A good book is a work of amazing depth. Perhaps that should be the qualification that defines "classic" literature? In 2016 the popular magazine Taiwan Panorama published an article about the Eslite Bookstore's "Reading Classics Together" project. The heart of that story was a survey of participating publishers' definitions of what a "classic" text was and the factors they considered when choosing books from their catalogues for the project. In a second article , the magazine intereviewed writers and scholars about their understanding of what characteristics define a "classic" work of literature. That report considers "the expert reader" and questions of what raises a text to the status of "classic" despite changes in the social environment of readers. Among those characteristics most valued by the scholars and writers of Taiwan who were interviewed for the "Classic Works: Reading Together, Thinking Together...
The sometimes lunatic and often unreasonable rants of an American "big nose" living in Taiwan.