konceptum
konceptum
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August 17th, 2012 at 12:23:19 PM permalink
The title of the thread is very awkwardly worded. That's what I get for a) trying to come up with something immediately, and b) not having had a good education in literature.

Another nameless thread had a brief listing of various Shakespeare plays. However, in my life, I've only read one Shakespeare play: Taming of the Shrew, and I believe that it was in early High School. At no other time in high school or college did I ever read a Shakespearean play. In other words, it was never assigned, and was not required.

Growing up, I enjoyed reading Fantasy and Science Fiction novels. So, any real literature wasn't read by me unless it was assigned for a class.

When I mention this to people, they always seem amazed. But, it is true. I never read Romeo and Juliet, MacBeth, or anything else. Don't get me wrong, I understand the basic gist of the stories (mostly thanks to The Simpsons), but I've never read the ACTUAL plays themselves. Sometimes I see a movie, and someone tells me it's a retelling of a classic story, like Romeo and Juliet, and I don't even know it. It was an extremely embarassingly long time before I found out that West Side Story was loosely inspired by Romeo and Juliet.

The educational tragedy doesn't stop at Shakespeare. I didn't get assigned anything by Mark Twain, or Steinbeck, or Dickens, or Anne Frank. I didn't read Robinson Crusoe. Nothing by Ayn Rand or Jane Austen or Salinger or Hemingway. In this article about 10 books that should have been read in high school, I read none of them. And again, I basically know the gist of the stories, I just never read them.

Others I didn't read: Red Badge of Courage, 1984, Gone With the Wind, To Kill a Mockingbird (almost sat through the entire movie), Lord of the Flies, Jane Eyre.

I have read certain "classic" books as an adult, the most recent being the Count of Monte Cristo and the Invisible Man.

Some classics I did read in high school. Like The Odyssey, Beowulf, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Inferno, The Lottery, Johnny Got His Gun.

As I said, when I tell people about this, they are amazed. It doesn't seem possible that someone can get through High School and NOT have these classics assigned at some point in time. It seems like kids HATE reading these classic novels, but what happens to someone who does manage to never read them? Have I missed out on really great classic literature because of my seemingly poor education? I think so. I know that I miss references to things that come from these novels.

Then I hear things like kids are being assigned to read The Hunger Games in schools these days. What? But maybe that's a good way of dealing with things. If a teacher mixes up classic novels with more modern novels, maybe that can retain a child's interest.

Anybody else feel like they got screwed on literature?
FleaStiff
FleaStiff
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August 17th, 2012 at 12:31:43 PM permalink
Everyone gets screwed on something.
I think WC Fields was in the same situation and took a trunk into a bookstore saying to the clerk "fill 'er up".
s2dbaker
s2dbaker
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August 17th, 2012 at 12:39:33 PM permalink
At the very least, go get To Kill a Mockingbird. If I'm not mistaken, it was Harper Lee's only book.

For lighter fare, read Confederacy of Dunces.
Someday, joor goin' to see the name of Googie Gomez in lights and joor goin' to say to joorself, "Was that her?" and then joor goin' to answer to joorself, "That was her!" But you know somethin' mister? I was always her yuss nobody knows it! - Googie Gomez
tsmith
tsmith
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August 17th, 2012 at 12:52:58 PM permalink
Plays are very difficult to read, especially Shakespeare with its antiquated language, so don't feel bad about that part. I tried reading some of Ibsen's plays once when I was in high school and found them very tedious and cumbersome and hard to follow and understand.

I remember reading "Red Badge of Courage" in high school. The teacher spent a full day going over all the symbolism contained in just the first page, and that did it for me, I couldn't stand that book after that. I liked the movie with Audie Murphy tho.

I never read "Canterbury Tales" or "Beowulf" or anything by Jane Austen and I hated Steinbeck and Hemingway. I read "Catcher in the Rye" and could never understand what all the hoopla was about.

You needn't feel all that bad about not having read the so-called "great" books. You read what you liked and enjoyed what you read and that's all that counts. So what if you never read Salinger; Bradbury and Asimov are great authors too.

