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I did have to study Moby Dick in one of my literature classes in college, but after a degree and a masters in literature, I was required to read just about all the "Standard" classics.
I struggled with the book at the time I was forced to read it, probably due to the pace at which I had to read it and the analysis which was forcefed me that I then had to regurgitate to get a good grade. I would like to go back and look at the book again with eyes ten years older and see what I see in it now.
On the same bent, I've read War and Peace twice. I liked it the first time. I fell in love with Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky's new translation. All arguments about literal/though trasnlation aside, it breathed more life into 1200 pages than I ever thought possible.
I see people in book clubs talk about wanting to read "classics" and then giving up within the first 20 pages. Perhaps this is what the aforementioned "pulp" has done to our society's literary conciousness? Or perhaps we just lack the clutural context and history surrounding these great works and thefore just don't care?
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