Classics, hmm, have to think about that claim vs the examples.
catcher in the rye (English 1951), lord of the rings err flies lol (English 1954), to kill a mockingbird (English 1960) but written in the 50s.
That is an extremely narrow definition of classics, all English language novels written in the 1950s by white dudes. If you have to hit 50-ish English novels at least try some Tolkien or Hemmingway or if +/- a couple decades is OK, some golden era Asimov and Clarke sci fi? Harlan Ellison and the invisible man?
If you have to stay white dude but are willing to stretch the dates, how bout some Hunter S Thompson from the 70s, or go the other way for the Great Gatsby (both titles are not for everyone, I think?)
Not trying to give you a hard time, but to point out that there's an extremely large world out there other than English novels from the 50s. Sure there's some good stuff, but theres orders of magnitude more "out there".
I think it would be hard for a teen boy not to be captivated by "anabasis aka the Persian expedition" which is a mere 2500 years old. Blood n guts and high adventure in a crazy old world on the other side of the planet 2500 years ago. If it weren't true some video game author would write it today. Gateway drug to Herodotus and then you end up lost to the "great books".
I read and greatly enjoyed Gibbon (its about one foot on a bookshelf, depending on edition) but even I haven't completed any Russians. So I can't answer if "The Idiot" is worth completing. However, not everything worth reading takes six months.
catcher in the rye (English 1951), lord of the rings err flies lol (English 1954), to kill a mockingbird (English 1960) but written in the 50s.
That is an extremely narrow definition of classics, all English language novels written in the 1950s by white dudes. If you have to hit 50-ish English novels at least try some Tolkien or Hemmingway or if +/- a couple decades is OK, some golden era Asimov and Clarke sci fi? Harlan Ellison and the invisible man?
If you have to stay white dude but are willing to stretch the dates, how bout some Hunter S Thompson from the 70s, or go the other way for the Great Gatsby (both titles are not for everyone, I think?)
Not trying to give you a hard time, but to point out that there's an extremely large world out there other than English novels from the 50s. Sure there's some good stuff, but theres orders of magnitude more "out there".
I think it would be hard for a teen boy not to be captivated by "anabasis aka the Persian expedition" which is a mere 2500 years old. Blood n guts and high adventure in a crazy old world on the other side of the planet 2500 years ago. If it weren't true some video game author would write it today. Gateway drug to Herodotus and then you end up lost to the "great books".
I read and greatly enjoyed Gibbon (its about one foot on a bookshelf, depending on edition) but even I haven't completed any Russians. So I can't answer if "The Idiot" is worth completing. However, not everything worth reading takes six months.