This article argues that classic novels like Ulysses and Middlemarch are more engaging than their reputations suggest, offering dark humour, strange plots, and relatable characters that make them worth reading before death.
01Summary
- 01The article highlights eight classics, including 'The Magus' by John Fowles, 'Middlemarch' by George Eliot, 'The Master and Margarita' by Mikhail Bulgakov, and 'Giovanni's Room' by James Baldwin.
- 02It describes 'The Magus' as a 600-plus-page novel about an Oxford-educated Englishman on a Greek island facing psychological warfare from a wealthy eccentric.
- 03'Middlemarch' is portrayed as a dissection of marriages and debts where characters make reasonable decisions that trap them within their own ambitions.
- 04Bulgakov's 'The Master and Margarita' is described as an absurdist comedy mixing the devil's antics in Moscow with a retelling of Pontius Pilate and a love story, written under Stalin's regime.
- 05James Baldwin's 'Giovanni's Room' follows an American in Paris who has an affair with an Italian bartender while refusing to acknowledge his true desires.
02Why it matters
This matters because it encourages readers to look beyond intimidating reputations of classic literature and discover entertaining, human stories that challenge assumptions about what makes a book worth reading.
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