<p>Some modern international authors, Salman Rushdie (Iran - Midnight’s Children fits the post-colonial theme), Hosseini (Afghanistan - The Kite Runner), Edwidge Danticat (Haitian - several possibilities), Chinua Achebe (Nigerian - Things Fall Apart).</p>
<p>Another potential theme: exploring insanity as a literary theme</p>
<p>Sylvia Plath: The Bell Jar
R. S. Jones: Force of Gravity (no one’s heard of this one, but the author won the Whiting Writer’s Award. The book would be a good compare/contrast with The Bell Jar.)
Steven King: The Shining (no one says they all have to be staid, dusty stuff!)
Ken Kesey: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest</p>
<p>Wow, I want to take some of these courses! </p>
<p>In the war in literature in the 20th century course, add All Quiet on the Western Front by Remarque.</p>
<p>Not to hijack the thread, but if you were going to put together a class in War in the 20th Century, wouldn’t you want to include a couple of movies and/or documentaries? My h and I just finished watching the TV miniseries Band of Brothers, and it really helped me understand WWII from a much more visceral standpoint. Now I understand why the Allies fire-bombed Dresden. What else would make sense to watch?</p>
<p>If you ask about other big literary traditions consider adding somthing by the Latin Americans, those “magical realizes”. Short stories by Borges (Ficciones) novels by Garcia Marquez like Hundred Years of Solitude or Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands by Jorge Amado</p>
<p>Add more outstanding Dostoevsky
The Gambler
Brothers K</p>
<p>Add Oscar Wilde
The Picture of Dorian Gray</p>
<p>retain
Uncle Tom’s Cabin</p>
<p>
You’re right, some context is in order there. Certainly Saving Private Ryan. Some of the vietnam movies – Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter, Platoon. Not sure what’s available on WWI.</p>
<p>Band of Brothers before Slaughterhouse Five, since they roll through
Dresden. For all that, John Hersey’s Hiroshima isn’t fiction (unfortunately) but is a very powerful example of the power of writing. Short enough for a weekend.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Combat Lit: Of course, there’s The Red Badge of Courage, a really important (short) novel about the Civil War, and one of the first books since the Iliad to describe combat realistically. And, for WWI, the German novel from the 20s All Quiet On The Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque, and Pat Barker’s magnificent trilogy Regeneration, The Eye In The Door, and The Ghost Road. I would also recommend Michael Herr’s Dispatches, a collection of magazine articles about the lives of soldiers in Vietnam, which was as much the source for Apocalypse Now as anything Conrad wrote, and some of the most electric writing ever. None of the foregoing books is long (of the Barker, you would just read Regeneration, which is the best one anyway).</p></li>
<li><p>Short, great lit. Not all great literature has to weigh in at page numbers with commas. Two of my absolute favorites – which were published the same month: that was some month! – are short enough to read in one sitting, but rich enough to think about for years:</p></li>
</ol>
<p>William Maxwell, So Long See You Tomorrow. Maxwell was the New Yorker’s fiction editor for 40-some years, which means that he may have had more influence on contemporary American literature than any other single person. He was a sensational practitioner of the style he favored – autobiographical, closely observed, clean, dry prose. This book, which he wrote in his mid-70s, involves an old man with a background much like Maxwell’s trying to expiate the guilt he feels for an act of teenage cruelty by researching and re-imagining the lives of some children and adults he only knew peripherally during his deeply unhappy childhood in rural Illinois. It is intensely beautiful and moving.</p>
<p>Philip Roth, The Ghost Writer. Along with The Human Stain, my favorite out of Roth’s vast oeuvre, and one of his, too, because he has stuck with the character first created in this novel for over 30 years. A young writer (with a background much like Roth’s) struggles with the conflicting demands of his writing and his parents, and tries to imagine himself into the life of a Salinger-like reclusive older writer with a charming, mysterious assistant. It has some of Roth’s funniest scenes, and not so much of his occasional whininess.</p>
<p>For World War 1 movies the movie of All Quiet on the Western Front is very good. I also really like Das Boot. Which pretty much captures the pointlessness of it all. </p>
<p>If you were doing a war unit, you should throw in some war poetry too. In particular Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen ( [WILFRED</a> OWEN - DULCE ET DECORUM EST, Text of poem and notes](<a href=“http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/owen1.html]WILFRED”>Dulce et Decorum Est with notes - Wilfred Owen) ), Peter Viereck’s Vale from Carthage ([Vale</a> from Carthage](<a href=“http://www.angelfire.com/blues/buffettfanjosh/poems/valefromcarthage.html]Vale”>Vale from Carthage) ). And for a less cynical view of War there’s always Rupert Brooke. ( [PEACE</a> BY RUPERT BROOKE - WITH NOTES](<a href=“http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/brooke3.html]PEACE”>http://www.warpoetry.co.uk/brooke3.html) ) </p>
<p>I’d also read Vera Brittain’s *Testament of Youth *for a female perspective on World War 2, she was a nurse. It’s not fiction, but is worth reading. Heartbreaking book though.</p>
