Saket Suryesh: "Why Writers Should Read the Classics"

what is your view on the importance of classics to writers?


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kuwisdelu

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Or with music, don't mind me if I skip the entire era from 1750-1830. I've heard it all and it truly does sound the same. There are only three names mentioned (Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven) with the same patrons that get any playtime. They choke the repertoire of the local symphony orchestra to the point that you can't listen to anything else. The only reason why it is so heavily revered was because the piano was invented near 1750 and since the Great Piano Boom in the 19th century, it was used as a measure of skill on that particular instrument.

I thought Bungie settled this in their latest Destiny commercials.

Classical music means Led Zeppelin.
 

Xelebes

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It depends on where you're from. Led Zepellin isn't aging all that well here.
 

frimble3

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perhaps it's the humidity?

I didn't know there was humidity in Edmonton! They're always telling shivering Vancouverites "It may be -40, but it's a dry cold, so you don't notice it!" I personally don't think that it can get so dry that I won't notice -40 degrees below zero.
 

CassandraW

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oh yeah, humidity is deadly to vinyl. Mildew can totally warp your classic albums.
 

Ken

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then again, it's all rubbish
all of it, except a line or two
whatevah
go with the flow
"yeah (author of your choose) yeah" !
 

Hugh

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Will a professor in his ivory tower hold up a copy of 50 Shades of Grey to the class of 2214 and proclaim, "THIS is when they wrote great literature!"?

One of the criticisms leveled against Danielle Steel is that she's a mercenary writer. That same criticism was leveled against Dickens, who's books are now classics, 150 years ago.

Neither Chaucer nor Shakespeare had much in the way of classics to be forced upon them but they both did OK with their works. So to answer the question regarding the importance of reading classics, it is not important - but you will attempt to read them anyway out of your own curiosity to determine why somebody labeled a particular work a classic. I can't for the life of me understand why The Count of Monte Cristo is a classic, I couldn't finish it after three attempts to do so. (But one of the difficulties I had with the book was giggling every time I came across "Danglers".)

Some adult, I don't remember who, gave me a slew of cheaply printed and bound paperback classics when I was a child: White Fang, Silas Marner, Catcher in the Rye and others. White Fang I read so many times that it fell apart, Catcher in the Rye fell apart because I flung it against the wall (Holden Caulfield was nothing but a whiny punk, I wanted to punch his face).

When someone quotes from classic literature, I feel ignorant if I don't know where the quote came from and in what context it was originally written. But rather than take the hours and days necessary to read an entire classic book, I just pop a few keywords into Google or Wikipedia and feel classically literate without actually taking the time to suffer through aged prose that barely makes sense today.
 

CassandraW

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Neither Chaucer nor Shakespeare had much in the way of classics to be forced upon them but they both did OK with their works.

Well, not really. Naturally, neither of them would have read the English "classics" that have been written since their time, but they both got an education and were clearly well versed in the Latin "classics" that came before them.

See, e.g.:

Although Shakespeare likely had some lessons in English, Latin composition and the study of Latin authors like Seneca, Cicero, Ovid, Virgil, and Horace would have been the focus of his literary training. One can see that Shakespeare absorbed much that was taught in his grammar school, for he had an impressive familiarity with the stories by Latin authors, as is evident when examining his plays and their sources. Please see the article Shakespeare's School Days for an extensive list of the books Shakespeare would have read.

Similarly, while we don't know a lot about Chaucer's education, we do know that he was fluent in Latin and he was also pretty up to speed on the classics that came before him -- indeed, he translated some Roman classics:

Chaucer was sent abroad on diplomatic missions in 1370 and again in 1372–1373. The latter mission took him to Florence and Genoa, Italy. There he may have deepened his acquaintance with the poetic traditions established by Dante (1265–1321) and Petrarch (1304–1374).

While he was living above Aldgate, Chaucer completed his translation of Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius (c. 480–524), a Roman philosopher, whose phrases and ideas repeat throughout Chaucer's poetry. He also probably composed some short poems and Troilus and Criseyde, a tragedy. This long poem is set against the background of the Trojan War and is based on an earlier poem by Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375), an Italian poet.
 

Amadan

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Will a professor in his ivory tower hold up a copy of 50 Shades of Grey to the class of 2214 and proclaim, "THIS is when they wrote great literature!"?

Vastly unlikely.

One of the criticisms leveled against Danielle Steel is that she's a mercenary writer. That same criticism was leveled against Dickens, who's books are now classics, 150 years ago.

Actually, most bestselling writers have been mercenary, but the main criticism of Danielle Steel is that she's a schlock, formulaic writer, things that were generally not said of Dickens who, contrary to the popular myth, was quite well-regarded in his time.


Neither Chaucer nor Shakespeare had much in the way of classics to be forced upon them but they both did OK with their works.

They were both very well educated and you can be sure they had read the classics of their time.

