Why Do People Hate the Classics? Exploring 1-Star Reviews

[@GMarieWrites]

Part of why I like to read classic books is to better understand the world at that time. I think today a lot of people want everything to fit into our current views, experiences and expectations, and they want instant entertainment. I take exception to any effort to modernize the work of literature - I don’t mean retellings, I mean anything that either condemns the book or changes the book in service of modern sensibilities. You can not like it, but you need to see it for what it is - a reflection of their own time and place.

[@KarenSDR]

This video brought back the rage I've felt for about 25 years at my daughter's English teacher, for making her hate "To Kill a Mockingbird," which is a book I love and have read every year or two for decades. My daughter is a voracious and thoughtful reader, who as a teenager turned me onto Jane Austen and Terry Pratchett. I've always read for pleasure, and when my kids were little I read to them an hour a night, not because it was eductional, but because it was fun. And a lot of those books were classics: "The Lord of the Rings," "The Secret Garden," the Oz series, the Narnia series, etc. Now she's in her thirties and currently reading "The Divine Comedy" and "The Kalevala" and "The Silmarillion" for fun. You get the idea. But she refuses to ever read "To Kill a Mockingbird" again, and here's why. The teacher made it a ridiculous chore, by testing the kids on the stupidest things. The example my daughter gave me was "What flavor was the chewing gum that the children found in the tree?" It was a gotcha question designed to make sure the kids were actually reading the book. Really? That's the important point of "To Kill a Mockingbird"? The flavor of the damned chewing gum? Aughh!

[@dqan7372]

"Had to read this book for class." * "Had to read this book for class." * "Had to read this book for class." * "Had to read this book for class." * "Daughter had to read this book for class. I read it and loved it. Five stars!" *

[@hairylittlewombat]

Great analysis, Tristan. I think today's society has created a desire for instant gratification. The beauty and intent of so much amazing literature is lost to a "speed read."

[@MexieMex]

Great analysis, fully agree with all the points listed. It puts me in mind of the quote: "I read War and Peace... it's about Russia."

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

That's hilarious 😂 I want to frame that and put it on my wall. 🤣🤣🤣

[@NNumber9]

LOL 😅

[@tahlia__nerds_out]

I love this analysis. I recently picked up “How To Read A Book”, which covers how to read at a deeper level, and how this was an issue even back when it was written in the 1940s. This is such a great topic; we miss so much when read only on a surface level.

[@EverydayisFriday-bw7bt]

Loved this video Tristan! I have been guilty of this back in early university. But now I want to learn how to read the classics for what they are, not how I make them fit my world. Thank you for all the work you put into these videos. You have truly opened my eyes about reading good books. ❤

[@karayates6029]

Thank you for making these videos. I began reading and truly enjoying and understanding classics because of your channel.

[@sallycooper3414]

Same! So glad I happened upon your channel.

[@marianapgar4409]

It reminds me of a saying I once heard: Reading a classic book is like gazing into a mirror. If an ass looks into it, you can't expect an apostle to look out.

[@ZanarkandIsntReal]

I think one of the major disconnects is that people believe stories to be inherently action oriented. They believe the point of a story is to relay a series of events. So when the story is less focused on the action in the plot and more focused on conveying abstract ideas then people become disoriented. Not realizing classics aren't action oriented they just think the book is boring or poorly written. Look at any chat thread about Moby Dick and see how many people are asking: when does the story get going? Or, this book is boring what am I missing? Or, nothing even happens in this book why is it so highly rated? They have expectations about what books are and when one doesn't fit that pre-conceived notion they deem it to be a failure. It's the knee jerk reaction when you don't understand something to say it's dumb instead of asking one's self what am I missing.

[@aamnahere6250]

I don't think criticism of a book with a little or pretty much nonexistent plot is inherently wrong or dismissive. There are several classics that have managed to strike a balance between plot and characterization. I love both kinds of books but I do find a certain literary snobbery from certain fans of classic literature who believe or certainly give the impression that they do that readers wanting an interesting plotline are all looking for mindless action without much depth when that's certainly not the case. Not every book has to be plot driven but the assumption that a classic must compromise on an engaging plot to serve character development and in depth exploration of life, politics and society is a deeply flawed way of approaching it in my opinion.

[@ZanarkandIsntReal]

@aamnahere6250 No the criticism is fine but I'm talking more about the people that don't realize books can be about ideas just as much as they can be about action. It's not that they are criticizing the book for being imbalanced in that respect but that they don't even realize what the book is doing. They are genuinely confused as to what the whole point of the book is absent of action. I usually describe readers as either looking for immersion or looking for analysis and these two types of readers are often talking past one another when talking about books. Not realizing that there are different modes of interacting with books. And also I'm not saying one is better than the other.