<p>I agree with JHS about The Red Badge of Courage (sophomore year English class in high school while we were doing the Civil War in US history!). Another book that captures the confusion of battle is the war parts of *War and Peace. *</p>
<p>I do like the idea of a theme for each quarter.</p>
<p>Good idea, mathmom. Lit classes usually include poetry, maybe a drama somewhere as well.</p>
<p>S read the Owen poem in one of his HS classes (shudder).</p>
<p>You might consider having one of your quarters focus on short stories (perhaps American short stories), which would allow you to read a broader range of stuff without getting bogged down in giant novels.</p>
<p><<mathmom: i’d=“” also=“” read=“” vera=“” brittain’s=“” testament=“” of=“” youth=“” for=“” a=“” female=“” perspective=“” on=“” world=“” war=“” 2,=“” she=“” was=“” nurse.=“” it’s=“” not=“” fiction,=“” but=“” is=“” worth=“” reading.=“” heartbreaking=“” book=“” though.=“”>></mathmom:></p>
<p>Thank you for mentioning this book. I’ve never heard of it before but want to read it–just put it on hold at my public library. I also reserved Chronicle of Youth. Apparently she even wrote a third one and had plans for 2 more that she died before writing.</p>
<p>I spent a few days contemplating and poring over information on the books and came up with a list. I think I still is fairly ambitious, but less so than the original. It was hard for me to omit books because they all seem so interesting. If there are any books on here you think I should omit, let me know. Also, if you have any ideas for projects, I’m all ears.</p>
<p>I split the books into 5 themes. First semester, I will cover three themes, with each theme taking six weeks. I will complete a project for each of these themes, so there will be 3 total projects first semester. Second semester, I will cover two themes, with each theme taking nine weeks. I will complete a project for both of those themes.</p>
<p>SEMESTER ONE</p>
<p>Theme 1: Post-Colonial/Literature (4 books in 6 weeks)</p>
<p>The Stranger- Albert Camus (one week)
The Satanic Verses- Salman Rushdie (two weeks)
The Farming of Bones (one week)
The Poisonwood Bible (two weeks)</p>
<p>Theme 2: War in Literature (5 books in 6 weeks)</p>
<p>All Quiet on the Western Front- Erich Maria Remarque (one week)
A Farewell to Arms- Ernest Hemingway (one week)
Catch 22- Joseph Heller (two weeks)
Slaughterhouse Five- Kurt Vonnegut (one week)
The Things they Carried- Tim O’Brien (one week)</p>
<p>Theme 3: Short Stories (5 books in 6 weeks)</p>
<p>A Streetcar Named Desire- Tennessee Williams (one week)
The Ghost Writer- Philip Roth (one week)
A Christmas Carol and Other Christmas Stories (two weeks)
So Long, See You Tomorrow (one week)
Selections from The Best American Short Stories (one week)</p>
<p>SEMESTER TWO</p>
<p>Theme 4: African-American Literature (6 books in 9 weeks)</p>
<p>Uncle Tom’s Cabin- Harriet Beecher Stowe (two weeks)
To Kill a Mockingbird- Harper Lee (one week)
Native Son- Richard Wright (two weeks)
Go Tell it on the Mountain- James Baldwin (one week)
Invisible Man- Ralph Ellison (two weeks)
Song of Solomon- Toni Morrison (one week)</p>
<p>Theme 5: 20th Century American and British Literature (8 books in 9 weeks)</p>
<p>All the King’s Men- Robert Penn Warren (one week)
East of Eden- John Steinbeck (two weeks)
The Great Gatsby- F. Scott Fitzgerald (one week)
The Catcher in the Rye- J.D. Salinger (one week)
On the Road- Jack Kerouac (one week)
A Clockwork Orange- Anthony Burgess (one week)
Blood Meridian- Cormac McCarthy (one week)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (one week)</p>
<p>Thoughts? Thanks for the great recommendations so far!</p>
<p>Much better list bbarty! I would recommend paring the list down a bit to give yourself more time to critique and analyze each book read as well as comparing/contrasting books w/i each unit.</p>
<p>I would eliminate the Ellison. Some people find it rather intractable. I might also suggest moving the war unit to Theme 4 and the pared down African-American perspectives to Theme 2. Give the war books 9 weeks.</p>
<p>For the unit on short stories, I’d drop Streetcar (it’s a play), and probably the Dickens. I’d add a collection of Hemingway stories instead.</p>
<p>I’d replace Uncle Tom’s Cabin with Huckleberry Finn.</p>
<p>I think I’d drop All the King’s Men. I read it recently, and found it awfully dated.</p>
<p>Absolutely do not eliminate the Ellison. It is difficult, but hardly intractable, and it is essential. You might consider dropping Native Son. A couple of generations ago, Native Son and Invisible Man essentially WERE African-American literature, and the centerpieces of any Af-Am Lit course. Wright was the politically correct mainstream while Ellison was the gifted outsider, and they somewhat replicated the W.E.B. DuBois / Booker T. Washington debate. You don’t hear so much about Wright anymore, since many more gifted authors (including Morrison) can hold up his end of the conversation much more fluently. (No one has replaced Ellison, although the nonfiction writings of Stanley Crouch echo many of his themes.)</p>
