Anthologies like the Norton and resources like Poetry Out Loud are doing a better job of including more contemporary poetry. We can still do more to get students excited about the amazing diversity of poets writing now.
Top Ten Books of Contemporary Poetry
The Badlands of Desire by Beckian Fritz Goldberg
Salt Works by Michael Chitwood
Strike Anywhere by Dean Young
Donkey Gospel by Tony Hoagland
Night Clerk at the Hotel of Both Worlds by Angela Ball
Selected Poems by Charles Simic
Tulip Farms and Leper Colonies by Charles Harper Webb
Flesh and Blood by C.K. Williams
Marriage and Other Science Fiction by Albert Goldbarth
Mystery Train by David Wojahn
Monday, January 2, 2012
Top Ten Books To Teach
Essential Top Ten
I found it daunting to think about essential texts I would teach if I had free reign. Of course I have spent a lot of time thinking about which books are important to me and why, as well as what are the important ideas for students to engage and which texts and authorial styles I most want them to encounter given the preponderance of great books in the world. Nevertheless, I was uncertain about each of the many lists I composed. There are so many factors to consider when assessing the value of a book. What does a text have to offer as 1) a cultural artifact, 2) a historical lens 3) a stylistic model, 4) a moral lesson, 5) a springboard into self-discovery, 6) a vehicle for pleasure?
I am most happy teaching the texts I currently use in my IB HL year one course (three of which are on my “essential” list). I do believe, however, that it is important for teachers to stay challenged and keep things fresh by frequently revamping or at least tweaking the list of core texts we teach.
Finally, here are the works in my most recent list. They are grouped thematically around issues of Identity, especially individuation and socialization. They show various strategies or the lack of any such resources in dealing with alienation and trauma, the anxieties of death, guilt and meaninglessness.
The Stranger- Albert Camus
An excellent example of how syntax, tone and stylistic concerns can develop thematic issues, this novel also allows students to consider the gulf between public and private reality and to ask themselves whether or not habit, mortality and absurdity pose the threats that Camus says they do.
Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut
As rich a text as there is for discussing authorial techniques and textual structure. Helps students understand irony not only as a literary device but consider its value (or lack thereof) as a stance toward life. The book provides many opportunities for talking about war in unconventional ways. It is a treasure trove in terms of teaching satire. It also is one of the most compelling treatments anywhere of time and the problems associated with perception and the psychology of time
No Exit - Jean-Paul Sartre
The diabolical carousel intrigues students and forces them to consider questions about personal relationships and self-awareness? How can we know others? Is understanding someone the same as intimacy? How much and what kind of intimacy is possible or desirable? How much honest is possible or desirable in our conceptualizing of ourselves?
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert Pirsig
This book is sometimes hard for students to get through, but it offers a great way to talk about the novel or ideas and the relationship between story and concepts. It also is as accessible and compelling an introduction as I know to the history of Western Philosophy and the various debates in metaphysics, ethics and aesthetics.
Less Than Zero- Bret Easton Ellis
A nightmare of nihilism, this book considers the emptiness of style, privilege, financial success, freedom, sex and hedonism, things many of our students think of as the good life. It poses many of the questions raised by The Stranger in ways much more culturally familiar to students.
Selected Poems -Charles Simic
I would supplement these main books with articles and poems, but I would like to have two complete poetry books to show the value of the poetry collection as a literary unit. Simic’s poetry has the power to show us the mysterious and the ominous in the everyday. His poems allow us to consider the dreamlike quality of consciousness and the way it transforms and is transformed by physical objects.
What the Living Do - Marie Howe
Howe’s poetry is all about healing, survival the terrible beauty of desire and the struggle to manage or resentment, hope, lust, and autonomy. In other words it is a very lyrical but penetratingly honest and available account of how to live, live well, live better in a world of very sharp edges.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest -Ken Kesey
Students can be cavalier about the question of authority and individual resistance to collectivism. They think of it as old news of a battle already won. This text is so well-written, and so nuanced as to open up readers to fascinating issues about identity, sexuality and the mechanization of humanity. People must wrestle with issues about authority and rebellion, and teenagers are eager to do so.
