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> I'm of the opposite mind, I think forcing kids to struggle through books they don't care for creates generations of adults who think they hate reading. I thi
by hn_throwaway_99 2y ago
> I'm of the opposite mind, I think forcing kids to struggle through books they don't care for creates generations of adults who think they hate reading.
I think it really depends on how it is taught. Also in my 40s, I recently read The Sun Also Rises while on vacation - I just had the feeling I wanted to read a "classic" book, and somehow I didn't have to read that book in high school. I hated the book. I kept waiting for a smidge of effort in wanting to make me care at all about any of the characters, and I just never found it. It was like being forced to go through someone's vacation photos for 10 hours straight, where most of the photos were of alcoholics drinking.
But still, I'm glad I read it. I wanted to understand why Hemingway is considered a literary giant, and his writing style (especially his dialogue) was new and innovative at the time, and influenced lots of other writers. If teachers could help explain books in context (e.g. why is Moby Dick considered a classics novel to begin with) I think a lot of students would better appreciate what they're learning.
- briandear 2y agoHemingway is hard because people demand explicit. The story behind the obvious is what makes The Sun Also Rises so powerful. It defined the lost generation. It was the 1920s version of Clerks. I’m sure people read Hills Like White Elephants expecting to find an elephant in the story. Of course there is — a big one right there in the room.
- hn_throwaway_99 2y ago> It was the 1920s version of Clerks. You should be a teacher :) I love that quote, and it's exactly what I'm talking about. Without the context of what the lost generation is/was, and without understanding how the generational trauma of WWI had such a strong influence on the interwar period, you lose a ton of understanding about how the book was so influential.
- ghaff 2y agoI probably prefer A Farewell to Arms. But Hemingway and Fitzgerald are pretty much textbook examples to me of accessible literary works.