Rereading Literature That You Read in Secondary School or University

[Extollager]

The Literary Fiction forum provides places for the discussion of an increasing list of authors. Two threads at the General Book Discussion Forum invite discussion of books From Way, Way Back in Your Reading Life, and From Way, Way Back in Your Book Backlog. Discussion on this present thread might overlap with discussions that could occur on those other threads, but it seemed to me appropriate to offer this one as well.

Invited are comments on non-sf, non-fantasy literature that was assigned reading for courses you took. It would be all right also to discuss such literature that you chose if the teacher allowed students to do elective reading. I'm not going to define "literary fiction" here, and, in fact, I personally would welcome literary nonfiction, e.g. essays, autobiography, and travel, and, certainly, poetry and drama.

So if you've returned to such reading, how did a given work strike you? Did you like what you'd formerly disliked? Did a novel that bowled you over when you read it as a teenager now fail to please? Do you have recommendations for us?

 

[Ray McCarthy]

I refuse to re-read Cider With Rosie or Tono Bungay. Both books on our O Level course in 1960s.

I was excited that H.G. Wells was on the course. Till I read it. What exactly was the exam board trying to achieve?

Cider With Rosie seemed tedious in a different way. I could barely stay awake reading either. Yet I read Shirer "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" in a week, most of Franz Kafka, LOTR, and very many other books at that time. I can't remember if some books like "Lord of the Flies" were courseware or not, but I read it (and thought it good also understood his point).

I am re-reading Shakespeare (we did maybe four or five plays I think?) and may find a DVD or text of "She Stoops to Conquer", which as well as in class, we went as class trip to see in theatre, my first theatre visit, an enjoyable play.

I read plenty of other stuff not on the course, some unlikely indeed. Perhaps that's a subject for another thread.

 

[Extollager]

Which Shakespeare plays did you read in school? Here in Vanishing Rural America the youngsters often read one, with Romeo and Juliet or Julius Caesar being the most common selection, I believe.

You read Shirer, Tolkien, and Kafka on your own at this time, or as assigned reading?

I haven't read that Wells, but I'd guess the objective was to guide the kids to develop skepticism about commercialism. I've read As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee, but not Cider, not all of it anyway. Is that the one with some episode relating to an elderly lady and a radio -- ??

 

[Randy M.]

Moby Dick by Herman Melville. A chore the first time as reading we ended up not covering in one class; the second time I read it -- as suggested by another professor -- I loved it. There's sweeping adventure behind the digressions, and Melville's enthusiasm for the digressions carried me along.

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner. Didn't get it at first until the professor noted it was meant as comedy and then the tumblers fell in place. I've read it 3 or 4 times since and always with enjoyment.

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. Read once for a college class, a couple of times just for me, and I loved it every time even though it flags when Tom Sawyer reappears. Twain adopting Huck's persona to question the conventions of the time, and specifically racism, is still a wonder and more so when considering the time of first publication.

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. Read in grade school, since reread multiple times, always with a kind of melancholy pleasure. Lenny has a kind of Frankenstein's monster appeal (the Karloff movie monster), too big, and too strong for own good, with a child-like mentality that appealed to me as a young reader also trying to find a place to be comfortable in the world around. George was the good friend I'd aspire to be and it broke my heart when that friendship meant making an awful decision.

The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway. In high school its shortness appealed to me, even as I identified the old man as something like my old man. In later readings away from school ... well, the shortness still appealed to me and the old man still seemed something like my old man, but I think I detected a hint of self-pity in the author that I didn't pick up on before, hiding somewhere behind the implied nobility.

I've also since reread many short stories first read in grade school, notably much Poe, like "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Fall of the House of Usher," and still greatly enjoy them. I'm also occasionally gob-smacked to remember I first read Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game" for an English class in 5th or 6th grade.


Randy M.

 

[kythe]

I tend to re-read works from Jr. High than high school. I connected more with my English teachers then, and I think I was just more open to the books we read at that time.

Throughout my life, I've re-read several books I was introduced to at school, such as A Wrinkle in Time, Julie of the Wolves, Never Cry Wolf, and The White Mountains trilogy. I've also re-read a short story called "The Scarlet Ibis" (from 7th grade) several times - it moves me every time and probably influenced my decision to work with disabled people, even though the story is actually an allegory.

I never did enjoy Shakespeare. It's too archaic and doesn't interest me. I read Moby Dick in high school, but saw it as long and boring. Heart of Darkness was depressing. I did like The Scarlet Letter, but apparantly not enough for a re-read. So the books from school which were most influencial on me were from younger years.

