Quote:
Originally Posted by issybird
 Maybe it’s been around so long because it’s that good?
One mark of a classic is that it’s open to different interpretations over time. Classics live; there’s a universality to them. Jane Eyre is one example of this; the understanding of Bertha Rochester is far different now that it was a century and a half ago.
That’s quite the non sequitur. |
You do realize that Grapes of Wrath was written in 1939, is considered an American classic and is taught in school don't you? Hardly a non sequitur since I was pointing out that there are other American classics that do appeal to me.
Understanding of a book doesn't change over time, unless new information comes out about it. Projections onto a book change all the time. That hardly is the hallmark of a classic. The fact that it's still being read after almost 100 years makes it a classic, even if I don't particularly care for it. The Sherlock Holmes stories are classics because people still enjoy them after all this time, not because literary critics continue to put out new projections onto Sherlock Holmes and Watson.