[@patsmith9192]

I was lucky at school and had two English teachers who were passionate and took a similar approach to you (though it was a long time ago!). I remember studying Wuthering Heights for A Level and the teacher introducing us to Emily Bronte’s poetry and exploring her background. We understood where she was ‘coming from’. I loved it then and love it now.

[@lauraweiss7875]

I think who we are and what we have lived through can greatly affect our understanding and appreciation of many books, especially classics. I’m 61 and recently read Moby Dick. I loved every page. This wasn’t the case in my previous attempts, but now I’ve lived enough life to connect with the deeper meanings.

[@Yesica1993]

Are you me? That book hated me for YEARS. It became a bit of an obsession for me to conquer it. (Fitting, given the themes!) Why can't I just read WORDS on a page?! I'm not illiterate. I'm not stupid. I've read long books before. Why am I struggling with this one over and over? I can't even answer that. For whatever reasons, this time, it clicked. I finally read it in August. It still was a struggle in some parts. But this time I was wanting to keep going. I ended up loving it! That's why I'm almost always willing to give a book another try. You just never know!

[@astridpedneault6654]

@@Yesica1993 Same story for me as for you too. I worked hard to finish it but ended up loving too. Read it a year ago, but I found myself thinking about this book often ever since, all its themes. I feel that it enlarged my understanding of the world, on so many levels.

[@Yesica1993]

@@astridpedneault6654 It's a good sense of accomplishment, which then gives you more confidence to read other challenging books in the future! I'm not sure I'll survive Wuthering Heights, though. I think I am on Chapter 22 or 23. I hate these people! 😝

[@astridpedneault6654]

@@Yesica1993 Yah... That one is a challenge. You seem to be well on your way! Good luck!!

[@jayv3264]

@@Yesica1993 I encourage you to continue! Daunting as it may be, the whole things comes together in such a way, wherein upon finishing, many of my friends who have read it said they went through an "ah-haaaah" realization and consider the journey was worth it. Hopefully you come away with the same satisfaction!

[@Syssn3ck]

Thank you for this exploration! I'm currently slowly making my way through David Copperfield, and it's such an emotional roller coaster. 😯

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Glad you enjoyed it. I haven't read Copperfield for years. Like, a long long time ago. I must revisit it.😀

[@cherylsykes660]

You are so right. Copperfield is my favorite Dickens book. David’s relationship with his aunt has depth beyond mere words on the page.

[@stacielara9856]

I recently read it for my library book club along with Demon Copperhead. What an amazing experience both of these books were for me!

[@FranklyItsMe]

How quickly one goes from - “Of course! How anyone could read differently than from the perspective of learning: philosophy, critical thought and self-reflection?” To 4 minutes later: Surprising , immediate insight and self-awareness of my own reading experience and sometimes shallow criticisms. Brilliant video, Tristan. Thank you so much. I always appreciate the education I gain from your videos. 💙✌🏻

[@brookamos5787]

Your best video to date. I’d really like to comment; however, you make so many thought-provoking points that I’d end up writing an unwieldy essay nobody would read. So, I’ll leave it at this, great job and thanks for sharing.

[@jayv3264]

One of the best videos I've ever watched regarding reading and issues with the reading experience. Well done using classical literature, and reviewers' criticisms, as the lens to fleshing out the discussion. Your delivery is neither scolding nor indulging--you're understanding while probing. Well done!!

[@sherryfyman7066]

Tristan - this was so helpful. My wife and I are reading together the works of Zadie Smith and EM Forster. We love Forster and read that Smith admired him and was influenced by him so we decided to alternate their texts. We loved White Teeth but are really struggling with Autograph Man, her second novel. For all the reasons cited in the 1-star reviews: agonizingly slow plot, where the heck is this going?, I don’t like any of the characters, etc. But after listening to this discussion I will approach it from a vastly deeper and richer way. Thank you so much!

[@margaretinsydney3856]

Thank you, Tristan. I think this can be a problem even for lifelong serious readers. Sometimes, I fear that my own attention span will shrink down to the length of a KZbin short. 😊

[@bill8784]

Tristan produces such excellent interesting vlogs. I would loved to have vids like these to watch when I was at school or even better a teacher like him.

