Why Read the Classics | 5 Excellent Reasons

Why read the Classics, is a question often asked. This video gives you thoughtful answers to why you should read classic books. These answers are beyond the simple reasons given in some book reviews.
If you really want to know why you should read classic literature, then make a coffee and take the time to watch this video all of the way through. The explanations given are not the type of reasons that one is likely to hear at school.
I have been asked by persons of all ages "Why should we read classic books?" When given the responses that are in this video many are annoyed that they were never told this by someone before.
Please take the time to get to grips with the content and advice in this video and it will significantly alter your approach to reading and to how you see the world.
If you would like to follow me on Instagram, where I am hoping to do Classic Book readalongs followed by in depth book reviews on this channel, then you can find me at
/ tristan_and_the_classics
Don't forget to like and subscribe if you want to learn more about classic books.
Thank you.

[@sunsuni222]

I’ve been waiting for a channel like yours - One mostly focused on the Classics! The way you describe Classics and the way your words express so much love, respect, and passion for them, makes me so happy :) Thank You!

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Sorry for the delayed response AntaraK, things have been a little hectic of late for me. I am so pleased that you have subscribed and I hope I can keep pleasing😀 It's a delight to meet another loverr of the classics.

[@sumathi5487]

What an earnest, passionate torch-bearer you are for the classics!! Very much enjoy watching your insightful videos that teach so much. Though it’s been 30 over years when I was first introduced to the classics in college, I still continue to read them. The joy that comes from reading them is matchless; no way popular literature can match up. Classics linger in your mind long after you’ve put them down. And each re-reading unfolds new treasures. If we take them away from the school curriculum, we do our children a great disservice. Keep your videos coming, Tristan.

[@bad-girlbex3791]

Only discovered your channel recently and I've already binge-watched about 8 videos just this evening/night/early-morning alone. Any man who kicks off his opening hypothesis using the words 'piffle' and 'balderdash' is definitely someone I'm going to want to keep an eye on! All the best for 2023, Bex x

[@pamelastringer2804]

I seriously adore Tristan. If I didn't, I certainly would not search out his videos! Peace and love to all my British folk.

[@racheldemain1940]

Fantastic video. Learnt so much how to read the Classics and get the most from them. Going deeper into the books than before.

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Glad you enjoyed it Rachel! Thanks so much for giving the feedback. What books are you reading currently?

[@silviasanchez8487]

I’m from Spain. I’ve just discovered your Chanel and I fell in love. The process you explain deep thoughts in a easy and enthusiastic way not only gets to a good lovers of classics but all readers looking forward another experience to broaden their minds

[@cristianmicu]

watching you around 12th minute i cried a bit, while you were speaking about ''they don't let you indifferent in my mind came two episodes : 1 the idiot and the girl who lived in the shed. 2. the miserables and how people treated jean valjean at the end of the book. couldnt stay indifferent now, remembering those two episodes even if i read those two classics years ago. you have a wonderful channel

[@lucyroth2671]

The problem with not reading the classics, is usually because one was not raised on reading them. I'm aging myself, but we were compelled to read the classics when we were growing up. Our educational system included literature especially classical literature. It helped that I was a huge English nerd from a very young age. In third grade I wanted to read Shakespeare! As both a former teacher, and currently not yet published writer, I appreciate you supporting the classics, and differentiating between Harry Potter and the classics. However, before anyone throws anything at me, I own all of the Harry Potter "Literature" as well.

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Expertly said. Bravo! It would be a start if books like Peter Pan or Treasure Island or Watership Down were introduced back into classrooms, what? The venerable art of storytelling with a silver leaf of reading between the lines. As a teacher it must be painful, I imagine to see some of the changes. Like you though, I am not against Harry Potter style stories. My children love the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. Its rather fun. But one mustn't only lick lollipops. Real delights await those who discover the spices and seasons kept within language. Have you self published any of your work Lucy?🎩😃❤

[@lucyroth2671]

