In this regard, the new experiment of using popular literary classics to generate new audiences may well be a salutary step forward.

ECONOMIST: Contemporary opera

The teachers developed their own iBooks and lesson plans around literary classics like MacBeth, according to Mark Strobel, director of marketing for Providence eLearning, a spinoff of the school that is marketing the iBooks to other schools.

FORBES: Four Reasons Why Back-To-School Tablet Rollouts Can Stumble - Or Fail

Last week, a company called Faulkner Literary Rights filed a copyright infringement claim against Sony Pictures Classics.

FORBES: Are We All Copyright Infringers?

For those who prefer reading over gaping, Classics of Golf (classicsofgolf.com) has republished in hardback 69 of the game's literary treasures, including Arnold Haultain's "The Mystery of Golf" (1908) and Bobby Jones's "Golf Is My Game" (1960).

WSJ: What to Get a Golfer for the Holidays | Golf Journal by John Paul Newport