Strategies for reading the classics?

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by ficbot

So, anybody want to suggest a chronological bible? :-)

Well, I don't know about chronological, but I have to say that the Brick Testament is the most awesome way to experience the Bible.

And if you're interested in how the story of Genesis holds up to scientific knowledge circa the 70s or so, Isaac Asimov's In the Beginning, a line-by-line annotated version of that part of the Bible with commentary and explanation, is available DRM-free MultiFormat via Fictionwise.

Originally Posted by ficbot

I have so little knowledge (beyond an abstract idea at perhaps the Wikipedia level) that I don't really know where to start with those. Maybe with Homer? I think I find the essay format more dull than a play or poem or novel.

Best way to experience the Iliad is in Eric Shanower's excellent graphic novel series Age of Bronze. But he's just barely into the story because it takes a long time to draw. However, it gives you great background on the backstories of some of the major characters such as Achilles and Paris.

For prose/poetry versions, I highly recommend British classicist Peter Jones' Classics in Translation if your library has a copy. It's a very good set of humorous mini-essays about the major Greek and Roman philosophers, poets, and writers, what they contributed and why you might want to read it, and evaluates the various commonly-available decent-quality translations on accuracy and readability, with excerpted samples from each so that you can get a feel for which version might suit you best.

Jones is also one of the co-writers for the official Cambridge University course textbooks for learning Latin and wrote some very readable background-accompaniment books: The World of Rome, The World of Athens, and The Intelligent Person's Guide to the Classics (really more a "what have we learned from the ancients" rather than a "try reading these").

There are also plenty of fictional retellings of the Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, etc. that you might like to try if there's an author whose reputation you're familiar with who's done one. Ursula K. Le Guin and Marion Zimmer Bradley and Margaret Atwood (I think) have all done versions that focus on a subset of the characters, while a few authors have tried tackling the whole.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by Poppaea

How about "The Tennant of Wildfell Hall"? Not even this Bronte? It is so about emancipation and it is a good read, too, IMO.

Don't think I've read that one. I definitely remember Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, but any other Bronte novels are lost in the recesses of my brain.

[Poppaea]

Try it, its really good!

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by Poppaea

Try it, its really good! Wiki Summary

Thanks.

The handsome, witty Huntingdon is also spoilt, selfish, and self-indulgent.

The Wiki editors need to trim some synonyms, I think.

[ficbot]

I've read all the Brontes already

[crich70]

Originally Posted by ficbot

I've read all the Brontes already

I read most of Jane Eyre once. I don't recall why I didn't finish it at that time. Course now with my Kindle I can go back and read it again with the intent on finishing it this time. I do remember thinking it was a good read at the time.

[DMB]

Originally Posted by ficbot

I've read all the Brontes already

Do you like Shirley? It's the one where she's most like her friend Elizabeth Gaskell. And BTW have you read Gaskell? I particularly recommend Mary Barton and North and South. (Warning: Gaskell's books contain a few dialect words from northern England, but there aren't many. If you can read Dickens, you can certainly read Gaskell.)

[Poppaea]

I didn't like the end. It was too much "end" in the end. Everything tiedied up in a way I didn't care for. Too unrealistic. Or maybe I was just young and sceptic. Who knows. Of all the Brontes I favour Anne.

But normally I am not one for the girly books, even the classic girl books. I had no patience for Anna Karenina, thought this Heathcliff to be unbearable and couldn't care less for that meddling, stubborn stupid Emma.

My heart goes out to Humbert Humbert, I had a crush on Valmont and am in love with Achilles. Witty Odysseus has a special place in my heart and I hope never to waste my life on revenge as Edmond Dantes did. I tend to tell stories like Tristram Shandy and to suffer with Swann or Gervaise Macquart.

[DMB]

BTW for a good fictional introduction to Roman history (the period of the early Caesars) I recommend Robert Graves's I Claudius(BBC serialisation probably available on DVD).

Of course, IMO the most enjoyable book about ancient Rome is Gibbon's great Decline and Fall. I wasn't going to get onto the 18th century yet, but it seems to fit in if we're talking about the ancient world. As a history it is no longer up to date, but it is a joy to dip into. I think Gibbon produces some of the finest prose ever written in English.

[Poppaea]

North and South is great! Shirley is so-la-la, if you ask me.

Oh, and Middlemarch!

[Barty]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Your loss, to my mind. Many people seem to think Jane Austen's novels are dull because "nothing happens". But that's missing the whole point; they are about people, not "things". "Emma" is my personal favourite, although "Pride and Prejudice" is extremely witty. All 6 of her novels are fantastic reads, but you have to "get into" them and not (as you rightly say) expect them to read like a modern novel - they aren't.

Anthony Trollope was, by the way, one of the greatest 19th century English authors.

But, when it comes down to it, we all have different tastes in these things.

Kind of boggles my mind that people can NOT like Austen.

It's like not liking ice cream. Really?

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by crich70

I read most of Jane Eyre once. I don't recall why I didn't finish it at that time. Course now with my Kindle I can go back and read it again with the intent on finishing it this time. I do remember thinking it was a good read at the time.

Jane Eyre was assigned reading in high school, and I despised it. I decided to give old Jane a second try as an audio book from Librivox (with an excellent reader), and it's been on my mp3 player for months--I just don't like it and can't get through it.

[SeaBookGuy]

Originally Posted by Barty

Kind of boggles my mind that people can NOT like Austen.

It's like not liking ice cream. Really?

I recently read (listened to an unabriged) "Emma" and wasn't all that impressed.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by DMB

BTW for a good fictional introduction to Roman history (the period of the early Caesars) I recommend Robert Graves's I Claudius(BBC serialisation probably available on DVD).

Yes, it's been available on DVD for years (the UK release is better, as it comes with extra bonus features and often the Amazon UK store has it on deep discount sale).

If you've ever wondered what Captain Picard looked like back when he had hair, you need to watch this. <-- Finally, I have a use for this smiley!

Originally Posted by Barty

Kind of boggles my mind that people can NOT like Austen.

It's like not liking ice cream. Really?

Sometimes people are the literary equivalent of lactose* intolerant and just can't digest stuff that other people find enjoyable and nourishing through no fault of their own.

Personally, I've always been more of a frozen-yogurt type myself.

* Which I suppose makes SparkNotes and such the literary equivalent of Lactaid.

[ficbot]

Hmm, the Brontes do kind of blend together. I remember thinking that Jane Eyre was kind of over-rated, and I don't remember much about Shirley. I think Wuthering Heights and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall were the most memorable of the bunch.

All right, here's what I've done so far I have managed to acquire a decent selection of the Barnes & Noble classics. Not all of them, but a fair number. So, I have loaded then, tagged them, converted them etc. in Calibre and sorted them by year. I am going to start my classics reading with these. I'll go in order and for every book, I'll read at minimum the introduction and the first little bit---if I hate it, I'll stop and go onto the next one. If I enjoy it, I'll continue. This will be my 'training wheels' set of classics since it has the intros and all that stuff.

After that, I'll just pick whatever strikes me I do like the idea of going chronologically, at least for this first push. But I have read plenty of classics out of order and with no harm done before this, and I suppose I am quite capable of reading a Wikipedia blurb if I want some 'context' later