tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post2350745666497760980..comments2024-03-18T19:58:10.212-05:00Comments on Althouse: If your teenaged son had nightmares after reading "Beloved" in Advanced Placement English class...Ann Althousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01630636239933008807noreply@blogger.comBlogger101125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-76171270254439459202013-02-08T22:14:53.146-06:002013-02-08T22:14:53.146-06:00"I had to read Native Son in high school. Now..."I had to read Native Son in high school. Now that book I found disturbing. I still get creeped out by the idea of that girl getting cut up and loaded into a furnace. (or something like that)"<br /><br />Yes, that's the odd part but overall its very good. I think Baldwin is my favorite AA novelist. The problem with Literature is some people don't appreciate style while others obsess about it. You see the same thing in Movies. You have "The mob" - who only appreciate plot and action vs. "the snobs" - who can only appreciate great photography and symbolism.rcoceanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17102201338319611538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-91732363879187718122013-02-08T17:14:56.460-06:002013-02-08T17:14:56.460-06:00It's funny. I used to love the Great Gatsby. I...It's funny. I used to love the Great Gatsby. I was very into the 1920s and I wrote my high school senior paper on FSF's works. Loved Erte, art deco, suffragettes in bobs blah blah blah.<br /><br />Now I CANNOT STAND IT. Not into the 20s style anymore either. No deep comment, just odd. Life changes a person so much.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-4632270215990787452013-02-08T11:50:49.669-06:002013-02-08T11:50:49.669-06:00Why is it, that when it's "literature&quo...Why is it, that when it's "literature" and an English teacher assigns it, that reading really horrific things is good for you, and when it's Grand Theft Auto, it's evil?<br /><br />Certainly when one reads, one enters into events every bit as much as when playing a video game.<br /><br />Synovahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01311191981918160095noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-22813026781005278362013-02-08T11:06:27.058-06:002013-02-08T11:06:27.058-06:00Dust bunny Queen said ...
... the study of Englis...Dust bunny Queen said ...<br /><br /><i>... the study of English: the elements of speech, grammatical rules and <b>the deliberate breaking of the rules, stylistic uses of language</b>, use of imagery, similes, analogies ...</i><br /><br />Oh, you mean like Chief Justice John Glover Roberts!! <br /><br />//ducks-hidesAridoghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18345930150667529742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-82472117887433255752013-02-08T08:33:13.805-06:002013-02-08T08:33:13.805-06:00Ooops - Richard Wright.
I had to read Native Son ...<i>Ooops - Richard Wright.</i><br /><br />I had to read Native Son in high school. Now that book I found disturbing. I still get creeped out by the idea of that girl getting cut up and loaded into a furnace. (or something like that)Shannahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15709594638793030086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-25597121588361281322013-02-08T08:18:27.064-06:002013-02-08T08:18:27.064-06:00That will give them insight into what eighteen-yea... <i>That will give them insight into what eighteen-year-olds have dealt with in the not so distant past.</i><br /><br />I just finished listening to some ‘hardcore history’ podcasts on the Mongols and the Russian front during WWII. Both were very disturbing (but interesting and highly recommended!). Compared to what people have dealt with throughout history, we have it easy.<br /><br /><i>THEN there are those great works of fiction that will kill dead any love of reading that you might have: Great Expectations comes to mind.</i><br /><br />I hate that story too. But so long as English class is giving you a wide range of literature to read, I don’t see the problem. If you read a lot of books, you are going to run across things you like and things you don’t but you can’t know until you actually read them.<br /><br />What I hated was the obsessive level of detail they asked on tests, to try to weed out the people who just read cliffs notes or watched the movies. I don't like to read a story trying to obsessively memorize what was on the table in chapter 3 as I go along. That will kill your love of reading quickly, just as having to memorize a thousand dates and little else can kill your love of history, which is actually fascinating. <br />Shannahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15709594638793030086noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-57034559999188860402013-02-08T07:22:11.893-06:002013-02-08T07:22:11.893-06:00It is child abuse to force a child to read anythin...It is child abuse to force a child to read anything writen by Morrison. Felonious to compel them to witness her speaking about any topic. Michaelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08258681007386089907noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-27683341402348570922013-02-08T07:01:49.418-06:002013-02-08T07:01:49.418-06:00Rusty boy...your answer is...unintelligible...at l...Rusty boy...your answer is...<i>unintelligible</i>...at least to me. But then, I'm just a dim "Stalinist," so it's to be expected I cannot parse your meaning.Robert Cookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06951286299515983901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-54240500100110993742013-02-08T06:49:24.753-06:002013-02-08T06:49:24.753-06:00Robert Cook said...
