An argument for reading old literature
Most of us went through that phase in school in which we hated whatever book we were assigned to read in our English classes. The language probably felt old, the plot seemed out-of-date to our society, we didn’t feel like we could relate with characters who didn’t have to deal with trigonometry.
I remember hating “The Great Gatsby” the first time I read through it and I originally felt that Shakespeare was impossible to read. For many of us, our introduction to old literature probably wasn’t a good one.
The good news is, for a large amount of avid readers, this trend would eventually come to an end. My break came in my senior year or high school when I found myself enthralled by Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” in all its angsty glory. I was involved in my reading of Kate Chopin’s “The Awakening” and fell in love with Steinbeck’s “East of Eden.” My entry into college found me loving all the books I was assigned whether they were written in 2001, 1950, 1835 and beyond.
As I said, for many of us, the initial hatred of the old literature that originally seemed confusing and a pain to read passed as we grew. Of course for some of us it may not have existed at all. I knew several students my freshman year who loved the book we read outright…the freaks.
Not everyone has overcome their aversion to older writing though and it is those bibliophiles and casual readers I want to address.
So why read old literature? The answer is that reading old literature is a worthwhile challenge that only gets easier with time and gives only benefits to the reader
Got that? Okay good. So now let me clarify.
You don’t have to read all the things you hated in high school. Reading old literature means taking the time to read works by authors who came before our modern era. My understanding for this is anything before 1945 (sorry Grandpa but your childhood years are far removed from ours). If you are interested in the Fresh Renaissance, read about it. If you are curious about the Industrial era in England, read about it. Wonder what people thought about in the early 1700s? Go find a book written by an author of that time.
The fact is, reading should be a fun, educational and sometimes challenging pursuit and reading old literature makes it that much better. It helps us compare and contrast how we think now to how people thought before. If helps us understand the long histories that still affect our societies today. It helps us improve and expand our language skills, making the brain stronger, like exercise does for the body. Even better, literature back then was often revered as an art making for overall enthralling description and exposition that, once translated takes the breath away (and in the meantime often tortures students).
For those that haven’t broken free of the hatred of old literature that was given life in high school, I encourage you to try again. There are no assignments now so it is up to you. If you find reading fun, these other books should be a joy to you as well. They may take a little more time to understand but once you do you’ll be enveloped in well-described stories the same way that you are transported with the modern fiction on your nightstand. You may even find something in common with your predecessors, a reminder that those who came before are human and lived and breathed and struggled the same as us. They probably even hated reading “The Iliad” as much as the rest of us.