@@tristanandtheclassics6538 no I can't afford to do it myself. I also have some finished musical comedy scripts that I would love to orchestrate. Everything is copywriten. The EPIC (giggle) book I'm working on is still a work in progress . I may have to accept the fact that I might have to be one of those authors who is going to be posthumously honored. Lol I did however hear of a couple of authors getting picked up by the main publishers, after first starting a visual fan base with KZbin videos. This is something I've been toying with for quite some time. I have a lot of the books that you mentioned in my own home library as well, so no doubt I was influenced by them in my own writing. I am not however interested in showing my face on KZbin for likes, or (gasp) popularity or whatever, so I'd be doing the "promo" vids incognito. My book is not literature per se, it's rather fiction based on truth. I wanted to make it fiction so I have poetic license to embellish the characters when fleshing them out to protect anyone from recognizing themselves or anyone else. The story however is mostly completely true. In other news...I am very happy indeed that I discovered this channel. I will further recommend it to my other card carrying Nerd and or Dork friends out there as well! Giggle. Lovely chatting .

[@craigkopcho7394]

Its was such a waste of time. I learned to hate the worthless gibberish simply by reading it. I want something in return for my effort. If I go to the trouble to read, I want to learn something. I do not want to be engaged with some else's fantasy. I don't want this shit in the school systems that my tax dollars paid for. Nobody but nobody needs literature. Nobody's livelihood should be held hostage over William Fing Shakespeare. To the teachers that teach this shit, please do your students a favor and find another line of work.

[@bookhunterrr3973]

Great points raised, Tristan! You always explain things so eloquently.. I have yet to read my first Dostoevsky and will surely need to ready myself for some mind-stretching a week before I take the plunge! 😅 Great great video as always! 🙌🏼🙌🏼

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Whatho again, its delightful to hear your voice. Thanks for the encouraging words. Which Dostoevsky are you going to start with? I will be doing an in depth review of Crime and Punishment this month. Keep safe and healthy😃🎩❤

[@bookhunterrr3973]

@@tristanandtheclassics6538 i have been advised to start with a shorter work by him. Thankfully, I have The Double right here in my shelf so definitely will pick it up hopefully within this year! :)

[@muhlenstedt]

Excellent! I read contemporary fiction but after ending each of these books , including the great and popular ones, I think about the classics and see that I need them and prefer them above all. Until now I could not answer why I feel this way. This video brings the answer! Thank you so much!

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Thank you ever so much for leaving this super kind comment ❤ You clearly already possess the sympathetic mind to have so natural an inclination towards the classics. Are there any classics in particular that you love? 😃🎩❤

[@muhlenstedt]

@@tristanandtheclassics6538 thank you, you made my face get red with your nice answer to my comment.My greatest love is Shakespeare, secondly the Brönte Sisters. I am half german and half brazilian, between the german classics I admire Theodor Fontane, but in general most of the german classics are too heavy for my soul.😉 Machado de Assis is my preferred brazilian classic . At the moment I am enjoying Persuasion , by Jane Austen, in my opinion her most mature work.Have a great reading year and stay safe!

[@Dezertroze43]

Tristan, thank u for verbalizing my thoughts. 😂 I can actually answer when someone says WHY are u reading THAT?! My only answer was learning about people i never met and places I’ve never seen. But these five reasons are perfect.❤

[@WillSaabye-ey5vy]

This is amazing! So excited to start reading the classics!!

[@Katia656]

Melhor canal sobre literatura, fico grata com os ensinamentos, o entusiasmo em apresentar os argumentos. Muito obrigado, Tristan. 👏🏼👏🏼🇧🇷

[@mimimayhem]

I'm really really enjoying your videos! A channel for classics. Been looking for one for so long.

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Thank you Camille. I'm pleased you enjoy my ramblings😃 If you have any suggestions for videos please feel free to suggest them.

[@elizabethlehman3336]

Thank you for your thoughtful commentary. Long live the Classics!

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Pleased you enjoyed it, Elizabeth. Long live the Classics 😀

[@Michajeru]

A wonderful, insightful, informative and motivating video. Your channel is an absolute treasure.

[@lindawalker2451]

Outstanding video. Thanks.

