This month the classic club has been asking about which classics we might be avoiding.
Which classic work has caused you to become a master in avoidance? It’s not necessarily because you’re intimidated but maybe there are works out there that just cause you to have the Dracula reaction: cape-covered arm up in front of face with a step back reaction?
Well yes it is true – I have been avoiding some classics – though maybe avoid is a misleading term, because I probably have absolutely no intention of reading them.
Herman Melville – Moby Dick, I can’t see that I shall ever want to read an enormous book about a large watery mammal.
James Joyce’s Ulysses; need I say why? Somethings just sound like too much hard work.
Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey and other such classical works – I read Medea years ago and that frankly was enough. I’m afraid you will never see these works on my classic club list.
Where avoidance and my classic club list come in I must admit there are books that I keep by-passing. I really want to re-read Middlemarch and Bleak House – but they are so big! I read them before and well I just have too many books. Many of the books on my cc list are re-reads, Mansfield Park is another I keep by-passing, the thing I love about re-reads is I already kind of know what I am getting – so why am I avoiding them? I don’t think I can really answer that, although it might have something to do with that enormous number of books I have waiting for me I haven’t read before.
Then there are books I suspect I will have to be in the right frame of mind for – although I have no real point of reference for them, no one has actually put me off reading them, or told me they are hard – I seem to have decided that for myself. These are: Summer Will Show – Sylvia Townsend Warner, The Lying days and The Conservationist by Nadine Gordimer – I have had all three of these for some time but I’m prepared to bet it’s a while yet before I get around to them. Something about them feels dense before I even open them; I know I really shouldn’t pre-judge things like that though.
So then, should I be getting stuck into those books I’m avoiding? I am up for being persuaded. I can’t say I will ever be putting Moby Dick and The Iliad or James Joyce on to my list though.
Definitely read The Conservationist ……to be fair it’s ages since I read it and politics have changed a bit since then but I remember it as profoundly moving. Love the ‘new look’ btw
New look?
I thought the page looked different ! Thinking about it , I normally read blogs on my iPhone but this time was on iPad!!! Like the old look then ;))
Hee hee things do look different on different devices. Thanks 🙂
I feel the same way about Moby Dick!
Glad it’s not just me.
I know what you mean about re-reading big books – I loved Bleak House about 30 years ago and would like to return to it, but the temptation of unread books is strong. As for Ulysses – I *would* like to read it one day, but I think dealing with Proust is enough for the moment!!
Oh Proust I don’t think I will be reading that either.
(….and I don’t feel the appeal of large watery mammals either!)
🙂
I don’t think I will ever read anything by Walter Scott again and I am avoiding Mill on the Floos as too sad. But Ali, I wonder if you would listen to Middlemarch rather than reading it. I have read it several times but when I listened to it recently I was completely bowled over. You can now download talking books free from the Birmingham library. The Humanity and wit in Middlemarch are wonderful.
Well unfortunately I don’t get on with talking books find them strangely soporific. Glad you are finding so many you love though Bridget.
The thing about Moby is that it is actually really funny, at least until Ahab shows up, and it’s easy to skip whole chapters (the whiteness of the whale) and not really miss a beat. I’m a big Moby booster, but it always tell folks, any chapter that’s rough going jump ahead and come back later sometime.
Nice to know poor old Moby has at least one ardent fan.
Look up the short chapter called Chowder. It will give you a taste of what Moby is like when Ishmael is doing the talking.
Thanks for the tip
If it helps any, I never thought I would read Moby Dick, but then I listened to the audiobook while doing house chores. It took a few weeks, but I chewed through it. Several of the main characters are tattooed and non-Caucasian. Also there is this scene where the whalers are essentially playing in the ambergris of dead sperm whale. It was rather….perhaps the word ‘erotic’ is too strong. But then again, perhaps not. At any rate, it was an educational book.
Well done for getting through it, I can’t imagine it’s for me however.
I agree with you about anything James Joyce and the Homer and Odyssey and I never do see the point of rereads. But Moby Dick is quite nice really if you are in the frame of mind for it.
Ooh another Moby fan 🙂
I tried reading The Odyssey, but had difficulty understanding the writing. I may try to revisit some day, but won’t be rushing to try. I read Moby Dick last year and while it was difficult, I did appreciate what Herman Melville was trying to do. It’s half an adventure, half an academic text about whales. Ulysses I will try one day, but you’re right, you have to be in the right frame of mind for some books. I enjoyed Mansfield Park even though I know some people find it their least favourite Austen.
I will definitely re-read Mansfield Park one of these days.
I’ve been avoiding Moby Dick for my whole life too, but since I’m currently trying to read all the books that could be classed as ‘Great American Novels’ the name keeps coming up…think I’m going to have to bite the bullet…
Oh good luck with that 🙂
Thnaks – I think I’ll need it! 😉
This is such an interesting topic for me, as someone who waded through lots of classics to get ready for comprehensive exams during undergrad. I think having the right book group or help with background materials makes all the difference: tackling Ulysses alone would be horrendous, in my opinion. I was a part of a classics book club before I moved last fall, and the most successful discussions were ones where someone led with background material. Flann O’Brien was difficult, Voltaire less so. And, finally, I’d like to say that Moby Dick is not that intimidating of a read. It may be long, but it’s not as impenetrable as some stream-of-consciousness or modernist stuff I’ve had to read (Faulkner, some Woolf, and, of course, Ulysses). You can do it!
Goodness another Moby fan. Well maybe one day you never know.