Shakespeare and the other great writers- overrated?

SW VandeCarr

I'm guessing you would like "Frankenstein" by Mary Wollstonecraft-Shelley. She was only 19 when she wrote it.

I wonder how Shakespeare would have felt if he knew you liked Stephen King more than him.

arildno

"Words can not convey my griefe, for that my mind is all too briefe.."

bluemoonKY

Shakespeare would have been mad at me.

Constantinos

Interesting discussion!

Another similar concept is that of "western canon", a list of works from the very old(Epic of Gilgamesh) to the 21st century writers, that are said to be most influential to western culture.

A known literary critic Harold Bloom has composed such a list. Here you can find his ideas about it and his inclusion criteria among other things.

My experience with such works is:

The Odyssey - Homer (modern Greek Translation)
History of the Peloponnesian War - Thucydides (modern Greek translation)
The Histories - Herodotus (modern Greek translation)
Antigone - Sophocles (ancient Greek text)
Communist Manifesto - Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels (modern Greek translation)
The Problems of Philosophy - Bertrand Russel (English text)
Poetry of modern Greek writers (Kazantzakis, Seferis, Elitis)

Now, my experience is rather limited, but I really feel as if I *gained* something from it. Be it that I found better ways to express myself or that I understood the world better. Also I found them entertaining.

But now, I believe the only purpose of reading these works is to find better ways to express myself. It's also true that people are impressed by those that have read them for some reason. I wouldn't be. For entertainment purposes, modern media are much better for me than books (movies, video games etc). Books might offer a different kind of entertainment, but not my kind. I certainly prefer interactivity. Also "timeless stories of human condition" are not my thing. If I want to understand the human condition, I would prefer to read a first year undergraduate textbook of anthropology or psychology. If I wanted to understand the world around me, I would just read science.

AlephZero

If you read his plays, Shalespeare didn't have many hangups about mocking people.

JonDE

Obviously Shakespeare is overrated, he stole all his plot ideas from Disney.

zoobyshoe

And he peppered his plays with famous quotes.