Something Else Saturday – What Classic Literature Is and Why We All Need It

Words have been my friend since before I understood the definition of the word friend itself. One of my earliest memories is of my maternal grandfather writing my name on a bag of popcorn at the zoo and asking me, “Well, do you think maybe it’s for the person whose name is on the bag?” That was my name on the bag! I remember sitting on his lap at the kitchen table in the house where my mother grew up, reading simple words like CAT and DOG when he wrote them underneath stick-figure drawings of the animals. I learned to love words, and thus started collecting books.

However, by the time I reached high school I was more apt to read Stephen King than Shakespeare, king of the medieval stage. I shunned works like Beowulf and Oliver Twist. Pride and Prejudice? My prejudice against antiquated literature wouldn’t allow me to lower my pride enough to even consider it. (At this point I’d like to make a public apology to Susan Wall, my junior English teacher who painstakingly not only read but also graded an 11-page handwritten essay that passionately compared and contrasted the Stephen King books Salem’s Lot and The Shining. I am so, so sorry to have put you through that, especially after you specifically said how you were not a fan of his work; and even more especially after home schooling my own high school student.)

In the last few years I decided that in teaching literature to my sons, I’d use it as an opportunity to catch up on the books I’d skipped out on during that time in my own life. We read through Beowulf, then listened to snippets of an audio where the text was read in its original language, and finally watched a computerized Angelina Jolie portray the poor creature’s mother.

(Another apology here for my senior English teacher because first of all, I really was a pain in the butt while you tried to teach our class Beowulf, making jokes and flat out refusing to do the final exam. And to Carolyn Groves, my sophomore English teacher, Medea isn’t something we’ve studied yet, but it is on the list. Hopefully they put more effort into it than I did, as my final essay for your class had the oh-so-insightful theme of, “Wow, what a slut.” It was an antic that resulted in my failing English and spending 3 weeks in summer school while in Spanish class, ironically, I received a B for that same semester, a fact my family has yet to let me live down.)

We’ve covered Lord of the Flies, Treasure Island, A Wrinkle in Time, MacBeth, Tuck Everlasting (which had us all in tears), The Call of the Wild, and Oliver Twist. On my own I’ve revisited the works that did keep me up late at night through the last half of my public school education; Anne of Green Gables, To Kill a Mockingbird (I still cry at the end.), and the works of Lord Tennyson. Meanwhile, I’ve picked up some new favorites in the fantasy favorites which include things like The Hobbit and pretty much anything written by Terry Pratchett, as well as contemporary fiction writers like Anita Shreve, Wendy Corsi Staub, and Jodi Picoult. And I spent an entire summer dragging out Pride and Prejudice just so I could crush a little longer on Mr. Darcy. They do not make men like that anymore! But, I digress.

Why is classic literature important? Here are some of my theories on the subject.

• Timeless themes strike a chord with every generation, and because of this literature is a great way to bridge gaps between generations. I know it was interesting to hear my boys’ thoughts on books I’d read at their age. Not only could I reflect on what I thought about the book then, but also I could compare it to what I’ve learned about life since and ask them thought-provoking questions.
• Great authors of classic literature know how to write effectively. Obviously, they must have been doing something right if we’re still reading their books after all these years, right? That’s not to say there aren’t great contemporary authors of literature. I believe the perfect curriculum is open-ended with an eclectic mix of both classic and contemporary works to provoke young minds. Limiting curriculum to contemporary literature only is like teaching children about Clinton, the Bushes, and Obama without ever telling the about Washington or Lincoln.
• A good book can change a person’s life, even if it’s only because it changed their opinion on something within their life. Good books are good because they stay with us, almost haunting us with their message. When I read Of Mice and Men, I was not expecting to feel such pity for Lennie, or tearing up at his inevitable end despite the parallel between his wanting to pet the soft things and the movie version of Frankenstein’s monster putting pretty things in the water.

I believe that those three things qualify a book as “classic literature”, or at least they do in my home school class. Regardless of your age, gender, race, or any number of orientations that make you the unique person you are, you need classic literature. Literature is the number one way to see the world and its various cultures without going anywhere, and if you aren’t willing to open your mind then you’re wasting a valuable opportunity.

One of the best ways I’ve found to get new reading suggestions is through my local book club, Literature, Libations n’ Laughter. Just the fact that every other meeting is held at a tavern bookstore alone implies the coolness of this group. Not only do I get fab reading suggestions, but I also learn things about my community that I didn’t know before, like who’s running for which political office and the importance of GMO’s. Earlier today I ordered some new books from Amazon and among the choices are a book about dogs, a book about a woman searching for her Armenian roots, a book about an orphanage, and a book about a creepy circus that only operates after dark.

What are you reading? What equates classic literature to you? And what are your favorite books? I’d love to hear all about it in the comments section. Happy page-turning!

Becky