[@rebeccabsomanybooks3558]

Wonderful and thought provoking video. So well said. Thank you.

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Oh, I say, thank you kindly. Pleasef that you enjoyed it. Do you have any ideas on other videos that might be appreciated? I consider this channel as a shared venture with all who comment and share a love of literature. So if you are ever struck with an idea, please let me know and I will see what can be done with it.❤😃🎩

[@racheldebner1955]

I'm so glad I discovered your channel! Great video! I can't wait to watch more of your videos!

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Well, first of all, may I say thank you dearly for taking the time from your day to even comment. I really do appreciate it. Also, I am delighted to make your acquaintance. Do you have a particular genre of literature that you like, or any particular authors?😃🎩❤

[@racheldebner1955]

@@tristanandtheclassics6538 Of course! Thank you! It's fantastic to see a channel with someone who talks about classics with depth in such an engaging way. I have nearly always enjoyed the classics, and my taste has expanded over time. Lately I have been exploring more Victorian and Russian Literature, such as Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Austen, and Hardy. All which I have enjoyed. Some old favorite books of mine are The Mill on the Floss, Sherlock Holmes stories, The Grapes Wrath, Animal Farm, and Around the World in Eighty Days. As a child I have always loved reading Lewis Carroll, C.S. Lewis, Louisa Alcott, L.M. Montgomery, and Anna Sewell.

[@anupamsingh1056]

Oh god! I died laughing 😂😂😂 On a serious note though, great communication skills! Fun plus informative. Loved it!

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Thank you Anupam. Pleased you enjoyed it 😀

[@thefont4345]

Gosh, you make such good points. Really well done 👍🤓👍

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Ta very much, that means a goodly deal coming from you. I have had a shufti at you videos and they are marvellous. Here's to you making a wild success on your booktube channel. Hussar!😃🎩❤

[@thefont4345]

@@tristanandtheclassics6538 Thank you!😃

[@gaildoughty6799]

Golly, what a great opening! So funny. Excellent points made, as well. Are you perhaps a teacher in your private life? I ask because you develop each idea so well.

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Deuced decent of you to say so Gail. Words like yours are such boost. One makes these videos and floats them out into the ether wondering if they will ever wash up upon the shores of anybody who cares for them. Thank you.❤ As for my being a teacher, alas I am not. Any worth found in my little discourses are due to a deep fondness for the human spirit, a father who was an inspiration and being taught public speaking from the age of 7 (by the way, I didn't go to a private school or anything like that. I'm a salt of the Earth commoner.😅) May I once again thank you for you kindness and positivity in commenting. It is wonderful knowing there are such warm hearted people about. By the by, if you can think of other topics which may be of interest, please leave me suggestions and I will endeavour to implement them. Many warm episodes to you🎩😃❤

[@kathleentetzlaff4328]

You had me at “rosebuds and candy”😏😉

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

😂😂😂 Toot toot toot!!! That's tickled me pink. Thank you for taking the time to comment you are most welcome here.😃❤🎩

[@CheeseSlicess]

I love your channel!

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Oh I say! That is delightful of you to say. I am all rosy red embarrassed now. I hope that someone leaves you a mansion in there will.😃🎩❤ Do you have any favourite authors or books?

[@ayak7111]

Thank you

[@leatherandlace7]

Thank God for your channel!

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

That is the nicest thing. You've made me blush 😊 thank you SO MUCH

[@mafigueira55]

Love this video!! But #1 is the only point that a movie cannot provide….??

[@apollonia6656]

Had Far from the Madding Crowd for 'OLevel and Tess of the d'Urbervilles for 'A' Level. Weird, I remember writing an essay about farming and industrialization ,how the farmers lives would be changed. Anyway, I must admit that Hardy still isnt my favourite author because of his descriptive writing. Wish I could remember where "She was more sinned against than sinning' comes fro m, the first or the second novel above ! Bought Tess to re-read....maybe she has made me a bit wiser 😊

[@nur-e-diphamuttaqi]

King Lear I am a man sinned against than sinning... Shakespeare, not Thomas Hardy

[@apollonia6656]

Well, Thomas Hardy used that saying by Shakespeare. Regards.

