Let's get one thing out of the way immediately: I love classic literature, western civilization, 19th century romance novels - the whole nine yards. But as someone who has been teaching the classics for nearly a decade (and reading them for pleasure for longer than that), I am occasionally baffled to find that a book is considered a classic. There are many books that I’ve heard great hype for, only to pick up and read and think “that’s it?” Maybe I’m just missing something, but there are a number of books I’m not so sure deserve the exalted title of “classic.” Here are 5 of the worst offenders, starting with the least overrated and proceeding in order to the absolutely most obnoxious.
(The following list contains spoilers for every book discussed.)
#5 - The Lord of the Flies (William Golding, 1954)
I begin my list with Lord of the Flies, as a book which is only slightly overrated. Most of us had to read LotF in high school, and in all fairness, it’s not a dry read. It is a good novel on its own merits, with interesting characters, engaging pacing, and a story replete with symbolism. So what’s it doing on this list? To put it briefly, the problem with LotF is its artificial nature. The central theme of the whole book is that the heart of man is inherently evil. So far so good. This is not a difficult theme to illustrate, and real-world examples are tragically abundant. But how does Golding choose to illustrate it? Through the utterly implausible spectacle of a pack of 12 year-olds murdering each other. The characters in LotF, and especially Jack, are so unrealistically prone to evil that Golding oversells his point. The novel itself may be interesting, but as a means for teaching a greater theme (a purpose for which Golding doubtless intended his work), it comes off as ham-fisted and blunt.
#4 - The Odyssey (Hear me out before you send your disgruntled email!)
I need to be really nuanced with this one, because the Odyssey is such a cultural icon, such a hallmark of western civilization, that no one could seriously call it anything other than a classic. The story is timeless, and in fact, the recent musical adaptation of that story by Jorge Rivera-Harrans is so outstanding that I believe it should be required listening for any student of the classics. But having said all that, the actual book, the words that Homer wrote down (or that someone listening to him wrote down), leaves a lot to be desired. If we judge the text of the Odyssey by the standards of modern storytelling, we find a book that has enormous problems with pacing (I would say roughly a third the book consists of Odysseus sitting around with his men, talking and eating), completely unrelatable characters (Odysseus pretty much either kills or sleeps with everyone he meets), and a host of people, places, and events that make no sense to anyone not already deeply familiar with Greek mythology and Homer’s other writings (such as the Iliad). It is an absolute chore to read, and teachers such as myself have a hard time guiding their students through the whole thing. Perhaps that’s why Jorge’s work has been such a success - he cuts through all the difficulties and obscurities of Homer’s writing and puts only the essence of the story into his music.
#3 - Great Expectations (Charles Dickens, 1861)
Criticizing Dickens for his writing is like criticizing Jacques Pepin for his cooking - it feels like beating up an old man who should be revered rather than critiqued. Nevertheless, I have always believed that Great Expectations is far from Dickens’ greatest work. And that’s really the heart of the issue here: GE is a fine novel, but any time you spend reading it is time you are NOT spending reading some of Dickens lesser known but (in my opinion) superior works, like David Copperfield or Dombey and Son. But what’s wrong with GE? In the simplest possible terms, the problem is Pip, GE’s protagonist. As a young boy rising through the social ranks of 19th century London, Pip may have been a relatable character to previous generations of readers, but to modern audiences (and perhaps especially to American audiences) Pip’s life and struggles come off as too alien to relate to. In contrast, characters from other Dickens novels, such as Florence, the neglected daughter in Dombey and Son, or the eponymous, down-and-out orphan David Copperfield are timelessly relatable. Perhaps that’s because in these characters, unlike in Pip, Dickens draws out the broader theme of justice for neglected children - a theme he always addresses with impeccable skill and humor. In any case, I relate to those two characters’ joys and sorrows far more than to the social-ladder climbing trials of Pip.
#2 - Island of the Blue Dolphins (Scott O'Dell, 1960)
We now come to works of literature that are genuinely awful, and have no business being called classics. What can I say about Island of the Blue Dolphins? What can anyone say? IBD is hardly a story at all. Nearly all of this 200+ page novel consists of descriptions of the day to day life of Karana, the solitary island girl. We learn about what she eats, the huts she builds, the trees she cuts down, the dog she tames, the bird she tames, the fish she catches, the abalones she catches, the sea otters she catches… and on and on and on. Literally nothing significant happens between the death of Karana’s father at the beginning of the book and her departure from the island with a Californian missionary 18 years and 200 pages later. Worse, LOTS of frustratingly insignificant things happen! Over and over again, the author brings in some glimmer of plot, or some event that the reader suspects will lead to something more important, only to have the trail peter out into nothing. Karana builds a canoe and sails off the island. What happens? The canoe springs a leak, she turns around, then never goes out again. Strangers visit one day to hunt for otter skins. Karana’s next move? She hides until they leave. A mysterious skeleton is found deep within a cave on the island. It’s never mentioned again. A dozen more examples could be named, none of which lead to any development in the so-called “plot.”
#1 - The Scarlet Letter (Nathanial Hawthorn, 1850)
I do not think there is any more overrated book in all the world than Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter. The unlikable characters. The abominable pacing. The cartoonish antagonist. How in the world did this book come to be so renowned? From the very beginning of the book, we find a mess hardly worth reading. A prologue (often removed from printed editions) begins by describing -with excruciating wordiness!- the dinners once enjoyed by an employee of the narrator. With this unrelated gem out of the way, we move on to chapter 1, the entirety of which is spent describing the prison door from which Hester Prynne is currently emerging. Over and over again, Hawthorn writes in this fashion, devoting whole pages to simple occurrences which other writers might describe in a sentence. This is beyond a stylistic choice. It is obviously, undeniably bad writing. And the characters! Pearl, Hester’s daughter, comes off as more of a goblin sent to haunt and harass Dimmesdale than an actual human. And as for the villain, Roger Chillingworth (whose actual, stated goal is to haunt and harass Dimmesdale), has literature ever known a character so unlikable in his villainy? Chillingworth has a legitimate grievance against Hester for cheating on him with Dimmesdale, so it should be easy for readers to have some sympathy for him. But the overwrought, contrived way in which Chillingworth seeks his revenge utterly kills this sympathy. By end of the book, the only emotion that rational readers (who, doubtless, comprise but a small minority of those who finish this monstrosity) should feel towards Chillingworth is annoyance.
There are, no doubt, many other books called classics which hold that title dubiously. But these are the 5 that stand out most to me. Next time, I’ll cover the most UNDERrated classics, and highlight some of the best, most overlooked books out there.