elegantlion Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Mainly focused on the era from Civil War - present? I know this has been discussed, but I can't find the right threads with this search function. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Here are ones most frequently covered by high schools: 1. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Twain) -- set in 1830s-40s, but written in 1870s 2. To Kill a Mockingbird (Lee) -- set in 1930s, but written in 1960s 3. Farenheit 451 (Bradbury) -- written in 1950; set in future 4. something by Hemingway (Farewell to Arms = set in Europe WW1, written 1920s) (For Whom the Bell Tolls = set Spain 1930s, written 1940) (The Sun Also Rises = written/set in Europe, 1920s) (Old Man and the Sea = novella, Caribbean setting, timeless) 5. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald) -- set 1920s 6. The Red Badge of Courage (Crane) -- set in Civil War, written around 1900 7. Call of the Wild (London) -- set around 1900 8. Moby Dick (Melville) -- or, possibly Billy Budd (novella) -- written in 1850s Then, you get a choice of a wider range of what gets covered in post-1950 American Lit: - Catcher in the Rye (Salinger) - The Chosen (Potok) - Their Eyes Were Watching God (Hurston) - Slaughterhouse Five (Vonnegut) - Catch-22 (Heller) - Invisible Man (Ellison) - something by Faulkner - The Grapes of Wrath (Steinbeck) - something by Toni Morrison - A Confederacy of Dunces (O'Toole) - I Heard the Owl Call My Name (Craven) - something by Ursula LeGuin Don't forget to watch a few plays -- lots to choose from: - Our Town (Wilder) - Raisin in the Sun (Hansberry) - Death of a Salesman (Miller) - The Crucible (Miller) - Ah Wilderness, or other play by O'Neill - something by Tennessee Williams Personally, I'm a big fan of doing a bunch of short stories as part of American Lit -- you can cover a lot of authors and ideas in a shorter period of time, plus you can enjoy doing a study on how short stories work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lori D. Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 ....sssiiiggghhh... double posted... again... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 Thank you, Lori. That gives me a good direction to start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsbeth Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Here was our list: The Scarlet Letter Ethan Frome The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Uncle Tom's Cabin My Antonia Grapes of Wrath To Kill a Mockingbird Great Gatspy Our Town Farenheit 451 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 What we did for American lit: The Scarlet Letter Uncle Tom's Cabin The Red Badge of Courage Pudd'nhead Wilson (he had already read Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn) The Jungle The Great Gatsby The Grapes of Wrath The Old Man and the Sea Fahrenheit 451 (he had already read To Kill a Mockingbird) Our Town The Glass Menagerie The Crucible The Devil and Tom Walker Rip Van Winkle The Minister's Black Veil The Fall of the House of Usher An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County The Story of an Hour A Wagner Matinee Winter Dreams A Rose for Emily The Jilting of Granny Weatherall A Worn Path The Night the Ghost Got In The Life You Save May Be Your Own The First Seven Years A bunch of poetry--Dickenson, Whitman, Eliot, Cummings, Frost, Hughes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candid Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Allow me to say something a bit on the revolutionary side of things: I think you would be wiser to read more variety and shorter works. Many of the folks you will see listed in this thread wrote short stories, by keeping them but reading short works you'll be able to cover more. To cover the time period you list, you must, must, must cover poetry and I don't see anything listed above that does that for you. Ax the novels, read short stories, poems, and plays. Mix in a novella or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 Again thank you, these are helpful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Our American Lit study with the pre-1850 works weeded out for you: Uncle Tom's Cabin Autobiography of Frederick Douglas Short stories by Mark Twain - my husband loves his dry humor so agreed to them over Huck Finn Poems and short stories by Edgar Allen Poe A biography of Jane Adams (founder of Hull House) - I can't remember the title. I'll track it down. It's around here somewhere! Old Man and the Sea The Crucible Selections of poetry from Eliot and Frost Something by Faulkner - yet to be determined Our pre-1860 list was rather long, so this is about all we can get through this semester. Faith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingiguana Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 A biography of Jane Adams (founder of Hull House) - I can't remember the title. I'll track it down. It's around here somewhere! Faith Twenty Years at Hull House ? We just read The Jungle and we're now working on Sister Carrie. They're a similar time and place. The Jungle is maybe of more historical importance in that it caused a lot of changes in law, but I'm finding Sister Carrie to be a better story (not that I'm done with it,mind you. My opinion might change.) The Jungle starts out as a good novel, then kind of morphs into a politcal tract, which is kind of strange. This is not to say there wouldn't be a lot to discuss in The Jungle but it might be more of a political discussion than literary analysis. We've also read Bartleby and Billy Budd this year, and we're working on Moby Dick. Seriously, if you're pressed for time, do Bartleby. Maybe even if you're not. Billy Budd and Moby Dick are a bit, uh, weird. I'm not quite sure what to make of them. I'm still working my way through Moby Dick because I'm curious what the fuss is, but I'm not sure I'd subject someone else to it unless they also wanted to do it. A lot of the sentences don't make a lot of sense, and there's a lot of jarring jumps from one viewpoint to another to the point where I'm finding it difficult to follow. You might also look into the first couple chapters of Up from Slavery as an excerpt. I think a lot of classes do that -- they don't, however, read the whole thing, and after skimming it, I can see why. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amy58103 Posted January 22, 2013 Share Posted January 22, 2013 A quick list of some of my favorites: 1939 - The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinback 1952 - The Invisible Man, Ralph Elison 1967 - The Chosen, Chaim Potak 1987 - Beloved, Toni Morrison 2007 - The Kite Runner, Kahled Hossenini 1982 - Blue Highways, William Least Heat-Moon (non-fiction) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harriet Vane Posted January 23, 2013 Share Posted January 23, 2013 One title I don't see on this thread yet that really, seriously deserved mention is Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston. The title is a bit misleading--it's not a religious book. Rather, it's a story of the African American experience. What I love about it is that it's so positive in its portrayal of various aspects of African-American society. It does not focus, as so many AA books do, on the abuses suffered by African-Americans (although that aspect does crop up here and there). Rather, it focuses on the people and the culture. It's also a truly great story. I loved it when I read it in college, and just taught it to my high school literature class. Without exception, every student in my class loves it too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted January 23, 2013 Author Share Posted January 23, 2013 Thank you, everyone. You have given me much to consider. Thank you, Eliana. These are exactly the threads I remember reading and marking but could not find in my search. Here's a link to a previous discussion re: American lit selections http://forums.welltr...can-literature/ and another: http://forums.welltr...eau#entry193159 My top few are in post #7, cut and paste isn't working for me right now, sorry! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.