Sunday, January 13, 2013

On Force-Feeding the Classics or "Eat Your Classics! They're Good For You!"


With all the blog-talk about “the Classics” in literature, (see Terri Giuliamo Long’s thoughtful words or The Pen and Muse's musings) I thought to finally jump on the proverbial band-wagon and contribute my two cents, (though I missed all the fun blog-hopping and contests which, regrettably, I always seem to do).

My daughter is eleven and an avid reader.  While she was younger, and at the mercy of listening to whatever Mommy picked out to read, she was fed a steady diet of my own favorites from a childhood steeped in reading:  “Island of the Blue Dolphins” and Charlotte and her web.  All the “Little House” books, ad nauseum, “The Secret Garden” and “The Little Princess”.  You get my drift.

Then, the fairies struck.  Perhaps it was the onslaught of Tink and her irrepressible pals (No disrespect to Gail Carson Levine  and her fabulous “Fairie-Dust and the quest for the Egg”) or it is quite possible the endless stream of “Rainbow Fairies” books (which were her first solo read) drilled FAIRIES! in to her consciousness like some type of crazy thought-reform cult.  Regardless, she had caught a whiff of fantasy books and has since to waver from her chosen genre, despite all my offerings.  She will occasionally read one of my "classic" choices, but usually as a home-school history read, not “for fun”.  Really?

  I remember reading “Where the Red Fern Grows” in Mr. Kaiser’s sixth grade English class in 1977.  (Yes, I'm old.) Being a fast reader, I reached the end of the book while everyone else was still off chasing 'coons.  I remember actually sobbing at my desk, my head bent low over the book, trying in vain to hold back the flood of emotions that tore through me as I read the ending. (I won’t give it away here since my daughter usually reads my blog and I still have hope she will read this book.)
It changed my relationship with books--forever.  Nothing had ever before moved me in such a way.

There weren’t so many choices for reading when I was eleven.  We were what one might call an “undiscovered tween market” or , if there had been the overwhelming choices for fantasy, I might have swung my daughter’s way with my reading choices too.  My "fantasy" reads were “ghost stories” like "The Amityville Horror" and V.C. Andrews books, and I read them almost guiltily.  I knew most were trash, and I usually leaned more towards books with the shiny Newbury gilded to its front cover.

But now, I wonder.  Will enforcing these "classics" just make my daughter dislike them?  Will it be like making her eat French onion soup with quite possibly the same results?  After reading the definitions for “a classic” I wonder if it is even relevant any more, hence the quotation marks.  We are all such creatures of our own creations.  Pinterest, Facebook, playlists, blogsites…we have all become specialists of our own interests, and (I think) people are too busy compiling their own canons, and declaring them sound, to bother playing catch-up. 

I really am on the ol’ fence-post on this one.  What do you think Readers?  Writers?  Do we enforce the old standards on the impressionable young minds of the world, or do we let them revel in dystopian zombie fantasy or whatever the hell else they like to read simply because…they are reading.

 Is that enough?  Shouldn’t it be enough?

Discuss.

21 comments:

  1. I read Alice in Wonderland when my big kids were 5 and 7 and they hung on every word... even though they probably didn't understand a bunch of it (neither did I really) and I read The Secret Garden to my daughter (the 5 year old now 8) this past summer and she LOVED it and has asked me to read it to her again. But she also reads whatever else she can get her hands on too. Harry Potter, we are read Fablehaven together now, but she does seem to like realistic fiction equally. I think the mix is good for them!

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  2. I think you've hinted at the very solution: Balance. As in life, as in literature, huh? "The Secret Garden" is so beautifully written isn't it? I remember we read it in the dead of winter, and all the passages about spring were just torture to us as winter held sway outside and held us prisoner inside!
    Thanks for sharing Julie!
    ~Jill

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  3. I don't have kids, but I know that once I hit high school and was forced to read classics for English class, I developed a dislike of them that has lasted to this day. (And I probably strayed from Hardy Boys and books like that in grade school once I discovered adult fantasy and science fiction.)
    And trust me, you are not old!

