This is the Forty-Seventh article in a permanent column for Stroud Arts that appears in the Stroud American. The mission of these articles is to inform, educate and inspire you, the reader, to Make Art Happen in your life and the life of our community.
I’m an avid reader with a small but focused collection of fiction novels.
Some of these books I have read several times and most I have poured through but once. As it is my personal collection, it reflects my personal preference for escapist literature and to no one’s surprise, the genres most comprising my collection focus on; Adventure, Mystery, Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror.
It is a collection I have gathered since High School, (one book from Grade School!) and provides much relaxation for me, in the same way that visiting old friends does.
You know your friend’s personality, their history and can easily surmise what they have been up to recently. You are comfortable together and there are few surprises.
My book collection is like a group of old friends that I know I will be visiting again.
A visit, which will be similar to the last visit but still rewarding.
No surprises.
Then, this last weekend, they surprised me. It seems that many of my literary friends are “classics.”
When book publishers use the word “classic” to describe a book, they really mean it. They’ve set aside this word for books that have passed the test of time, that are among the best works of their kind ever written.
Unfortunately, a lot of people think “classic” means “old” or “boring” and therefore they miss some of the most engaging stories ever told.
Imagine if you were a child, abandoned in the jungles of India, facing certain death from the deadly predators that prowl its paths, certain that you cannot survive another day, when you are rescued by a she-wolf. She raises you as one of her own pack and teaches you the language of the jungle and how to survive.
What if you were a brilliant scientist and discovered a serum that unlocked the wildest passions of the human soul and tested it on yourself?
How would you survive if you found yourself trapped in a deadly, prehistoric world in a hidden cavern a the Earth’s core, menaced by deadly creatures and warlike giants?
What would it be like to stalk through the thick, damp, fog, unable to determine if the vague shadows of fellow pedestrians are merely innocent travelers or the killer that has been terrorizing London?
”Boring?” I don’t think so.
“Old?”
Yes. That is what makes a novel become a classic.
It has stood the test of time to be enjoyed generation after generation.
It is a book that is still being published and read fifty, one hundred or one hundred and fifty years after it was first published.
The classics still deliver as much entertainment and are often the inspiration for many books on the ‘new’ shelf and are still being adapted for the stage, podcast and film productions.
The next time you are looking for an evening of quiet entertainment please consider the following; ‘The Jungle Book’ by Rudyard Kipling, ‘Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde’ by Robert Louis Stevenson, ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth’ by Jules Verne, or ‘The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’ by Arthur Conan Doyle.
These books can usually be found in your local library, or at book stores (especially ‘Used Book Stores) or online.
Until next time, Make Art Happen.