How to Enjoy the Classics
Steve Allen · 1980
"Classics feel unreadable because people approach them as assignments to survive rather than books to be read on their own terms — with context, patience, and a willingness to keep going past the slow opening."
Steve Allen hated Moby Dick in school. He came back to it as an adult, on his own schedule, and found a book he genuinely loved.
His method has five parts: know what you're reading before you start (novel, biography, history — check the preface and the encyclopedia entry first), don't read in bed where your guard is already dropping, don't let the sheer number of characters (Dostoevsky throws fifty at you) scare you off — they sort themselves out, read in big bites rather than short nibbles so the rhythm of the book has a chance to grab you, and give the author a chance — some books, like Plato's Republic, take three attempts before they open up.
Per Steve Allen's approach, what mistake most often kills a person's enjoyment of a classic novel?
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- How to Enjoy the ClassicsHouse overview (The Printed Word)
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