Research Librarian
I sent the following request to our Research Librarian…
“I would like to read an assortment of literary classics. I’ve been a non-fiction guy most of my life but it’s time to diversify. I realize that is kind of like saying I want to swim the Pacific Ocean. So as preparation for selecting a few that would be most interesting to me, I would like to do some reading about the titles considered by those knowledgeable to be the major classics of literature. What makes them classics? Why should they be read? What one might expect to gain from reading them? That sort of thing…”
The next day I got this response…
“You will be receiving a great list of recommendations from one of our librarians soon, but in the meantime I had to jump in to offer this article that I just read this week and it was so timely with your question:”
Italo Calvino’s 14 Criteria for What Makes a Classic
Note…
I picked up a copy of Calvino’s book “Why Read the Classics.” The introduction covers the 14 criteria mentioned above. There are many reasons to read the classics (which classics is another matter) but the answer to why read the classics may boil down to the fact that reading them is better than not reading them — whatever they are.