Literature in todays world.

[missblackswan]

Hi I am new here...so I don't know if this has already been discussed (i looked but didn't find anything similar)but,

I find myself the only one among friends and family who reads literature or "classic literature" books. I find it interested that young people and even those of the baby boomer generation no longer take interest or pleasure in reading these books. I am always told that they are boring and old...

Today I got a little curious and decided to see if this is the general consensus on classical literature, so I searched through google "boring books", "most boring book I've read" etc. etc. I was surprised to find that all of the classics I love best, "Shirley by Charlotte Bronte, Middlemarch by George Eliot, The picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde and even the generally love Pride and Prejudice to be among the lists of books people found yawn worthy and monotonous! I immediately begun to feel quite alone in my love for these great classics, and I am so glad I located this site, hopefully there are others out there who love these books and have read them twice like I have!

I guess the question I am asking is, is this the general consensus on classics? Are they no longer enjoyed by the last two generations? And how do you think literature is going to be perceived by the next generation?

My fears are that the next generation will take no heed of the literature that set the standard in not only the use of language, but the very idea of the plot. I was very surprised by this article released last year... http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/a...do?expand=true

I guess soon there will be no support for great works?

[JBI]

I don't know - I'm surrounded by classics every day - in truth, I think of myself as rather eccentric on these forums for being an advocate for contemporary poetry, whereas virtually no one on these boards but a select handful (notably Quasimodo, who keeps the Poetry forum alive) really have much interest.

In truth though, the poetry crowd all, if they are series, have strong classical backing, as strong classical backing is rather important to reading poetry. The contemporary novel crowd, seem to have less interest.

Generally though, on these boards you will find most people tend toward the classic novel, with, it would seem, very few interested in the contemporary, literary novel. That, of course, is not a representation of society.

More than ever though, classical novels and texts are made available. I can't help but think there weren't that many classics available 50 years ago. Perhaps the overwhelming amount of them detracts people, or perhaps simply that people are being bombarded by advertisements for contemporary, popular novels.

I'm not to sure this generation has abandoned the classics, and I think the figures on the Norton and Penguin publications show an increase in interest, or perhaps just a perpetual interest. Perhaps the lack of study for upper class people in classics (languages including) takes away the potency of classical importance, but I don't think many serious readers only read contemporary fiction.

In general though, people read popular contemporary fiction. That is because, quite simply, it is easy, accessible, and heavily advertised, and often very cheap. They have them stacked in supermarkets here even, so one can just pick them up with their groceries. To get a good classic, you really need to get a penguin (18$ Canadian), or a university or academically pressed book. Penguins generally sell cheap mediocre translations and editions, so there is even that, in terms of detraction.


But the general reason, is quite simply, there is no promotion, outside of school, for these books. You'll find though, that there are many of classic readers out there, they just are scattered. For instance, one of my friends, who is a computer-science student, from a Chinese background, has a great love for Austen, the Brontes, and Charles Dickens. In contrast, someone in one of my literature courses is obsessed with Twilight. It all depends, though the people who sit around me like to make fun of the girl for liking Twilight, with one of my friends, commenting on the plot of a half-vampire baby eating its way out of a womb "That has to be the stupidest thing I have ever heard. How can you read such garbage?"

[higley]

You're right, many people do reject classics. I actually think that classrooms have become a detriment to enjoying literature, because when I polled my own friends they often said that their classes made these books seem boring. I adore classics, I read a lot of em but curiously enough, I liked the ones I've read outside of school a lot more than the ones that teachers assigned. Generally it's the feeling that you're going over the same tired curriculum that's been done to death. I never liked knowing that I was reading the same book and being tested on the same material that had sustained a particular English class for the past several years.

I think that if schools make more of an effort to revamp their curriculum every year and introduce new thoughts, people and particularly students would be less adverse to reading literature outside of class because their perception would not have been ruined by dry lectures.

[grotto]

Personally, I find a lot of what people call “classic literature” to be boring, over promoted, long winded drivel. Sorry, I know a lot of people will find that insulting but, so be it. The redundancy of some works, like Moby Dick amazes me!

For me, I have found a lot of people don’t have the ability to make up there own mind nor do they have the slightest bit of imagination or the ability to form their own opinions. They rush out and buy what others call the “Great Books” and go, oh yeah! I get it now! This is what is called great! Witness the crowd mentality of everything else in life, why should it be any different in literature?

If you like it, read it! If someone suggests something that may be out there a bit, keep an open mind, you may just get off on a new way of thinking. To justify what you read by somehow being among those who claim to be in the know is pointless, not to mention shallow.

I personally can’t stand Hemmingway, Fitzgerald, Melville, D.H. Lawrence and a slew of others, “Dickens I can take in small doses”. Does that make me an anti classic reader? No, It makes me someone who doesn’t conform to the norm. I do however read a lot of what is considered classic. I read what I like and the heck with what is in vogue.

[higley]

JBI that's too funny. Twilight is the only book I've actively talked my friend out of reading. She says she listened to me.

