During my junior year of English, I recall underlining passages in Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. If you look at my bookshelf, a copy of that old and wrinkled paperback still sits in the second tier. My English teacher emphasized how we were reading a classic and that it was important we understood the gravity of Mr. Twain’s insights.
As a sixteen year old, I failed to understand the magnitude of Twain’s words in Huck Finn. The combination of labeling the book as “required” reading and the quizzes and tests detracted me from appreciating the sheer beauty of the words and the relevance of its themes. This past month, my dear friend Kristie gave me a very early edition of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn as a gift. Rereading these words are refreshing. The language, themes, metaphors, and characters felt relevant and inspiring. Just a few months earlier, I revisited The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Again, the crisp language and the descriptions of the 1920’s seem palpable and striking.
I’m curious. If you had a chance to revisit a classic piece of literature, what would you recommend reading? Do you think classics have relevance in a modern society?
Welcome! I am a lawyer turned freelance writer, essayist, and editor. On staff at Literary Mama and the co-founder and co-editor of the literary journal, The Sunlight Press, my essays and reported work have appeared in The Washington Post, The Lily, Saveur, Civil Eats, Brain, Child, ESPN and elsewhere. I am currently at work on a memoir on grief and culture and how it provides perspective on life’s ordinary graces. I invite you to appreciate the ordinary with me. I hope my daily practice of seeing the magic in the mundane helps you celebrate and find more of these moments in your life too.
Every once in a while I feel nostalgic and pull out a classic, and boy what a treat when I do.
I read Jane Eyre every year. I learn something new each time.
There are so many classics to revisit – and some I’ve yet to explore. Believe it or not, I always adored the somewhat brooding Russian masterpieces – Dostoevsky’s Crime & Punishment for example.
Some of the classics offer more lessons in contemporary life than we realize; others are so difficult to wade through (we’ve grown less patient, and the language may seem arcane and plodding), we sacrifice their wisdom because we’re more comfortable with “easy reading.”
Possibly a metaphor for our approach to many things these days.
What a timely post as I just started re-reading “Pride & Prejudice”. I love Austen and I alternate between that and “Sense & Sensibility”. Every couple of years I like to pick up George Eliot’s “Middlemarch”. It’s hard to re-read when I have so many books on my must-read list – ones I’ve never read – but when I do, I appreciate how the familiarity of an old classic takes me back and propels me forward with new understanding of another layer I hadn’t noticed before at the same time.
I am a huge Jane Austen fan too. I will add that on my re-read list. Thanks!
This makes me want to read some Hemingway . 🙂
A Farewell to Arms is one of my all time favorites.
I adore classics – and there are many I have yet to read. This year, I’ve been revisiting some children’s chapter book classics, gosh they are good. Good writing never goes stale.
Gabe read this over the summer and loved it. I was so glad! I think it’s fun to revisit books at different points in your life.
Having a 15 year old, I find it exciting to see what she is reading in school. The classics are still there and she may get a differnt meaning to certain passages but it is still fun to remember how it felt reading To kill a mockingbird or Shakespeare. I guess growing up in a different time period than we did, she has stronger opinions than I did at her age. Thanks for writing about this. I will never forget Mrs Quintanna and her “Scarlet Letter” apron!
Letty, To Kill a Mockingbird is a great classic to reread. I will never forget the Scarlett Letter either.
Thanks for reading and commenting. Nice to see you at the reunion.
It’s great to grab one of the classics once in a while! I just re-read “The Time Machine” by H.G. Wells. It had been long enough that the whole story was fresh to me. I enjoyed his use of the unfolding environment to heighten the tension. What a great ending! I’ll have to add Huck to my “to do” list 🙂
My absolute favourites were Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, and now I think it maybe time to reread!!
I admit – I’ve never read Huck Finn! But I love Dracula. That counts as a classic, right?
Heidi by Johanna Spyri (the descriptions and the story are so compelling and bring you to a more innocent time than our culture). I have it leather bound in my library to reread when I get tired of this world and it’s technology. :o) Sometimes a little mountain air does wonders, even if you can only smell it and see it through Spyri’s eyes.
Nikole, it is a classic I’ve never read. Your comment has inspired me to definitely read it for the first time. Thank You!