Assertions

Why Read the Classics? Assertion

Italo Calvino was an Italian journalist who wrote a book called Why Read the Classics? He explains the importance of classic books and why it’s important to read them. Something that he argues is that we should re-read the classic books that we once enjoyed as a child because as we grow older, we can grow to like more or different things about the book. For example, when he writes; “In other words, to read a great book for the first time in one’s maturity is an extraordinary pleasure, different from (though one cannot say greater or lesser than) the pleasure of having read it in one’s youth. Youth brings to reading, as to any other experience, a particular flavor and a particular sense of importance, whereas in maturity one appreciates (or ought to appreciate) many more details and levels and meanings.” Calvino explains that as we get older, we can learn to appreciate things about the book that we wouldn’t have appreciated as a child. Also, “There should therefore be a time in adult life devoted to revisiting the most important books of our youth. Even if the books have remained the same (though they do change, in the light of an altered historical perspective), we have most certainly changed, and our encounter will be an entirely new thing.” Again, Calvino explains why we should reread the classics, because we have changed as we grew older, and we could have a whole new perspective or opinions on something we read and enjoyed in youth.