Italo Calvino’s Why Read the Classics is a great example of literary criticism.
When you read the classics, you’re reading books that have had a pivotal role in shaping the way we read and write. Books aren’t written or read randomly and sloppily. They’re woven by writers and consumed by readers with the influence of centuries of writing behind us.
The classics are the milestones of our literary tradition. Some classics rise to prominence as the shining example of a movement (like realism or romanticism) or a genre (like science fiction or historical fiction). Other classics become so because they push the envelope. By breaking from tradition and questioning established ideas, these books became markers of creative rebellion and dissent.
When you familiarize yourself with the classics, you start to understand where a lot of other books fit in. You’ll begin to identify influences and references in your reading that you weren’t able to before, or had never noticed.
Reading the classics can also help you appreciate your favorite books even more. When you return to them, you’ll unpack depths that you never knew were there. Elements of the book that initially seemed random to you may now seem thoughtful and intelligent. You may start to see meaning in the characters’ names, the author’s choice of words, their fixation on certain topics.
Reading the classics will also help you identify your favorite writers’ literary influences. You’ll see how the classics contributed to their style, subject, and themes. You’ll understand literary allusions your favorite author makes, catch on to little “inside jokes,” and start to view authors as part of a rich literary legacy. You’ll see how your favorite writers see themselves—as one paying homage to another writer, as a renegade who defies conventions of prose, or as an innovator of literary styles.
Time Will Tell 