At first I was going to write on the readings we have done in class, but today’s discussion on what makes a classic really perked an interest in me. In fact I believe it would be a great research project for students in a high school especially but a middle school as well because it offers the students an inside look at what makes a book a classic and may give them insight to why others liked a book and it lasted through history when they did not enjoy the novel. This may also help defend reading certain texts to students because if they understand why it became such a strong fixture in the literary world then they may be more willing to explore the ideas in the novels. It can also help to teach students how to question what they are reading and research the arguments or critiques that were made on a piece.
However, I really question how much cultural ideas and society influence what becomes considered a literary classic. I also wonder who in the Norton Anthology world makes the decision to put certain pieces by one author in the volumes but they omit others. This then leads to my curiosity about what certain aspects do they look for in different pieces of writing that help to make such major decisions, especially when one book may be more stylistically valued to one person but the content is poor and another book contains both but the poorer of the two is considered a classic.
In class I liked that we delved into this topic rather deeply because I was fascinated by the wide range of opinions and ideas about what makes a classic. I believe deeming something a classic in the literary world is a very difficult task, with all the various pieces available, and admire the patients it must take to read through so many different works. However, I think it would be nice to know a little more from these people who make these decisions what influenced their choices. I am excited to learn more about this, for myself, but also for my students in the future.
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2 comments:
Sarah, I'm glad you found that discussion useful. As I mentioned in class, I'd like the class to talk on that "meta" level as well as our more usual literary interpretation level, and it seems to me that good ideas came out of that discussion.
Deciding what to include as a classic in an anthology is an interesting question, too. Part of it depends on what literary critics and teachers are interested in teaching, and for that the publishers ask various consultants about what should be included. (I've done this for publishers, for example.) The editors ultimately weigh a lot of factors when deciding what to put in.
P. S. If you're really interested in this subject, you might like Paul Lauter's _Canons and Contexts_ or other books like it.
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