why is a classic novel considered a classic?

Question

What are the requirements or indications of a classic? What is needed in a book to enable it to be considered a classic novel, such as books like, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Great Gatsby, etc.

Answer 1

Time is the greatest indicator - if the novel last.
But why does one last? Well, here are some qualities:

Morality - a classic novel should say something of value, drawing attention to human problems, condemn or applaud certain points of view. it should make a statement that is more significant than the "Chocolate cake is the world's best dessert" kind of comment. But we don't have to agree with the authors statement, it just has to be there.
Effective language - the language used should be forceful, fresh and not hackneyed, and suitable to the purposes of the statement/message.
Truthfulness - Is the work credible? Does the author make us believe what is being said? Such a standard cannot, of course, be applied literally. We do not believe in the literal truth of Gulliver's Travels or Candide, but we understand that the authors are using fantasy and exaggeration to communicate basic truths about humanity. Moreover, a good novel, story, or drama should give us the feeling that what happened to the characters was inevitable; that, given their temperaments and the situation in which they were placed, the outcome could not have been otherwise. Everything we know about Willie Loman in Death of a Salesman, for instance, makes his suicide inevitable. A different ending would have been disappointing and untrue.
Universality - Regardless of when it was written, the work should hold meaning still in the western world, and should still hold that meaning in the future. Huckleberry Finn, for example, although it has been called the first truly American novel, deals with a universal theme, the loss of innocence.
Timelessness - The work should be of lasting interest. The comments the author makes about people, about the pressure, rewards, and problems of life should still be relevant. The theme of the work should be as pertinent now as it was at the time it was written.
Characters: The book is peopled by interesting , vital characters who engage our sympathy (or dislike) and make us want to know more about them.

Answer 2

What Is A Classic Novel

Answer 3

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RE:
why is a classic novel considered a classic?
What are the requirements or indications of a classic? What is needed in a book to enable it to be considered a classic novel, such as books like, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Great Gatsby, etc.

Answer 4

Everybody wants a science of literature: some yardstick or grading curve by which we can evaluate all the works that have ever been written. The problem is, this is not and never has been how literature functions. Historically, different works have been favored in different places at different times. The two works you yourself cite in the question have both been banned in the country of their origin, several years after their publication.

Why is this? Because every reader creates the text in the act of reading it. Yes, a text is the same words on paper for each reader (assuming it's the same version, translation, etc.). But in reading, we in effect "translate" the language on paper in order to internalize it. This allows for a wide variety of subjective experience on the part of the reader - everyone reads a work a little differently.

But this would seem to suggest that we can say anything we want about a work: it's all just how I read it, right? Not quite. Some works, despite the vicissitudes of history and circumstance, endure to the present day. This in and of itself is not enough to deem some works worth by virtue of their survival. Instead, upon reading, we must ask what we find in the text, and what the text finds in us. The greatest works of literature are those in which we find a full personality - in which we encounter the text, personally. C.S. Lewis, in his Experiment in Criticism, said "In reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself. Like the night sky in a Greek poem, I see with a thousand eyes, but it is still I who see. Here, as in worship, in love, in moral action, and in knowing, I transcend myself; and am never more myself than when I do." This is heady language, but I believe it is true. Those works in which we can encounter a personality that is entirely other, while remaining fully ourselves, achieve a type of communion which is the mark of all classics.

Answer 5

To me a lot of the books that are considered classics I don't enjoy. I'm going to assume that a lot of books that are considered classics have the following criteria

1) Critically Acclaimed
2) Used a lot through Education
3) Sold worldwide copies
4) The author
5) The work

To me books like Crime & Punishment are key examples as Classics.

Answer 6

It's like anything else that's a classic. It never dies with time (unlike trends and fashions) because there are elements that transcend time and environment that are common to all of humanity and are universally recognizable.

Johnslat did a good job with this one.

Answer 7

It has to have serious moral, cultural, or philosophical implications, possibly leading up to the present day, cleverly disguised in the context of a good story. It also helps if these implications are many and varied, and if English majors are still working on the meanings of the story.

For example, The Great Gatsby challenges the ideals of the get-rich, get-happy American Dream . It questions its implications on children and relationships, and ends in the Gatsby's tragic demise despite all wealth, fame, and trying.

Answer 8

In my opinion,a "classic"be it film or a novel is deemed so because it's themes&it's message are timeless

Answer 9

Watching tv is simpler but I enjoy reading catalogs more

Answer 10

while reading a written e book, you're stimulating the human brain. You transform your life reading and literacy skills and you also in the process, are more literate. Despite having today's modern technology, you should be able to read still.
While you're watching t.v. can be good fun, it is not doing anything to your brain.