The problem with 'the classics vs. BookTok’ debate

The first 500 people to use my link will get a 1 month free trial of Skillshare https://skl.sh/accordingtoalina01241 Booktok has been criticized for many things over the past year or so, all critiques inevitably leading back to the same thing - its superficiality. It doesn't matter if you're on TikTok, bookstagram, book Twitter, and even booktube, you'll inevitably come across the take that the online book community is shallow and they're using books "for the aesthetic". "Everybody wants to be a reader, but no one actually reads any real literature anymore" is something I've read about a dozen times in some phrasing or other in the last month alone. And what is real literature? Why, 'the classics' of course. In this video I have a think about those people on the internet who have made reading classics literature into a personality trait that they then use to signal some sort of moral superiority to everyone else. I'm particularly interested in the type of person who complains what all the books trending on TikTok are trash, but then takes issue with the bookish community online making reading "Kafka, Camus and Dostoyevski" into a TikTok trend. Which begs the question: were they reading and professing their love for the classics out of genuine interest or is it just another instance of social media virtue signaling? I'll leave that up to you to decide. time stamps: 00:00 - 2023, the year of books 00:41 - I actually love the classics, before you come for me 01:15 - the twitter classics virtuoso 01:52 - what is a classic? (and who decides) 03:05 - are the classics good or just intimidating? 06:02 - when a book stops being a classic 10:05 - national literature, the literary canon and the nation state 12:30 - whose human condition? 14:13 - gatekeeping the classics 16:29 - reading and virtue signaling 19:33 - cute dog videos referenced: The Book Leo    • classic books that don't require a lit deg...   Michael K Vaughan    • Classics of Literature…or ARE they?   classics recommendations video shown on screen: emmie    • My favourite classics 📚 classic lit recomm...   Jack Edwards    • tier-ranking every classic book (so you kn...   Dakota Warren    • 10 *actually good* classic literature book...   throneofpages    • classic book recommendations for beginners...   articles referenced: 'What makes a classic?' - https://www.panmacmillan.com/blogs/cl... 'Do we need to dismantle the literary canon?' - https://www.theguardian.com/books/202... You can have a peek into The Routledge Concise History of World Literature here: https://books.google.co.uk/books/abou... If you're still reading, I just wanted to say hi, thanks for watching! #booktok #booktube