tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post7751665671011583841..comments2023-10-15T04:23:50.187-04:00Comments on College Misery: College BooksUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger41125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-22669906019248972422011-11-22T15:35:17.987-05:002011-11-22T15:35:17.987-05:00One thing I think we can be pretty sure they *have...One thing I think we can be pretty sure they *have* read (or at least seen one of the movies of): at least one Harry Potter book. And since so much of the series is set in a school, it undoubtedly has influenced their understanding of what the whole enterprise is about (which probably means we should be reading/watching Harry Potter, too). Many have also read at least one vampire or zombie bookContingent Cassandrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08161652083031423415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-53505501014410343552011-11-22T13:23:04.702-05:002011-11-22T13:23:04.702-05:00Someone wrote a few years ago about the 100 (or ma...Someone wrote a few years ago about the 100 (or maybe it was 1000) things that "educated" people need to know--our shared cultural knowledge, in other words.<br /><br />I'm always amazed by what my students don't know: that "GOP" is a convenient shorthand for the Republican Party or that Cesar Chavez was a labor organizer or that . . . well, the list is nearly endless.Philiphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05244643308698776814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-46121994656636642452011-11-21T19:47:04.506-05:002011-11-21T19:47:04.506-05:00What most of us do have in common is that we all r...<i>What most of us do have in common is that we all read, every day, for pleasure. Let's start there with our students.</i><br /><br />I'll buy that. But we must also think about this question: What do our students need to know, to deal with what we are teaching? That's going to influence what we think of as canonical, or at least what we consider to be pre-requisites.<br /><br />As Iintrovert.profhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09042783611716432247noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-34847662548684577552011-11-21T14:23:10.397-05:002011-11-21T14:23:10.397-05:00What Strelnikov said: The list goes on and on.
L...What Strelnikov said: The list goes on and on.<br /><br />Look at how different the various "must-reads" are in these comments. The most important thing is simply to get students to read whatever. They'll find what's important to them. But as long as students don't read, then they're stuck.<br /><br />My own must-read list includes Ulysses, the Raj Quartet by Paul Philiphttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05244643308698776814noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-42096426002447393562011-11-21T13:28:58.116-05:002011-11-21T13:28:58.116-05:00Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, Vergil's Aeneid...Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, Vergil's Aeneid, Ovid's Metamorphoses.C.https://www.blogger.com/profile/00531010385690323247noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-23315205507146773912011-11-21T11:25:05.059-05:002011-11-21T11:25:05.059-05:00I'd settle for the notion that my students rea...I'd settle for the notion that my students read anything at all besides what is required. Tolkien. Comic books. Cyberpunk. Le Carre spy novels.<br /><br />Wait, that's what I read. Never mind.Three Sigmahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10822893039310439770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-30698039073894650562011-11-21T09:54:24.830-05:002011-11-21T09:54:24.830-05:00I'm not sure I agree about reading the Bible. ...<i>I'm not sure I agree about reading the Bible. You get enough of that from pop culture</i><br /><br />Forgot to add:<br /><br />You might be surprised there. I know that my own kids (failure on my part!) don't recognize Biblical allusions half the time, and I sent 'em to Sunday school. In an Episcopal church, so there's an excuse for 'em.introvert.profhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09042783611716432247noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-61862588968418792702011-11-21T08:36:56.041-05:002011-11-21T08:36:56.041-05:00I'll put in my own plug for Ivan Denisovitch, ...I'll put in my own plug for Ivan Denisovitch, and for Orwell, though I read both of them on my own; I was never assigned them.<br /><br />@AM, whatever your personal prejudices, you can't understand Western Civ without knowing the Bible. Nor can you understand most of western literature in English without knowing the King James Version (and Greek mythology, by the by).<br /><br /><i>on introvert.profhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09042783611716432247noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-53502767912248739342011-11-21T07:13:06.394-05:002011-11-21T07:13:06.394-05:00I personally think everyone could benefit from rea...I personally think everyone could benefit from reading at least one Orwell (or if you prefer, Blair) book. But Heart of Darkness! And Day in the Life of Ivan! I had forgotten how those struck me as an undergraduate. Strel, I love your list. <br /><br />But I'm not sure I agree about reading the Bible. You get enough of that from pop culture, and the reading itself is thoroughly depressing.<brAcademic Monkeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07086078244493768565noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-2697734690304734212011-11-21T06:56:08.281-05:002011-11-21T06:56:08.281-05:00I noticed that the Bible and Shakespeare come up o...I noticed that the Bible and Shakespeare come up often, but really, what about Greek mythology? You can't understand half the references in literature without it, from Shakespeare on (and probably before, but I'm under-read there). I'm partial to Norse myths, myself, but Greek is more relevant.<br /><br />And a note about the Bible: Genesis yes, the rest of the Pentateuch, maybe, but introvert.profhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09042783611716432247noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-36458974464803047662011-11-21T04:24:42.116-05:002011-11-21T04:24:42.116-05:00I forgot to add "...in that year."
