What makes a book a CLASSIC?

What makes a book a Classic? While there can be no definitive answer , it doesn't stop the question being asked again and again.

In this in depth video I add my two-pennies worth. What elements do all great classic books share?
Here are 6 criteria which I have personally observed from reading of classic literature.

IF YOU WANT TO BEGIN TEACHING YOURSELF MORE ABOUT CLASSIC LITERATURE, be sure to check out my Patreon.

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0:00 Intro
2:04 Overview
12:30 Criteria #1
13:40 Criteria #2
17:09 Criteria #3
19:54 Criteria #4
26:15 Criteria #5
33:00 Criteria #6

[jillwhitney-birk]

Keep up the great work. This was so great that I am going back to take some notes. I am a lover of classic literature. I am also a mixed media artist and putting these same concepts into art is always on my mind. How to visually represent being the front most part of the thread of time you mentioned has me thinking.❤️ I keep liking all your posts as I feel you are too good and fun to watch to have as few followers as you do!! Keep making videos! I will watch and like. ❤️

[vincentandlolav]

You're my favorite Youtube channel, Tristan. Your passion for classic literature is so infectious and it is wonderful to see someone make all this effort not for money but for sheer love of books.
Cheers, sir!

[Linda-bqeq]

You are freakin’ brilliant, Tristan! I watch this channel because I love books and for the way you tell us the stories of books.
You have a fine balance of obsession and erudition. Your words and the sentences you make of them are nearly poetry.
OMG. Really good. I’m glad you’ve posted so many videos — it will take me months to go thru them all.
Keep on, Tristan. All respect.

[ChrisHunt]

Loved my daily Tristan. Listened over three sessions and will listen again. Thank you. You are the best teacher I have ever known. ❤

[darrengagliardi]

This channel truly motivates me to read all the classics. Tristan, you’re very inspiring.

[AmandaJHMorton]

I want to focus more reading energy on the "Great" classics! Last year I read the Sonnets and Shorter Poems by Francesco Petrarca. His poems of unrequited love and longing spoke so deeply to the nature of human desire. I loved it so much.

[erickaparicio]

I love this guy. He makes me see literature (and reading) in a new light.

[Vesnicie]

Thank you very much, Tristan! I've watched your video hot on the heels of reading several articles about colleges and universities in the United States slashing liberal arts degrees. English, history and philosophy seem to be the three disciplines perpetually on the chopping block. I wish these people would consider the incalculable risks of eliminating the sublime and the universal from education. What you call the tsunami of experience from the past must fill in for the paucity of the present. All of us who care to have become archivists, cataloging and maintaining what really matters for both ourselves and an increasingly indistinct future. Your work is especially important because it reinforces and reassures people like me, who are lonely little fish in a huge hostile sea.

[coolpiraterapstar]

I only discovered your videos last week, but I have been binging these. Please keep up the good work!

[franbell]

Two books I haven't heard mentioned as classics that are (in my mind, at least) - A Prayer for Owen Meany and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. They're not old and they're probably not the first of their type, but I read them at least once a year and I always see something different in them. They will change you.

[nicholasblakiston]

This was an amazing and wonderful summary, thank you for putting it together and I am so glad to discover your channel.

[tokyochemist]

Excellent, excellent. My only qualm is always putting classic lit on a pedestal. At the end of the day, when the authors were writing these books during their time, they weren't thinking "oh let me write a classic now". They were just creating something that expressed what they wanted to say and that they wanted their audience to hear. However, by overly venerating classics as something "that requires maturity to read", it creates a sense of intimidation, trepidation, and sometimes fear for new readers. It's unfortunate as classics really just are a good story after all and are accessible to all, even now.

[jadepark]

Profoundly and thoughtfully communicated. Thank you for this, I adore classic literature ever since I was young and seeing someone as passionate about it, makes me happy indeed. I am also of the same mind as you about classics. Especially the part where it touches your inner most thoughts and being. And it is an amazing feeling when you read a classic and you see something of yourself in it.

[tommonk]

Great video and explanation. I would be interested in a video from you identifying what you think could be classics from the last 50-60 years.

[darlenemessenger]

Took notes for my reading journal. That is so very much for the insights.

[christbianchi]

Absolutely splendid!! I agree with what your saying with regards to the classics criteria. I definitely feel it has to linger in my mind for some time after. One book that is one of my favorites is The Tartar Steppe, Dino Buzzati is checks the list especially with universal themes on existence, time and death. Thank for very much for the wonderful video!

[AnnaMariaAnia]

Enjoyed this Immensely!!!! 👏👏Thank you so much, Tristan. I finally understand why Classics are Classics 👏👏👏👏

[patriciatolliver]

Patty- I discovered your channel last night while watching the Febregency reading sprints. I am totally enjoying your perception and perspective on literature. I love your sense of humor. I look forward to more of your videos. Are you a professor? If not, you should be. Thank you for sharing.

[rebeccabsomanybooks]

Wonderful and thought provoking video. Thank you. Middlemarch comes to mind for me on number 6 criteria.

[charmainesaliba]

This is really brilliant. Thanks so much for this video.

I agree with you when you say that classic touch a cord. It comes in my mind Olive by Dinah Maria Mulock Craik. A Victorian classic about a girl born with disability. I was touched by this novel, I could relate to Olive being a disabled myself. A shocking thing was that even though this novel was written more than hundred years ago is still relevant nowadays. It is not the best classic ever been written but for me is an important one, for the main theme.

Thanks Tristan for your hard work. Thanks to you I am learning so much. 😊