This week the Literary Blog Hop asks: Do you find yourself predisposed to like (or dislike) books that are generally accepted as great books and have been incorporated into the literary canon? Discuss the affect you believe a book’s “status” has on your opinion of it.
I don’t like a book just because other people like it, literary or not. I may choose a book based on others’ opinions, but I always reserve judgment until after I’ve read it. I also don’t find I like all books found to be part of the “literary canon”. I’ve mentioned this book several times before, but I couldn’t stand it and barely got through it. William Makepeace Thackeray’s Vanity Fair is regarded as a literary classic. I enjoy many of Thackeray’s contemporaries. I loved Dicken’s David Copperfield and Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. I just couldn’t deal with Vanity Fair. Sometimes I’d rather forget it, but it’s the best example I have.
I can’t imagine anyone liking all books in the literary canon.
It's not possible to enjoy all books blessed/cursed with the Classic status. but using it as a guide you can work your way through the book world.
ReplyDeleteI tend to go into the "classics" with an "OK, if you're so great then entertain me" attitude, which isn't the best way to go into something. I don't think it's possible to enjoy all the classics and I also don't think there's anything wrong with disliking a Great Book. Regardless of what academic circles say, in the end it's your own personal opinion that matters
ReplyDeleteIndeed, if we did we would probably be a boring bunch of people.
ReplyDeleteI think we can't all like the same books, so even if they are considered Great Books, we all will have to see for ourselves which we think are great or not.
ReplyDeleteI do like a good classic now and then but I don't assume they are going to be good just because of their classification.
ReplyDeleteI hated Vanity Fair. I didn't even make it through the whole book. There is nothing likeable about it or any of the characters.