Classics in Your Field

[Short post this week -- I'm off to Alaska!]

Every field has its classics.  Car enthusiasts know them, oil painters know them... do you know the classics of literature?  I'm not asking if you can name them, I'm asking if you've read them.

That's a pretty ambitious undertaking -- there are a lot of literature classics, after all.  How about something more manageable?  How about the classics from the little corner your writing fits into?  Do you know what they are?  Have you thought about it before?  Have you made an effort to read them?

Sometimes they sneak by us.  My son designs and plays video games, and the mythic monster Cthulhu from H. P. Lovecraft's short story "The Call of Cthulhu" shows up repeatedly in those games as well as dungeons and dragons type of games.  Has he ever read the short story?  No, but he knows of its existence.  He'll probably be reading it soon, because I'm going to get a copy for him.

I can't think of one that's snuck up (or snuck by) me in fantasy-but-not-sword-and-sorcerer, but I haven't read more than a handful.  However, I feel certain there are a whole bunch of them I've missed simply because I'm not familiar enough with my chosen field.  And a good part of my unfamiliarity is due to my inability to give it my slice of fantasy a solid name!  Pitiful, I know.

What about you?