# When Does A Book Become A Classic?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-book-become-a-classic/207249
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [October 13, 2003, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-book-become-a-classic/207249 "2003-10-13T20:27:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Isabelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isabelle)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2003, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-book-become-a-classic/207249/1 "2003-10-13T20:27:14Z")
Also who determines this?
Thanks
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### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2003, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-book-become-a-classic/207249/2 "2003-10-13T20:30:08Z")
When it has “by Eve Golden” on the cover.
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### Author:  [@Isabelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isabelle)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2003, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-book-become-a-classic/207249/3 "2003-10-13T20:33:05Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Eve \*
> \*\*When it has “by Eve Golden” on the cover. \*\*
laughed my butt off. Good one Eve!
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### Author:  [@II\_Gyan\_II](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/II_Gyan_II)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2003, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-book-become-a-classic/207249/4 "2003-10-13T21:28:56Z")
Endurance (to age well) and critical acclaim, I suppose.
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### Author:  [@Julius\_Henry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Julius_Henry)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2003, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-book-become-a-classic/207249/5 "2003-10-13T22:05:23Z")
When the book is in print and out of copyright.
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### Author:  [@Hauky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hauky)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2003, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-book-become-a-classic/207249/6 "2003-10-14T00:08:38Z")
When you’re forced to read it in a high school English class, in my experience.
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### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2003, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-book-become-a-classic/207249/7 "2003-10-14T00:28:37Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Isabelle \*
> \*\*Also who determines this?
>
> Thanks \*\*
I’m not supposed to say, but actually it is me. This is true for many things. Generally when you hear some say “Who’s to say…” I’m usually the one to say. Please don’t tell people though, 'cause then they’ll try to sway my decisions.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2003, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-book-become-a-classic/207249/8 "2003-10-14T02:22:21Z")
According to Mark Twain, a classic is something that everybody wants to have read, but nobody wants to actually read.
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### Author:  [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2003, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-book-become-a-classic/207249/9 "2003-10-14T02:30:17Z")
Can’t we start a list of neo-classics? If it is suggested that we are not “them” … we have to be “them” to “them” … right?
My Vote for Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.
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### Author:  [@xash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xash)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2003, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-book-become-a-classic/207249/10 "2003-10-14T02:37:29Z")
Moved to CS.
- **xash**
General Questions Moderator
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### Author:  [@refusal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/refusal)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2003, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-book-become-a-classic/207249/11 "2003-10-14T10:34:55Z")
When does a book become a classic? A couple of years or whenever the author has a new book coming out. Certainly, I’ve seen Donna Tartt’s Secret History and Dave Eggars A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius described as classics ([cite for the latter](http://www.readinggroupguides.com/guides/heartbreaking_work_of_staggering_genius.asp), or google). You can find anything described as an “instant classic”, a “cult classic” or even a “new classic” these days ([“a new classic” from Borders](http://www.bordersstores.com/features/feature.jsp?file=connelly)). Of course all this is meaningless advertising, puffery and hype, but I’d say the same thing about the classic reputation of many books published far longer ago. Ick.
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### Author:  [@Mal\_Adroit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mal_Adroit)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2003, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-book-become-a-classic/207249/12 "2003-10-14T12:29:46Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by refusal \*
> \*\*Certainly, I’ve seen Donna Tartt’s Secret History and Dave Eggars A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius described as classics… \*\*
Classics of pretentiousness, maybe! Holy crap. Tartt’s at least was a decent suspense novel, but she thought she was writing _Middlemarch_ or something. And Eggers is a mondo-talented writer, but that book is so self-conscious it’s ridiculous.
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### Author:  [@j.c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j.c)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2003, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-book-become-a-classic/207249/13 "2003-10-14T19:31:30Z")
When it has been revered by three generations. Who says? Everybody who counts.
Obviously, this definition is not strictly adhered to. Not in the last 100 years or so, anyway.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Evil\_Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Evil_Breakfast)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2003, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-book-become-a-classic/207249/14 "2003-10-14T23:01:28Z")
Eggers is a pretentious self-indulgent hack, trying (and failing quite marvelously) to come off as _hip_ and \*with it[/I.