 

[Extollager]

Randy, I'm rereading Moby-Dick now. I get what you say about it!

As I Lay Dying is on my mental TBR list. I got a copy of a Norton Critical Edition of it a few years ago. Love Huckleberry Finn, but somehow have never yet read Of Mice and Men -- I should plan on doing so. I read The Old Man and the Sea at last only a couple or so years ago. What a book! But you may be right about a bit of self-pity in it.

I'm thinking that, in the next few months, I may (re)read a few of the books from an American Novel course I took 40 years ago. They were:

Wieland by Charles Brockden Brown -- never yet reread
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym by Poe -- although I've already reread that one once or twice, so I might not read it again for this "project"
The House of the Seven Gables by Hawthorne -- I reread that one not too many years ago, with enjoyment, but I probably wouldn't reread it for this project
Typee by Melville -- I've reread that one; if I read another Melville soon after finishing Moby-Dick, it might be The Confidence-Man, a TBR veteran
Moby-Dick -- a current read
Uncle Tom's Cabin by Stowe -- I confess that I didn't complete the reading of this one, somehow, when I took the course, so it's one From Way, way Back in Your Booklog!

This class was taught by my favorite prof from undergraduate days, who was very knowledgeable about sf and fantasy -- rather more than I was; I think it's unusual for sf-fantasy fans to have teachers who know the stuff a lot better than we do!

http://fancyclopedia.org/brian-christopher-bond

We read Huckleberry Finn in one of his other classes.

Kythe, the White Mountain trilogy wasn't assigned reading in any of my classes, but my memory is that I discovered them in a school library or maybe a classroom set of paperback racks. Hoo boy, did I take to those!

 

[Randy M.]

Hi, Extollager.

I had the feeling in college that As I Lay Dying was seen as the entry level book for Faulkner. I'm not entirely sure since I was borderline about it on first reading and loved The Sound and the Fury, the book we read immediately after. I should get a copy of that critical edition; I expect there's a lot of references that I'm still not aware of.

I like what I've read by Steinbeck, although there were passages in The Grapes of Wrath that didn't entirely work for me, and of the Steinbeck I like, Of Mice and Men is foremost. A great novella, for me, that I wouldn't be surprised to find others thinking a bit sentimental in a way.

In the course in which I was to first read Moby Dick we first read three novels by Fenimore Cooper and three novels by Charles Brockden Brown, one of which was Wieland. I rather wish we'd only read Wieland, as I was heartily sick of Brown by the end of the third novel (other two: Edgar Huntley and Arthur Mervyn). Ditto Cooper. I was happy we went on to selections of short stories for Poe and Hawthorne. I have been tempted to attempt Wieland again, though, since seeing an excerpt in at least one anthology.

Your mention of an undergraduate professor reminds me of my teacher from freshman year of college. She loaned me a collection of Saki, The Screwtape Letters and Interview with a Vampire. Loved Saki, liked the Rice, learned I wasn't in sync with Lewis and that hasn't changed. I think under her direction I also read a collection of Stephen Vincent Benet's short stories, including "The Devil and Daniel Webster." I should reread the Benet; I recall liking those stories.


Randy M.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

You read Shirer, Tolkien, and Kafka on your own

All on my own, along with very much else. Sometimes two books a night (slept in Latin and on bus instead, bus was 30+ min to over 1 hr and terminus to terminus).
I have no recollection of what is in Cider with Rosie. I do remember many other books from that era.

Shakespeare in School (some we "acted" part or all in class):
Mid Summer night's dream (The only one not based on pre-existing writing?)
Romeo & Juliet (we also covered this somewhat in Music as background to study of West Side Story)
Macbeth
Merchant of Venice
Maybe The Taming of the Shrew
One of the Henry Plays with Falstaff
Perhaps The Tempest. Certainly I knew Forbidden Planet is mostly the Tempest.

I've read other Shakespeare since and some recently. I like Pratchett's version of Macbeth.
I did no English (Literature or Language) at School after O-Level. I decently passed English Language, and bottom fail grade in English Literature, which baffled my Dad, an English Teacher (at a different school )

 

[Extollager]

Hi, Extollager.

I had the feeling in college that As I Lay Dying was seen as the entry level book for Faulkner.

I think you're right, although I haven't read it but have read The Sound and the Fury -- about 30 years ago.

