The American (and possibly British, but I know less about that really) school system does have a very heavy literature component. By my standards, anyway, which of course are based on my Flemish school system. The amount of required books in HS was very small indeed for me, and most of them weren't even really the classics. Might have something to do with English obviously having a rather larger canon to choose from than Dutch, and with our needing to have more room for foreign languages. And also that we simply read more excerpts, including in the foreign language classes - I've read some Romeo & Juliet in school, alright, but not remotely all of it, and the only entire book I had to read in English was Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In French, I don't think we even read a single whole book, just excerpts and short stories. Same in Latin and Greek class - one obviously doesn't have enough time to read even as much as a quarter of the Iliad, Odyssey, Aeneid, De Bello Gallico, and so on, so it's just a number of excerpts.
And then a fair amount of the books we *did* have to read were actually freely chosen (well, from a list of options). So classics that were required reading... if I get to three it'll be much.
I really think that's a better way to do it. We had books assigned over the summer and then multiple assigned during the school year. Only once or twice could we pick from a list, but those were always the better reading experiences. I got Heart of Darkness and Slaughterhouse V that year and was pleased with both.
No real definition, just the books that are generally considered to belong in the canon, I guess. Some are unquestionably so, others are less generally agreed upon. No doubt there are some differences between countries - more local books, perhaps lacking books that are so strongly connected to a given country that they're less relevant elsewhere, etc. Nathaniel Hawthorne for instance strikes me as an author who is very important in the US, but all but ignored elsewhere. To Kill a Mockingbird no doubt has more success abroad, but is still less relevant to non-Americans.
That really is a good point and is something that this thread is bringing home to me. I tend to fall into the American / Brittish lit, along with some of the Greek works, when I think about this. A lot of folks here are coming from different areas and throwing out things I've never even considered with their particular point of reference.
I'm always terrible at choosing a single favourite, so bear with me here... I can't have a longer list than Camilla, surely, so it's all good.
From Antiquity: Antigone, Medea, Iliad and Odyssey, Tacitus' works in general even if I've read pitifully little of them, poetry by Sappho and Catullus.
Middle Ages and early modernity: some Shakespeare plays, the Racine plays I've read (Phèdre and Andromaque), Ibn Khaldun's Muqaddimah with the same remark as with the Tacitus (so I should probably read them entirely before listing them... but then again, one cannot create enough publicity for the overlooked brilliance of the Muqaddimah), the little I've read of Paradise Lost, the poetry of Hooft and Vondel (in Dutch, so doubt anyone else here will have read them...)
"Modern" classics: P&P, S&S and Emma by Austen, essentially everything by Poe, various works by Dumas, Age of Innocence by Wharton, Picture of Dorian Gray by Wilde, a few books by Leroux, Maupassant's short stories, Brideshead Revisited by Waugh, LotR by Tolkien, Dr. Zhivago by Pasternak, some stories by Borges, poetry by Yeats and Achterberg, To Kill a Mockingbird by Lee, 1984 by Orwell. And I'm going to add a complete unknown who kicks ass, just so perhaps some day someone will read him and I won't be the only person I know who does: James Elroy Flecker. Love his poems.
Definitely not heard of him, but will check him out. Tolkien is a favorite of mine, as is 1984. To Kill a Mockingbird was good too, but to me was a read once to say you did it kind of book. I've never really wanted to revisit it. Can't argue with the early Greek works either and I loved Paradise Lost.
And as for books too recent to be called classics, but still generally considered to be the future canon: Possession by Byatt, Unbearable Lightness of Being by Kundera, Love in Times of Cholera by Marquez, Pynchon's books even though I've never finished any (this is a bit of a recurring theme here...), and poetry by cummings, 't Hooft (Flemish, that one), and probably others I'm not thinking of now.
Kundera is now on my list as well, with the early string about his work. All that love, it's got to be something special.
Well, I've probably forgotten lots in all time periods, but oh well.
I left this wide open for a reason, I didn't anticipate the breadth of the responses!
