Between the Lines: What Makes a Book a Classic?

Published every Friday, Between the Lines is a weekly column by Namrata, where she delves into the cultural, emotional, and thematic intricacies of both classic and contemporary books. In today’s column, she explores what makes a book classic.

There’s something almost mythical about the word classic. It evokes the smell of yellowing pages, a certain kind of reverence, and often, a list dictated by institutions far removed from the stories they deem eternal. But ask any reader what makes a book a classic, and the answers are likely to differ, not just from each other, but from the canon itself.

For me, a classic isn’t just what survives time. It is what continues to feel alive within it. It’s a book that still startles you with its relevance, stirs you with its language, and asks questions you haven’t quite answered yet. In the South Asian context, where history, identity, and narrative are so intricately bound, the idea of a classic takes on unique contours.

Take Qurratulain Hyder’s Aag Ka Darya (River of Fire), a sweeping historical novel that stretches across centuries, languages, and empires. It refuses the tidy boundaries of genre and nationhood. It is experimental and elliptical, sometimes demanding, often dazzling. What makes it a classic isn’t just its scope, but its enduring ability to reflect South Asia’s fractured identities and political uncertainties. Each re-reading reveals a new layer, as though time itself were in conversation with the text.