1/22/2007 12:01:00 AM
Classic treasures sometimes passed over for popular works
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| Winifred Conn of Van Wert relaxes with good books at the Brumback Library. |
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By ED GEBERT
Times Bulletin news writer
egebert@timesbulletin.com
VAN WERT - For many people, winter is a time to cozy up to the fireplace with a cup of hot chocolate and a good book and be whisked away into a literary world far different than 21st Century Ohio. But while the usual works picked up for a snowy winter day are by Grisham, Clancy or Collins, how about trying out something by Tolstoy, Dante or Solzhenitsyn?
More and more, classic literature is being passed over for new popular works. While many people have memories of reading Herman Melville's Moby Dick in school, few even consider picking up a book written before 1999. Some libraries across the country have even tried to clear more shelf space for the latest from Danielle Steele or Dean Koontz by pulling classic titles from Mark Twain and Charles Dickens.
Not so at the Brumback Library. Library Director, John Carr pointed out, "Our philosophy, and the Brumback Library's book selection policy, seeks to balance these two areas with the understanding that our cultural heritage and the library's role as an institution responsible for promoting education and culture, necessitates a love of learning."
So while a Stephen King thriller may be circulated far more often, the classics are the foundation for the way we think. "As classics, these particular books are part of a collection of roughly 1,000 works which reflect our cultural literary heritage," Carr noted.
Among the 184,000 or so items in the Brumback Library are volumes which rarely are moved from their shelves. According to library records, many works were rarely circulated during 2006, including The Autobiography of Ben Franklin, Homer's epic, The Odyssey, Pearl S. Buck's masterpiece The Good Earth, and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. Are these literary classics truly being forgotten?
Some recent research shows a renewed interest in some classic books. Or perhaps the interest has been there all along. One study showed that in 2002, Jane Austen's romantic novel Pride and Prejudice and Leo Tolstoy's massive War and Peace sold at a comparable and sometimes better rate than recent best-sellers.
One theory is that current works sell big for a short time and are soon gone, while the classics keep on going. That may hold true, but many readers still opt for contemporary authors instead of those which remind them of homework assignments.
But don't look for Aristotle, Dostoevsky or Voltaire to disappear from the Brumback Library shelves anytime soon. These classics are a part of the foundation of our culture and are worth reading.
When the cornerstone of the Brumback Library was dedicated in 1899, Orville S. Brumback stated, "The public library gathers the books in which are stored the wealth of human knowledge - and there the people of every occupation, creed and profession can go to learn the best method to accomplish the best results."
Many pieces of "the wealth of human knowledge" sit on the library shelf, waiting for the next adventurous reader needing an escape on a snowy winter day.
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