NationStates Jolt Archive

Since there is a poll asking what 20th century literary "classics" people own, I thought I'd ask which of the real worldwide classics people own? Unfortunately polls are limited to 10 choices, so please chose which ones you have and list the other real classics you have below.

Well, so much of what's considered classic is just personal opinion, but I'll give you a few off the top of my head--pieces that ought to be classics, even if they're not recognized as such by the public at large.

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole
Omeros by Derek Wolcott
The Changing Light at Sandover by James Merrill
The Complete Recordings of Robert Johnson
The Manchurian Candidate starring Frank Sinatra
Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller

Jaws
The Shining
Hitman

All classics

Most of Shakespeare,
1984 by Orwell
I meant to grab [The Divine Comedy[/i] by Dante from my aunt's house... there's still time...
The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald
A lot of Tolkien
Most of Tom Clancy's work
Some Emily Dickenson...
Actually a whole buch if you count the stuff in my textbooks.

Not that I've read of af that^, it's just in my house.

Not counting school and theatre required books, off the top of my head I've enjoyed Dickens' Hard Times, Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London, as well as 1984, Tolkien's Lord of the Rings (although I'm not sure I'd count it a classic), Hardy's Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Homer's Odyssey (in translation). I'm trying to read The Illiad, but I have a terrible translation for reading. I forced myself to read most of Austen's Emma, but gave up a few chapters before the end - I'm not a big Austen fan.

oh they keep plenty of classics at the library, when im in the mood for one, i go take one out for free, then they store it for me until i might want to look at it again. really saves on moving costs in the long run.

i have quite a few shakespeare plays, the foundation trilogy by isaac asimov, some poetry anthologies, most sherlock holmes stories, a few classics of chinese lit, the bible in greek(NT), king james and some modern translation, the koran, several translations of the tao te ching and chuang tzu, the i ching, the analects of confucius and other chinese philosophers, most of the classics of femininst writings from the 60s, many childrens classics including the complete grimms fairy tales

but my favorites are collections of photographs from the dawn of photography from all over the world. i dont suppose those are classics but i love looking at "history" unfiltered.

I know this isn't a book, but I think it should be a classic in both the eastern and western world. The movie, Onmyoji, has a lot of Japanese lure and adventure that I think everyone will love. You can buy the DVD at Best Buy.

Wow. Didn't know any of those (aside from Dante) were real pre-tentieth century classics. :rolleyes:

As for how one defines a classic, I'll venture this: the work has withstood the "test of time". If the author is still alive, it's contemporary, not classic. If the period is within recent memory of anyone alive (the last 100 years or so), it\s modern, not classic.

Ah, the Divine Comedy.
The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis
It, Stephen King I realize this one doesn't sound like a classic, but I think it's a great book.
The Lord of the Rings is the basis for all modern sci-fi/fantasy, so I think it counts.

I have all the Harvard Classics and all the Nobel Prize winners, in bound sets.

These latter of course are not just Eurocentric as your choices are. They are global.

Widen your own horizons.

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, with scary illustrations
a bit of Jane Eyre, a bit of Great Expectations...but I can't say I've read them both the whole way through.
Lord of The Rings and the like

..I'm pretty sure Brave New World is around here somewhere

Oh! and a "Who do you think you are Charlie Brown?" book from the 50's that dad gave me.

Yes, I have some real classics. They include Star Wars, The Matrix, and Trigun.

:rolleyes:

Im currently reading The Iliad

I would add Herodotus' The Histories. You might think it is a dry history tome, but Herodotus is actually very modern in his style and many of the stories about ancient peoples are a hoot. He has a description of Egyptian women engaging in a drunken festival that could have come straight out of Spring Break at Daytona Beach. Read David Grene's translation (very modern, although purists might object to his use of the "F" word and the "C" word in a couple of passages).

Lemme see...
Complete works of Shakespeare, OHenry, Mark Twain, Stephen Hawking (hey, Brief History of Time is totally classic!), Sinclair, Edmund Burke (From back when I was obsessed with understanding the consevative psyche... I still don't get it), Plato, Chekhov, Dumas, and a lot more. Additionally, Das Kapital and the Communist Manifesto(Marx and Engels), De Revolutionibus (Copernicus), Principia Mathematica (Newton), The Theory of Relativity (Einstein), The Second Sex (damn...forget her name... oh well, Ill check later), Leaves of Grass (Walt Whitmann), The Art of War (Sun Tzu), The religious classic (the torah in Hebrew as well as the full translated Christian bible, the Koran, and Brief History of time, which I mantain is worship-worthy), and lots of others that I am too lazy to type.

I would add Herodotus' The Histories. You might think it is a dry history tome, but Herodotus is actually very modern in his style and many of the stories about ancient peoples are a hoot. He has a description of Egyptian women engaging in a drunken festival that could have come straight out of Spring Break at Daytona Beach. Read David Grene's translation (very modern, although purists might object to his use of the "F" word and the "C" word in a couple of passages).

Would have liked to have added that to the list (it was on the "short list") but narrowing great lit. to "9 plus other" is really impossible.

Oooh, Catcher in the Rye. A Classic, thuogh 20th century-and I take it this poll isn't about the 20th century. You can vote for more than one, right? Because I clicked on three or four boxes.

Since there is a poll asking what 20th century literary "classics" people own, I thought I'd ask which of the real worldwide classics people own? Unfortunately polls are limited to 10 choices, so please chose which ones you have and list the other real classics you have below.

We've got to stop with all these "classics" threads, I'm very prone to suggestion and I can go rereading all the marvelous books on the list; I've got new books to read!

Daistallia as always, you show impeccable taste. I own all the books mentioned in the poll...in some cases multiple copies of each (what can I say? I like finding the best translation/edition of everything I read). I would submit books but sadly, I lack the time. I've seen a few posted here though.

Finally, now I feel well-read :D

Haha, The Iliad (two copies actually), The Odyssey, The Aeneid (also two copies), and The Republic from that list. Herodotus' The Histories also...
I would add Romeo and Juliet, Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, and Everyman.

But I should catch up with some Classic novels of our times I guess...it's just the Ancients and tragedy are so much more interesting to me.

I'd reccomend Discourses to anyone who has read The Prince.
I would also second Orwell's work.
Dracula?
Got Oedipus, Oedipus Rex and Antigone if plays count towards it
And The Art of War.

I'd reccomend Discourses to anyone who has read The Prince.
I would also second Orwell's work.
Dracula?
Got Oedipus, Oedipus Rex and Antigone if plays count towards it
And The Art of War.

There's no play called Oedipus...he's just a character...you mean Oedipus at Colonus right?

We've got to stop with all these "classics" threads, I'm very prone to suggestion and I can go rereading all the marvelous books on the list; I've got new books to read!

Daistallia as always, you show impeccable taste. I own all the books mentioned in the poll...in some cases multiple copies of each (what can I say? I like finding the best translation/edition of everything I read). I would submit books but sadly, I lack the time. I've seen a few posted here though.

:D Thank you. I also enjoy finding the best translations.

I have the Illiad, the Odyssey, and the Aeneid, as well as The Republic and Hamlet, all from the list. In addition, I own Thomas More's Utopia, Karl Marx's Capital (if you consider that a classic), Augustine's Confessions, and everything written by William Shakespeare and Jane Austen.

Well, I've read a few of those books, but I own none of them. I own some classic albums though! Dark Side of the Moon, Led Zepplin I, II, III, and IV! Oh, and Children of Bodom Tokyo Warhearts. You may not have heard of it, but it's probably the best live album ever made. Check one check two.