Talk:Classic book

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Contents 1 Classical vs. Classic 2 Age of classics 3 What exactly is the definition of a classic? 4 Additions 5 Conan Doyle 6 List of classic authors

[edit] Classical vs. Classic

The article begins by claiming that a "classic" book is one written in Greece or Rome. In fact, I would call such a book "classical," though it may also be a "classic." In other words, Virgil's "Aeneid" is both classical and classic, but George Eliot's "Middlemarch," while a classic, is not classical. I think we need to be much more careful about the definitions. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.72.106.122 (talk) 02:54, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Age of classics

I'm not sure about this bit:

Most "classics" are at least 95 years old

Presumably that relates to US copyright law - there's no real significance to the 95-year figure in Europe, for example. Personally I'm not sure that giving dates is terribly useful - something like "many classic works are now out of copyright" would seem better - but if there's a good reason for retaining the figure, let's hear it. =:) Loganberry 00:42, 26 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I've attempted to rewrite the article to avoid this. I think it's probably better not to mention specific figures at all, given the variation between various countries' copyright terms. Loganberry 13:10, 2 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] What exactly is the definition of a classic?

Or is there one? My teacher asked me why The Invisible Man is a Classic. She said I explained why it was a good book, why I liked it, and how the author put meaning into it, not why it was a classic. Well, I did, but I still don't know what a classic is. So... ?

The author must be dead 25 years and the book in the PD. Zginder 12:12, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Additions

I'm gonna go ahead and add John Milton, James Fenimore Cooper, and James Joyce to the list. They're obvious choices. What's the opinion on perhaps adding C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkein? Dabarnes 05:41, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Conan Doyle

I added Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to the list; surely Sherlock Holmes is a classic? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.163.37.73 (talk) 00:57, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] List of classic authors

I've removed the huge list of classic authors from the article. It didn't serve any real purpose, and attracted additions without references. For that matter, none of the authors that were on it had any sources claiming that they were authors of classics.

It is probably appropriate for us to list a few authors of classics, and in particular their books, as examples, but we should only do this when we have sources backing us up. It's not too hard to find a reliable source claiming one book or another as a classic, so it won't be problematic to add some examples when the time comes. First, though, we seriously need to add some references and provide a better description than we presently have. I'll look into this later, but literature isn't quite my subject, so I hope someone more knowledgeable can provide some references. A brief search brings up an article by Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve on the subject which may be useful, and seems to be cited by many others.

This article seems like a fairly basic topic that we ought to cover, so I hope we can do something to improve it. --Sopoforic 23:28, 30 October 2007 (UTC)