Like many people, I have often read a lot less of the Classics than I would have liked to. Some of that is due to lack of time, some of it is due to other priorities and distractions taking precedence.
But one reason is that a lot of the Western Traditions most famous works can be quite inaccessible. Some of that is due to language, and that is an issue. Even people ten years younger than me have noticeably different words and sayings, to the point where it can be completely indecipherable. Or, as Gen Z might put it:
“No cap, even the 10-years-younger NPCs got a whole diff firmware patch on their vocab. They be yappin in DLC slang and I’m just sittin there like “???” — full 404, no subtitles, OS not compatible. Deadass feels like I need Chat just to decode the timeline.”
But a much larger, less talked about issue is the lack of context. When the original author was writing, there was a huge amount of information that they, correctly, assumed everyone knew.
If I read a story set in modern day Iowa, a place I have never been, I know that its likely rural, conservative, with a big agricultural industry, pretty religious but not SUPER religious, economically flat or declining, ethnically homogenous and culinarily unadventurous. It’s all deeply coded into those four letters.
Now if instead the story was set in 18th Century Prussia, I have no idea. I am fairly sure Prussia is near modern day Poland, but beyond that, it is a bit of a black hole. Do they hate the Russians, or are they an offshoot of the Russians, or are the both? Would they be likely to invade Germany, or does the modern concept of Germany non-existent. Would said invasion include muskets and cannons, or horses and swords? A reader in 1826 would know all of this innately; 200 years on, it is a complete mystery.
I have tried to solve this issue with a little app I build called GreatWorks. It is in beta, but completely usable and, of course, completely free. There is only one text, Paradise Lost by Milton, but it is very dense, so a perfect place to start.
The basic idea is that the text is split into sections bookmarked with an overview and summary. The goal is not to give away spoilers, but to give you the relevant context you need to understand the text. If there are any lines or passages you don’t fully grasp, you can underline them, and either Enrich (where you will be an explanation of the passage) or Add to Chat, where you add it to your conversation with the text. I found the latter version tremendously helpful, but I would be interested to hear your thoughts.
I added a feature where unusual words were defined (they’re underlined, you just have to hover over them), but I don’t think it did a very good job; many obvious words were included and quite a few archaic ones excluded. It does work well occassionally.
Finally, you can choose your Reader level at the start. I haven’t tuned this as well as I might have liked; I personally found the Complete Noob level the most enjoyable, although maybe I have been overrating my literary chops for years.
I would love it if you could have a play around and give me feedback: good, bad, ugly. What I am going to do with it next is completely open, but I don’t see it as a business or side-hustle, but rather something interesting and helpful. Share with your friends and family, and let me know if there is a book or poem that you would love to see.
Details:
GreatBooks App: https://great-books-rho.vercel.app/
Source Code: https://github.com/hwetherall/GreatWorks
Note: This app is built for screens, not mobile. Sorry.
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