Italo Calvino's Essay Why Read The Classics

The book, Who Killed Homer? The Demise of Classical Education and the Recovery of Greek Wisdom, is written by Victor Davis Hanson, and John Heath. The book is about why the Classics are dying, if it’s not dead already; what actions would need to be taken in order to take the Classics off of life support, and what would need to be done in order to teach newer generations about Classics. Both Hanson, and Heath are Classicist themselves whom worked as professors teaching Classics to students back in the early 1970’s and 1980’s. These two present an argument to the audience that the reason for the fall of Classical Education in modern day is due to the fact of ignorance of Greek wisdom, the demise of Classical learning is real and quantifiable, and the Classicist themselves are the blame for why there aren’t many people majoring in Classics.

Kurt Vonnegut author of slaughterhouse five, in the 1985 essay “How to Write with Style,” makes observations and recommendations for infusing personality into your work. It begins by defining "elements of style" as the unique personal qualities that you show to the reader.

In the article, “Why Literature Matters” by Dana Gioia, he states that the decline of interest in literature—especially from young teens—will have a negative outcome in society. Notably, he informs the readers by utilizing strong vocabulary, as well as rhetorical appeals to persuade his audience that the decline in reading will have a negative outcome. This allows readers to comprehend his views and join his side of the argument.

Classic literature is the "meat" of ones general knowledge. Plenty of valuable insights are illuminated about the world that we live in that greatly impacts how a person lives their life. A brilliant example of this is Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon. It is one of the most haunting classics of all time because it can create and build suspense, it can be related to the lives of the general population, and it has the ability to change the reader.

A novel can influence our understanding of history. I strongly agree with this statement. A historical novel is a novel that has as its setting a period of history and attempts to convey personal experiences and historical events to historical fact. The novel Briar Rose (1992) written by Jane Yolen is an example of a historical novel. Briar Rose influences our understanding of the Holocaust and allows a reader to gain an understanding of how a human who went through the Holocaust deals with and shares their experiences. They also gain an understanding of that period in time, how people were treated during that period in time and what went on during that period of time.

As the nature of this letter implies, I have finished Thomas Foster’s book, How to Read Literature like a Professor. It was intriguing and helped me to see things that otherwise I wouldn’t have noticed. Even some of the topics that seemed common sense were given greater significance after he explained them. For example, the chapter on the seasons the concepts/meanings are commonly known yet seeing how they fall into play in an actual story is fascinating. I never considered that the seasons could be incorporated in such complex ways short of plot, theme, mood, and setting. Yet in Foster’s example, he shows that the characters can also have the same dimensions through Henry James’s Daisy Miller. Just by the characters’ names themselves, they

Some elements that make a book a classic are its history, its theme, its relevance, its longevity, its artistic quality, and its universal appeal. In the book, The Princes Bride by William Goldman, a girl named Buttercup and a farm boy named Westley fall in love, but he must sail to the new world. On the trip he gets captured by pirates. Various adventures and problems prevent them from getting back together permanently until the end of the story. The Princes Bride is a classic because of its universal appeal and its style in which it was written.

Quoting the credible National Association of Manufacturers, he states, “poor reading skills ranked second” (in skills deficiencies among workers) and that “38 percent of employees complained that local schools inadequately taught reading comprehension.” This use of logos helps to show the reader the importance of reading in a situation that is likely a part of their daily life. After that he goes on to show how reading has impacted society and politics as well, illustrating to the reader his claim that reading affects all of us. He then states that “literary readers are markedly more civically engaged than non readers.” This fact shows the benefits of reading while also falling under logos. Showing the reader positives of reading in a factual way can be very persuasive. He then goes on to use strong and persuasive diction to support his claim, stating “The decline of literary reading foreshadows serious long-term social and economic problems, and it is time to bring literature and the other arts into discussions of public policy.” Using a slight guilt technique can persuade the reader. This strong diction continues to support his claim. And finally he ends his essay saying that the qualities gained from reading are not skills that “society can afford to

Nobel Peace Prize-Winning Author, Elie Wiesel, in his sympathetic speech, “The Perils of Indifference,” warns people about the dangers of indifference. He supports his claim by describing a scenario with a young Jewish boy and him being saved by American soldiers from a concentration camp. Wiesel also supports his claim by telling a story about how indifference is worse than anger and hatred through descriptive words. He finally uses imagery to give us a descriptive image of what indifference could do for the future. Wiesel’s purpose is to warn people of the danger of indifference in order to inform people of all the harm indifference can because. He establishes a serious tone for the readers by using literary devices such as Repetition, Structure, and Imagery in order to achieve his message that indifference

Nicholas Carr is a writer that has expanded his writing to books, periodical and even has a blog at roughttype.com; his writing focus is about technology and culture. He addressed the issue of how technology can be a great and awful thing to use at the same time in his essay, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Carr made an ongoing debate where technology is making people stupid because they are spending a lot of time researching and this is causing people considerate less while using the reading skill but at the same time technology saves times, can expand more on the topic, find any information etc.

1. Was killing Captain Beatty right or wrong? Are books worth more than human beings?

The Neo-Classic literary movement was a very logical and reasoning movement. A prominent Neo-Classic figure is Patrick Henry who believed he can antagonize Britain by imputing every hardship they faced to Britain. The Neo-Classic idea of freedom from tyranny is best exemplified by Patrick Henry.

In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Faber explains three things that are missing in the society that they are living in. They live in a society where thinking and knowledge are prohibited because it shows superiority. The quality of information, lesure to digest it, and the right to carry out the actions based on what we learn are the reasons why the people in this society do not want books.

An example of this would be The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. I would consider The Golden Compass a fantastic piece of literature because of its ability to appeal to audiences young and old. It is a mystical adventure of bravery, and kindness for younger readers and a much more intellectual journey with commentaries on religion, authority, and the human condition for older readers. Pullman did not write for one specific audience in mind, but he wrote for the sake of communicating a message, and doing it in a smart and entertaining fashion.

6. “Robust knowledge requires both consensus and disagreement.” Discuss this claim with reference to two areas of knowledge.