A problem with... classics

[Guest velocipede2288]

For instance, I've recently tried both 1984 and The Alexandria Quartet, and failed to finish either (got about half way through Justine.). I've equally struggled with quite a few twentieth century classics writers, ranging from the very early, like Conrad, through (in no particular order) Kafka Lawrence, Scott Fitzgerald, Mann, Joyce, Orwell, Hemingway, Golding, Camus and others. That's not say that I don't like twentieth century books - I definitely do! - but it seems that I struggle to relate to a higher proportion of what might be termed classics. There are exceptions - I'm starting to enjoy some of Virginia Woolf's work, and have always enjoyed lighter work like Nancy Mitford - but the label 'twentieth century classic' seems to be a bit of the kiss of death for me.

 

I was surprised you found 1984 hard to read. I have read this one several times, along with Brave New World which I found to be a great read.

Whereas, Jane Austin sends me to sleep. Charlot Bronte,Dumas, Scott,Thomas Hardy,etc Terrific.

I think these books as jusst long enough and not too long, like Austin's.

[willoyd]

I was surprised you found 1984 hard to read. I have read this one several times, along with Brave New World which I found to be a great read.

I don't find it difficult to read, just that I simply don't like it. Hard to put my finger on what though, but there's an awful lot of fiction of that time that I feel that way about, so presume it's to do with style. I just get to a point (very quickly) where I simply don't want to spend my time reading it. Doesn't grab me at all. Whereas I love reading Austen......

[BookJumper]

I have a slightly different problem in reading 'The Classics'. In general terms, I love a lot of nineteenth century writing, both English (Austen, Brontes, Dickens, Trollope, some Eliot, Collins, Gaskell etc. etc.) and foreign (e.g. Zola, War and Peace etc.), but where I struggle are some of the more modern writers... 1984... Kafka, Lawrence, Scott Fitzgerald... Joyce... the label 'twentieth century classic' seems to be a bit of the kiss of death for me.

 

... even as an avid fan of Jane Austen, I would be prepared to concede that Mansfield Park isn't quite up in the same ranks as the others

I quite sympathise with your plight, actually. While I finished Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm as well as Kafka's Metamorphosis and thought them well-written and influential works, I wouldn't say I enjoyed the experience of reading them as such; not in the way I enjoy reading Shakespeare, Milton, the Romantics, Austen. I find Lawrence a hateful mysoginist, could never get into Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and would rather eat my own brain with a spoon rather than re-attempt Joyce's Ulysses without (in the immortal words of Bill Bailey) "a Guide to Ulysses and a Handbook to the Guide to Ulysses". I also agree on Mansfield Park - I could not believe I was trudging through a Jane Austen novel, trudging I tell you!!!

[Guest velocipede2288]

I found reading 1984 quite scary, and I guess this is because I was born in 1938, and could see this this sort of thing coming. And when you look at the communist states, and survailance cameras we have now in all our towns you can see some of it has come true. Very much like Huxley's Brave New World, was prophetic with cloneing. So liking it could all come down to age I suppose.

[BookJumper]

Oh, I can see why 1984 is scary; I did say that I found it an influential work. It's just that for some reason - no matter its sociopolitical importance or how well-written it is - I didn't enjoy the experience of reading it. It's not that it was difficult or painful or in any other way strictly unpleasant; I just didn't get that "ooooh" feeling I get from the classics which will stay with me forever. I think it's more to do with the lack of grand sentiments more than with mere bleakness: Antony and Cleopatra, Paradise Lost, Frankenstein, Persuasion are hardly cheerful, yet they stir me in a way 1984 didn't.

[willoyd]

You sum it up much better than me Bookjumper - that's very much how I feel.

[sirinrob]

Now being the contrary being I am. I do get that ooh feeling from some 20th century 'classics'. For those that do that, I've found its cohernce that counts. Here I'm thinking of Camus, Beckett and Conrad. As some of you know I cant stand Sarte, mainly due to his incoherence.

[BookJumper]

Beckett

I never could get Beckett - it took the combined genius of Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen on the West End stage to make me see some of it, and even then what I saw wasn't really my thing :eek2:!

[Guest velocipede2288]

I am about to start "The Talisman." by Sir Walter Scott. Let you know how it goes.

[sirinrob]

Don't worry Beckett is an acquired taste - I like him but then im really odd

[Anika]

I love classics! I have been reading them for years, and they are still my preferred genre. I very much enjoy the convoluted verbiage!

 

Most of the posts here do seem to be about English classics, (and by the way, Ovid, Aeneid and Homer are considered Classical) but those have always been my favorite.

 

I've read a lot of French authors too, some of whom write in the 'realism/naturalism' style (Zola, for example) which is probably why people find these more modern, since they have a grittier element to them.

 

But, I agree with those who say there are many others out there: Russian, German, Swedish, Italian, Spanish, etc., and not all of them are a struggle. The archaic language takes some getting used to certainly, but with the deterioration of language in general today, especially with e-mail and texting so prevalent, I think it's refreshing to read books with some artistry to them.

[BookJumper]

I very much enjoy the convoluted verbiage! ... with the deterioration of language in general today, especially with e-mail and texting so prevalent, I think it's refreshing to read books with some artistry to them.

Yes, yes, yes and yes; I completely, utterly, 100% agree. My favourite contemporary authors are in fact those who still demonstrate a measure of love and respect for language, and don't think that just because a work is in prose it can't be poetical. "Old-fashioned" is a compliment in my book.

[sirinrob]

I can't agree with Bookjumper and Anika more - give me skill with the expression, mastery of the language and conviction of style everytime - there seems to be an aversion these days to so called flowery language - I like that language as it is precise in meaning and adds colour - regardless of language - give me well expressed, evocative German as against bland modern German for instance.

[KW]

A writing teacher I had once said that few of the "classics" would be published in today's market: too long.

 

As the public's attention span shortens with vibrant, quick video games, TV and film options long verbose books aren't popular.

 

I have to agree with him, I find them slow.

[Kylie]

Very well put, Anika, Giulia and Sirinrob. I couldn't agree more!

[BookJumper]

A writing teacher I had once said that few of the "classics" would be published in today's market: too long.

There's a specific reason behind a lot of classics being "too long", i.e. that given the lack of films and video-games, reading used to hold a much larger share of the entertainment market: many 19th century novelists, from Dickens to Hugo, were originally published in serialised form - soap operas, if you like.

 

In any case, I quite enjoy "verbosity" when it uses pretty words to make pithy remarks about the human condition. Les Miserabl

Edited November 24, 2009 by BookJumper

[Kylie]

I read something once where some chapters of well-known classics were submitted to publishers as new works, and they were always rejected. The publishers didn't even recognise the works.

[Anika]

I read something once where some chapters of well-known classics were submitted to publishers as new works, and they were always rejected. The publishers didn't even recognise the works.

 

 

I believe it!! And, there's many great books of all eras (some bestsellers, even) that were turned down again and again before getting a break. 'Gone with the Wind' is one of them.

 

Just think of all the writers out there we might love who never learned the principle of the 'thick skin' and gave up after only one rejection. Kind of sad, really.

[sirinrob]

Another sobering thought, how many well known writers stopped writing novels after vitriolic criticism of one of their works. Certainly happened with Thomas Hardy - at least he gave us his poetry from that point on.