New Book for 2010

A new book has been added to the reading list for next year: Lord of the Flies by William Golding.

We'll begin reading this at the end of the first six weeks, so you have some time yet to buy it, but don't procrastinate too long. It should be a fairly regular find at Half Price Books; the link above takes you to Amazon where the book can be had (used) from a reseller for $4, including shipping.

The reading list now looks like this:

• Mythology, Edith Hamilton
  (primarily summer reading, but some new sections will be assigned during the school year)


• How to Read Literature like a Professor, Thomas C. Foster
  (This may be hard to find at Half Price; we'll be referring to it all year, so don't rely on checking it out from the public library)


• Lord of the Flies, by William Golding


• The Pearl, John Steinbeck


• A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens


• Othello, William Shakespeare


• Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare


• Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury

Be Careful: Don't Buy the Wrong Book

Thomas C. Foster has written two books with similar titles: How to Read Literature Like a Professor and How to Read Novels Like a Professor.

The book you need when school begins is the Literature book.

Remember: the first two letters of NOVELS is NO. Do NOT buy the "novels" book. (Alternatively, the first two letters of Literature is Li and Jet Li is an awesome martial arts actor who will go kung-fu on you if you buy the wrong book.)

Consider yourself informed.

Be Careful: What's NOT an Allusion

If a mythological character actually appears in the work of literature you're considering, it's NOT an allusion. For instance, when Poseidon and the other gods and goddesses show up in the Percy Jackson novels (or Clash of the Titans novelization, for that matter), it not an allusion.

An allusion occurs when a character is figuratively compared to a literary or historical figure (in our case, mythological). The literal appearance of such a character automatically makes it not an allusion.

If you have questions about what is/isn't an allusion, write them in the "comments" section of this post.

Free Weekend of Shakespeare

Target is sponsoring a free weekend of Shakespeare Dallas, July 16-18, at the Samuell-Grand Amphitheater east of Downtown. On the 16th either "Comedy of Errors" or "Cymbeline" will be performed. "Cymbeline" will be the play on the 17th and 18th. The plays will begin at 8:15 PM each day.

As suggested by the title, "Comedy of Errors" is a comedy, as opposed to the tragedies we'll be reading in class. If you thought "Romeo and Juliet" was a bummer your freshman year, this should be a more enjoyable experience.

"Cymbeline" is also non-tragic and presents a number of similarities to "Othello," a play we will be reading next school year. Get a jump on it by seeing this play ahead of time.

I plan to be there on the 18th. Hope to see you there.

Done with the Summer Project Already?

Following is a list of short stories that will prepare you for reading the first text of the year, How to Read Literature Like a Professor. We'll be reading many of these during class, but the "Professor" book will make a little more sense if you've read these stories ahead of time. Each of the stories is available online, which means they may disappear without warning, and although there may be typos, you should be able to figure them out. (Post a comment/e-mail me if you discover a story to be missing.)

Enjoy!

Araby - James Joyce

The Arrow of Heaven - G.K. Chesterton

Barn Burning - William Faulkner

The Dead - James Joyce

Cathedral - Raymond Carver

Daisy Miller - Henry James

The Fall of the House of Usher - Edgar Allan Poe

The Gingerbread House - Robert Coover (The story is the 42 numbered sections on the left-hand side of the page; ignore the ads.)

The Metamorphosis - Franz Kafka

The Overcoat - Nikolai Gogol

Rip Van Winkle - Washington Irving

Rocking-Horse Winner - D.H. Lawrence

Sonny's Blues - James Baldwin

A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Why I Live at the P.O. - Eudora Welty

Look for "Look Inside"

"Look Inside" is a feature at Amazon.com that allows you to preview the text of a book. Why should you care? Because your summer assignment requires you to quote and cite the paragraph(s) where the allusions occur, along with an analysis of each allusion.

If a Google search reveals allusions to Hercules in Shakespeare's Hamlet, hop on over to Amazon.com and enter Hamlet into the search field. If one of the William Shakespeare editions comes up with "Look Inside" on the picture of the cover (like the image, above), select it. When you mouse over the cover, a "search inside this book" field will appear. Plug in "Hercules" and see what comes up. (In the case of a play like Hamlet, cite the Act, Scene, and Line number; for a regular fiction or non-fiction book the page number and paragraph will work.)

If the book you're looking for doesn't come up with a "Look Inside" option, head on over to the library or a bookstore (Borders, Barnes & Noble, Half Price Books, Books-a-Million) and gently look through the books.