I have to say, though, that I am not a fan of 19th century romance literature (or for that matter, romance literature from any century). I read Jane Eyre in class and hated it. Thinking that maybe I just was influenced by the classroom environment, I read Wuthering Heights on my own, and hated that too. Same with Portrait of a Lady, Pride and Prejudice, etc. You'd think I'd have learned to give up already, but I was convinced that there was something to these books that I was missing, until I realized it's just a matter of taste.

[LitNetIsGreat]

I guess the question I am asking is, is this the general consensus on classics? Are they no longer enjoyed by the last two generations? And how do you think literature is going to be perceived by the next generation?

My fears are that the next generation will take no heed of the literature that set the standard in not only the use of language, but the very idea of the plot. I was very surprised by this article released last year... http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/a...do?expand=true

I guess soon there will be no support for great works?

I don't think that there is the need to be quite that pessimistic. It is true that there are a lot of distractions around for young people and I'm not surprised to read about the schools that rejected those books, most GCSE students wouldn't touch them, but some do, at least eventually, I'm a firm believer in the development of reading. The standard of education is another point altogether and not one I'm going to get involved in here, (headache, need a beer, potentially a long rant and I'm not up to it) but an interesting side-issue nevertheless.

Going beyond schools the reading of what might be called "literature" is obviously in the minorities with the general public, but as JBI sort of said these minorities all add up and the market is still fairly good for these books and probably will be for a while.

[missblackswan]

JBI, you're right about the price of books. I worked at a book store for 2 years and you wouldn't believe that more people come in to read the books like it is a library than actually purchase them. Yet, our libraries are losing funding and people aren't using them as much! I usually shop a second hand book stores, because I just can't afford to spend hundreds of dollars on books each month. At the same time present authors are losing income by me doing so...but I digress. Still, your point is very valid. I also do spend time reading poetry...but I really love to write it more, and I am afraid reading too much might influence my style...I would hate to be a copy cat.

higley, I know the way school can present literature books is very uncreative. I was homeschooled for high school so I didn't have to deal with the worst of it, since most classics are required to be read during those years. However, in homeschooling I was still required to do the same list as those in school...but I guess it was different, because I was interested by the lesson plans my fellow homeschooler's and I were learning from. We were allowed to express our own ideas on the book's plot and premise, and I think that helped those who weren't that interested.

grotto, I am sorry that you find most classic literature boring and over promoted. You may be refering to such classics as Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Grapes of Wrath etc. that have found their place in this advertising age. Everyone is privileged to their opinion, and I do agree that such works as Pride and Prejudice are getting over-hyped by media. I have met many people who claim they "love" the book, but cannot even tell me the name of Jane Bennet's love interest...a very vital part of the story. I also agree with you that people can get sucked in by marketing and rush out to buy "great books". However, what you didn't take into account is, what if that person who rushed out enjoyed that "great book"? The marketing was surely worth the one person who finds pleasure in reading literature they have never explored? At least I think so. Since reading is all about enjoying oneself. Also, I would hesitate before you say you are not conforming to the norm...I hardly see classic literature as the norm at least where I am. Science Fiction definitely is the norm right now. And my post was not meant to infer that all who do not read classic literature are feebleminded. In fact I believe any and all reading of books is great, in an age where so many spend more time watching TV than having their nose in a book.

[JBI]

Don't be afraid of influences on your style - all poets have influences. It is the range, and use of influences that generate poetry. In truth, even the oldest poets had influences. The first anthology of Chinese Poetry, from what I understand, was a text of oral tradition works, that had roots in the folkculture and generational cultures of the past. Influence is essential, it's just that some people are classic-preoccupied, or West-preoccupied, and can't seem to be influenced by different things, or kick their influences, and that is where the problem is. Though, be sure to read poetry, the act of writing poetry itself, to me, seems to necessitate the act of reading poetry. It is, after all, a craft about sharing, and one who one gives doesn't really have much to give.

[higley]

higley, I know the way school can present literature books is very uncreative. I was homeschooled for high school so I didn't have to deal with the worst of it, since most classics are required to be read during those years. However, in homeschooling I was still required to do the same list as those in school...but I guess it was different, because I was interested by the lesson plans my fellow homeschooler's and I were learning from. We were allowed to express our own ideas on the book's plot and premise, and I think that helped those who weren't that interested.

Personalizing the curriculum is a great way to inspire interest.

[grotto]

No need to apologize, I don’t find all classic literature boring and over promoted, just some of it. While true, if someone goes for a classic and it starts them on their journey, so be it. There is a lot of good stuff out there, just as anything else, one has to weed through what is judged as good and find their own likes. That includes finding what you don’t like, can’t have one without the other.

As far as forcing what is considered classic down the throats of ninth graders, I think it does more harm than good. I know it has turned a lot of young readers off to have too trudged through Great Expectations and Moby Dick as if it were laborious grading chore. Heaven forbid one might read a meaning beyond what was in a study plan and then fail for expressing that view! Reading is supposed to be taught to open a world, not to close it!

I’m not against classics at all, just the false comments from those who think they can only judge what is good from a list someone else has put together. I’ll read anything that interests me and allows my mind to think and wonder, whether it was written last year or 2,500 years ago matters not to me. Some of the greatest books I have read wouldn’t make any top 100 list and some aren’t even in print anymore.