The definition of a "classic" can be a hotly debated topic.

Depending on what you

read, or the experience of the person you question on the topic, you may receive a
wide range of answers. So, what is a "classic"--in the context of books and
literature?

 A classic usually expresses some artistic quality--an expression of life,

truth, and beauty.
 A classic stands the test of time. The work is usually considered to be a
representation of the period in which it was written; and the work merits
lasting recognition. In other words, if the book was published in the recent
past, the work is not a classic.

 A classic has a certain universal appeal. Great works of literature touch us

to our very core beings--partly because they integrate themes that are
understood by readers from a wide range of backgrounds and levels of
experience. Themes of love, hate, death, life, and faith touch upon some of
our most basic emotional responses.
 A classic makes connections. You can study a classic and discover
influences from other writers and other great works of literature. Of course,
this is partly related to the universal appeal of a classic. But, the classic also
is informed by the history of ideas and literature--whether unconsciously
or specifically worked into the plot of the text.

 So, now we have some background as to how a classic is defined. But,
what about the book you are reading? Is it a classic?

1) etymology of the word "classic" 2. hallmarks or distinctive features of a classic

The idea of a classic implies something that has continuance and consistence, and
which produces unity and tradition, fashions and transmits itself, and endures.
 A classic, according to the usual definition, is an old author canonised by admiration,
and an authority in his particular style. The word classic was first used in this sense
by the Romans. With them not all the citizens of the different classes were properly
called classici, but only those of the chief class, those who possessed an income of a
certain fixed sum. Those who possessed a smaller income were described by the
term infra classem, below the pre-eminent class. The word classicus was used in a
figurative sense by Aulus Gellius, and applied to writers: a writer of worth and
distinction, classicus assiduusque scriptor, a writer who is of account, has real
property, and is not lost in the proletariate crowd. Such an expression implies an age
sufficiently advanced to have already made some sort of valuation and classification
of literature.

  A true classic, as I should like to hear it defined, is an author who has enriched the
human mind, increased its treasure, and caused it to advance a step; who has
discovered some moral and not equivocal truth, or revealed some eternal passion in
that heart where all seemed known and discovered; who has expressed his thought,
observation, or invention, in no matter what form, only provided it be broad and
great, refined and sensible, sane and beautiful in itself; who has spoken to all in his
own peculiar style, a style which is found to be also that of the whole world, a style
new without neologism, new and old, easily contemporary with all time.