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  4. Dear Mr. C,
    I shall trust you, and relish my youth for yet another day. I don't know about those Hardy Boys, but in Nancy Drew, the mysterious ghost always ended up to be a fake--and that really bugged me. (Same with Scooby-Doo.) Nancy Drew deserved a real, honest-to-goodness ghoulish monster, don'cha think?
    Thanks so much for stopping by, Alex.
    ~Just Jill

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  5. You know... I was in 6th grade in 1977, too, and ALSO had a book-relationship altering experience with Where the Red Fern Grows (though 4th grade on that front). In Jr. High I was a Stephen King junkie and only came to classics when forced (though English classes) until I finished college and then begane to dig through them like crazy, realizing they were classics for a reason. I think anything that keeps your kid reading is good enough. Suggest, sure. But don't fret.

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    1. Oh! you're the Watery Tart! Love your website! Am looking forward to more!!

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    2. I hit the classics once in college too. Hemingway, Steinbeck, Melville, you know the drill. But I loved King too--especially his short story collections like "Skeleton Crew" but was too embarrassed to bring it up--ever! Remember "Mrs. Todd's Shortcut" anyone? Love dit! Isn't it funny how things have changed?
      Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts Hart.

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    3. Oh dear--does my reputation precede me? teehee. Yeah, I still like horror shorts. I have sort of outgrowns whole books of horror, but they are my favorite kind of short story.

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  7. Get them while they're young, I say. Bring them up on the classics and they will wander off for awhile, but will return to them at some point. There is a reason these books are still in favor after all these years. They are simply worth reading. That said, some of those fantasies your daughter reads will be classics some day. It's just a matter of time.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by for a cuppa Rosie. You hit on such a good point: What will the canon be in fifty years? (Aside from including my yet to be published novel of course. big ha.)
      But seriously, build it and they will come, right?

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  8. Jill, when your daughter sees the glimmer in your eye when you read these classics, I believe the love for literature will capture her heart too, just by seeing how you reacts. My parents listened to the big Bands when I was a teen and the Beatles were the outrage, I mean rage. But I still loved Frank and Dean and Sammy because their music was always playing in our house. I hear From Here to Eternity and instantly I'm back there watching my parent waltz. Just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes.

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  9. What a great image Joylene. Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing such an intimate moment shared between husband and wife(and daughter)--how many years ago? 'Tis simply lovely.

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  10. Hello fellow IWSGer! Wandering over from Alex's site. It's hard to say whether or not your daughter will dislike the classics because you pushed them on her. I loved books Like Red Fern and avidly read them...but today's market is a-changing. Maybe try a 50/50 ratio with her? One classic to one new genre?

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  11. I Randi, your idea is intriguing. Kind of like, "Eat your peas, and then you can have a cookie". Your right about today's market too. It is a changin'. After hearing everyone's much beloved sentiments about "Fern" I'm definitely going to incorperate it into her reading list. I will be interested to see what happens.
    Thanks for stopping by.
    ~Just Jill

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  12. From your picture, I think you look pretty young.

    There are some classics I didn't think I would like that I really ended up enjoying once I began reading them- Frankenstein, for example.

    Your recent post (the one before this one, I think) inspired me to mention another overused word in a recent blog post. Unique.

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  13. I read Shelly's Frankenstein in a collge class--I forget which, but I remember how much fun it was discussing it...more so than actually reading it.
    I so enjoyed your blog. It was definitely not UNIQUE!
    P.S. I'm forty-six and very well aquainted with the North Bay--my old home.
    Thanks for stopping by and for your comments, especially about my youthfullness.
    ~Just Jill

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  14. I think it should be enough that she's reading. Maybe it'll come to a point where she'll grow into reading other books too.

    Like me. I'm planning to read some books now that I should have read ages ago, but didn't feel like reading. :-)

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  15. Hi Misha, thanks for stopping by. I feel much as you do, and I bet her journey will take her through other choices as well.
    I've heard much the same from other readers who "have always wanted to read..." and are just now choosing to do so. Perhaps it is in the air?
    Thanks for the comments!

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  16. Awesome post! Thanks so much for sharing Jill! I think that there's nothing wrong with keeping a little mix in there, between classics and crazy zombie-loving goodness. After all, the new books of today will undoubtedly be the oldies of the future!

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  17. Great point Jolene. Who knows, perhaps we might write one!
    ~Just Jill

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Please use your words and comment freely! We really should meet!