Classic Literature

Let’s talk classic literature. Do you love the classics? Do you avoid them? Do you adore one author but hate another? Me, I love Charles Dickens and Victor Hugo, but I cannot stand Jane Austen or Leo Tolstoy. I’m a big Jane Eyre fan but can skip everything else from the Bronte sisters. 

What makes classics such a genre of love or hate? It seems as of all the literary genres out there, the classics are without neutral territory, you’re either a huge fan or you avoid them at all costs. Is it the outdated writing? Is it our modern and industrialized lifestyles? Is it a lack of tension and excitement compared to what was scandalous then versus now? 

Maybe it is our technological century, but so many of the classics are easier to ingest by watching a movie version (even then I still can’t stand Tolstoy). I feel this goes for kids’ classics too. My kids hate Beatrix Potter books, but they have enjoyed watching every version of them as a movie or show. The same goes with Paddington Bear and Mary Poppins. 

This is another struggle for me as I would prefer to read the books, but when I cannot get through it I question wanting to watch the movie. Many times with these older stories the movie is better because they have at least cut down the descriptive text and modernized some language. But sometimes the movie is just as difficult to get through. 

And sometimes, both the book and movie versions are great. The ones I immediately think of are Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

So do we just give up on reading classic literature and wait for someone with a more patient and artistic mind to turn it into a movie? I don’t intend to do that as there are some classics that I can get through. In fact, I picked up Nabakov from the library and will be cracking into Lolita soon, or at least trying.

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