Defining Classics

As I was trying to busy myself with literature on a much needed and well deserved weekends break, I recalled having recently brushed up on classic literature and contemplating on whether the genre can be generally defined. Of course, different people from different reads with different experiences will debate on what makes literature a classic. You can even find yourself confused depending on what you get to read. In the context of books and literature, however, Esther Lombardi delivers the following as standards of classic literature:

* Quality, artistic at that. It can be an expression of life, truth and beauty.
* Strength against time. That means it can outlast time itself. Literature in this category should represent the period, the century or decade, when it was written. Remember Shakespeare in the Elizabethan Period? There you go.
* Universal appeal. Classics must at least be understood by a wide range of souls. The world should be able to relate to its themes regardless of background and level of experience. Themes such as love, hate, death, life and faith cater to basic emotional responses that make for easy integration.
* Connections are made by classics. Similar to how we can relate to its themes, we should also be influenced by this literature. The writers of this category often integrate their history and ideas into their work, which help educate the reader in growth. Whether this is unconsciously done or specifically worked into the plot remains to be seen with each particular text.

The last time I've read classic literature was a few month ago but that's only because I'm graduating this year and I've tons to do. That copy of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, which was a gift from an old friend, is still sitting by my bedside table waiting for my eyes to pry it open and my heart to consume its very soul.

What about you, lit wit? Read any good classics lately?

† Jofer

Library Lovers' Month

I just read earlier on Esther's Classic Literature Blog, maintained by About.com and written by Esther Lombardi, that February is Library Lovers' Month. This is my first time hearing that. I've never associated my birth month with libraries. Although, I can faintly remember spending a few birthdays with books, some days even spent on a library. But that was all when I was still a little child, or a budding teen.

We all know what a library is, right? Basically, it's where we keep books. We go to libraries to read certain books: some to research technical topics while others to entertain themselves. Nowadays, the modern teen would rather go online than spend one whole day in the library. That's all well and good but we need to brush up on ancient knowledge to get by in an intellectual world.

John Bright once said, "What is a great love of books? It is something like a personal introduction to the great and good men of all past times. Books, it is true, are silent as you see them on their shelves; but, silent as they are, when I enter a library I feel as if almost the dead were present, and I know if I put questions to these books they will answer me with all the faithfulness and fullness which has been left in them by the great men who have left the books with us."

Now that I've come upon this nostalgic realization, I'll probably hit our library at school. Our local library offers little, as far as I can remember, but it's been a long time since I visited that place. If we can spend one whole day playing virtual games, why not spend even just a few hours in the library? 

† Jofer