Part of my job in running this blog is connecting with others out their on the internet in general, and the blogging world in particular, to get others to add book reviews here. In doing that this past week, I came across a post from RoseReadsNovels. She did a book review about the piece of classic literature, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I decided to follow in her footsteps and finally read it as well since Friday the 13th seemed like the perfect date to do so. While doing so I wondered, why is this a classic? I also, before reading, realized I already knew the story and its outcome due to popular culture. Which somewhat answers the question of why this is a classic. Then, it was the first of its kind. Now, not so much.
That got me thinking what would be the classics in the pagan, occult and arcane spheres? Who are the forerunners? What books and authors do we all look back at, borrow from and build upon? That’s not an easy question since even the three categories I mentioned just now can be broken down further by their offshoots. And some of the original branches are so old we have no way of knowing because of their oral traditions. And still further many of these traditions have contested origins. But maybe a few classics lists would be good starting point. What do you all think?
The Magickal Librarian 