[@NNumber9]

Thank you for this commentary. Refreshing to encounter other humans who are genuinely intelligent. So sick of vapid discussions regarding books and other content. Glad I found your videos

[@DefaultName-nt7tk]

Tristan, your analysis is brilliant. So well put❤.

[@kathleensmith]

Bravo! I am continually impressed with the information you present. I have somewhat an opposite view of many others. After devoting most of my reading this year to the classics. When I then attempt to read a more recently published book…I become quickly bored with the recent offering.

[@mj2495]

This subject has helped me to see a way of possibly getting more out of what I read. I am looking forward to asking the questions of myself which you have proposed. Thank you!

[@NigelFryatt]

Thanks, Tristan, another insightful video.

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

Pleased you enjoyed it, Nigel.

[@AsuraSantosha]

I feel like I had bad English teachers in school because I hated classic literature every year until my last when I finally had a good teacher. But at that point, I'd completely given up on classic books. I was one of those kids who looked up plot summaries and analysis in order to do my assignments rather than read the book. I got excellent grades because I really loved writing essays. I've always done well in school, and so when my teachers just told us to open a Steinbeck and talk about what we thought, tell us we were wrong or we didn't get it, I got really discouraged. Your point about context is KEY. I recently started William Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury and I was soooo confused. So I looked up some context about the book and tried again and now I'm really enjoying it. Faulkner did not explain that he was jumping around in time, sometimes midsentence, nor did he explain how playing with time affects the narrative. He didn't spell out any of the subtext, he didnt put in a note saying, "Pay attention to how objective and subjective each character's point of view is. I'm not sure how anyone else managed to peice out the first chapter especially, I'm sure it required diligent notetaking and more than one reread, but its a fascinating read with that deeper understanding. Maybe I will get to the point where I can understand some of that a little more on my own, but for now, looking up some background on the book, author, time period, etc. or using a "study guide" despite being a grown adult with children long out of school, is helping me really enjoy and absorb these stories and what they have to share so much more.

[@Stormbrise]

In some states in the US, in order to teach to the test from No Child Left Behind, Bush Jr., they are only given maybe a few paragraphs to read and discuss in class. In my time in high school, we were to read books, and discuss them as a group, with the students leading the conversation once it got going. Yeah, the teacher would lead off with some discussion points, usually written on the board. If you did not like the book, and read the cliff notes, then yeah I can see these students even back then leaving one star reviews. Also, we were constantly writing our own reflections on what we were reading, with weekly essays. Both our writing and literature had essays written on texts we were assigned to read.

[@louisemalan3878]

Always love your video's to give me a new way of thinking and guidence into literature. Thank you so much Tristan for your thoughtful concepts and execution you put into your video's.

[@GreenTeaViewer]

Sometimes I've found myself reading Amazon reviews of some pretty deep cut classic English literature - not books that anyone has to read for a class, but seemingly books only the thoughtful and knowledgeable would seek out in the first place. Pretty amazing to see some of the reviews by people who really shouldn't be commenting. I wonder why they even buy these books.

[@alidabaxter5849]

Thank you for the fascinating video, Tristan. I truly cannot understand the one star reviews you quote, given to books which deserve attention and respect for a variety of reasons. I constantly return to the classics I loved when young, but rarely enjoy a contemporary book or could bear to reread it. I can't count the number of times I've read "Pride and Prejudice", for instance, although that doesn't mean I like all that Jane Austen wrote. Similarly, with Dickens, I think "Our Mutual Friend" is wonderful, as is (although I am not so fond of it) "Great Expectations", and I love "A Tale of Two Cities" (hard to dislike) but my heart really belongs to Wilkie Collins. Charlotte Bronte is very easy to read and I liked "Jane Eyre" from the moment I first read it, but "Wuthering Heights" always frightened me and I found its cruelty hard to bear - Emily Bronte is a startling contrast to her sister Charlotte. Tolstoy is so easy to read, compared to many other Russian writers, and I love some eighteenth century French writers but not others - surely, as with everything else, what you love to read is entirely a matter of taste, but to simply dismiss some of the greatest works of literature with one star is incredibly foolish. I've been reading Zola and Guy de Maupassant since I was in my teens, but I've never been able to get on with Stendhal - and this despite flogging myself all the way through "Consuelo" by Georges Sand because I thought I should. But again, I wouldn't dream of giving Stendhal's work a one star review, and when it comes to the Russians of this century, I don't like Boris Pasternak, but I do like Solzhenitsyn. Mikhail Bulgakov and Vladimir Nabokov. With the classics, it's not just a matter of putting yourself into the head of people who lived in that time, or that country, but opening your mind to what are in a way other worlds. If you shut your mind to the classics, you will be immeasurably the poorer - not to mention narrow minded.