[@pamelastringer2804]

I don't typically like British people but I sure like you

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

That's jolly nice of you, Pamela. I'm pleased I can make ammends for my compatriots. 😅❤️🙏

[@pamelastringer2804]

@@tristanandtheclassics6538 🤣💗

[@Laocoon283]

You are what you think

[@Mariak82]

Loved this. I love classic books. It was reading The Hobbit together at primary school that started my love of books and reading. 🙂📚

[@MikoAsuke]

While I do enjoy (and really love) reading classic literature, I also love Harry Potter and has and will always have a special place in my bookshelf. The Harry Potter series was the reason I started reading at a young age.

[@pamelapeters3342]

As a black woman I'm slowly stepping into reading the classics and I'm coming to love them, however, I can't help but roll my eyes whenever I hear white men who make video essays explaining how open minded and unbiased and logical these books make the people who read them....how it forces you to put yourself in another person's shoes, thereby giving you a wider scope of the human experience...and yet these same men don't read anything other than the words of other white men. This hypocrisy is why these books are losing favor in academia. And the only way to save them is to be as open minded and unbiased as you claim these books make you. Because what happens is that instead of understanding that POC and women are included in this spectrum of the human experience, you instead pretend they are incapable of experiencing what these white men in the books experience and so aren't worth understanding, or reading or including. I'm coming to understand that the classics are incredibly valuable but it's white men who actually devalue their message and put them in the danger their trying to protect them from.

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Thank you Pamela for bringing up this important topic. I am in 100% agreement with you that people of all cultures, races, backgrounds, dispositions political, religious, economical, philosophical ad infinitum are all worthy, equal and capable. You are right that some place more value on one group of people's work than on another and in this they are wholly wrong. I couldn't be more in agreement with you on placing the utmost value on the importance of the individual. Every person has a unique perspective formed from a myriad experiences that no other person has had. And when someone is capable of elucidating one of these perspectives and its revealing of the human experiences, the work is worthy of consideration irrespective of where they come from, who their forebears were, what founding principles they work from. To reduce the validity of any person's opinion or feelings to a single unit of their being, like, as you rightly point out, their race, would be both absurd and abhorrent in the extreme. To say that someone like Lawrence's works are inferior because of his sexuality would be awful. As indeed it would be to proclaim them superior for the same reason. The same for De Assis (An author I think is superb.) To claim that his works are inferior simply because of his being a Person of Colour would be a sign of purest intellectual deficiency. Neither would it be correct to assume that the value of his work comes simply from his colour. Nor would it be right to judge a work as lesser simply because it has been printed in the past 5 years, or a work greater because it was written 200 years ago. Heavens knows that the past has produce a large helping of utter bilge😀 As for my personal reading habits, may I assure you that I read literature from all around the world and find the opinions, feelings and experiences equally valid and worthy of expression. In fact, I have spent more time reading from authors who are not White than authors who are White. But as I say, the colour of the author's skin has absolutely no significance for me. If Dickens was Black, or Eliot, Hispanic, or Wodehouse, Indian, nothing of the story would change for me. In fact, I don't know about you, but im one of those persons who cannot visualise the characters of a book distinctly. It is only their characters that possess me. I was wondering, how we had got our wires crossed on this topic, Pamela and after some thought I think I have the answer. The problem lies, I think, in the term Classics. Many, I fear, think of the Classics as synonymous with the Western Canon. And quite erroneously many conclude that the Western Canon is only those works written by people in Europe during the 17th to 19th centuries. May I state quite catogorically that that is not my interpretation of the Classics. In fact the Western Canon is full of works by People of Colour. The Bible - the most influential work of all time - for a start. Classics are universal works and are of necessity from every race, culture and walk of life. Enchi; Alice Walker; Maya Angelou; Raabindranath Tagore; Junichiro Tanizaki; V S Naipul; Ralph Ellison just to name a tiny slither of non White authors. And of course there are those who lived millenia ago, who have less in common with us today that any colour difference could ever make, like Epictetus, the Greek slave, for example. And yet his experiences are infinitely and recognizably human. I hope that this has cleared things up a little for you Pamela. I am with you completely. I think to judge any piece of work simply because of someones race, whatever it may be, is the hallmark of lack of reasoning ability and perhaps bigotry. When an author is expressing their experiences in life due to the colour of their skin or sex, like Nella Larsen or Alice Walker I find that of great interest and importance and value and they contribute to the vast array of Classics all over the world. As far as I am concerned it is the individual human being that is foremost. All have the capacity for love, joy, pain, intelligence, justice, harshness. when some manage to elucidate these experiences in a manner that is timeless and thought provoking, then they enter into the Classics as a fine repertoire of what it means to be a human being. The epigenetic basis of ones skin colour is as irrelevant to ones ideas as the difference in epigenetic factors affecting the haemoglobin, or bone density levels between any two peoples 😀 I hope that this has cleared things up for you as to my position on what the Classics actually are. They are most certainly not 'Books written by White Men.' Though I think that your point is important and I may make a video about it sometime. With kindest Regards.

