Classic novels can fall into any genre. Readers don’t have to love them or even like them. They are generally considered “classics” because of their ability to stand the test of time as well as be influential and socially unique to their time periods. Some classic novels have even been turned into movies, plays or television series, though that is not a criteria to make a novel a classic.
There are thousands of novels that are considered classics that have lasted throughout history. Not all of them are “old” nor do they all have to be “newer”. In the Romantic Era the novel “Beware The Cat: The First English Novel” (W. Baldwin, W.A. Kingler and M. Flachmenn, 1533) was published and has since been considered “The First English Novel” due to its long prose fiction written in the English language.
Guidelines of a Classic Novel
There really are no “guidelines” that make a novel a classic. What does matter is what appeals to readers. In an unofficial poll with Suite101 writers some of the criteria that was most mentioned by the readers that they thought made a classic a “classic” were:
- Timelessness
- Wanting to read it over and over again
- Identifiable characters
- Great Plots and twists
- Good conflict and resolution
- Witty dialogue
- Characters beating the odds
- Moral lessons
- Harsh real life situations
- Making the impossible seem possible
One thing that does seem to make a novel, like a classic movie, seem timeless was the authors ability to create quotes in which readers have found wisdom, humor and words to live by.
Examples of Classic Novels
The following is a very short list of some novels that are considered classics. The authors were able to narrate a tale in a way that has kept and continues to keep generations fascinated. Some have been made into box office hits, while others continue to be well loved because the book will always be better than a movie.
- Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck, 1939)
- Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery, 1908)
- The Call of the Wild (Jack London, 1903)
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Maya Angelou, 1969)
- The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett, 1911)
- Lord of the Rings (J.RR. Tolkien, 1954-1955)
- To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee, 1988)
- The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (C.S. Lewis, 1950)
- Gulliver’s Travels (Jonathan Swift, 1726)
- A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens, 1859)
- Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte, 1847)
- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (Arthur Conan Doyle, 1892)
- War of the Worlds (H.G. Well, 1898)
- Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Robert Louis Stevenson, 1886)
- 1984 (George Orwell, 1948)
- Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen, 1830)
- Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoevsky, 1866)
- A Farewell to Arms (Ernest Hemmingway, 1929 )
- Don Quixote (Miguel de Cervantes, 1612)
- Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe, 1719)
Novels such as the Illiad (1488), The Odyssey (1488) by Homer and The Art Of War by Sun Tzu (500 B.C.E) as well as many others are considered classics and were written and published before the “First English Novel”. These novels, however, were not translated into english until the late 1800’s and early 1900’s which then made them available to a wider audience.
It doesn’t matter when the novel was written or by whom, even though many authors are responsible for creating multiple classics. Fiction does not tend to result in more classic novels than non-fiction, likewise, no one genre seems to supersede another. So what makes a novel a classic? All of the above and more. Scholars may debate a novel and pick it apart, but it’s the readers who make it come to life, pass it on and keep it going for future generations.
Karyl Anderson - Karyl studied Business Management at American Continental University, an online school that allowed her to study as well as take care of ...
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