No one will ever mind to say that reading a 15,000 lines of Homer’s The Iliad epic poem is exhausting and for some degree of people, a real waste of time. The duration and the complexion The Iliad has, is probably the main reason young people hate classics. In the rapid modern world, we are expected to do everything as quick as possible and the less the time used, the more benefits will come. “Therefore, reading a long, complicated, often allegorical method of The Iliad is simply irrelevant for today’s people,” a confession from one of my friends, who actually loves reading literary works (and can also, this far, be my own confession).
Story matters
But it was not until I heard a book entitled An Iliad written by an Italian Alessandro Baricco, in a bookstore, did I take my words back. I would, as for any book I wished to put in my reading list, immediately look for the review and what people, who had owned the book said about it. Finding that some of their comments were encouraging, I got it. Baricco’s offered a new way of reading The Iliad by turning the lines a la Homer to an entertaining prose. He does not only eliminate many parts of the work, but also adds it with the sentences of his own (of course in a proportional amount of words) and to my surprise, creating the new point of views of the characters. Instead of being a knotty sort of poem, An Iliad is more like a private journal written and experienced by the witnesses of the Trojan War, in which the story is set. And reading it is a guilty fun.
Then what is the point of comparing the two kind of Iliad things? It was I who actually longed for a classic work of the Greek literature. I chose the book because of its majestic story; the Trojan War itself is of course still in debate whether it has ever existed or not, but its value in literature is irresistible. It is not about Homer or Baricco (some scholars even as doubted that Homer really created The Iliad as Shakespeare to his plays), or whoever may write the next versions or translations, but it is the storyline blended with the rich themes of heroism, love, family and humanity, which counts more. I eventually could not stand not to read Homer’s after reading Baricco’s and I put it in a positive way.
I believe that everyone reads Gone with the Wind, but does anyone know Margaret Mitchell? I don’t think so and I myself thought it was written by John Steinbeck the first time heard the story. Silly, but sometimes I know the work before its author. Sophie’s Choice is always considered one of the 21st century’s masterpieces, but I never knew that it was written by William Styron.
Author matters
Then what I wanted to say after having a work of Steinbeck’s caliber with me? Steinbeck is one of the greatest American novelists and praised worldwide. The mere fact is enough for me to believe that his works also share his greatness and appraisal. Yes, and any teachers of Literature will have obliged their students to read Steinbeck’s works. Everyone knows The Grapes of Wrath, a novel which recounts the Great Depression for the massive agricultural failure in the United States in the 30s, for example.
Meanwhile East of Eden is believed to be his ultimate novel, in which all his thoughts and supreme ability in writing are embedded. He said that he "had imbued the novel with everything he knew about writing and everything he knew about good and evil in the human condition." But, I didn’t even read any review of the book before deciding to buy it (it was the largest amount of money I had paid for a novel). Surely it was the name of Steinbeck’s that had persuaded me to get the book (and it’s not my fault). I thought it was a lifetime guarantee that East of Eden was as great as Steinbeck himself. I don’t care about the story (I knew The Grapes of Wrath after reading Steinbeck’s biography afterall) but it was the author that concerned me more.
Steinbeck goes along with Jane Austen, for a cross continent example. While I personally don’t think that The Northanger Abbey or Mansfield Park are worth read, many people tend to classify it in the basket of masterpieces, because it was written by Austen’s hand. The same pattern walks hand in hand with many works I had read before, on behalf of Hemingway, Pramoedya, or even Dan Brown. And I firmly believe all people in the world will read any of J.K Rowling’s novels in the future after the success of Harry Potter series.
Cover matters
Then, what about the outfit? Everytime I turned to see the big sale bookshelves full of promising and juicy discount up to 70% in a bookstore, I usually disgusted it and gave a cynical look on how cheap and unqualified the books would be on there. But, I found things quite different when I caught a book entitled She is Me by Cathleen Schine on one of the shelves. It's not that I really meant to buy a forever-in-the-shelf book, but the cover gave a catchy look into my eyes. I never knew who the hell Schine was before, and I never recounted in my memory a book of such title. The phrase of "don't judge a book by its cover" abruptly seemed irrelevant to my case and I hastily grabbed the book, then got it paid in the cashier.
This should have explained my incosistency in choosing a reading material. It was not surprising that I found 30 first pages of She is Me was as boring as waiting in a dentist clinic queue, and it was enough to ensure me to put it off until I have guts to read it again. Moreover, the Internet reviews for this book never reached four stars. Take it literally, don’t judge a book from the cover!
Though I can say that I love any kind of writing, still the three aspects revolve around my mind when standing on a bookstore. To read is, for me, to feel and experience it. Reading a book with a thought possessed by the enourmosity of the story may somehow be engrossing; reading a book with a thought occupied by the fame of the author may be fun, but sometimes I lost in the middle of the reading progress because things didn’t fit my expectations; and reading a book with a thought that the catchy cover would automatically turn the story catchy too would be devastating, believe me.
don't they sometime stand as the reflection of the authors to criticize the society? 