Damm...I forgot to add "...in that year."<br /><br />Dammit.Strelnikovhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12660962615198939441noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-17094066043319345182011-11-21T02:31:15.598-05:002011-11-21T02:31:15.598-05:00Everybody's talking about "1984" but...Everybody's talking about "1984" but nobody has mentioned the novel Mr. Blair drew a lot of inspiration from: Evgeny Zamyatin's "We." Every now-hackneyed idea in dystopian science-fiction got its start there: domed cities, people with numbers instead of names, Panopticon-style living, the entire nation striving toward one single project (a moon-rocket in this case), Strelnikovhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12660962615198939441noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-14886795678586990412011-11-20T23:05:50.468-05:002011-11-20T23:05:50.468-05:00Hrm.... but what about our students who didn't...Hrm.... but what about our students who didn't grow up in the US? What do we expect of them? I imagine we can expect a lot of this from our American HS graduated students, but what about them?My Little Proffiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14843685528001871813noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-14688507623432456502011-11-20T22:54:01.877-05:002011-11-20T22:54:01.877-05:00They should've read some Sophocles too (Oedipu...They should've read some Sophocles too (<i>Oedipus</i> and <i>Antigone</i>, at least).Lexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08353211383898810500noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-3442779929108581592011-11-20T22:44:12.062-05:002011-11-20T22:44:12.062-05:00When I first started teaching I assumed they'd...When I first started teaching I assumed they'd read The Scarlet Letter, The Red Badge of Courage, Huck Finn, some Ray Bradbury, some Conrad, the Romantic poets, The Diary of Anne Frank, Daisy Miller, and a few other things that I'd read in high school. Nope. Now I assume nothing -- but I am astonished that when I ask them if they read any women or nonwhite authors in high school, they Frog and Toadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06377542172335502858noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-35335218026799459382011-11-20T22:38:47.425-05:002011-11-20T22:38:47.425-05:00I read Heart of Darkness in four different college...I read Heart of Darkness in four different college courses; Wharton's House of Mirth and Joyce's Dubliners in three. Oy.<br />And my favorite Orwell is Homage to Catalonia.Lexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08353211383898810500noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-17842793382754973502011-11-20T22:23:16.650-05:002011-11-20T22:23:16.650-05:00What is "read" and "books" of ...What is "read" and "books" of which you speak? Quit making up words that my students wouldn't recognize.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-70784651642557681412011-11-20T21:42:43.378-05:002011-11-20T21:42:43.378-05:00@stellafromsparksburg: you are wrong about orwell....@stellafromsparksburg: you are wrong about orwell. try reading "down and out in london and paris" and say "meh".Frank Intercoursehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11392025581401087233noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-34621892233327922882011-11-20T21:06:55.406-05:002011-11-20T21:06:55.406-05:00As several people have noted, this is probably a z...As several people have noted, this is probably a zero-sum game, but still.<br /><br />What I *hope* they've read:<br />Something classical, either a Greek or Roman epic or a little Plato or Aristotle.<br />The Bible.<br />A chunk of Chaucer.<br />Hamlet, Julius Caesar, Henry V, maybe more Shakespeare.<br />Either Blake or Donne, or at least some Christian poetry.<br />Something by the Dr. Colossushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14470085457331712203noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-60779777095498338092011-11-20T20:23:18.837-05:002011-11-20T20:23:18.837-05:00Meh. Orwell is a product of a particular place an...Meh. Orwell is a product of a particular place and time, and his fiction resonates with those who've experienced that place and time.<br /><br />I don't think 1984 or Animal Farm are particularly great works in their own right. I don't think they're probably assigned nearly as much as when I was in high school, thirty years ago. Why should they be? It's not 1984 anymore. StellafromSparksburghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17584701718285662953noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-64130624682467991362011-11-20T20:08:10.693-05:002011-11-20T20:08:10.693-05:00Oh - but I read most of the stuff that's been ...Oh - but I read most of the stuff that's been suggested in this thread, in High School. I mean I'm not a moron or anything, but I've been... lax? I guess about keeping up. <br /><br />That's why I write like this.Wombat of the Copierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14847183793780076028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-59965323570221582312011-11-20T20:02:02.017-05:002011-11-20T20:02:02.017-05:00[tone=sarcasm]I know this will come as a huge shoc...[tone=sarcasm]I know this will come as a huge shock to everyone[/tone], but [tone=shame] I never took a single English course in college[/tone]. <br /><br />Here is the complete, entire, full list of fiction titles Wombat has read in the last 20 years:<br />The Woman Who Walked into Doors<br />Paddy Clarke, Ha ha ha (named a cat after that one)<br />and The Barrytown Trilogy (the Van was my Wombat of the Copierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14847183793780076028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-81204345783433601632011-11-20T19:45:38.899-05:002011-11-20T19:45:38.899-05:00I think it's very interesting that Candide kee...I think it's very interesting that Candide keeps popping up on this list; until today, I had never heard of it.<br /><br />Contemplative Cynic, I see 4 works on your list I have been intending to read for years now. I think this should go on my mid-winter-break reading list.<br /><br />Canon or not, I feel I should recommend 5 or 10 books to my students on the last day of class, especially Academic Monkeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07086078244493768565noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-38639291951090708962011-11-20T19:41:36.298-05:002011-11-20T19:41:36.298-05:00Your "western classics" are very HEAVILY...Your "western classics" are very HEAVILY American and 20th century, don't you think? And that's the problem with canon; we can argue until the cows come home but whether Austen and Bronte make the list over Dickens isn't really the point.<br /><br />When I was doing my undergrad, one couldn't get an English major without a semester of Milton, something I wouldn't WhatLadderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11603489349164511704noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2883226237165701608.post-75211423968583164482011-11-20T18:14:11.947-05:002011-11-20T18:14:11.947-05:00Since much of what I teach is not part of the West...Since much of what I teach is not part of the Western canon, I just assume students haven't read much of what I teach, but I do expect them to be familiar with Western classics like:<br /><br /><br />1984 (which I've seen on various high school reading lists even today!)<br />One Day in the Life of Ivan D...<br />To Kill a Mockingbird<br />Farenheit 451<br />Catch 22<br />All Quiet on theThe Contemplative Cynichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02088570661592922436noreply@blogger.com