Re-evaluating the Classics

I've been reading classics lately, the past year or two, along with other books. I'm reading classics in part because Ellen is studying to be a secondary education English teacher and so she has lots of them around and partly because I'm curious what they're like now that I'm mature enough to understand them better and more deeply. I do wonder if a lot of them are mostly lost on secondary students and if it's even worth it to slog through some of them.

I've read three authors in the past year who I also recall from High School: Dickens, Conrad, and Hemingway.

IN HIGH SCHOOL:

Dickens: I remember mostly disliking Tale of Two Cities in ninth grade as I read a bunch of it, but then really coming round to admire it in the end as I saw the whole plot and scope of the story. The romantic in me loved Sydney Carton and his sacrifice.

Conrad:I remember thinking Heart of Darkness was kind of cool in, what, 11th grade when I read it, especially as classics go.

Hemingway: I don't remember any book in particular of his, and it's quite possible we didn't read any as a class but that I read him on my own just to attain requirements for number of pages read. I remember he was popular to read because it's so easy to chew up pages in Hemingway with his style. I remember liking his simple style and wondering why others couldn't write like that.

NOW:

Dickens: Writes great, but Tale of Two Cities is too sentimental. I still have some romantic in me, but couldn't come to see Carton as a believable character. Alas, the book de-motivated me to try others. The sentimentality in Dickens is a common criticism, and, alas, all too true. It is of course possible to look beyond this, and I'm sure rewarding to do so. Perhaps I'll try another Dickens at some point.

Conrad: Heart of Darkness is fabulous. It works completely on multiple levels and is a clear work of genius. The symbolism is rich and effective and the layers of meaning are fun to think about.

Hemingway: I decided to try his first novel, The Sun Also Rises. It is absolutely wretched. I tried hard, but simply could not finish it. The characters are interchangeable, the writing is bland and dull, and the plot is slighter than in a 1950s musical. I understand the way in which the spare writing style and plot line is modern and the characters represent a world that has lost its way. I certainly agree that modern society has indeed lost its way. I just didn't realize that losing one's way could be so deathly boring. I always figured it was kind of interesting to become bitter and disenchanted with the world. Turns out I was wrong. Perhaps I remember little about Hemingway because, in the end, there is nothing worth remembering.