There were only a few passages that stuck out for me in this excerpt. The one that really made me appreciate what Calvino was trying to say was "A classic is a book which with each rereading offers as much of a sense of discovery as the first reading." (Calvino 5) I think that this one stuck with me mostly because I agree with it. I have read the novel Jane Eyre twice, it was around this time last year, and the most recent time, earlier this summer. I had changed a lot, so the second time I read it, I discovered new things in the novel and learned a little bit more from what the message was.
There are two more passages that stuck out to me, mostly because the totally contradict themselves and it confuses me slightly. "A classic is a work which relegates the noise of the present to a background hum, which at the same time the classics cannot exist without." (Calvino 8) This passage makes sense to me, but the one that confuses me is its opposite, "A classic is a work which persists as background noise even when a present that is totally incompatible holds its sway. (Calvino 8) These three passages stuck out at me becuase I felt that the first one was very true, and the last two stuck to me because I keep trying to figure out what Calvino means.
Calvino, Italo. Why Read the Classics? London: Vintage, 2000. Print.
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