[@TLK526]

What an excellent way to understand and read classics. Thank you Tristan, you make classics so much more interesting.

[@gommine]

Another great video, thank you Tristan!

[@dm1523]

Crime and Punishment boring? We all seem to be suffering a bit of ADHD. Screens do that. TV has done that for decades, but in the world of Tic Tok a good dense book doesn’t stand a chance. Or does it?

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

That's a topic that we could discuss for a long time. We all succumb to the quick hit influence (I know that I certainly do) but perhaps if we were taught differently about various subjects we would enjoy them more and spend more time on them. 😀❤️

[@Yesica1993]

I am mid 50s which means I grew up in the Dinosaur Age, before the internet existed. (It's hard to even remember that world!) I've also loved reading since I was a child. But even I have seen my own attention span progressively shrinking through the years. I used to think I was imagining it. Years ago, I did an experiment. I turned on a random video. I paused it the moment I felt that little "itch" of my attention wandering. At that time, it was about 2 minutes. I have not done that experiment again. But I honestly don't think I can do even 1 minute. Again, this is someone who grew up pre-internet. If it's that bad for me, I can't imagine how it is for the younger generations, especially those who have never known anything different. People give their screens to BABIES now. It's all so horrifying.

[@catedee5012]

I was reading an article about reading which stated that surprisingly, young people read quite a bit but it’s in small bits. They are not used to long reads because they read on their phones and online. This might contribute to why some people dislike classics.

[@southernbiscuits1275]

At seventy-five I can honestly say that I've read a goodly share of classic literature. And, I am not afraid to give low points to a book I don't like. When I choose to read a piece of classic literature, I don't read any reviews of what I am going to read. What I will do is read about the life of the author and of what events were going on in the world when the book was written. This helps to put the work in context. Right off the top of my head, the only classic book I truly disliked and may have given a one star review was Dostoevsky's The Bothers Karamazov. The reputation and adulation people give this book is not warranted in my opinion. On BookTube it seems that all you have to do is say that a book is written by either Dostoevsky or Tolstoy and the gushing begins. It could be absolute swill yet because it was written by either of these men, it is going to get a reverential review. In other words, the merit rests on the reputation of the author and not always on the quality of the writing. As for The Brothers Karamazov, I read the Pevear/Volokhonsky translation and I think that was a large part of why I did not like this book. I've read two other books by Dostoevsky and liked both of them. The translation I read was more academic than approachable. Your take on why people are disappointed with classic literature are probably very true. But, I don't think it's anything that's new. In my experience the main complaint people have about the classics is the point of view of the characters is too far removed from the reality of the world in which they live. My reply to that criticism is that the biggest reason for reading any book from any time period is to engage the imagination. If one can enjoy science fiction genre books where nothing relates to the world we live in, why is it so hard to engage with a history that is a past reality - not supposition - of mankind? It makes no sense.

[@christine6059]

What Dostoevsky translations do you recommend?

[@lindafarnes486]

I think there are lots of reasons. How good the reader's English is first and foremost. By that I am referring to their vocabulary, etc. But the quality of teacher and their skills as a teacher also. We read the Grapes of Wrath, Far from the Madding Crowd, amongst others. A lot of us actually went to the library and read all the author's other books.

[@patriciadeane7250]

I agree that the education system is lacking instead of nurturing……..one must think and extend one’s process of thinking! I love the Classic’s and have the greatest respect for the author and the legacy they have left from generation to generation.

[@Kzen91]

Truly a fantastic video!

[@susprime7018]

I loved Crime and Punishment, but I misspelled all the character names when it showed up on an essay exam.😅

[@0KT0BER]

Idealogues both employed and the unwitting have rendered review centres like Goodreads redundant over the past decade or so. It isn't just in Classics, it's every genre and any path of 'entertainment'.

[@graciecrossing3169]

So many great points here, Tristan!

[@Yesica1993]

2:04 "But these kind of one star reviews beg a question: how are we being taught to read and engage with literature?" My brain: WE'RE NOT. Good thing I live/work alone, because I couldn't stop myself from saying it out loud.

[@ceebee2858]

What if we were to teach literature in the following way? Start off early with comparisons of opening lines in books. Discuss things like voice, point of view, humor, etc. Next, compare opening paragraphs of different books, then first chapters, or perhaps a carefully described scene in each of several books. Reading just growing bits to look for style, rhythm, humor, whatever. In this way, our youth would learn different approaches to reading and writing, and patience with the processes instead of "trying to get through it." They may find a few books in this way that intrigue them enough to read the whole thing on their own. Eventually, in order to study development of plot or character, they would have such familiarity with the best known moments in many books that they could expect to understand the book better as they go through it fully for the first time, instead of slogging through at a race from beginning to end. Has something like this been tried?

