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▲ aprilthird2021 a day ago

> I wonder how many more generations we can go before that's all gone, or if it already has. There's still a lot of value in it as a work of literature, but I don't know if it has the same intuitive understanding it had in the 20th century.

...what do you think will cause kids to be unable to understand it? They understand things like the Odyssey and the Iliad, Charles Dickens, the Bible/Torah/Quran/Baghvad Gita/etc., Faust, Don Quixote, etc. all of which were written far earlier

▲ninalanyon 21 hours ago | parent [-]

Understanding something intellectually is not quite the same as appreciating it viscerally because you have done something similar.

▲aprilthird2021 8 hours ago | parent [-]

I guess, but kids still go outside and do chores. What do you think kids no longer do that kids in Twain's novels did?

They certainly don't use many of the same words, probably don't sail or float on a river (but how many kids could ever do that). What else? The core elements of friendship, loyalty, cunning, and the base satire are all still relevant and visceral today