When I say classics, what do think of? Salinger, Lee, Austin, Brotne', Orwell, Twain, Alcott (and for horror, Bram Stoker, H.P. Lovecraft etc.)? The list goes on.
Many of you had such classics as part your reading lists in high school and higher education. However, here in Australia these books are not part of our curriculum. And while there is merit in the literature present in our education system, we are dominated almost completely by homegrown authors.
What's my point?
My point is simply this: if we hope to connect to the world on a literary level, shouldn't we have an understanding of the great literary voices of the past? Particularly in this, the age where global sharing of ideas, stories, and lives via the internet is as commonplace as a friendly wave to a well known acquaintance.
I have only recently begun to devour the prose of the aforementioned classics, by choice, and in hopes of gaining something valuable. And I can say I have gained something: I have gained an advantage, not over my fellow writers, but over my previous knowledge of literature.
So my advice is this: if you haven't yet, by requirement or by choice, read a good number of the classics then get at it. You will find stories that will break your heart or lift you up, that scare you, and that make you think. And it might even make you a better writer.
What classic literature have you read, and what did you take away from it?
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