So to answer the question regarding the importance of reading classics, it is not important - but you will attempt to read them anyway out of your own curiosity to determine why somebody labeled a particular work a classic. I can't for the life of me understand why The Count of Monte Cristo is a classic, I couldn't finish it after three attempts to do so. (But one of the difficulties I had with the book was giggling every time I came across "Danglers".)

I enjoyed The Count of Monte Cristo, though it was too long. However, while many people do love certain classics, no one loves all of them, and it's not the entertainment value alone that makes them important.

Also, the character's name was "Danglars."

When someone quotes from classic literature, I feel ignorant if I don't know where the quote came from and in what context it was originally written. But rather than take the hours and days necessary to read an entire classic book, I just pop a few keywords into Google or Wikipedia and feel classically literate without actually taking the time to suffer through aged prose that barely makes sense today.

I suppose one can also Google dates and feel historically knowledgeable, but just as knowing a date doesn't mean one understands history, the purpose of reading literature is not just to recognize quotes.
 

Hugh

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Vastly unlikely.



Actually, most bestselling writers have been mercenary, but the main criticism of Danielle Steel is that she's a schlock, formulaic writer, things that were generally not said of Dickens who, contrary to the popular myth, was quite well-regarded in his time.




They were both very well educated and you can be sure they had read the classics of their time.



I enjoyed The Count of Monte Cristo, though it was too long. However, while many people do love certain classics, no one loves all of them, and it's not the entertainment value alone that makes them important.

Also, the character's name was "Danglars."



I suppose one can also Google dates and feel historically knowledgeable, but just as knowing a date doesn't mean one understands history, the purpose of reading literature is not just to recognize quotes.

"The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid." - Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey (Mr. Tilney in Chapter 14). You've made me feel as though you find me intolerably stupid as well. Yes, it is Danglars, not Danglers. Thank you, Buzz Killington. Can I go now? I don't want to be accused of pumping up my post count so that I can post in the SYW forum.


(BTW - I found that Jane Austen quote by typing "classic literature stupid" in to Google. I've only read enough Jane Austen to know that I want to dig her up and beat her with her own shin bone.)

(Just kidding. I love Jane Austen.)

(I'm buying a glass of wine for the first AW'er who exposes where I stole the shin bone remark from.)

(But it's Franzia Sunset Blush, don't get too excited.)

Seriously, can I go now? It's my fifth glass of Sunset Blush and I can't find my detective novel.
 

Amadan

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(I'm buying a glass of wine for the first AW'er who exposes where I stole the shin bone remark from.)

Mark Twain was an asshole.

You have a sense of humor, though. You're okay.
 

William Haskins

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though it'd be funny if holden caulfield and the bones of jane austen joined forces and kicked your smart ass.
 

Hugh

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though it'd be funny if holden caulfield and the bones of jane austen joined forces and kicked your smart ass.

You won't be laughing when they are arrested by private detective Kinsey Millhone from the Sue Grafton novels and then prosecuted by a savvy lawyer from a Grisham novel and sent to prison for 20 years to life. I was simply defending myself from English aristocracy and no jury would ever convict me for punching that little punk.

Better luck next time, Haskins.

THE END.
 

CassandraW

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You won't be laughing when they are arrested by private detective Kinsey Millhone from the Sue Grafton novels and then prosecuted by a savvy lawyer from a Grisham novel and sent to prison for 20 years to life. I was simply defending myself from English aristocracy and no jury would ever convict me for punching that little punk.

Better luck next time, Haskins.

THE END.

^ Hey, this new guy might be OK. I didn't start getting into Haskins' face until I was at least a thousand posts in here at AW.

Nicely done, Hugh.
 

Hugh

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moll flanders would mop the floor with the lot of you.

Modern day Moll and I smoke crack together in a public park after nightfall. Me in drag and her jealous of me because I'm getting all the action. But we remain best of friends. I hustle up twenty to one-hundred dollars per night and share it with her, but only after she asks me and I act like she is imposing on me. We both agree that her dead husband is an asshole and we complain about it in the exact same conversation night after night. I tell her that when I write my memoirs (titled "A Guttersnipe Turns 50) that I will not use her real name. But she doesn't believe me and we fight night after night until we pass out. In 2214, a professor in his Ivory Tower holds up a copy of "A Guttersnipe Turns 50" and says, "THIS is when they wrote real literature!"
 

Hugh

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And tomorrow, I finally install that Breathalyzer interlock on my computer. Mods - please delete all of my posts in this thread.

Time to go dress up and drag and meet my friend Moll...
 

Amadan

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And tomorrow, I finally install that Breathalyzer interlock on my computer. Mods - please delete all of my posts in this thread.


Oh no, please don't.

Let me know when you post in SYW...
 

williemeikle

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You won't be laughing when they are arrested by private detective Kinsey Millhone from the Sue Grafton novels and then prosecuted by a savvy lawyer from a Grisham novel and sent to prison for 20 years to life. I was simply defending myself from English aristocracy and no jury would ever convict me for punching that little punk.

Better luck next time, Haskins.

THE END.

The fact that you think you need protecting from Jane Austen is cute.

And she was far from being aristocracy. Them you really do need defending from.
 
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