Possible Project
A few nights ago I was out with friends and I asked them (typical me) what they'd been reading. One of my friends was very excited about a Vonnegut novel she'd just finished. Shamed, I admitted that I'd never read Vonnegut.
The English Honors program of my school had some interesting selections for required reading, which was refreshing, but on the other hand, I missed out on a good lot of the 'canonical' books -- the ones that everyone reads. And by this I mean that in addition to their literary merits, these books form the basis of a kind of cultural literacy. (For instance, most people, at some time or other, were forced to read The Great Gatsby, or 1984, so when someone alludes to either of them, they have at least an idea of what's going on).
So I'm thinking about taking on a personal project -- to read at least some of these books I missed out on, maybe at a pace of one or two a month. I'm trying to make a list of books to read (so I don't go out of my mind), but I can't come up with many. Here's what I have so far:
The English Honors program of my school had some interesting selections for required reading, which was refreshing, but on the other hand, I missed out on a good lot of the 'canonical' books -- the ones that everyone reads. And by this I mean that in addition to their literary merits, these books form the basis of a kind of cultural literacy. (For instance, most people, at some time or other, were forced to read The Great Gatsby, or 1984, so when someone alludes to either of them, they have at least an idea of what's going on).
So I'm thinking about taking on a personal project -- to read at least some of these books I missed out on, maybe at a pace of one or two a month. I'm trying to make a list of books to read (so I don't go out of my mind), but I can't come up with many. Here's what I have so far:
- Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut (I've actually scratched the surface of this one, but it's fallen to the wayside since I started Correction, of which more later)
- The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald (I don't know how I was allowed to graduate without reading this one)
- All Quiet on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque
- The Stranger - Albert Camus
- Notes From the Underground - Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Leaves of Grass - Walt Whitman
- Poetry of Emily Dickinson (I technically did read some of it, but it was for a class that...uh, didn't do her justice. This was the one where we'd analyze and talk about what we thought the poems were about and the teacher would respond, "Yes, but what do you think about the dashes?")
- Bastard Out of Carolina - Dorothy Allison
- At least one Steinbeck, not sure which
- Something by Mark Twain
posted by AC at 8:45 PM
, Maurice Blanchot
7 Comments:
I've been really loving my summer challenge of reading American classics, and I adored The Great Gatsby. I was trying to think of some British lit for you: How about E M Foster's A Room with a View (which is just sheer pleasure) or Graham Greene;s The End of the Affair (sheer heartache)? The Camus is wonderful, but you might also like one of the classic 19th century novels. How about trying a Zola novel like Nana? I'll be interested to see what you go with in the end!
All of those sound really good! I love Graham Greene, so I'll jump at any excuse to read him, and I've been meaning to read Forster one of these days. And I've had my eye on Zola for a while! Is Nana the best place to start? (I also want to find J'Accuse, too)
Some good books on your list! Whitman and Dickinson are personal favorites. Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men made me cry. The Grapes of Wrath is really good too.
Have you read Death of a Salesman? It's a play but a must I think.
I have read Death of a Salesman -- I loved it.
I really like Zola's Nana, because it's not quite as depressing as some of the other great novels (like Germinal). Good plot, too. The other best known novel is L'Assommoir (don't know what that translates as) and it's all about alcoholism and very very gloomy. Oh and the other one I really like is called The Masterpiece, and thats about the lives of artists in Paris. That's really good too.
I never read most of the canon in high school - nor did I read that much more of it in college. Yeah - made it until the fourth year of grad work without reading Moby-Dick or Huck Finn. Oops.
Since you already have Twain on your list, I'd definitely add M-D if you haven't read it already. :)
If you haven't read Robinson Crusoe, I'd add that, too - I only got to that a few years ago...but it was nice to finally "get" the cultural "his man Friday" allusions.
Anon -- Thanks for the suggestions -- I had completely forgotten about Melville! And I am curious about Crusoe, too.
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