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L2: What is a Classic? - Coggle Diagram
L2: What is a Classic?
Etymology
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Classic: first class, highest rank, acknowledged standard/model, enduring (first used 1604)
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Alexander Pope, "An Essay on Criticism": associates nature, ancient rules, etc. with Homer (1711)
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Rich white males in England had access to the classics in their education; translating, analysing, interpreting his texts
In the 18th century, many believed everything amazing already happened; veneration of their predecessors
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Age of Enlightenment: emerged from Humanism; emphasis on learning, arts, music, the pursuit of happiness
To copy human nature, life in the world; you must copy ancient writers, because they did it first, and they did it best
Sainte-Beuve, the idea of a classic implies continuance, consistence, unity, tradition, endures
Has transhistorical universality: beautiful in itself, a peculiar style easily contemporary with all time, enriched the human mind and discovered some moral truth, or revealed eternal passion in the heart
Echoes of Johnson, but stresses the novelty/originality of the classic
Saint-Beuve considers a future in which classics/books are no longer read, and thus no longer exist
The style of a classic must fit into all of time, but also be unique of its time
Goethe, quoted by Sainte-Beuve: Ancient works are classical not because they are old, but because they are powerful, fresh, and healthy
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Said that the Ancient Greeks had no classics, because they had no sense of having any predecessors; Ancient Romans came after Ancient Greeks, thus do have classics
Believes classics should include the entire world, not just the western world
Must come from a different time, represent the zeitgeist of that time, but withstand all of time
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