I would guess that a lot of students haven't read half of what they're assigned anyway; that's why God make Cliff Notes.
FarFromVegas
FarFromVegas
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August 17th, 2012 at 12:58:38 PM permalink
Quote: s2dbaker

At the very least, go get To Kill a Mockingbird. If I'm not mistaken, it was Harper Lee's only book.



My sister is a University librarian. She actually had a college student come up to her once looking for "To Kick Like a Mockingbird" by "Lee Harper."

Yeah.
Each of us is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts. Preparing for a fight about your bad decision is not as smart as making a good decision.
ewjones080
ewjones080
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August 17th, 2012 at 1:04:59 PM permalink
One problem might be the time limits. When a kid has eight different classes a day, each with homework assigned, and then tack on a couple extracurriculars, it's impossible to assign a bunch of reading and essays. What should take a week ends up taking a month.

I also didn't get much literature, but I did some clever sidestepping to achieve that. I started to read To Kill a Mockingbird, then transferred high school. The next year they assigned it, and I told the teacher I had already read it. So she let me pick something else. Then senior year, there was an advanced English class, notorious for tons of homework. A lot of people expected me to take it, but I wasn't required to take it because of some weird requirement on credits.

I've read at least two Shakespeare's plays. Well didn't read them necessarily, more of a group reading. Read some Steinbeck, and Lord of the Flies was pretty good. Surprised me really. A lot of stuff that I do feel like I missed out on, but you know it's never too late, find the books/plays and read em.

Did you know that movie 10 Things I Hate About You is an adaptation of Taming of the Shrew?
FarFromVegas
FarFromVegas
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August 17th, 2012 at 1:08:20 PM permalink
Quote: ewjones080


Did you know that movie 10 Things I Hate About You is an adaptation of Taming of the Shrew?



And Clueless is a modern twist on Emma, and O Brother, Where Art Thou? is The Odyssey. So you can absorb the classics with some popcorn and friends instead of eyestrain and an unabridged dictionary!
Each of us is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts. Preparing for a fight about your bad decision is not as smart as making a good decision.
tsmith
tsmith
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August 17th, 2012 at 1:15:17 PM permalink
I never read "The Odyssey" so I missed all the clues in "O Brother ..." but that didn't stop me from enjoying the movie on its own merits.
FarFromVegas
FarFromVegas
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August 17th, 2012 at 1:18:23 PM permalink
Quote: tsmith

I never read "The Odyssey" so I missed all the clues in "O Brother ..." but that didn't stop me from enjoying the movie on its own merits.



Oh, yeah--George Clooney AND the Coen Brothers! I love it!
Each of us is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts. Preparing for a fight about your bad decision is not as smart as making a good decision.
vendman1
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August 17th, 2012 at 1:24:40 PM permalink
Son of a librarian here, I was basically raised by books. The great thing about books "classic" or not is you don't have to like them all...but you should at least give them a try. Personally I don't enjoy Hemmingway at all and Catcher in the Rye may be the most overrated book of the 20th century IMO. If you'd like to get more well rounded literature wise, try some of the following:

Animal Farm - Orwell (better than 1984 in my opinion, but they are both good)
Huck Finn - Twain ( the great American novel, unless its Mockingird or maybe Moby Dick)
A Collection of Poe's Short Stories (all scary in their own way)
Dracula - Bram Stoker (sooooo much better than the bad hollywood versions)
The Metamorphosis or The Trial - Kafka (very russian)...Crime and Punishment by Dostevesky is great too but a harder read.

Anything by Shakespeare is much better appreciated in play form, they really come to life. Again just my opinion.

I could go on forever but those are some of my favorites happy ready. Most of the above are available for free if you have a kindle btw.
tsmith
tsmith
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August 17th, 2012 at 1:40:34 PM permalink
I remember reading "Animal Farm" when I was much too young to appreciate that it was a political satire. I just liked the animal characters; the names Snowball and Napoleon have always stuck with me.

"Dracula" was without question the scariest book I ever read. I was reading it once when I was a bank teller, and I was alone in the bank because it was after closing time and I was manning the drive-up window. The whole place was quiet like a tomb and then somebody drove up and honked their horn. The book went flying, I jumped out of my seat and screamed and the customer thought the bank was being held up.
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