Welcome!

Welcome to Cindy’s Classic’s Corner! What is the inspiration for this blog? I blame Arthur Henry King. I very recently read his book The Abundance of the Heart. I should probably do a post just on that book someday. But to suffice it to say, he grew up without many books, but most of those books were classics and they profoundly affected him. He talked about what he considered some of the greatest classics, and I realized that I had not read most of them.

So this blog will go through the classics. Most of them, especially to begin with, will be new to me. At other times I will talk about old favorites.

But the most important thing I want to do with this is to have fun. Yes, I believe the classics can be fun. So how will I make the classics fun? First, by making references to current popular culture. For example, I might point out how Anakin Sywalker is as broody as Hamlet. If I can make a reference to Star Wars, Doctor Who, Marvel, or DC I will.

Second, if there is a Tolkien connection to be made, I will make it. I am getting my second masters in Tolkien and Medieval Studies from Signum University. Along with The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien was a Philologist specializing in Anglo-Saxon and related languages who taught at Oxford for many years. What you may not know is the fact that Tolkien as an undergraduate started in the Classics. He ended up almost failing because he was spending all his time studying Gothic or Finnish or Welsh instead of Greek and Latin like he was supposed to. However, thanks to this experience Tolkien was influenced (perhaps more than he liked to admit) by the classics of Greek and Roman literature.

Second, and more important, I am going to look at these works from the perspective of a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You may have heard us called Mormons before. This means I am going to relate these works to the scriptures, meaning The Bible and The Book of Mormon.

While it would be ideal if we could go through these works in their original language, this is not going to happen. I know Portuguese, and even in that I am slow. I expect many of my readers will not know the original language themselves. So to help me keep on a schedule and to help you my readers we will be using English translations. However, if you do know the language a particular work is originally in, feel free to follow along in the original language, and I would be particularly interested in your observations.

I welcome comments, but please keep things civil. I hope this will be a fun and enlightening experience for all of us!