[@LuneFlaneuse]

I think the fact that I didn’t grow up in the U.K., made me love the classics? 😅 as I have discovered them by myself, outside the school system. 🤔

[@10538overture]

It's quite hard to imagine something being spectacularly dull. Anyway, I remember being in Waterstones, B'ham, listening to a school girl droning at great length to a group of her friends about what how awful Great Expectations is. I strongly suspect she'd never got past page 2, but it is a book whose relevance becomes much clearer as you get older.

[@rjrastapopoulos1595]

I had mixed experience with literature as a curriculum at school. We had three things to study; a short story collection, a poetry collection and a play. While the short story and the poetry collections were okay overall, I had a mixed experience with the plays. We had The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare and Arms & the Man by George Bernard Shaw. While I adored the latter, I didn't really enjoy reading the former.

[@susantownsend8397]

I was a Lit major while still in my teens but I didn’t really appreciate great literature until I matured as an adult.

[@blizzer7512]

My 25 year old self would never have read Jane Eyre. My 62 year old self loved it. Young self was too impatient. Old self is more empathetic and willing to let the novel reveal itself.

[@Yesica1993]

I avoided it forever because I assumed it was a sappy romance. (Which I hate.) I tried it again, kind of on a whim. It became an instant favorite! I think I've read it three times now. I will continue to re-read it the rest of my life.

[@neasanicdhomhnaill2952]

I think the core of this isn't just the education system but trends of reading (and generally, our orientation towards life) in the whole of modern society. It is affected by the film and writing industries as well as consumerist values. I'm fascinated by mass perspectives and the shifts in them. AI is another massive shift - and not necessarily for the better. It could shift the whole concept of creativity in humanity which is actually terrifying - or it could push us to have a really good look at ourselves and what the creative arts actually mean to us.

[@sjmsutherland]

I'm dyslexic but I'll give books a chance, I first think through an older head....as I try and imagine the author of the time....and I'll give it a try!! I've just bought Les Miserables in book form and on Audible, thinking it'll possibly help me to read the book. Never thought I'd ever try Les mis until I discovered your channel!! People's interpretation of books these days annoys me!! If it's not on KZbin, or a screen people don't seem to have the time these days it seems!! Just my POV!!

[@iphisnextdoor]

The best example I have of this in my own life is when I had to read Hiroshima for a high school class and every day we had a really meticulous quiz about the names and who did what in each small section. I have no memory of what the teacher said about the book or even the bombing itself. I know it came from her being annoyed at kids not reading the text and just reading cliff notes, but… what was the point of making that sure we read it if we didn’t really get into why we were reading it?? And r.i.p. if you were getting the why but had a bad memory for names 🙃

[@edwinatakasaki2258]

Even within one author's collection, say Austen, Dickens, Henry James, Edith Wharton, Tolstoy, etc., I can prefer a book/s over another while completely disliking another, that's just how it goes. Example: Dickens, I love Tale of Two Cities and Our Mutual Friend but will probably never finish Bleak House. Comparing Austen to Bronte (any Bronte!) is not on! And I've already noted how much I love Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain while not caring much for the more well known Death in Venice. For some, audio books may benefit the "reading" experience. Derek Jacobi has the loveliest voice, his acting experience truly enhances his audio book readings. That may be a better immersive reading experience for those who find it difficult to sit and read.

[@pattic6077]

I’ve been searching for a good reading lamp. Where do you recommend for the best reading spots?

[@iveyao120]

Only 4 chapters into crime and punishment and someone gets axed. That got me hooked. I do agree that if you sit down with a classic, it must be carefully, thoughtfully and meticulously read.

[@mikedl1105]

If you don't know, you better axe somebody

[@EverydayisFriday-bw7bt]

@@mikedl1105😂

[@lindafarnes486]

Sherlock Homes stories where originally broken up and serialised in the newspapers. So they wouldn't have been read all the way through in one sitting.

[@helenhart4368]

I think that rather than telling people how to analyze, comment on, and discuss books in a way you believe is appropriate, just show people how you do it. There is room for these other perspectives, and they don’t reveal anything about whether they lack critical thinking skills or how to get deeper meanings from books.