[@bad-girlbex3791]

Oh Pamela, did you even bother to listen to the entire video; did any of the part about human beings and our emotions being universal - in both time and space - not manage to get past that kneejerk desire to wax lamentable over how much it made your eyes roll for these books to be spoken about by a HUWHITE MALE? I'm guessing not. Because had you chosen to even attempt to see past your own biases, you would have discovered much more than was deserving of yet another, predictably outraged response, that sought only to divide and not unify - by "virtue" of that trite little opening gambit signalling all that you deemed most important about who you are, and how you wish to be viewed. Hypocrisy? Thy name is Pamela.

[@pamelapeters3342]

@@bad-girlbex3791 First let me say that emotions are absolutely not universal because in order to feel a certain emotion you have to have a certain experience and we have not all experienced the same thing. You thinking that emotions are universal is the reason I wrote my comment in the first place. You will never know what it feels like to experience my specific experience as a Black woman in America just like I will never know what it feels like to be a smug, ignorant, pseudo intellectual who uses terms like 'wax lamentable'. And reading a book about each other's lives may give us some understanding but we will never feel the same emotions as the other as we experience our unique lives. My comment was not a knee jerk reaction but a very calm and well thought out response to the 'huwhite' misconception that being well read in classic literature somehow leads to an open mind and emotional maturity when it's quite the opposite. The word Dark in Dark Academia, where classic literature is worshiped, is not just used because of the dark color aesthetic but to describe the dark side of that pursuit which is misogyny, elitism, classism, lack of diversity, racism, homophobia, etc. If reading classic literature is so enlightening...if it broadens the mind...if it makes emotions universal...why do we have an entire aesthetic criticized for its lack of inclusion? Lastly, I did have some doubts about my comment and hoped that I expressed my points well, I liked this video especially because I'm starting to read the classics and I'm really loving them, but I don't have those doubts anymore because YOU have been the perfect example of why I made the comment in the first place.

[@bad-girlbex3791]

@@pamelapeters3342 Good. Cry harder. No one cares.

[@pamelapeters3342]

@@bad-girlbex3791 You care. That's why you felt the need to respond to a 3 month old comment you couldn't help but prove me right.

[@craigkopcho7394]

I learned to despise classic literature in high school. None of this crap belongs in out schools. None of this crap was worth the time I spent reading it. This bullshit literature robbed me of part of my teenage years so I have nothing but contempt for the subject. Our children should be learning real stuff instead of someone else's 100 year old fantasies.

[@Yesica1993]

LOL! Thanks for spouting your ignorance.

[@craigkopcho7394]

@@Yesica1993 I didn’t get the BSEET degree for being stupid. I’ll say it again: classic literature sucks and it has no practical value whatsoever!

[@Yesica1993]

Stay ignorant, I don't care. I just feel sorry for any children you have or may one day have, who will grow up just as ignorant and deprived as you. @@craigkopcho7394