The classic benefits of the Classics

30/01/2013

By Niamh Kirk

Waves of modern publishing phenomenon like 50 Shades of Grey are adding more books to reading lists, but the growing virtues of Classic Literature could be set to topple the pile.

At first they may appear irrelevant and dull compared to some contemporary classics and modern bestsellers. They may bring back memories of school years spent grappling with antiquated language and Victorian etiquette which can be alien to a teenage mind.  But reading the pioneering novels of western literature is proving to be more beneficial to contemporary readers than their original audiences.

Classic literature helps boost brain-activity researchers from the Science and English Departments in Liverpool University have found.  The challenging prose of Shakespeare and Wordsworth triggers more electrical activity in the brain than the same texts written in modern language.

Using scanners, researchers observed the brain activity in volunteers reading the works of authors like The Bard and Thomas Hardy. The results showed that their brain lit-up when they encountered difficult phrases or unusual language. Prof. Philip Davis who worked on the research found that the syntax locks into, shifts and modifies established pathways in the brain. It triggers moments of refection and helps with self-understanding.

He says the research is still in process but is looking to the effects of authors like Charles Dickens who he believes have a similar effect.  Another phase of the research will look at their therapeutic benefits.

So, not only can the Classics help make us smarter, they could prove to make us happier too. And, there are also indications that the Classics really do make for a good read, they stimulate the brain and they encourage you to read on.

Despite being bumped further down the all-time bestsellers list by Da Vinci Codes and rampant 20-somethings they continue to top must-read lists the world over.  They retain captive audience whose brains are lighting-up, and reaping other rewards too.

For the past three years the Gutter Bookshop in Templebar hosts a monthly classics bookclub that has not only been full since its inception, but has a waiting list crammed with members eager to join. Getting involved encourages members to read the books they always meant to but never did. “Sometimes people need a little prompt to read the classics,” says owner Bob Johnston.

The group just took advantage of an extended Christmas beak to tackle Alexandre Dumas’s Count of Monte Cristo. For Valentines’ Day they are reading Charlotte Bronte’s, Jane Eyre.   

“The themes are still relevant and capture your imagination. True love, or being hard done by, those themes carry; and mixed with a great story make a great read,” he says.

They earned their place in the cannon due to their accessible and engaging narratives as well as their exposition of universal themes.  And because of this, most avid readers have at least one classic they hold close to their heart. ”Pride and Prejudice is one of my favorites,” says Christine Mullaney a TEFL teacher whose preoccupation is crime thrillers.

“It’s not stuffy; it’s about Female self worth, faith in personal beliefs, and overcoming societal requirements. Family ties, sisterly bonds, fatherly love, and of course the realisation that outward pride and conformity does not always mean inward conceit and unpleasantness.”That’s a lot of life-affirming messages from one novel published in 1813.

In libraries they are still in high demand as new generations joining find their way to the classics section. There are arguments that the Classics are not the best introduction to reading for younger people, but many libraries host additional classic sections specifically for teenagers and find they too are keen to gain the knowledge of the canon and escape to the foreign country that is the past.   

Younger people will take interest in the big literary sensations like Harry Potter and Hunger Games says Mr Murphy, Acquisitions Officer for the six libraries and two mobile libraries in County Louth. But this doesn’t distract from their literary heritage. These phenomena act as a gateway to the Classics. “People who read will come to the classics eventually,” he says.

But it is the older readers that cause the spikes in demand for a classic in libraries and bookshops. Brought on by the entertainment industry’s frequent revision of the past; the classics are mined for good and relevant story ideas for big and small screens and are ever-poised to reenter popular culture. And it is these adaptations, although not always as loyal as they could be, help keep classic literature alive and well.

So, while the Gutter's bookclub were in Marseille, 1815, following young Edmund Dantes and that accursed letter from Napoleon, cinema audiences were being transported to the same year, where only miles away convict Jean Valjean was meeting a Bishop.

The industry around ‘Les Mis’ the musical has sustained interest Victor Hugo’s classic but the release of director Tom Hooper’s Les Miserables spurred a surge in reprints and rising sales.

However, according to the County Louth librarians TV adaptations in particular stimulate a return to the original. The 2012 BBC version of pre-WW1 novel Parade’s End by Ford Maddox Ford being the most recent to lure viewers from screen to page. 

Referring to the Nineties adaptations of Jane Austin’s novels, Mr. Murphy, said that this is why she weathers so well. It helps dispel prejudices that the classics are drab. “When it’s on TV it reaches people who wouldn’t think of picking it up,” he says.

And despite being long deceased, the cultural gravitas of the authors can still send sales figures upward according to publishing industry ratings company, Nielsen Bookscan. “Dickens had a strong year in 2012 helped by all the media attention around the bicentenary of his birth,” says Nielsen BookScan researcher, David Wailte.     

Now new mediums are bringing the heroes and heroines of classic literature back to life. Graphic novelists are turning to the classics, giving them a whole new dimension and fresh perspectives.  Taking advantage of public domain books, authors from Bram Stoker and Mary Shelly to Leo Tolstoy and James Joyce have all been given a graphic makeover and gained legions of fans.

The Classics have even been 'zombiefied.' The parody novel, Pride Prejudice and Zombies, by Seth Grahame-Smith who credits Jane Austen as his co-author is also being made into a film.

When expensive copyright goes out, classics are in. As well as giving contemporary creative industries a free reign with the text, the Classics are also the cheapest books on the market, saving big readers small fortunes. There are hundreds of websites hosting freely downloadable copies of out-of-copyright novels.   Project Gutenberg was the first. Set up in 1971, the volunteer-led digital archive’s aim is to encourage distribution of their 44,000 free public domain literary works.

Tens of thousands of people visit the site daily to get a free read, and they are mostly going for the classics. In the past month alone more than 112,000 Charles Dickens, 92,000 Arthur Conan Doyle and 85,000 Mark Twain novels have been downloaded. Hugo’s Les Miserables is currently being downloaded more than 10,000 times daily. The project and its spin-offs get millions of hits daily. It is safe to say that the classics have secured their places on future digital bookshelves.

There is more going on between the covers of the works in the old literary canon than we might have supposed. And it might just be time to ignore the hype surrounding the next big literary release and put one of these free, brain-boosting, and beloved by many novels to the top of the pile.