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

I agree with you on almost everything that you say. There is no single way to analyse or comment on works. An open discussion where each can bring to bear their own questions, experiences, insights, and hear opposing ideas is far more important than just being told how to read a book. To judge a book as uninteresting and boring is also something I agree with, and like you feel that those perspectives are as welcome as praise. I am a great believer that people do have good reasons for their actions and opinions, which do not betray a lack of critical thinking. Something I have noticed in speaking with many about literature is how frequently they want the answer: What should I write in my exam; why I'd this meant to be a good book, etc. That seems to be evidence that we are being taught "the right way" to comment on or interpret a book. Like you, I'd like to know what these ones (school/college students) are getting from a book. How it makes them react and why they think so. While I do agree wholeheartedly that people can and should hold their opinions as valid as others, I have learned in my personal journey that, just as in any other field of the arts or sciences or life, some people have a better understanding and insight into how things work. I don't count myself as one of them, by the way.😀 My main idea in the video is that perhaps we are teaching reading as if it's something that each person does equally, which would make it unique amongst skills, or that all literature is the same, which I feel is a mistake. I think it was the prevalence of the same reason for the complaints that struck me. Individually, they mean little, but that there are repeated patterns suggests, and i could well be wrong, that there is perhaps something in the approach to literature that may be too narrow, maybe because of not being exposed to broader ideas earlier. It's only an opinion piece, and I'm grateful to you for your comment, which I agree with almost 100% 😀❤️❤️

[@thomasdequincey5811]

Dude, there are entire University courses that teach you how to analyse, comment on and discuss books. The reason for this is that this type of thinking (close reading) doesn't come naturally to us. We have to be taught it. Which is, I guess, the point of this KZbin channel.

[@BLynn]

I started following you in hopes of finding encouragement to read more classics, and I'm still stuck. I wonder if that is why I struggle so much with classic literature, is that I am always contemplating & reasoning about the world, people's reactions & matters of life. In general I read to "get out of my head". Not going to stop trying, but this might help me feel less defeated.

[@randolphpinkle4482]

You might want to start with classics with a first-person point of view.

[@BLynn]

@@randolphpinkle4482 thank you for the advice.

[@Yesica1993]

I'm not sure if you mean you read more for escapism/enjoyment? If so, maybe classic children's literature might work better for you? Those count as "classics"! I know Tristan did at least one video with recommendations.

[@mikeminden1090]

The parallels with classical music are amusing to observe.

[@randolphpinkle4482]

Thinking is the stuff of life. That's what makes great literature so delicious. But you must have developed an inner world. Imagination needs time to flourish.

[@soundsgood9417]

I love reading and I hate only some classics! 😅 😂 mostly because I was not mature enough or the language was too heavy (English is not my mother tongue)….

[@A4000]

Reading is taught in a deeply flawed fashion which only covers shallow reading, as in, I understand what these words mean. Only passive reading is taught, so if things are not served on a silver platter to your face, it gets overlooked. Active reading, analytical reading, critical reading, this is a lost art today, which is a shame. Of course not every book needs to be read analytically, but there a difference between having a skill and choosing not to use it, versus not having the skill and not being aware of what you’re missing. Awareness is the on/off switch that provides control of the light, otherwise you’re always lost in the dark, and then it’s no wonder you can’t see the value in the pages. Annotation is 🔑

[@karinberryman2009]

Imagine an abridged P G Wodehouse.

[@jamesgrant6356]

Love the video, but next time please can you slightly straighten the picture frame behind you? 😂

[@Sarah3984]

If goodreads was around in 1998 i would be giving A tale of two cities 1 star. We had to read that during thanksgiving vacation so we never discussed anything. Same with summer reading assignments. Read these 3 books and we are never going to discuss them but there will be a test. It is shameful. I had 1 great english teacher in high school. The others, no attempt to engage us in anything. No learning on how to properly read books. I am shocked i even read now but i feel like i should be a better reader.

[@fabrisseterbrugghe8567]

I admit that I don't care for _Great Expectations._ But I love _Tale of Two Cities_ and the _Mystery of Edwin Drood._ My key takeaway from reading lots of classics in my teens is that I don't have to like everything by a particular author. _Anna Karenina_ makes me angry. I read _War and Peace_ while recovering from appendicitis and adored it. My friend loved _The Idiot_ but couldn't stand _Crime and Punishment._ Do you like _Vanity Fair_? _Pilgrim's Progress_? _Robinson Crusoe_? _Middlemarch_?

[@fabrisseterbrugghe8567]

Also, Dickens was paid by the word. OF COURSE he was "circumlucatory."

