Thread: An Observation: The New Breed of Authors Are Using Obscure Words - Page After Page

Here is an incredible FREE Audiobook on Youtube for Hemingway's "A Movable Feast". It is incredibly well narrated. If I could narrate a book like this, I'd do it full time.



I've read "A Moveable Feast" about 20 times in my life. And recently I have listened to this audio book about 10 times while relaxing in bed at night. Frequently drifting off blissfully because of the amazing narration style.

If you have never read Hemingway, or if you have but want an audio book that is spot-on perrfect for narration, this is a good place to start.

I loved A Moveable Feast! The scene where a pissy-drunk, insecure Fitzgerald gets Hemingway to, erm, measure him is classic.

Originally Posted by ScoutHikerDad

Well, since you asked, I start my youngsters on Day 1 in English IV Honors (the feeder/pre-req course to my AP class, so I'm very interested in their progress) with Shelley's poem "Ozymandias" under the Doc Cam after we've listened to it being read aloud by Bryan Cranston in his Walter White persona so that they can hear the importance of "voice":
If you know the poem and/or are a Breaking Bad fan, it makes more sense. From there I send them home with the introduction to Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible to annotate, which for my money is one of the most exquisitely crafted passages in the English language, and is often modeled at seminars, creative writing workshops, etc. I always tell them to look for what I call "flashing lights" like the one at the end of Gatsby: patterns of diction and syntax, figurative language, whatever they notice-it's all fair game. I help by highlighting and drawing lines between elements that seem connected. After that, they engage in both an in-class and an online discussion in which they share what they've noticed and start to formulate arguments about potential developing themes, deeper meanings, etc. For me, class discussion is at the heart of it all, and I can see a correlation between students who are willing to put it all on the line in class, and great essays that do the same. I give out my "Insight of the Day" cards to students who really bring it. Kinda like Wonka's golden ticket, it's a way to encourage discussion-they can cash 'em in for 5 points on a quiz or daily grade.

And since I have at least some of these kids for 2 years, I have to think long-term/big picture. That opening day novel intro. becomes their summer reading (of the whole novel) if they elect to take my AP English course. And even though it's pushing 600 pages, most kids love it, and get a lot out of it that will help them on the exam the following summer.

This is probably more than you want to know. I don't do anything all that radical-it's just basic literary analysis. For the reader at home, it helps to have engrossing material, that includes passages that "vibrate with meaning." For example, read Chapter 1 of Conroy's The Prince of Tides and be just gob-smacked if you've never read it. Conroy is doing so much there with just setting alone that it's hard to know where to start; and his writing hearkens back to the extravagance of Wolfe. You can do the same with a Hamlet soliloquy, the ending scene of A Tale of Two Cities, cutting-edge material like The Handmaid's Tale, or whatever strikes your fancy.

Allow me to recommend a book that is very popular along these lines in case you didn't suffer through enough literary analysis in school. In fact, I have it posted digitally in my online course, and I sometimes assign chapters to students: https://www.amazon.com/How-Read-Lite.../dp/0062301675
Foster delves into the subject with self-effacing humor instead of coming across as some stuffy twit in elbow patches (they exist, sadly!). Here's the free .pdf if you want an entertaining read on the subject: https://mseffie.com/assignments/prof...ssor%201st.pdf

Outside of razors and such, this is my life's work, and I love it and working with young people more than I can probably get across. Thank you for indulging me.

What age do you teach, University?

I have never considered myself thick and i went to an expensive boarding school but it shames me to admit that I didn't understand anything you said!

Originally Posted by STF

What age do you teach, University?

I have never considered myself thick and i went to an expensive boarding school but it shames me to admit that I didn't understand anything you said!

I ain't ashamed. I knew from his first post that I wasn't going to understand anything else he said here. But, Ive been told that since I grew up in Texas that English is a second language to me.

And thanks for clearly up gray and grey for me. I always thought that was just random.

