Before starting graduate school in the fall of 2021, I spent five years after undergrad reading whatever title intrigued me, and at my own pace. During that academic hiatus, I read - and continue to read - a variety of genres and subgenres. One genre I made an effort to read more often for leisure was “classic” literature, the kind you might be assigned to read in a literature class. This is predominantly because I worried my negative feelings toward the genre were connected with the feeling that I was being forced to read it for a class. Thus began my experiment! I read various classics: Sense and Sensibility, Wuthering Heights, and Animal Farm to name a few. I would often tell friends and family how glad I was that I got the chance to experience these books for the first time while reading for pleasure. Returning to the academic sphere, I have been wondering if I would begin disliking classics once more. 

I am happy to report that I have been grateful these past two semesters to have an outlet for discussion and theory! Admittedly, the isolation forced upon many of us at times during the pandemic has made me all the more eager to attend my in-person classes and participate as much as possible. But I digress. This past week, I was assigned the novella, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, for my Critical Theory course. I want to preface this by saying that I am certain I would have thoroughly enjoyed this story as a pleasure read anyway, as it combines the atmospheric tension found in Frankenstein and the narrative mystery similar to Holmes. If you are a fan of either, then I would be surprised if you disliked this novella! Thus, I do not think the classroom environment is required for me to like it, but I do believe it allowed me to see connections to Freudian psychology, homoerotic nuances, and the semiotic significance of many terms and names. My professor and fellow students helped me dig deeper into the analysis of the book. With that said, I am still glad I did not read this book first in secondary or undergraduate school. I don’t think I would have appreciated it in the same way. 

This book is beautifully written and impressively complex for a novella. I loved the eerie London setting, and Mr. Utterson is a great choice as the narrative’s amateur detective. This is a classic that I can see myself recommending to others, and it encourages me to continue sifting through the many books under this label that I have missed.