What do you do when you don't like a "classic"? As an English professor, I feel a bit of pressure to enjoy the books that have been honored as members of the "canon" and yet, there is more than one book in that selective (mm...elitist?) list which I can barely stomach. There are of course the arguments: well, you should like it because 1) it is well written, 2) it was a forerunner, ahead of its time, boundary breaking, etc. or even 3) it deals with culturally important issues. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah is what I hear in my head. Am I supposed to appreciate a book because it is "important"? I don't seem to be able to do this. I'll "appreciate" a book because I enjoyed it, because it was interesting, not because I'm told to.
Now what books am I referring to? Well, here is a short list.
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
Yep, I'm the odd egg.....
There are more; my mind is just blocking them right now. Anyone else have an "I'm supposed to like this" list?
Coming from a girl who loves classics and reads them a lot, I think it's rather horrible for anyone to say a person should love all classics just because they're classic. We all have different tastes and enjoying a book is very different from appreciating why it exists.
ReplyDeleteFor example, I hated Don Quixote with a passion. It was so, so bad. But I understand why it's important. It was fun to study it and realize its significance in modern fiction. Madame Bovary - another book I absolutely hated, but was interesting to study. Will I ever read it again or recommend it to anyone? No. It sucks. But I understand why it's a classic.
I can think of a whole host of classics I hate: Wuthering Heights, Anna Karenina, Dr. Zhivago, Lady Chatterly's Lover, etc. Classics are just like any other books when it comes to enjoyment: it's all about taste. Disliking them doesn't mean they aren't important, no, but appreciating a classic is very different from liking a classic.
I have an English degree (planned on being a prof. but that didn't work out LOL) and there are lots of classics that I just hated. I couldn't even finish Heart of Darkness and The Brothers Karamazov. And I'm not a Dickens fan at all.
ReplyDeleteI can appreciate these classics, but you can't make me like them. LOL
--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric
I was schooled by monkeys it seems as a child, so I have relatively no experience with classics. I guess I am trying to catch up slowly now as an adult. But Wuthering Heights? What a miserable beast of a book! I was entertained only because the characters were so detestable. I wanted to hang myself by the end.
ReplyDeleteI feel a bit afraid to admit this, but I am not a fan of Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. Also, I did not care for the Great Gatsby.
ReplyDeleteJoseph Conrad's style of writing doesn't do it for me. I've read Heart of Darkness 3 times and each time has been torturous. Although I love F. Scott Fitzgerald's writing, The Great Gatsby is my least favorite book. Jane Austen is a classic author who puts me to sleep. But I can appreciate how each of these authors and their most famous works have influence and continue to influence other works of art and literature.
ReplyDeleteI slogged through Lady Chatterley's Lover last year.
ReplyDeleteIt was torture.
I am so happy to know that not only am I not the only one but also others think this is perfectly acceptable!
ReplyDeleteMoby Dick
ReplyDeletePride and Prejudice
The Catcher in the Rye
and because it probably be on a classics list someday, I have to add:
The Poisonwood Bible
Hate, hate, hate Wuthering Heights.
ReplyDeleteOh, and to echo Fizzy, I hated Poisonwood Bible.
I prefer heart of darkness to some of conrad's other works, but I never did finish it! LOL It wasn't has horrid as some of his others...what I really can't get over is the hatred I have for Brothers Karamazov when I liked Crime and Punishment.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you have to love a classic simply because it is a classic. I hated Red Badge of Courage, and although I have tried many many times I simply cannot get through War and Peace or even begin to understand why Wuthering Heights was such a great book. I did really like The Jungle and Jane Eyre and most of Jane Austin's books.
ReplyDeleteAh forgot to tell you, just finished Her Fearful Symmetry tonight...good book but highly disturbing, much in the same way the film Vertigo is disturbing, it's fine right up until the end.
ReplyDeleteRead Heart of Darkness because someone I respect told me it was one of his favorite books. Hated it. However, I did really like Red Badge of Courage when I read it many years ago. I read Billy Budd by Melville last year and was not a fan.
ReplyDeleteRead Heart of Darkness because someone I respect told me it was one of his favorite books. Hated it. However, I did really like Red Badge of Courage when I read it many years ago. I read Billy Budd by Melville last year and was not a fan.
ReplyDeleteI feel like I'm getting a list of books to not read!
ReplyDeleteJess - I can't wait to read it.