Because I’m a writer, an avid reader, and a former English teacher, I’ve read lots of classics. For years I read these books because I love anything that has to do with words. And also because they were required. A quiz, a test, or the horrible possibility that a professor might ask me a question were great incentives to plow my way through Bleak House or Moby Dick. When I left the classrooms, however, I also left behind classics. I know why. The classics meant work. They meant I needed a dictionary at hand. They meant I would scratch my head and wonder. What does that mean? Bye-bye to that, I thought. I was ready for the New York Times bestsellers, a Louise Penny mystery, or perhaps a Nicholas Sparks or a Nora Roberts. Reading became pure joy again. But slowly, I craved a steak with my sweets. A few classics with my popular fiction. Then I realized it’s lovely to have a balanced book diet. Why? A few classics with lots of popular fiction makes me a healthy reader. Let me see if I can convince you with my 5 reasons to read more classics.
Many of you might throw up your hands at the thought of reading War and Peace or 100 Days of Solitude, so let’s start small. How about a classic poem or short story? And because it’s the season for hot cider, pumpkins, and eerie tales, I have appropriately seasonal picks.
But first. What’s a classic?
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What is a classic?
Without getting too deep in the weeds, a classic is something that exemplifies the highest quality of its kind. Most importantly, it stands the test of time. People of all ages and generations recognize and appreciate something that is classic.
Classic rock, classic cars, classic furniture, classic food.
A book published this year may be an award-winner in its genre, but will it be a classic? Only time will tell.
The interesting thing is that it might be popular during its day. Did you know that Charles Dickens published Great Expectations in a weekly series to his 1861 audience? They waited eagerly for the next installment like we used to wait for the next episode of Friends or Seinfeld. In the mid-nineteenth century, few people would have called a Dickens’ novel a classic. It was popular! Some of today’s bestsellers may very well become classics. Time will tell.
Why are we hesitant or even afraid to read classics?
We have high school nightmares.
Perhaps you had an English teacher who didn’t quite prepare you for a classic. Maybe he assigned you to read the first five chapters of The Scarlet Letter without so much as an introduction. It’s a short enough book. 175 pages. A historical romance, the teacher said. But when you got home and opened up this deceptively simple read?
You were slapped with this opening line:
“A throng of bearded men, in sad-coloured garments and grey steeple-crowned hats, inter-mixed with women, some wearing hoods, and others bareheaded, was assembled in front of a wooden edifice, the door of which was heavily timbered with oak, and studded with iron spikes.”
What? What does this even mean? I don’t blame you. Makes my head hurt.
We are lazy readers.
Carrying our high school experiences into our adult life, many of us tossed the challenging books. Frankly, reading classics is Too. Much. Work. I get it! Sadly, reading anything longer than a Facebook post or a quick email is also Too. Much. Work. I know what’s happening to my brain, and it’s not good. Thanks to television and social media, I am losing the ability to focus for long periods of time. My attention span is shrinking.
I used to require reading Amusing Ourselves to Death, published in 1985, to my high school AP students. Neil Postman wisely analyzes how the media shapes our lives. Indeed, in the nearly 40 years since his book was published, we’re seeing countless more books like What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains. That author writes, “We are becoming ever more adept at scanning and skimming, but what we are losing is our capacity for concentration, contemplation, and reflection.”
So reading anything that takes longer than three minutes is good for my brain. Classics take longer than three minutes.
5 Reasons to Read Classics, Specifically Short Stories
So now that we are past the reason we don’t read classics, let’s talk about the good reasons to begin. And we’re starting small. I am setting myself the challenge to pick up one classic short story each season and read it. Why should you join me to read one classic short story each season?
1. It’s fast.
Edgar Allan Poe offered a classic definition of a short story: that one should be able to read it in one sitting (“The Philosophy of Composition,” 1846). Now we might all disagree about the length of “one sitting.” In the 19th century, “one sitting” could easily have been an entire evening. But by and large, most short stories can be read in an hour or less.
2. It’s free.
Did you know this? Most classic stories—novels and shorts—are available online for no charge. And that, to me, is a great reason to read classics. Project Gutenberg started in 1971 with the mission that the world’s literature should be free and unlimited to everyone. The founder, Michael Hart said, “Literature should be as free as the air we breathe.” According to my brief research, he invented the eBook before 1971. He started the project with the Declaration of Independence—yes, isn’t that cool!—and then moved on to hundreds of works in the public domain. Of course, you can also go to your local library (physical or digital) and borrow millions of titles for no cost other than the patience to wait if it’s a popular book.
3. It’s one simple way to open your eyes, see the world, meet new people, and learn something.
Reading is a bit like traveling. You experience new and unfamiliar places and people and times. The classics are the “bucket list” travel spots like the Eiffel Tower, the Colosseum, and the Grand Canyon.
4. It’s a rewarding challenge.
We can all get too comfortable and slip into ruts with everything, right? Same music, same book genres, same authors, same TV shows, same route to get to church or work or school. Mixing things up a bit is good for us. (I wrote about how moving your furniture is good for your brain here.)
What’s easier than picking up one short story or poem each season and reading it? At the very least you’ll say, “I did it!” At best, you’ll find a new quote, genre or author you love.
5. Yes, it will exercise your mind.
(See what I said about being lazy earlier.)
Helpful Hints
1. Pass over the inevitable unfamiliar vocabulary words, unless you want to learn new words and have a dictionary by your side which will make this feel like a school assignment. We don’t want that.
2. Invite a friend or family member to join you in this challenge. Trust me, you’ll for sure want to talk about the stories with someone else.
3. Read when you are wide awake. The pacing for most classics is much different than a contemporary story. If you are the slightest bit sleepy, then you may not make it beyond the first paragraph.
4. Look up the poem or story online where someone way smarter than I am can help you make sense of it. Not required but immensely helpful.
My List of 5 Quick Mostly Classic Reads for Autumn
- “Autumn Song” by W.H. Auden
- “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe
- Sonnet 73 by William Shakespeare
- “The Landlady” by Roald Dahl (1959)
- “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe
The Most Beautiful Classic? Look again at the definition of a classic–-something that exemplifies the highest quality of its kind and it stands the test of time. Unlike any of these other classics, God’s Word points us clearly to Christ. He said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
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