What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

Recently I've been revisiting some childhood favourites. My youthful reading was mostly written in the 70s and 80s with occasional throwbacks to my moms favourites. While I still enjoy the books beyond measure they do feel dated. However when I read Dickens or Fitzgerald the seem historical. When or how do you think a book moves from dated to historical?

I almost wonder sometimes if historical is a time period I never lived in. Like, I didn't live during Jane Austen's time, but I did live in the time period Sue Grafton writes in (which is the early/mid-80's). When there are familiar elements - card catalogs and payphones - it can seem dated. But, when there are unfamiliar elements - chimney sweeps and lamplighters - it's more like a history text. At least, that's how my experience seems to go. :)

OLD. 1900, pre, old. Makes me think long dresses and horse power.

The first time I remember coming across 'dated', was a relatively recent book that chirped about how the h, on a flashed out, better then now tech submarine, showed her daughter the instant pictures she took years before that she downloaded on the CD-Rom for posterity.

Ah, no, got it. Historical = writing about a previous time. Dated = writing about your time, which is no longer current...?

But I guess that leave Austen, Bronte and the likes hanging :(

For me I think the boundary is about 80 to 100 years ago (from whatever point in the present one is in). Novels written in the 50s and 60s often seem dated and stale, but those written in the 20s and 30s aren't, necessarily. Some really stale-feeling novels I've read recently were by Wallace Stegner and Walker Percy. Paradoxically, a much older work, from the 19th or 18th century, often feels fresher than works from the 50s to the 80s.

There are exceptions. I'm always excited to find a writer writing in the 1940s-1990s whose work doesn't feel dated. Like Lawrence Durrell.

I think content also makes a difference.

A romance set in the early 50s in Brittan would feel dated, while a book in the same setting dealing with class issues would feel more historical.

Or a book about just about anything set in the 70s would feel dated, whereas if it dealt specifically with the Vietnam war it would feel historical.

You may enjoy this post from xkcd, showing books in past/future from date of publication as compared to years in past/future:
https://xkcd.com/1491/

When I read a book about Louisa May Alcott as the main character or a fictional character in the midst of WW2 it is historical.
If I read a book by Charles Dickens, Jonathon Swift, Mark Twain or even Ernest Hemingway, I see them as Classics and expect dated prose, and different mind-set.
If I am reading a "dated" book, I take the publishing date in consideration They are dated because the point of views are NOW considered racist, sexist, and the like. Women are "girls", are helpless, hysterical, who need a man. Minorities (non-white) are ignorant, heathen, stupid, servile.