  My friend Catherine is back and we're going to continue our debate about modern vs. classic literature. A: Ummm..where did we leave off? Oh yeah, you had said that you can relate to characters in modern literature more because they can experience things that you do. But the reason classic literature has survived so long and people still love it, is that the characters, even though they don't experience the same things we do, they at least experience the same emotions, which ties the centuries together. C: I agree with you that classics have survived this long, but we need NEW old classics, so that in a century from now people will look at modern stuff and call it classic. Also in classic lit you have to think of reasons why you can relate to them, but in modern books its obvious. So why waste brain juice? (in case you didn't notice that’s really my only good point so I'm sticking to it) A: Ok, first, I totally agree with you that we need “NEW old classics” (and I intend to write them.
) But in centuries from now, according to your theory, people will relate to modern literature. How can that be?
Centuries from now things will be different and people just like you will say, “I don’t like classic literature from the 21st century, I can’t relate to it, the people in those books don’t do anything like we do and I can’t relate to them.” The idea of classic literature is that it has themes and emotions that despite the circumstances carry on because we’re all human and that is they only thing that doesn’t change throughout the centuries. Modern literature is much more action oriented, with plot coming before character, which makes it very unlikely that they will be classics: they don’t have enduring themes. They speak to an audience which doesn’t like to take the time to think about things and that will be it’s ultimate down fall.
To write classic books we need to read the ones we already have and study them, because they’ve proven their worth over time. Catherine has to leave now, so that's the end of this part of our debate, but we'll have more later. 