[@JohnAllenRoyce]

Love Dickens, but you have to enjoy the ride. The "paid by the word" comment is an excuse lol. Dickens works were popular in his time and whatever he published was bought and read, it wasn't just for word count paycheck. He could always just write another work.

[@dennish.7708]

@@fabrisseterbrugghe8567First off, no pay for you, since “circumlucatory” isn’t a word. Second, Dickens (one of the greatest English-language authors ever) created immersive worlds in the minds of his readers. It requires many words to do so. No matter, whatever they paid him, the publishers got a bargain, and the world of literature got gifts beyond measure.

[@fabrisseterbrugghe8567]

@@dennish.7708 I used the word the reviewer had used. I know it's not in the dictionary. I'm a huge fan of Dickens. There are some novels that I don't much like -- _Great Expectations_ being one -- but most are wonderful. The man knew his world-building -- as the kids would say today.

[@fabrisseterbrugghe8567]

@@JohnAllenRoyce He needed the up front money that serialization, the pay by the word contracts, gave him. Yes, he wrote many books. But the books didn't provide as much of his fortune as lectures, public readings, and serialization did. This was at least partially because the U.S. didn't respect British copyright.

[@pouetpouetdaddy5]

ah goodreads...one of my problem...when I get a slump in the book I read, I go check critics on GR. I tried not checking one or two stars, bu the middle, three. But clearly, I tried to find a opinion who give me the " right" to not guilt about DNF the book. Pathetic, I know...but do I am really alone to do that?

[@guyincognito9698]

Not sure where you went to school, but as an English teacher that’s not how I approach teaching literature at all (memorising phrases and plot points). I don’t know any English teacher who does that.

[@NoNo-s9h]

It’s okay to hate things if we all loved the same stuff the world would be much different

[@maggygwire]

Call me opinionated but I absolutely love literature for the very reasons you’ve mentioned. I think you’ve got to be a bit dim to see it so superficially. It’s a real antidote to modern times for me

[@GuroFlemmen]

I had an interesting experience with this topic a few months back. We were reading The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway as a group read on Discord. Someone who had read the book before, advised us newbies to look up the term The Lost Generation and read a little about the themes of the book in advance. That changed my reading of the book. I struggled with the text. I didn't like the writing and narration styles. The characters were so annoying, and the events of the book are just a series of gatherings where they drink, eat, and insult each other. Quite boring. And, oh, all the bull fighting. When I finished it, I was like: I'm never going to read this book again! But even though the reading experience was challenging, I found the book to be fantastic. It's brilliant! It says so much about the devastating effect of ww1 on the young people of the time. Loved it! (But also disliked it).

[@georgwilliamfriedrichhegel5744]

For me, "classic" means that I need to give the book the benefit of the doubt...and if I don't like it I need to be humble and admit that I'm probably the one in the wrong, so to speak. That being said I've always struggled with the idea (one again...I'm clearly in the wrong here) that literature has real-world validity, as the stories and characters are products of the author's mind and not reality. For example, in Crime and Punishment, Raskolnikov suffers not because he's a person with human psychology, because Dostoevsky wrote him that way, so we have to then ask about Dostoevsky's credentials and whether or not we can trust his opinions about human psychology. How does he know how people think? Is his opinion generalizable? Maybe this is why classics are almost always older books, having them stick around for so long and be loved by so many is itself a kind of empirical validation of their ideas?

[@tomfrombrunswick7571]

The Iliad is meant to make people reflect? It is the closest to a Marvel Movie that I can think off.

[@Jeremy-kl3ch]

Excellent analysis! Sadly a reflection of the shallow, narcissistic and semi-lobotomized state of most people these days. Thank you!

[@terriblepainter7675]

To understand the present, one has to understand the past.

[@ciukstar1981]

Otto Rank: "...what it seeks is to prove by objectification the emotional reality of what has never been real and can never be made real."

[@Roderic07]

when you read those reviews...my first thought was...did they understand these books?

[@darbyl3872]

If literature is required for school, it feels like homework because that is exactly what it is. There's no other way to describe it. So, if you're lucky, you like the assigned reading, but much of it is not entertaining or even interesting to those with different tastes. Oh well, that's school for you. If you can get through it, you accomplish something that is better than the alternative.

[@kathy8013]

Thank you so much for this. Today schools don't teach common grammar skills, much less the finer points of classic literature. Face it we live in a tik tok World a shallow, short attention span sort of world.

[@tristanandtheclassics6538]

So glad you enjoyed it, Kathy. You are right, we live in a short attention span world which is a shame. Do you teach?

