Could we call “Love Story” a classic, or is it trash?

Emily Farrell makes a good case for " classic".

'Love Story' is a readable classic, she writes, Forty years after it was written, it still draws teens to its universal issues.

Is it better to read "Love Story" by the late Erich Segal, who died recently, or "Hamlet," by the really late playwright William Shakespeare? The answer seems obvious to most educated people. "Hamlet" is the world's greatest tragedy; "Love Story" is trash.

But they are both classics. Yes, both. If a classic stands the test of time, "Hamlet" needs no defense. And as this high school English teacher can attest, "Love Story" still resonates with teenagers 40 years after it was written. The boys still identify with the struggle of being independent from parents, and the girls understand the desire to marry a man who is rich and athletic. Everyone cries when Jenny dies and sobs when the Barrett men finally admit, "Love means never having to say you're sorry."

A classic deals with universal dilemmas.

... And this is the first of the major points she makes in support of her viewpoint ...