My kids read the Ancient Greek works at their classical education style homeschool co-op. They start with “kids” versions in the elementary grades and move on to the full versions in the upper school. Introducing the stories early, I think, will help students grapple with the ideas and themes as they progress (which is pretty much the whole idea of classical education in the first place).
When I was in high school in the late 90's, one of my English teachers was reading Beowulf to us. It's not just "zoomers" who have a marked disinterest in classical texts. Even back then I remember students yawning their way through his narration, while some outright professed boredom and were hostile toward it. While preserving these texts is hardly a lost cause, preserving interest in them may take work. I think you're doing your part!
Here are some thoughts on three questions related to this topic:
Why read the classics at all?
What to do if they are difficult to get into or not enjoyable?
Can reading the classics be a communal activity again?
One of the main reasons for an individual to read classic literature is that it offers something that can't be found anywhere else. No one living in the 21st century can write like Homer because no one lives in the world Homer lived in. There are people out there who can write historical fiction or fantasy fiction set in ancient Greece, though to do it well requires a lot of research. Books like that are definitely worth reading, but it's not the same as actually having been there.
People read fantasy and science fiction because looking for a story about the unusual and the unfamiliar. In that regard, old books are more fantastical than the most fantastical of contemporary fantasy novels, because people thought differently back then. You're going to get something from those books (not just ancient, but even as recent as the mid-20th century) that you can't find in any modern book, movie, or video game.
As far as the difficulty or lack of enjoyableness of the classics, I think there's a few things going on. With works in another language, one issue is definitely the translation. Especially ancient languages. Different translations may work for different people. And translating poetry is another story altogether. You can get a sense of the epithets and repetitive phrasing ("rosy-fingered dawn", "Odysseus raider of cities", etc.) in Homer, but I don't think it's possible to really appreciate the poetry in translation. And so a translation that tries too hard to be poetic will probably be less accessible.
Another issue is just taste. Not everyone is going to like everything equally. Homer is not to everyone's taste, nor is Shakespeare. But I believe that most people can find something that interests them among the classics.
In addition, as you point out, there's the fact that these works are different than contemporary works and this makes them less initially accessible. If you have a guide to give you the context and the reason why it was initially valued that helps a lot. That's what C.S. Lewis tried to do for his students at Oxford, to help them read a work in the spirit in which it was written. But that leads us to the inescapable difficulty. These works were written in a very different spirit than modern works. There's no help for it except to accept that fact and get used to the works over time.
But I don't think it's an insurmountable barrier. It's not primarily about intelligence or education, but about persistence. Shakespeare is more difficult than Victorian writers, but I believe that someone who dedicated a month reading Shakespeare an hour or two every day and then spent another 30 - 45 minutes reading works explaining Shakespeare would get to the point where he could read the plays with enjoyment.
And it wouldn't be a matter of psyching oneself into liking them, but of being able to appreciate what's already there.
As far as the question of whether reading the classics will be more than an individual pursuit, that's a difficult question and I don't really have an answer. Even one or two generations ago, people were much more willing to read or watch old things. The fact that there's such a break with the past is pathological, but I don't think it can continue indefinitely. Especially since so much of contemporary culture is made to be ephemeral. I guess the main thing to do is that people can educate themselves and those who have the knowledge can pass it on to others.
I think a lot of this will come down to how the next two generations fair in the modern world. I believe they will receive the brunt of the collapse, and it will be primarily them to keep the torch alive in the darkest time. Of course, it will be our responsibility to prepare them for that. Best do the hard work of excavation with the time that we have.
If you want to read one thing in Homer, I would recommend the chapter in the Odyssey where Odysseus goes to the underworld. (If you haven't alread read it). It's a description of the Ancient Greek afterlife from someone who believed in it. Quite striking.
A good second piece from the classics is the chapter in the Aeneid where Aeneas goes to the underworld. To some extent, the gods in the Aeneid are more theatrical than those in Homer. I'm not sure what Virgil really believed about them. But that chapter has the sense of being something that Virgil really believed.
Those both provide an insight into the ancient mindset, which contrasts with the Christian view of the afterlife.
Actually, I would say that in some sense, Homer, Virgil, and Dante all form a sequence and consciously so because the later make no secret about being inspired by the earlier.
I wish you would take the time to sit with this and come out with something more poignant. I feel like you have thoughts ruminating about this which deserve to come out.
It's not just zoomers. My parents both read the same books I read in school, and neither of them have any recollection of them, nor did they understand them at the time. This is a deeper issue that is observable across the west, and it primarily seems to become a mainstream phenomenon starting after WW2.
The reasons are simple. We became international consumers who decided that we don't have any culture worth identifying with. "What are the Greek texts but a world treasure? Let someone else read them, I have taxes to pay."
How many men and women descended from northern Europeans even know their own heroes? We name our children after men and women of the Bible, David and Abigail, not the heroes of our own myths like Sigurd, or what have you. We know more about the founding myths of a little nation from over 2000 years ago than we do about our own nation founded 200 years ago. Even then, those who are still religious barely know their religion. Why? It's because everything has been watered down and sold on an international market.
Maybe none of what I said resonates with you, but its the underlying reason for why this is happening. We are no longer tribalist, and so the things which pertain to our tribes are no longer important. That does not get rid of them though, these things are inherent to our very beings. So it just becomes an elephant in the room.
Northrop Frye's work explains a deep understanding of pretty much all the classics of Western literature, this would be the solution to this specific problem.
