A COMEBACK FOR THE CLASSICS? Oliver Green (Year 12) argues that we should be studying more classic literary texts in the contemporary classroom
W hat is seen as a ‘proper’ education has those by Homer, Thucydides and Virgil, was considered essential for anyone who wished to be well educated. Thomas Jefferson wrote to an aspirational nephew in this spirit: ‘For the present, I advise you to begin a course of ancient history… reading the following books: Herodotus, Thucydides… Virgil, Terence, Horace… Milton’s Paradise Lost … Shakespeare, Ossian…’The list goes on. This kind of reading remained the bedrock of education for many of the centuries preceding the twentieth, during which time the dominant mode of instruction moved from private tuition for the wealthy to classroom teaching for the many. Oxford and Cambridge removed Latin as a ma- triculation requirement in 1960, and while the arguments against such language requirements for undergraduates in unrelated subjects are obvious, the case against the read- ing of ‘classic’ texts in a broader sense is less so. Modern classics, texts by the likes of Shakespeare and Dickens, which can be fully appreciated in English, have much to offer the modern reader. Why, then, does modern litera- ture have such prominence on English courses throughout the educational world? And, more pressingly, should anything be done about it? changed over time. From the ancient Greeks onwards, the reading of classical texts, such as A literary classic is that rare species of work which tran- scends its own time, revealing something essential about the human condition. Hamlet offers not merely an insight into early modern court politics, but an exploration of fundamental aspects of the human emotional experience: sadness, sanity, sedition, and much more besides. The ancient historian Thucydides also aspired to the univer- sal, writing, in a famous phrase, that he wrote not ‘to win
applause of the moment, but as a possession for all time’. Of course, the matter of which texts will be viewed as classics will change; that we must teach them will not. Few would argue that novels such as Richard Yates’ Revolutionary Road or Evelyn Waugh’s Decline and Fall depict something so deep as Shakespeare’s critique of Malvolio’s puritanism. Even seemingly classic modern novels, such as John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men , have not yet stood the test of time: few modern works, George Orwell’s 1984 included, can truly claim classic status. Their nuances have still to be digested by the ages. And their historical significance is as yet to be judged. Indeed, if literature is a ‘great conversation’ over time, one cannot simply join it midstream and expect a proper understand- ing of what is a series of arguments and responses. I am not proposing an exclusively western canon. There is as much to be learnt from Sima Qian’s Records of the Grand Historian or the Qur’an as there is from Thucy- dides or the Bible, as long as students have the contextual grasp – that grounding in the ‘great conversation’ – which is necessary to appreciate them. This is not to cheapen modern literature – it provides a valuable insight into and critique of modern society – but to emphasise that the limited space which a syllabus can offer is better used for established works of proven and enduring greatness. And although younger readers may struggle to fully appreciate these, they are of value on many levels, having plenty to offer to all. New classics will emerge by standing the test of time, and by gaining critical and public appreciation. Until then, a ‘proper’ education must include the teaching of the best books. Perhaps Mi- chael Gove was right in saying: ‘The great tradition of our literature… should be at the heart of school life.’ ◎
If literature is a ‘great conversation’ over time, one cannot simply join it midstream
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THE ALLEYNIAN 711
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