Originally Posted by 32t

And once you can get students (or any reader who is interested) to figure out WHY writers use certain techniques and moves, light switches start to turn on.

I don't know how far I will get but can you point me in this direction?

https://mseffie.com/assignments/prof...ssor%201st.pdf

I have read 34 of156 pages so far and this has not told me much I haven't heard or thought.

There is a code in the literary elite that keeps them above the "lay reader".

At least in their opinion.

If I read a good story it doesn't make it any better or worse if I think it is similar to one that Shakespeare wrote.

Many stories and movies are just rewrites of previous works. When I notice that I wonder where the imagination of the author is???

Maybe even to the extent of plagiarism?

But then again just because Shakespeare wrote a love story does that mean that every love story after him is a copy?

Steve-I teach high school juniors and seniors, though the two AP courses are college-level English courses. Many schools will let students who take them exempt their freshmen level English courses if they score well.

And Tim, the entire point of that book is to break down that widespread (and sometimes accurate) perception of a literary elite and make classic literature more easily accessible to "lay readers." And as for Shakespeare, many of his plays were re-workings of old myths and classical themes. Romeo and Juliet was a reworking of the old Greek myth "Pyramus and Thisbe." All those archetypes keep showing up not only in Shakespeare, but in literature and the movies, and many of them go back to Genesis: the fall from grace, the 1st murder, man trying to be like the gods, etc. And having taught a good number of Shakespeare's plays, he has a template that he writes from that makes many of his plays more alike than they are different. And then of course just about every writer since makes allusions to him in some way. Two of my favorite quotes along those lines: "There is nothing new under the sun," and "All art is either plagiarism or revolution."

All that said, I love a good "beach read" that I don't have to think about too much as much as anybody. My guilty pleasure when I need a break from my work-related "reading list" is anything by James Lee Burke, particularly his Dave Robicheaux detective novels. I just devour them.

Originally Posted by ScoutHikerDad

And Tim, the entire point of that book is to break down that widespread (and sometimes accurate) perception of a literary elite and make classic literature more easily accessible to "lay readers." And as for Shakespeare, many of his plays were re-workings of old myths and classical themes. Romeo and Juliet was a reworking of the old Greek myth "Pyramus and Thisbe." All those archetypes keep showing up not only in Shakespeare, but in literature and the movies, and many of them go back to Genesis: the fall from grace, the 1st murder, man trying to be like the gods, etc. And having taught a good number of Shakespeare's plays, he has a template that he writes from that makes many of his plays more alike than they are different. And then of course just about every writer since makes allusions to him in some way. Two of my favorite [Shakspearean?] quotes along those lines: "There is nothing new under the sun," and "All art is either plagiarism or revolution."

Not exactly.

קהלת א:ט מה שהיה הוא שיהיה ומה שנעשה הוא שיעשה ואין כל חדש תחת השמש

Ecclesiastes 1:9 What was, is what will be; and what has been done, is what will be done; and there is nothing new under the sun.

I made it to page 52 for the day. When I read this poem it was time to stop.

‘Out, Out—’
BY ROBERT FROST

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53087/out-out

Yeah, I knew both of those quotes were not Shakespeare, and that the 1st was from Ecclesiastes. That's why I didn't write the "Shakespearean" that you added in your bold reply. They're just related to the idea under discussion. So, I guess, "not exactly."

And Tim-I concur 100%. I can only take so much of that myself, and I do it for a living.

Originally Posted by ScoutHikerDad

All that said, I love a good "beach read" that I don't have to think about too much as much as anybody. My guilty pleasure when I need a break from my work-related "reading list" is anything by James Lee Burke, particularly his Dave Robicheaux detective novels. I just devour them.

I used to have rather intense discussions with my English teacher regarding fiction novels back in the day.
She would never agree that pulp fiction had any place in the literary world .
My argument was to get someone interested in reading, get them to read something that interests them.
Some would place Earl Thompson in this category, but his writing is raw and honest. Has to be one of the most under rated authors ever.
I would rank 'tattoo' in my top 5 reads.