My kids read the Ancient Greek works at their classical education style homeschool co-op. They start with “kids” versions in the elementary grades and move on to the full versions in the upper school. Introducing the stories early, I think, will help students grapple with the ideas and themes as they progress (which is pretty much the whole idea of classical education in the first place).
When I was in high school in the late 90's, one of my English teachers was reading Beowulf to us. It's not just "zoomers" who have a marked disinterest in classical texts. Even back then I remember students yawning their way through his narration, while some outright professed boredom and were hostile toward it. While preserving these texts is hardly a lost cause, preserving interest in them may take work. I think you're doing your part!
This is a thought-provoking post.
Here are some thoughts on three questions related to this topic:
Why read the classics at all?
What to do if they are difficult to get into or not enjoyable?
Can reading the classics be a communal activity again?
One of the main reasons for an individual to read classic literature is that it offers something that can't be found anywhere else. No one living in the 21st century can write like Homer because no one lives in the world Homer lived in. There are people out there who can write historical fiction or fantasy fiction set in ancient Greece, though to do it well requires a lot of research. Books like that are definitely worth reading, but it's not the same as actually having been there.
People read fantasy and science fiction because looking for a story about the unusual and the unfamiliar. In that regard, old books are more fantastical than the most fantastical of contemporary fantasy novels, because people thought differently back then. You're going to get something from those books (not just ancient, but even as recent as the mid-20th century) that you can't find in any modern book, movie, or video game.
As far as the difficulty or lack of enjoyableness of the classics, I think there's a few things going on. With works in another language, one issue is definitely the translation. Especially ancient languages. Different translations may work for different people. And translating poetry is another story altogether. You can get a sense of the epithets and repetitive phrasing ("rosy-fingered dawn", "Odysseus raider of cities", etc.) in Homer, but I don't think it's possible to really appreciate the poetry in translation. And so a translation that tries too hard to be poetic will probably be less accessible.
Another issue is just taste. Not everyone is going to like everything equally. Homer is not to everyone's taste, nor is Shakespeare. But I believe that most people can find something that interests them among the classics.
In addition, as you point out, there's the fact that these works are different than contemporary works and this makes them less initially accessible. If you have a guide to give you the context and the reason why it was initially valued that helps a lot. That's what C.S. Lewis tried to do for his students at Oxford, to help them read a work in the spirit in which it was written. But that leads us to the inescapable difficulty. These works were written in a very different spirit than modern works. There's no help for it except to accept that fact and get used to the works over time.
But I don't think it's an insurmountable barrier. It's not primarily about intelligence or education, but about persistence. Shakespeare is more difficult than Victorian writers, but I believe that someone who dedicated a month reading Shakespeare an hour or two every day and then spent another 30 - 45 minutes reading works explaining Shakespeare would get to the point where he could read the plays with enjoyment.
And it wouldn't be a matter of psyching oneself into liking them, but of being able to appreciate what's already there.
As far as the question of whether reading the classics will be more than an individual pursuit, that's a difficult question and I don't really have an answer. Even one or two generations ago, people were much more willing to read or watch old things. The fact that there's such a break with the past is pathological, but I don't think it can continue indefinitely. Especially since so much of contemporary culture is made to be ephemeral. I guess the main thing to do is that people can educate themselves and those who have the knowledge can pass it on to others.
I think a lot of this will come down to how the next two generations fair in the modern world. I believe they will receive the brunt of the collapse, and it will be primarily them to keep the torch alive in the darkest time. Of course, it will be our responsibility to prepare them for that. Best do the hard work of excavation with the time that we have.
If you want to read one thing in Homer, I would recommend the chapter in the Odyssey where Odysseus goes to the underworld. (If you haven't alread read it). It's a description of the Ancient Greek afterlife from someone who believed in it. Quite striking.
A good second piece from the classics is the chapter in the Aeneid where Aeneas goes to the underworld. To some extent, the gods in the Aeneid are more theatrical than those in Homer. I'm not sure what Virgil really believed about them. But that chapter has the sense of being something that Virgil really believed.
Those both provide an insight into the ancient mindset, which contrasts with the Christian view of the afterlife.
Actually, I would say that in some sense, Homer, Virgil, and Dante all form a sequence and consciously so because the later make no secret about being inspired by the earlier.
I wish you would take the time to sit with this and come out with something more poignant. I feel like you have thoughts ruminating about this which deserve to come out.
It's not just zoomers. My parents both read the same books I read in school, and neither of them have any recollection of them, nor did they understand them at the time. This is a deeper issue that is observable across the west, and it primarily seems to become a mainstream phenomenon starting after WW2.
The reasons are simple. We became international consumers who decided that we don't have any culture worth identifying with. "What are the Greek texts but a world treasure? Let someone else read them, I have taxes to pay."
How many men and women descended from northern Europeans even know their own heroes? We name our children after men and women of the Bible, David and Abigail, not the heroes of our own myths like Sigurd, or what have you. We know more about the founding myths of a little nation from over 2000 years ago than we do about our own nation founded 200 years ago. Even then, those who are still religious barely know their religion. Why? It's because everything has been watered down and sold on an international market.
Maybe none of what I said resonates with you, but its the underlying reason for why this is happening. We are no longer tribalist, and so the things which pertain to our tribes are no longer important. That does not get rid of them though, these things are inherent to our very beings. So it just becomes an elephant in the room.
Northrop Frye's work explains a deep understanding of pretty much all the classics of Western literature, this would be the solution to this specific problem.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_Frye