Awhile ago I downloaded several books including things like War & Peace, Sense & Sensibilities, Ulysses etc.
Some of them are quite thick, and I am wondering if I mostly did so to seem intelligent or smart on some subconscious level.
Have any of you gotten enjoyment or insight from any of these kinds of books? or is it just society and schooling that are telling me these are "good."?
There are classics* that I genuinely enjoyed, classics that I didn't enjoy but learned something from, and classics that were a total slog. If you have an interest and aren't reading for a class, I'd say pick one that sparks your interest and give it a try, while giving yourself permission to stop reading if you're hating it. You may be pleasantly surprised or you may decide you hate something and it's a waste of time. Some examples from my own life: the first time I read Jane Eyre in high school, I hated it. I read it again in college and loved it. I've read Wuthering Heights THREE TIMES for different classes, and each time my hatred grows. FUCK those miserable people. I dreaded reading Moby Dick because it's so fucking long and about whaling, something I had no interest in. I LOVE THAT BOOK. Read it, people. It's so good! Edmund Spenser didn't die soon enough and The Faerie Queene was a total slog and I hated every minute. I'm never reading that shit again. Uncle Tom's Cabin is FULL of well-intentioned racism and sparked a lot of thoughts about white liberals for me. Is it good? I don't know. I do think it's important. Pride and Prejudice is a favorite and I've read it more times than I can count at this point.
So anyway, classics are a mixed bag, and yes, it's possible to approach them just as a way to show off your erudition. That doesn't mean that there's no value in reading them though. The nice thing about reading that isn't for a class is that there's nothing forcing you to keep reading if you're not getting anything out of it. I have definitely started books, decided I had no interest in continuing, and quit there and moved on with my life. So anyway, like I said before, I'd advise you to pick a book that you think sounds interesting and give it a shot.
Totally agreed. I've read Crime and Punishment and found it unpleasant because it was TOO GOOD at describing feeling like shit and having a fever, which for some childish reason put me off reading The Idiot. I clearly think Dostoevsky is a very skilled author and I know that those are two different books describing different things, but I still remember feeling like I was having a fever when I read Crime and Punishment so I guess I kind of developed a phobia. If we're looking at the Russian classics I highly recommend The Master and Margarita.
And most importantly I want to add some weight to the statement: READ MOBY DICK! It's fantastic! I started reading it pretty much just because it was one of the classics and expected it to be a bit dry and boring, but within the first four chapters the main character is being spooned by the world's kindest cannibal headhunter because an innkeeper made them share a bed! Also, mid-19th century whaling was legit insane and the detailed descriptions of it are anything but boring! And Moby Dick itself is a fucking kaiju or horror movie monster or something! A white whale doesn't sound scary, but that whole bristling like a hedgehog with old harpoons that failed to kill him thing and the build-up of hearing the stories of everyone who has encountered him really works. Oh, and in the beginning when people say that Ahab is "mad" I had this idea that people were kind of casual with that word during the 19th century and he would just be a bit eccentric... But a sane man baptizes his harpoon in WHAT again?
Also, there's a really good free audiobook version of Moby Dick on Librivox, so if you have listening time when you can't read, use that!
just made my own comment about how good Moby Dick was, then read this and could not agree more with all points above. Part I of Crime and Punishment is kind of nauseating. I feel sweaty when I read it. Thinking about it now, I still have a sense of what Raskolnikov's room smells like. The prose of the book also mirrors Raskolnikov's clarity - as he regains his social support and place in the world, the writing becomes easier to digest, more leveled, as he moves from his own problems to those of others. Another Dostoevsky book that captures this well is Notes from Underground - the scene with the prostitute and the first part of C&P share the same of sort of uh, intense anxiety about everything
If you ever want to reexperience that sense of feverish anxiety, I'd recommend the Kieslowski movie a Short Film About Killing (or the episode of the Decalogue it's taken from). For most of the first half of the movie, he blocks out part of the frame to give you that idea of immediacy, the inability to understand a situation, claustrophobia, that Raskolnikov feels leading up to the pivotal act. I'd be very surprised if it were not directly inspired by C&P
That sounds awesome in its own way, but after C&P I really didn't want "more of this please"! I'm into another sort of masochism, where I read my old David Eddings-books again and try to map out where it shines through that he was a complete monster.
The Idiot is nothing like this. Well it is sometimes, but I loved it so much more than C&P. The best parts, for me, like any Dostoyevski books, are the those pages and pages freeing themselves from the general story and diving into one aspect, into one character's monologue, or fantasy, or anything. The ones in The Idiot are truly a fucking blessing. And instead of being unpleasant like in C&P, they are simply freeing. Sometimes, they are deeply tortured, but it's not the same aspect here, it goes elsewhere. Read it.
That's a good point.