<p>You should not, however, include Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Huckleberry Finn, or To Kill A Mockingbird in an African-American Literature segment. None qualifies; in fact they are the reverse. Which is not to say Huck Finn and TKAM aren’t worth reading. Huck Finn is probably the Great American Novel, and TKAM is worth reading alongside Faulkner, O’Connor, Styron, Warren, Hannah and others as the literature of Southern whites. As others have indicated, too, I’m far from certain Uncle Tom’s Cabin is worth reading as literature, although it is certainly an important document of Northern abolitionist attitudes. If you want to read something about the 19th Century, I would choose Elizabeth Genovese’s history book (recommended by someone else above), Within The Plantation Household, or one of the anthologies of slave narratives that are out there.</p>
<p>If you are interested in substitutions for these, think about:</p>
<p>Lorraine Hansberry, A Raisin In The Sun (a play from the 50s, both popular and politically important in its time)
Any of August Wilson’s plays (he was the next-generation Lorraine Hansberry, more nuanced and with a much longer career)
Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God (now considered an essential part of the American canon, and, yes, Black people were capable of writing before the middle of the 20th Century)
David Bradley, The Chaneysville Incident (remarkable, sophisticated historical novel about life on the Mason-Dixon line in the early 20th Century)
Sapphire, Push (nice to read something by someone who isn’t dead yet)</p>
<p>Your post-colonial lit segment has some of the same issues. Camus isn’t post-colonial (and The Stranger, while a great book to read, pretty much lacks any connection to place or time, which is not exactly in tune with post-colonialism). Someone mentioned Kingsolver above in connection with post-colonialism, but that’s really not accurate at all. The Poisonwood Bible is no more post-colonial literature than To Kill A Mockingbird is African-American literature.</p>
<p>If you want a post-colonial classic like your choices in other fields, it’s probably Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart. Also, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years Of Solitude, although from the standpoint of getting his perspective into a post-colonialism segment you could substitute some of his shorter, earlier work like No One Writes To The Colonel.</p>
<p>Other possibilities – These are all more or less post-colonialism classics:</p>
<p>Patrick Chamoiseau, Texaco
Ben Okri, The Famished Road
Zadie Smith, White Teeth
Roberto Bolano, The Savage Detectives
Hanif Kureishi, The Buddha Of Suburbia
Faiza Guene, Kiffe Kiffe Tomorrow
Arundhati Roy, The God Of Small Things</p>
<p>JHS is right, of course, that Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Huckleberry Finn, and To Kill a Mockingbird aren’t African-American literature. But you could keep one or more of them by changing the name of the unit to something like “Reflections of African-Americans in American Literature.” Again, I would drop Uncle Tom’s Cabin–I think you can learn what you need to know by reading about it, without having to struggle through actually reading it.</p>
<p>Yes, do not under any circumstances cut the Ellison! Do however give it at least two weeks, it’s not an easy book to read by any means and you have to really work at it. I also agree with dropping Uncle Tom’s Cabin, and with Hunt’s comments that you have several choices that are more: “reflections of African Americans in literature by white Americans” . To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my favorite books, but I don’t think that it really belongs in the section you’re trying to design. Plus, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, while very stirring for a particular audience in its particular time, the florid writing and highly religious themes make it a major slog for modern readers. You’ll get a lot more out of a lot of other books. </p>
<p>I strongly second the recommendation that you read Their Eyes Were Watching God, which is not only manageable in one week, but also a beautiful book. The Souls of Black Folks and Raisin in the Sun are both good ideas. </p>
<p>To replace the Uncle Tom’s Cabin, I would suggest Autobiography of a Slave by Frederick Douglas, which will give you a much more accurate understanding of the black experience in America in the mid-19th century. Also, consider reading the poems of Phillis Wheatley, the first published African American female writer and the earliest known African American poet. She was a slave who later became a well known poet in the late 1700s. </p>
<p>Another option to improve your African American literature portion, and I only think of this because the MLK memorial is opening in DC this week: You could do a week-long unit on MLK speeches. Not exactly literature, but I think a strong case could be made for considering each of his speeches an essay in and of itself, and each speech draws on literary references that make for rich reading. “I have a Dream” is of course famous, but equally worth study is “Beyond Vietnam”. Also, if you’re going to incorporate autobiography, the Autobiography of Malcolm X might be something to consider.</p>
<p>If you are doing a few speeches add Sojourner Truth’s “Ain’t I a Woman”. I agree that Raisin in the Sun and August Wilson and Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes were watching God should be in there. Read some poetry by Langston Hughes and by Gwendolyn Brooks too. I don’t mind including *Huckleberry Finn *for a white perspective.</p>
<p>In the same way I think you could do an interesting “Literature of India” comparing British writers like Rudyard Kipling (Kim for example) or Forester’s *Passage to India *with novels written by Indians.</p>