The Moviegoer- Walker Percy
This text allows a discussion of all the previously stated existential issues at the psychological and sociological levels, while also prompting engagement with the role of movies in world culture. The text is a valuable lens for looking at mid-twentieth-century historical issues in the new south. Percy’s style is somehow both understated and melodramatic.
Consider the Lobster -David Foster Wallace
This text covers a wide range of topics from porn to sports biography in a very self-conscious, witty challenging style. Superficially, this text would be labeled both too sophisticated and too risqué for most high school audiences. The power of Wallace’s perception is undeniable. This collection is a great way to show the possibilities of creative nonfiction and what essay writing can do to heighten our awareness , make us more acute viewers of details and more interesting synthesizers of those details.
I found it daunting to think about essential texts I would teach if I had free reign. Of course I have spent a lot of time thinking about which books are important to me and why, as well as what are the important ideas for students to engage and which texts and authorial styles I most want them to encounter given the preponderance of great books in the world. Nevertheless, I was uncertain about each of the many lists I composed. There are so many factors to consider when assessing the value of a book. What does a text have to offer as 1) a cultural artifact, 2) a historical lens 3) a stylistic model, 4) a moral lesson, 5) a springboard into self-discovery, 6) a vehicle for pleasure?
I am most happy teaching the texts I currently use in my IB HL year one course (three of which are on my “essential” list). I do believe, however, that it is important for teachers to stay challenged and keep things fresh by frequently revamping or at least tweaking the list of core texts we teach.
Finally, here are the works in my most recent list. They are grouped thematically around issues of Identity, especially individuation and socialization. They show various strategies or the lack of any such resources in dealing with alienation and trauma, the anxieties of death, guilt and meaninglessness.
The Stranger- Albert Camus
An excellent example of how syntax, tone and stylistic concerns can develop thematic issues, this novel also allows students to consider the gulf between public and private reality and to ask themselves whether or not habit, mortality and absurdity pose the threats that Camus says they do.
Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut
As rich a text as there is for discussing authorial techniques and textual structure. Helps students understand irony not only as a literary device but consider its value (or lack thereof) as a stance toward life. The book provides many opportunities for talking about war in unconventional ways. It is a treasure trove in terms of teaching satire. It also is one of the most compelling treatments anywhere of time and the problems associated with perception and the psychology of time
No Exit - Jean-Paul Sartre
The diabolical carousel intrigues students and forces them to consider questions about personal relationships and self-awareness? How can we know others? Is understanding someone the same as intimacy? How much and what kind of intimacy is possible or desirable? How much honest is possible or desirable in our conceptualizing of ourselves?
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert Pirsig
This book is sometimes hard for students to get through, but it offers a great way to talk about the novel or ideas and the relationship between story and concepts. It also is as accessible and compelling an introduction as I know to the history of Western Philosophy and the various debates in metaphysics, ethics and aesthetics.
Less Than Zero- Bret Easton Ellis
A nightmare of nihilism, this book considers the emptiness of style, privilege, financial success, freedom, sex and hedonism, things many of our students think of as the good life. It poses many of the questions raised by The Stranger in ways much more culturally familiar to students.
Selected Poems -Charles Simic
I would supplement these main books with articles and poems, but I would like to have two complete poetry books to show the value of the poetry collection as a literary unit. Simic’s poetry has the power to show us the mysterious and the ominous in the everyday. His poems allow us to consider the dreamlike quality of consciousness and the way it transforms and is transformed by physical objects.
What the Living Do - Marie Howe
Howe’s poetry is all about healing, survival the terrible beauty of desire and the struggle to manage or resentment, hope, lust, and autonomy. In other words it is a very lyrical but penetratingly honest and available account of how to live, live well, live better in a world of very sharp edges.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest -Ken Kesey
Students can be cavalier about the question of authority and individual resistance to collectivism. They think of it as old news of a battle already won. This text is so well-written, and so nuanced as to open up readers to fascinating issues about identity, sexuality and the mechanization of humanity. People must wrestle with issues about authority and rebellion, and teenagers are eager to do so.
