Reading The Classics

If you keep track of my Goodreads and Instagram accounts you will see many of the classics there. Jane Austen, Emily Bronte, Shakespeare, Mary Shelley, Oscar Wilde, Victor Hugo etc.

It is not just because I am an English Literature student, I mean of course t played a huge part and I discovered more and more classics to read from my professors, but I genuinely enjoy reading 18th and 19th century literature.

I am rally fond of the times described in the books and the archetypal rules that the people of the time had to follow – the social etiquette was so formal that I am still fascinated by it.

Honestly, the thing I like the most about reading classics is the fact that I am able to trace back t them while reading more contemporary novels. No author has new pure ideas, there are always stimuli by which he or she are affected by. Author may read something and then afterwards while writing, the influence from the classic may make an appearance in their book without even realizing it. I am obsessed with the uncovering of such references and actually try to find out which book was written first and which introduced a particular idea first. For example, in my favorite classic book Wuthering Heights there is a constant mention of the moors in England that Bronte chose to include in the novel because she lived in England and that was what she was seeing everyday. So, when I read Orlando by Virginia Woolf, I was surprised to see the same reference to the moors. Keep in mind that Woolf lived was born approximately 50 years after Bronte and in a different setting. Thus, it is remarkable to find such connections between novels that are years apart.

Do you like the classics? What are your favorites?

Enjoy and Happy Reading!