Eh, I'll read them eventually, but as for the cause of my views: with the Aeneid I think it's just a little too much "Roman literature is nothing compared to Greek literature, Virgil just ripped off Homer" propaganda in my school days. For Dickens, not sure, I guess I just have a bleak and depressing impression of his works.
I have yet to read the Aeneid entirely, but want to, so I must reserve commentary there. I do enjoy Dickens though I was hesitant at the start. I fell in love with A Christmas Carol as a kid at the local community theater, read a couple in school and picked up the others on my own. I don't have as specific reasoning for it as Camilla likely will.
Yes, this place can be quite sobering that way...
Yes, indeed.
The Classics - general discussion / survey
30/09/2010 03:52:53 PM
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My own answers.
30/09/2010 04:38:33 PM
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Re: My own answers.
30/09/2010 09:02:08 PM
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Powdered Soup!
30/09/2010 09:23:51 PM
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Re: Powdered Soup!
30/09/2010 09:34:06 PM
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Re: Powdered Soup!
30/09/2010 10:07:20 PM
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Well, have you seen any of the Austen TV/movie adaptations, then?
30/09/2010 10:25:58 PM
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Oh yes. I even made the mistake of purchasing the new Pride and Prejudice for her.
01/10/2010 12:10:05 AM
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Cliff's notes
05/10/2010 08:05:56 PM
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Re: Cliff's notes
05/10/2010 09:21:06 PM
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A classic is really any book with enduring value.
30/09/2010 05:33:35 PM
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Re: A classic is really any book with enduring value.
30/09/2010 06:46:02 PM
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Re: A classic is really any book with enduring value.
30/09/2010 10:57:23 PM
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Re: A classic is really any book with enduring value.
30/09/2010 11:39:16 PM
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I really need to read Kundera. I've heard nothing but praise for Unbearable Lightness. *NM*
30/09/2010 08:46:18 PM
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I could post you over a copy to borrow.
30/09/2010 08:58:08 PM
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That is very kind, but I have far too much to do to read non-school books, unfortunately.
30/09/2010 10:53:23 PM
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Haven't read any other Kundera, but yes, that one is very enjoyable. *NM*
30/09/2010 09:50:30 PM
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I found his other books to be pale copies of The Unbearable Lightness of Being. *NM*
30/09/2010 10:51:55 PM
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I study them, apparently.
30/09/2010 08:44:40 PM
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I wish I could do that.
30/09/2010 09:49:57 PM
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Less fun than you'd think.
30/09/2010 10:52:10 PM
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More admiration of your discipline than assuming you were having fun with it.
01/10/2010 12:31:06 AM
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Re: The Classics - general discussion / survey .. edited.
30/09/2010 08:58:14 PM
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I knew you would have a rather lengthy list. I was worried until the edit came through.
01/10/2010 02:26:34 AM
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Good survey.
30/09/2010 10:23:18 PM
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Agreed. edited
30/09/2010 10:37:48 PM
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But but but Milton is beautiful
30/09/2010 10:46:06 PM
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Sometimes.
30/09/2010 10:47:28 PM
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I'm glad you approve on the whole.
30/09/2010 11:12:00 PM
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I generally do.
30/09/2010 11:19:05 PM
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Excellent. Might as well include a Hooft poem anyway, in case anyone's interested...
30/09/2010 11:40:24 PM
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Re: Excellent. Might as well include a Hooft poem anyway, in case anyone's interested...
30/09/2010 11:43:20 PM
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Re: Good survey.
01/10/2010 02:52:27 AM
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Ah Cliff, I bow to thee
30/09/2010 11:30:41 PM
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Re: Ah Cliff, I bow to thee
01/10/2010 03:18:58 AM
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Re: Ah Cliff, I bow to thee
01/10/2010 05:20:10 AM
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Re: Ah Cliff, I bow to thee
01/10/2010 02:05:35 PM
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I will not list 300+ books here, I promise
01/10/2010 12:36:17 AM
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O'Connor is wonderful. But I am not sure many can appreciate her.
01/10/2010 02:50:54 AM
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Criminy, I thought I was done with essay questions years ago.
01/10/2010 01:39:56 AM
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the bf and I are going to do a "Paradise Lost" book club...
02/10/2010 08:29:38 AM
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