The Moviegoer- Walker Percy
This text allows a discussion of all the previously stated existential issues at the psychological and sociological levels, while also prompting engagement with the role of movies in world culture. The text is a valuable lens for looking at mid-twentieth-century historical issues in the new south. Percy’s style is somehow both understated and melodramatic.
Consider the Lobster -David Foster Wallace
This text covers a wide range of topics from porn to sports biography in a very self-conscious, witty challenging style. Superficially, this text would be labeled both too sophisticated and too risqué for most high school audiences. The power of Wallace’s perception is undeniable. This collection is a great way to show the possibilities of creative nonfiction and what essay writing can do to heighten our awareness , make us more acute viewers of details and more interesting synthesizers of those details.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Top Ten to Teach: Middle School Edition
Here is the list for my ideal two year course (7th-8th grade). You will see I start 7th grade with novels that are fairly easy in terms of reading (Freak the Mighty et al.) but contain powerful messages. By the time they are finishing up 8th grade they are tackling Bastard Out of Carolina (read it if you haven’t; it is not “Young Adult” but just great literature with a young protagonist). In between are great works of speculative fiction from the classic The Princess Bride to the outstanding Un Lun Dun, Summerland, and the dystopian Uglies. Of course there will be lots of important poetry, short stories, and essays to support the texts. The texts are interrelated by such themes as friendship, the hero’s quest, peer and social pressure, being the outsider, and being yourself. For space concerns, I won’t write descriptions for each.
Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick
The Schwǝ was Here by Neal Shusterman
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
Summer Reading and the start of 8th: The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Un Lun Dun by China Mieville
Uglies by Scott Westerfield
Summerland by Michael Chabon
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison
Comments?
Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick
The Schwǝ was Here by Neal Shusterman
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
Summer Reading and the start of 8th: The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Un Lun Dun by China Mieville
Uglies by Scott Westerfield
Summerland by Michael Chabon
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison
Comments?
Holiday Break Reading
What do you plan to read over the holiday break? I always pick a few books that I haven't been able to get around to during the school year. My picks for this winter: Matched and Speak, both of which I picked up at the Book Fair.
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
An Essential Top Ten
Okay fellow teachers, here is a great one, but it requires some time on your part.
List the Top Ten texts you would teach if you had "free reign" and why.
An essential part of this list is the Why. Explain/defend your choice. What is so important about the work that it makes the top ten of all time? Why is it so important for the students that you teach? Here we go:
My course revolves around Twentieth Century America from post WWI to post Vietnam—the heart of the American Century, if you will (and you will). There are lots of journeys here and lots dealing with the natural world in one way of another. Keep in mind that I will augment this with all sorts of cool, individual poems (Ginsberg’s “Howl” and Mary Oliver’s collection American Primitive for example), lyrics, essays, and films. Not all of my choices are novels. Most of these I don’t need “free reign” because they are accepted and taught in many curriculums.
The Nick Adams short stories by Ernest Hemingway. Important for many reasons: they show Hemingway at the peak of his writing prowess (the short story is his best medium), they reflect post-WWI realities, and they contain a very American protagonist and voice.
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard. The modern day Thoreau. As good as any literary fiction to teach literary features and techniques. A vital viewpoint for understanding one intersection of religion and environmentalism.
Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey. A great counterpoint to Dillard, as Abbey is the libertarian, grouchy conservationist of the West who stridently argues for space, peace, and everyone leaving everything damn well alone!
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. One of the greatest, interwoven collection of short stories ever written. Kids love it. And for writers, they can really learn how to structure a short story.
One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey or On the Road by Jack Kerouac (I’ll decide when my imaginary class walks in the door). Cuckoo’s nest is the better literary work and encompasses more than the other, but boy does On the Road fit and it is so primal.
