The Classics

The Guardian ran an article entitled "The Curse of the Classics" in which the author claims that "Today, someone's taste for the "classics" can cover up no discernible individual or original taste of their own. Classic trumpeting can be a refuge for philistinism or nationalistic indolence. Unlike the word masterpiece, the classic category only pretends to be an aesthetic valuation." Doubtless this view has some merit, I know people who have added books along the lines of To Kill a Mockingbird, The Dubliners, or The Illiad under the favorite books under their facebook page not cause they liked the book (or in some cases had even read the book) but because it made them seem smart or sophisticated or well read.

Yet these books do not have that standing merely because they are assigned in English classes. There has to be something to these books that inspires generation after generation to pick up The Brothers Karamazov, authors to play with the stories from the Edda, yet another Hollywood block buster to be loosely based off a Shakespeare play. People don't put that much stock in critics opinions. These works are still popular because they speak to the human experience--because their prose moves us and their ideas inspire us.

I am currently reading Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. There is little in the book to act as a corollary to my life, in fact the remote setting and fantastic elements would make it difficult for many modern readers to relate to. Except that Hugo cuts to the quick of the character making their passions, thoughts and behavior intelligible and the themes universal. Two hundred or so years after it was written Hugo's book still says more about what it means to be human than anything on prime time television, and it does so in soaring language. May classics are classics for that reason--since they are timeless treatises on humanity which challenge our world views and touches our souls. Perhaps that is why someones list of favorite books might be peppered with classics rather than a lack of "discernible individual or original taste."