School Books: Spring 2018 edition: part 1

Not my actual students, but a good approximation of how they look when literature is done!

We're winding down to the end of the semester and all major readings are complete, so I thought this would be a fine time to reflect on the books I assigned this semester!

"A Modest Proposal" by Jonathan Swift

Since it came late in the semester, this didn't cause near the stir it has in the past (I also didn't make gingerbread men for them to eat! ;) ) but I think that the idea of satire was hammered home, and many students wrote about Swift's essay on their final test.

My Shakespeare class is presently finishing up "The Tempest" and they seem to have a solid understanding of the links between Prospero and his creator and the popular colonial and post-colonial readings!

I got to teach this one as part of a Guided Study and I was impressed with the student's ability to pick up on Torvald's language (his use of animal pet names for his "beloved").

I'm watching the version with Patrick Stewart as I type; this one is always a blast to teach. The students gravitate toward the witches! I taught it along with Pratchett's Wyrd Sisters to show them that classic texts are still a source of inspiration.

Shrew is one of my least favorite Shakespeare plays, but I pair it with the film 10 Things I Hate About You, which always sparks interesting discussion about how women are perceived, how society wants women to act, and what parts of the play are no longer acceptable to audiences.

It's been a long time since I taught Everyman. I brought it back this year to acquaint students with another genre (the morality play) and as a link to the Christ lyrics in the text.

This one introduces students to the mock epic - and the way women were regarded in the eighteenth century!

This one received decidedly mixed reviews from the students. Several students liked the gender-bending elements (male actors dressed as women disguised as men), and I thought the (terrible) film version had some interesting things to say about the Rosalind-Celia relationship.

I taught these two pieces together in my Guided Study as a way to discuss the blend of fantasy elements with realism. Students always respond well to "The Overcoat," which seems only fitting, given its vast influence.







I continue to be surprised with just how much my students enjoy Faust. I taught "the original" in the Guided Study course and it remained a semester-long favorite. I taught Marlowe's version in British Literature, where students were to quick to pick up on its themes - including the fact that books lead you straight to hell. That became the standard excuse for why they didn't buy the text...




When I first suggested an online section of Early British Literature, it was long texts like these that gave everyone pause. But Beowulf and Paradise Lost have never failed me. It's true that students sometimes struggle with the language (Dear Milton, please add a verb every seven lines or so) but they enjoy the themes, embrace the epic as a genre, and write surprisingly good heroic boasts of their own!

When it comes to Arthurian legends, Gawain is usually the favorite, but we had a good discussion this year about the way Guinevere tries to shame Lanval by accusing him of being a homosexual. I was so pleased with our discussions that I went on to read The Fall of Arthur - which really is quite good, but which should be advertised as fragments rather than a poem.

This was the play that students were the most eager to read. I paired it with the film Were the World Mine and received some interesting writing about what Shakespeare intends to be literal and seen on the stage and what is meant to be a production of the characters' minds or emotions.

There was a bit of a mix up with this play this semester. I read it, but my Guided Study student read something else, so we didn't quite get to have the discussion about serfdom and aristocracy I had intended. But, on the plus side, she demonstrated a solid understanding of the play I hadn't assigned - so she must have learned something during our time together!