and "The Odyssey" and I am glad to have read them, I truly LOVE 1984, Les Miserables, Lord of the Flies and many others.

The fact that others call them a "classic" helped me find them, but the fact that I love them is ultimately more imortant to me than the label. I gladly read through "classics" that I think are just "okay" in order to add to the list of the ones I love!

"Classic' - a book which people praise and don't read."
— Mark Twain