"Once again, comrade Bob,... Robert Cook said...<br />"Once again, comrade Bob, trying to hijack the narrative by arguing facts not in evidence."<br /><br />And what, dear Rusty, is "the narrative" that you accuse me of trying to hijack?<br /><br />Why. The facts not in evidence ,comrade Bob.<br />How can you suppose what the narrator meant or what they were thinking. Do you deconstruct everything someone says and then infer meaning?Rustyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00938263272237104128noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-44872704685057726002013-02-08T06:32:14.137-06:002013-02-08T06:32:14.137-06:00"Once again, comrade Bob, trying to hijack th...<i>"Once again, comrade Bob, trying to hijack the narrative by arguing facts not in evidence."</i><br /><br />And <i>what</i>, dear Rusty, is "the narrative" that you accuse me of trying to hijack?Robert Cookhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06951286299515983901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-67550233167337017542013-02-08T02:24:39.139-06:002013-02-08T02:24:39.139-06:00I think I opened that at random at my cousins hous...I think I opened that at random at my cousins house and looked in it and it was chokingly scatological and I put it down like a poisoned thing. Or am I thinking of 'their eyes were watching god?'<br /><br />Revenant: would like to know, no sarc, what you would assign as reading list for superior coverage to Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin saga.Nichevohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12591460407621898458noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-13531201434867305632013-02-07T23:00:11.420-06:002013-02-07T23:00:11.420-06:00Thank god, Althouse, you're a law professor an...Thank god, Althouse, you're a law professor and not a lit professor. In fact, novels are something greater than a collection of sentences--or at least they should be. And "Beloved" is about something more profound than the evils of slavery. It's about a whole cohort of a race of Americans who, born into almost unimaginably brutal conditions, have a really tenuous grip on their own humanity. And so all their relationships--mother and child, man and woman--are poisoned by that. I, and many other readers, find that a deeply affecting theme; and I personally think that you're lacking something as a person if you're not also moved by that. It's not ridiculous that it would give a reader nightmares--it's a nightmarish book. And if you think that there's something evil about a work of art that gives you nightmares, mom in Virginia, then I kind of feel sorry for you.<br /><br />I also, by the way, think that "Gatsby" is a great work. But I don't think its greatness can be discovered in randomly selected sentences.Kovacshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01743816608824623848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-75892713190439645392013-02-07T22:46:24.042-06:002013-02-07T22:46:24.042-06:00I had nightmares after reading Myra Breckinridge i...I had nightmares after reading Myra Breckinridge in high school. Sadly, it wasn't assigned in school. I had to keep my nightmares to myself because my mother would have grounded me for life if she'd known about it. Think of the fun I denied her.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12418832032663751497noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-54516516629091407152013-02-07T22:06:00.443-06:002013-02-07T22:06:00.443-06:00I'm even in favor of single gender classrooms....<i> I'm even in favor of single gender classrooms.</i><br /><br />I dunno, I think the only thing that keeps middle schoolers from being forces of pure evil is the need to conceal their malevolence from the opposite sex.Revenanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11374515200055384226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-54484523831613333732013-02-07T21:53:05.672-06:002013-02-07T21:53:05.672-06:00MadisonMan said... AP English is a joke.
