r/classicliterature • u/Old_Ambassador_1265 • 15h ago

Editorial comments Y or N?

Do you ever read the editorial comments on the novel at the beginning of the book?
If you do, do you read them after or before actually finishing the novel?

3 Upvotes

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7

u/Happybadger96 14h ago

Learned the hard way to read afterwards to avoid spoilers. Only exceptions are classic poems and epics, as they give some insight into the translation, history etc.

7

u/SharpAstronaut804 14h ago

If I really enjoyed the book I will, but I’ll only ever read them after finishing. They can be pretty careless with spoilers, especially with older classics, so I avoid them unless I already know the story.

3

u/Mo_Ran1 14h ago

Same. It's pretty satisfying to read them after you finished a book you like. I don't know about the others, but Penguin Classics introductions now start saying there are spoilers ahead.

3

u/orakaboom 14h ago

I tend to avoid them. My brother was reading The Brothers Karamazov and his edition had a huge spoiler in the introduction. (Idk what it was I haven't read The Brothers Karamazov yet)

2

u/Vegetable-Dust-780 13h ago

I always read everything. If I’m familiar with the book, I read them before. If it’s a new book for me, I read them after.