[@dennish.7708]

Your passionate description of what classic literature is, what it is for, how it might be conveying larger ideas, how it might make one reflect on the human condition, etc … that’s something that should be discussed in high school literature courses in the first few classes. My recollection of high school is that on the first day, we were told what we’d be covering, and then abruptly “Turn to page 1 of Hamlet!”.

[@dennish.7708]

BTW, I love reading. I’m deep into Martin Chuzzlewit, and I’m looking forward to consuming War And Peace during the long winter months.

[@Stormbrise]

Tell me about this, even at the college level, writing instructors have to accept papers based on effort, meaning they are full of BRBs, Be right back, and even emojis now. My brother even remarked that starting in the late 90s, in his social sciences classes he had to accept texting/sms language from the pager era, and not grade on grammar. I come from a family of teachers, I myself am a tutor, but I stuck to maths.

[@Yesica1993]

It makes me despair. It truly does. I am so thankful for finding Booktube. Without it, I think I would lose my mind. And I do mean that seriously.

[@SmileThatExplodes]

Nice beard!

[@SimpleHealth83]

😊

[@henriettanovember4733]

💙

[@leighsymons5619]

I see one star reviews and thats my signal to read it, particularly reviews given through the lense of todays society.

[@davidannderson9796]

'Classic literature is meant to make one think about something that happens in everyday life.' There! You did it! You got to the bottom of so many one-star reviews of classic literature! So many revered classics are stuck in ordinary life! And if you want to go in-depth into everyday situations, that's great! But our world is yearning so, so deeply to rediscover that there is more to life than ordinary life! That there is more to life than, I get up, I get sad, I go about my boring day! And if you don't want to be confined to ordinary, everyday life, but still want depth, than you need a very different kind of classic literature! Something like Homer and Virgil, or Rumi and Attar of Nishapur, and the Ramayana, and the Chinese classic Journey to the West! Something that, like E.T. or the original Star Wars trilogy, or Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and III: The Search for Spock, explores depth while getting beyond the ordinary! There is a lot of literature like that out there, but it is marginalized, because there is this idea out there that depth has to be boring ordinary life stuff! But this is simply not true! There's lots and lots of stuff out there like The Aeneid and Stranger in a Strange Land, Lord of the Rings and Asimov's Foundation, which explores depth while still getting beyond ordinary life! And if you want to get beyond ordinary life, this is the literature you should be seeking out! You will never get anywhere seeking ordinary-life literature and trying to find fantastic beauty and escape in it! If you want ordinary life, great! But if you want to get beyond ordinary life, you simply need to seek out the classic literature that does that! Like the Ramayana or Conference of the Birds, The Odyssey, or The Illiad! Because ordinary life will never satisfy your restlessness for something beyond the ordinary. You simply need something like Homer or Attar of Nishapur for that!

[@Afrodisiaka]

Most classics are highly overrated, while others are timeless. But mostly they are a waste of time , energy and money.

[@TimeTravelReads]

In general, I understand that you're trying to deal with the avalanche of surface reading on social media. But my brother made my family listen to hours of The Brothers K on a family trip once. As far as I could tell, it was an obnoxious Christian soap opera featuring a dysfunctional family being terrible for no reason. I've gotten along with every other classic I've attempted, but not that one. I've tried to listen to book reviews and such about the book, which just made me disrespect the author. He sounded like the kind of guy who would be a Christian Nationalist if he were alive and living in the US today. Maybe that's not true, but that's the impression I've been getting.

[@Yesica1993]

"Christian Nationalist", LOL! Not every book will appeal to every reader. That said, just because you are an anti-Christian bigot doesn't necessarily mean the book was bad. Wow.

[@TimeTravelReads]

@Yesica1993 I'm just telling you the impression I got from someone else's review. I was trying to better understand the book so that I could potentially try it again. That doesn't make me a bigot. It does mean that you like jumping to conclusions instead of reading what people say.

[@fabrisseterbrugghe8567]

Yes, The Brothers Karamazov is attempting to analyze the world views of Orthodox Christianity from the perspective of three different people who hold different rungs on the social ladder, even though they're brothers. I prefer every other book Dostoevsky wrote as they take less time to make the point.

[@TimeTravelReads]

@fabrisseterbrugghe8567 So that's what he's trying to do. Thank you for explaining.

[@fabrisseterbrugghe8567]

@@TimeTravelReads Mostly remembering a college class on Dostoevsky. The professor had to spell it out for us as we were confused by it.