My son ...MadisonMan said... AP English is a joke.<br /><br />My son took AP courses. I've known friends whose kids took AP courses. -- I think <b>all</b> AP courses are a joke. Too much work for very little reward even if the kid passes the AP test. Not enough kids pass the tests to justify their continuance. For a lot of kids their hard work earns the 'reward' of a lower GPA.Astrohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03588265716990310130noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-55290301894552257332013-02-07T21:40:57.325-06:002013-02-07T21:40:57.325-06:00It can't be any worse than having to read (or ...It can't be any worse than having to read (or trying to read) the completely unreadable 'Cry, the Beloved Country'.<br /><br />Years later I saw some graffiti sprayed onto a bridge overpass, "Sucks syntax" that described that book perfectly.Astrohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03588265716990310130noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-15753429246296440942013-02-07T21:14:15.409-06:002013-02-07T21:14:15.409-06:00Ooops - Richard Wright. Although I'm sure Bob ...Ooops - Richard Wright. Although I'm sure Bob Wright wishes he were a great black writer. rcoceanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17102201338319611538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-31167669717087148222013-02-07T21:11:20.874-06:002013-02-07T21:11:20.874-06:00Also, Booker T Washington,Ralph Ellison, Robert Wr...Also, Booker T Washington,Ralph Ellison, Robert Wright, Walter Mosley.<br /><br />There are plenty of good Black writers - Toni Morrison isn't one of them. rcoceanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17102201338319611538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-22541628065511780062013-02-07T20:58:39.999-06:002013-02-07T20:58:39.999-06:00The best thing that can be said of Toni Morrison&#...The best thing that can be said of Toni Morrison's writing is that it's not as bad as Maya Angelou's, which is genuinely atrocious. <br /><br />As Althouse suggested, read the 19th Century writings by former slaves. The very best is Fredrick Douglass' autobiography (his first of three) written in 1845. Most of these students, unfortunately, probably have little or no idea of who Frederick Douglas was.<br /><br />Or read James Baldwin or W.E.B. DuBois. They could write.<br /><br />Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17424384180201600935noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-35503561726141725902013-02-07T20:13:24.265-06:002013-02-07T20:13:24.265-06:00Toni Morrison sucks. If you're going to read a...Toni Morrison sucks. If you're going to read a book for English Lit read a piece of great literature - not a quota novel. <br /><br />If you wish to read about Slavery, read "Twelve Years a Slave: A Narrative of Solomon Northup, a citizen of New-York, kidnapped in Washington city in 1841, and rescued in 1853, from a cotton plantation near the Red River in Louisiana"rcoceanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17102201338319611538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-39173904620130286402013-02-07T19:50:58.744-06:002013-02-07T19:50:58.744-06:00There has been only one time in my life that an En...There has been only one time in my life that an English teacher or professor has led me to like a book better, to get more interested in it. There have been many books that I read before getting it assigned in class that the teacher actually ruined for me. They took a book I liked and made a book I didn't like. <br /><br />The only book that a teacher helped me like? Paradise Lost. We were assigned some excerpts to read before class. I barely read any of it. BORING! After the lecture, I bought the whole book and read through the whole thing (and Paradise Regained) in about 5 days over an extended weekend break. <br /><br />Paddy Ohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10442537362540160512noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-89762788607428127772013-02-07T19:39:46.684-06:002013-02-07T19:39:46.684-06:00Actually "The Wall" lyrics are pretty gr...Actually "The Wall" lyrics are pretty grotesque at times.Alexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11205752419540502278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-72652612145786195282013-02-07T19:35:08.018-06:002013-02-07T19:35:08.018-06:00Bloved? Read it. Morrison says every one who is wh...<i>Bloved</i>? Read it. Morrison says every one who is white is evil, yet many people consider it an anti-racist book.<br />It's weird what intellectuals do when they get together and talk among themselves.Lewis Wetzelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01200232293505119133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-81164803718597785962013-02-07T19:27:58.037-06:002013-02-07T19:27:58.037-06:00I read somewhere that in the'30s that the Roos...I read somewhere that in the'30s that the Roosevelt administration, as part of its Writers' Project, sent writers out to record the experiences of elderly blacks who actually lived under slavery. These tapes are somewhere in the Library of Congress. <br /><br />You would think there would have been alot of interest these tapes, but for some reason there hasn't been much attention paid to them. Why? Who knows? mtrobertsattorneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09428761048285792427noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-70418566856709858972013-02-07T19:08:39.948-06:002013-02-07T19:08:39.948-06:00@ buwaya
Ya....but....but....those books have ick...@ buwaya<br /><br />Ya....but....but....those books have icky guns and people shooting them and....and...every THING!!! I mean GUNS!!!<br /><br /><br />OMG. Violence and boys are so mean and icky already....and if they read that stuff, they will go off and start wars and things....oooooh.....<br /><br />/wink.<br /><br />What we need is to have more male teachers and let the boys be boys and the girls be girls. I'm even in favor of single gender classrooms. Except that I wouldn't have been able to take all of those science classes and shop classes...so nevermind :-)Dust Bunny Queenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15115422951538885247noreply@blogger.com