I still question why one of my high school teachers assigned Crime and Punishment as part of our required reading for AP English 3. I loved his English class, but I had no business taking AP English as a junior when I only had the average amount of motivation to actually do school work most teenagers have. I crammed in assignments last minute during first period when I didn’t have an assigned role on the news production team for the week or only half finished assignments when I’d rather be watching TV before bed. I like to consider myself one of those intelligent people who really has to try sometimes, yet also lacks the desire to work too hard to understand something. That makes sense right?
I’ve realized is many of the so-called “classics” aren’t so classic anymore. Sure, I suppose the point of any sort of art, including literature, is to be a reflection of the way the world is and how it’s always changing. What we considered important and influential 100 years ago isn’t going to be the same at present. Maybe I should ask my high school English teacher if he’s still teaching the kids Fitzgerald, Dickens, and Dostoyevsky–I don’t think any teacher should be.
If you google “classic literature” you’ll likely find dozens of listicles featuring hundreds of titles, some you’ve clearly already heard of and other less buzzed about fiction from at least the past 50 years give or take. What pissed me off most is when it dawned on me how much classic literature is dominated by fairly entitled and unbothered white dudes. Don’t get me wrong, I flipped out over The Great Gatsby at 17 like a lot of other high school kids thinking it was the best work of writing ever created, but I grew up and found out it’s solidly good. The commentary was more important relative to the 1920’s, as well as remaining applicable today, but I think it’s time to retire the same old titles and make room for more modern literary works when it comes to teaching and reading the classics.
My reading history compared to some other people I know is fairly short, yet I’d like to throw out these books for consideration as “new” classics we can learn something from.
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Kathy, Tommy, and Ruth spent their childhood at Hailsham, a pleasant looking boarding school where they learn to be exactly the kind of people the world needs them to be. When it comes time for the trio to leave the walls of the only home they’ve ever known, they begin to realize how little knowledge they have of the outside world. As they become older and begin the unravel the mysteries of their childhoods at Hailsham, the complicated truth about their school comes to light.
This story falls into the category of dystopian science fiction, but not in the way you would normally picture those two genres. I’ll try not to give anything away, but the main conflict of this book deals with the moral issues surrounding cloning, specifically for the purposes of bettering humanity. A divide is created between those who were born and those who were “created”, forcing the whole world to question if clones should be treated with the same respect as “normal” human beings. We’re always searching for ways to better our lives, alleviate pain, advance medicine, etc. Science and questions about the morality of certain advancements always raise concerns of what is wrong and what is right. While this book wasn’t a knockout for me, it did raise a lot of interesting questions about what makes us human and the actions we will justify out of desperation.
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
At sixteen, twins Stella and Desiree decide to run away from their small, southern black community, in search of something beyond what their lives there have to offer. Years after leaving home, one sister returns home with her black daughter, running from an abusive marriage. The other sister lives life as a white woman, her husband ignorant of her past life. Though their lives are separated by physical distance, the two sisters stories continue to intertwine as their daughters come of age and grow into the lives their mothers have created for them.
While on the surface this novel largely focuses on race, it also discusses the way the past shapes personal desires, influences choices, and changes expectations. It explores the way we identify with ourselves and how our own image can be at odds with the images other people carry of us. Their stories span over four decades, examining the unintended consequences of starting over, the toll of denying crucial parts of past selves, and the sacrifices people make in the name of self-preservation. How we choose to identify ourselves and the identities given to us are completely separate forms of existence that are often at odds with each other. Bennett’s characters are layered beautifully in a way which showcases their flaws to illustrate their humanity; they are not framed as being right or wrong, good or bad.
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Effia and Esi are two half-sisters born in different villages during the the 18th century in Ghana. Effia marries an Englishman stationed near her village, swept up to live in the foreign comforts of a castle. Effia doesn’t know her sister, Esi, is imprisoned in the dungeons below her feet, waiting to be shipped off to American and sold as a slave. Each thread follows their lives and the lives of the family members who follow, illustrating how their histories mold the lives of their descendants far into the future. Gyasi’s moving story shows how ancestral memories can reverberate over hundreds of years, including some of the most important historical moments for black people in America.
Reading this story was an experience, and I hope you understand what I mean. Some books are simply enjoyable, yet Homegoing was an all-encompassing and thought provoking narrative about a family perpetually shaped by events beyond their control. Each character has a richness and fullness to them as they face individual struggles framed by the larger struggles associated with their lineage. Gyasi provides the whole picture by separating each chapter into a different character’s journey, expertly pacing the individual stories. This story truly created an experience where I felt as if I stepped into someone’s shoes for a little while and got a better understanding of them. It’s impossible for me to do this book justice with a short description, so trust me, go pick it up now.
I wanted this list to be longer, but I really need to read more, and break away from my reading habits. Somewhere out there, scattered between phone notes, text messages, and saved articles on the internet, is a list of moving literary works that would probably be on this list if I’d already read them. The point here is we can of course make room for modern classics amongst the ones we already know and love (or loathe). Even outdated concepts can still teach us something about history, society, and the darker sides of what it means to be human. If there are modern books you think should be awarded the title of a “classic” then let me know in the comments!
The Rummy Writer 