The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy. Really I’d like to try for Blood Meridian but it’s too long and too bloody for most. The Crossing evokes the American Southwest so well and is a great quest novel. Beautifully written.
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. The woman can flat out write. Another quest novel but done at the Morrison level. Issues of race and identity, magical realism, outrageous characters and events, it’s all there.
The Almanac of the Dead by Leslie Marmon Silko. Crazzzzyyyyy. Apocalyptic and underground. Drives people to think there are entire worlds out there we just aren’t part of.
The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub. Honestly I could do a whole year on the various genres of “Speculative” fiction but I’ll stick with one. A horror-contemporary fantasy quest across parallel Americas, students will devour this one.
Rule of the Bone by Russell Banks. In some ways the Bone is a modern Huck Finn. This hooks teenagers immediately whether they like him or not, and the adventures through the underbelly of America (and Jamaica) provide for ample discussion.
List the Top Ten texts you would teach if you had "free reign" and why.
An essential part of this list is the Why. Explain/defend your choice. What is so important about the work that it makes the top ten of all time? Why is it so important for the students that you teach? Here we go:
My course revolves around Twentieth Century America from post WWI to post Vietnam—the heart of the American Century, if you will (and you will). There are lots of journeys here and lots dealing with the natural world in one way of another. Keep in mind that I will augment this with all sorts of cool, individual poems (Ginsberg’s “Howl” and Mary Oliver’s collection American Primitive for example), lyrics, essays, and films. Not all of my choices are novels. Most of these I don’t need “free reign” because they are accepted and taught in many curriculums.
The Nick Adams short stories by Ernest Hemingway. Important for many reasons: they show Hemingway at the peak of his writing prowess (the short story is his best medium), they reflect post-WWI realities, and they contain a very American protagonist and voice.
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard. The modern day Thoreau. As good as any literary fiction to teach literary features and techniques. A vital viewpoint for understanding one intersection of religion and environmentalism.
Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey. A great counterpoint to Dillard, as Abbey is the libertarian, grouchy conservationist of the West who stridently argues for space, peace, and everyone leaving everything damn well alone!
The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. One of the greatest, interwoven collection of short stories ever written. Kids love it. And for writers, they can really learn how to structure a short story.
One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey or On the Road by Jack Kerouac (I’ll decide when my imaginary class walks in the door). Cuckoo’s nest is the better literary work and encompasses more than the other, but boy does On the Road fit and it is so primal.
The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy. Really I’d like to try for Blood Meridian but it’s too long and too bloody for most. The Crossing evokes the American Southwest so well and is a great quest novel. Beautifully written.
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. The woman can flat out write. Another quest novel but done at the Morrison level. Issues of race and identity, magical realism, outrageous characters and events, it’s all there.
The Almanac of the Dead by Leslie Marmon Silko. Crazzzzyyyyy. Apocalyptic and underground. Drives people to think there are entire worlds out there we just aren’t part of.
The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub. Honestly I could do a whole year on the various genres of “Speculative” fiction but I’ll stick with one. A horror-contemporary fantasy quest across parallel Americas, students will devour this one.
Rule of the Bone by Russell Banks. In some ways the Bone is a modern Huck Finn. This hooks teenagers immediately whether they like him or not, and the adventures through the underbelly of America (and Jamaica) provide for ample discussion.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Top Ten Movie Adaptations of Literature
Here we go again. While we will get to more "serious" topics like school stuff, let's roll with another fun top ten (or top three or five or whatever). Here is my list of great movie adaptations of written works. I was inspired by seeing a trailer for The Hunger Games, which I can't wait for. Yeah I guess that reveals that I love YA stuff and, once again, any novel with a cool woman running around kicking butt is good with me. So my list:
Kubrick's The Shining (King). Never let King have a hand in adapting his own works. when great directors grab hold of his stuff it works.
Brannagh's Othello. I'm cheating here because this is already drama, and so "easier" to adapt than prose.
Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (Dick's Do Android's Dream of Electric Sheep)
Saul Van Zantz's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Kesey). While the novel may be better it's hard to argue with how great this movie is.
Peter Jackson's LOTR trilogy (Tolkien). It makes me cry and roar at the same time.
The original Charlie & the Chocolate Factory (Dahl)
Darabont's The Shawshank Redemption (from King's Different Seasons)
Deliverance (Dickey). Captures the book pretty well.
For Whom the Bell Tolls (Hemingway). Really this is all about Ingrid Bergman. I mean who wouldn't fight the fascists for "the Maria"?
The Wizard of Oz. (Baum) So much better than the book.
That's that!
Kubrick's The Shining (King). Never let King have a hand in adapting his own works. when great directors grab hold of his stuff it works.
Brannagh's Othello. I'm cheating here because this is already drama, and so "easier" to adapt than prose.
Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (Dick's Do Android's Dream of Electric Sheep)
Saul Van Zantz's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Kesey). While the novel may be better it's hard to argue with how great this movie is.
Peter Jackson's LOTR trilogy (Tolkien). It makes me cry and roar at the same time.
The original Charlie & the Chocolate Factory (Dahl)
Darabont's The Shawshank Redemption (from King's Different Seasons)
Deliverance (Dickey). Captures the book pretty well.
For Whom the Bell Tolls (Hemingway). Really this is all about Ingrid Bergman. I mean who wouldn't fight the fascists for "the Maria"?
The Wizard of Oz. (Baum) So much better than the book.
That's that!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
The First Top Ten: Speculative Fiction
Top Ten Speculative Fiction Novels of All Time! (Speculative includes SF, Fantasy and its many subgenres, Magical Realism, Steam and Cyber Punk, Horror and, well everything that crosses boundaries and gives literary snobs fits). Remember you don't need to make it to ten, just share what you want, and explain, concisely, your choices.
Here are mine (no ranking, just ten):
Neuromancer by William Gibson: Essential reading for our digital age. Waaay ahead of its time.
American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Great use of mythic figures in a contemporary setting. Riordan wishes he could do this.
The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien. Lives up to the hype. Either you get it or you don't.
Perdido Street Station by China Mieville. Freaky weird stuff, crosses too many genres to keep track of.
Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin. Perhaps the most literary of this bunch, a fantastical urban tale set in NYC. Wonderful.
The Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula K. LeGuin. Blew mymind when I was twelve and I've reread it many times. The first one involves a dark, dark quest.
Mythago Wood by Richard Holdstock. Heady, myth-heavy and influential in shaping "urban" fantasy/folklore based new fiction.
The Stand by Stephen King. Horror, western, fantasy, SF all thrown together. Dis King all you want, he will stand the test of time.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Phillip k. Dick. Existentialist, dystopian crime fiction at its best.
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. All right its trashy but beautiful, powerful women doing magic is a good thing in my book.
Here are mine (no ranking, just ten):
Neuromancer by William Gibson: Essential reading for our digital age. Waaay ahead of its time.
American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Great use of mythic figures in a contemporary setting. Riordan wishes he could do this.
The Lord of the Rings by Tolkien. Lives up to the hype. Either you get it or you don't.
Perdido Street Station by China Mieville. Freaky weird stuff, crosses too many genres to keep track of.
Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin. Perhaps the most literary of this bunch, a fantastical urban tale set in NYC. Wonderful.
The Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula K. LeGuin. Blew mymind when I was twelve and I've reread it many times. The first one involves a dark, dark quest.
Mythago Wood by Richard Holdstock. Heady, myth-heavy and influential in shaping "urban" fantasy/folklore based new fiction.
The Stand by Stephen King. Horror, western, fantasy, SF all thrown together. Dis King all you want, he will stand the test of time.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Phillip k. Dick. Existentialist, dystopian crime fiction at its best.
The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. All right its trashy but beautiful, powerful women doing magic is a good thing in my book.
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