 

[Extollager]

Ray, that was probably Henry IV Part One. In my own Shakespeare course, that's the one I use if I include a history play, and I always choose the others you list too, except for Midsummer Night's Dream and The Taming of the Shrew. My students also read Julius Caesar and Othello, sometimes King Lear. In an "Intro to Literature" course they read Midsummer Night's Dream and Hamlet. Love these plays....Students generally respond well.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I was put off Hardy forever by Jude the Obscure for A level. I cannot understand why on Earth it's considered an entry level Hardy. I did read Tess later and enjoyed it more. Others I was put off include Moby Dick (too much about the darn whale) and Catcher in the Rye (like the start, can't abide the rest).

Books I've revisited - Wuthering Heights, many times, The Great Gatsby, ditto - and still adore the imagery in it -, Lord of the Flies (so sad).

I took more from theatre studies, to be honest, in terms of plays I adore and return to - Synge, The Playboy of the Western World (I could read it from cover to cover anyday of the week), Friel's Translations, Miller, Tennessee Williams, Eugene O'Neill - not as well known here as in America, so a revelation, and, especially Beckett's Waiting for Godot. I read that one for light entertainment. Not sure what that says about me.

As an aside, as a very young child being read to in class I first encountered Gobbolino the Witch's Cat, which I adored, and Charlotte's Web, which I reread about six months ago and still loved.

 

[Randy M.]

Hi, Jo.

Thanks for reminding me: I liked The Catcher in the Rye when I first read it in grade school, and more so when I reread it with some life experience under my belt. I was surprised when my daughter took a liking to it since she's not that much of a reader. Every once in a while she mentions Holden.


Randy M.

 

[Extollager]

I was put off Hardy forever by Jude the Obscure for A level. I cannot understand why on Earth it's considered an entry level Hardy. I did read Tess later and enjoyed it more.

I'd really question the wisdom of any of the Hardy novels I've read as secondary school fare, although maybe I would think differently if I reread Tess or The Return of the Native or Far from the Madding Crowd. I've kind of specialized in Victorian novels and would want to make choices that I'd think have a good chance of appealing to smart kids. Over any of the Hardys I've read I'd recommend Collins's The Woman in White (what do you think of this one as the choice for a young person's first long Victorian novel?), something by Dickens (probably Our Mutual Friend), etc. There are some very good Victorian novellas, e.g. Mrs. Gaskell's Cousin Phillis. But if I were a teacher expected to get the students to read Hardy, I think I'd go for one or more of the short stories, such as "The Withered Arm" or "A Brief Interlude." The former is a weird tale and the latter is kind of a ridiculous exercise in irony -- not what the kids would expect from a "Victorian" author.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

I'd really question the wisdom of any of the Hardy novels I've read as secondary school fare

Probably reading THREE Hardy Boys would be better, and then getting the kids to spot the formula, discuss why they are popular and the idea of a Franchise were the owner generates plots / story outlines and hires writers to implement it.
I tried reading two Hardy books, honestly, when I was "grown up".

Collins's The Woman in White

Yes.
Trollop's The Warden
Hester by Mrs Olliphant
Lady Gregory: Gods and Fighting Men
Somerville and Ross: Some Experiences of an Irish RM
Mrs Gaskell's North and South
There are also MANY less well known today Victorian writers that are better than some modern best sellers by any yardstick. Above well known.

 

[hitmouse]

@Ray McCarthy Re:Cider with Rosie. I urge you to have another go. I too read this at school and was underwhelmed. As a result I dismissed Laurie Lee until a came by chance
upon A Rose In Winter, which I found astonishing. I subsequently read the autobiographical trilogy starting with the book Cider With Rosie. Luminous, ecstatic writing. One of the great reads of my adult life. This would have flown past me as a teenager. Give it another go.

 

[Extollager]

@Ray McCarthy Re:Cider with Rosie. I urge you to have another go. I too read this at school and was underwhelmed. As a result I dismissed Laurie Lee until a came by chance
upon A Rose In Winter, which I found astonishing. I subsequently read the autobiographical trilogy starting with the book Cider With Rosie. Luminous, ecstatic writing. One of the great reads of my adult life. This would have flown past me as a teenager. Give it another go.

Reading Cider now.

 

[Bick]

I don’t know how I managed to miss this thread until now.

At school, for 'O' level English lit, I read the following:

Shakespeare - Twelfth Night
Dickens - Great Expectations
Poetry - Ted Hughes

I enjoyed the Dickens and Hughes, thought it was a shame we did that Shakespeare.

As for Cider with Rosie - I read it a few years ago, and loved it - beautifully written and captivating. Laurie Lee was a great writer.