This summer, my activities included re-reading Alexander Dumas’ “The Count of Monte Cristo.” Because it is more than 1,500 pages long, and since I have seen at least two movie versions of it, I wondered if it could still sustain my interest. It did. The power of the storytelling swept me along once again, and afterwards I thought about what makes a classic. Why do we connect so thoroughly and through so many generations with some works of art while others fall by the wayside?