I have Been pondering if all that glistens is gold ,this last few months for the first time in my life .I ve been mainly reading new books as in just out .I ve enjoyed a good many ,my question is how many of these books will be here in twenty years how many will stand the test of time ,what makes a book stand the test of time .Do writers have vogues ? Does the quality of the writing make a difference ,i ve a number of books from Persephone and capuchin both who publishers books that have fallen by the wayside the ones i ve got and have read all seem great books .Most of my life i ve read books that have been out for a while read many by the writers i love Burgess ,Doyle ,Maugham ,Roth ,Updike,Mailer Kerouac,Burroughs most of these have stood the test of time .so the question is –
what makes a book last ?
This is something I often think about as well. I don’t think it’s merely quality, timelessness, relevance, etc. I mean, these certainly DO matter, but while I think that only good books stand the rest of time (however you define “good”), I don’t think that those that don’t are forgotten because they weren’t good enough to be remembered. It’s probably a combination of factors, really, one of which might simply be luck. But as publishers like Persephone show us, books that didn’t stand the test of time for whatever reason can still be discovered and loved by readers today.
i think luck may be it ,xaiver herbert the aussie writer was nearly impossible to the film australia came out and one of his books was reissued .been on my mind since the lost classics run on bbc radio 4
You might be interested in Amanda Craig’s article in the Times (while it’s still freely accessible) at http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/books/book_reviews/article1557382.ece
I like the definitions put forward: re-readability; being able to be read by both children and adults alike – but then, it’s hard to define why some books survive while others fall out of public consciousness. Why do we still have Virgil?
For me, the 5 key ingredients for Classic books are timelessness
universality
cross-generational appeal
cross-gender appeal
readability
agree with some the gender point not sure if likes of burroughs (william) has female appeal .what has made hogg last ?
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