"Living" author background resources to recommend?

[Joan in GE]

I know everyone has so much on their plate that I thought maybe those who do the author background as part of context in Literature study and have found books, links or other resources that made it easier for your student(s) to comprehend the author's history, would be willing to share them.

 

I know that Omnibus has lots of background information about certain books and documents. But when you want to study literature not in those volumes, then it can be hard to find really interesting information...

 

I ask because for Eng lit we are studying John Donne. We've dipped into a bunch of books including Invitation to the Classics (interesting but as background goes impersonal, the preface in his Major Works book, wikipedia, and various others but none were that personal. Anyone have a good source?

 

As a contrast, we're studying Descartes for French lit and the chapter in the Mystery of History vol 3 gave fascinating info and second best was the section about him in The Story of Philosophy.

 

Cervantes was well done in MxHx3 (my abbreviation for Mystery of History ).

 

Pascal is in MxHx3

Locke is in MxHx3

 

Some authors have tons written about them, like Shakespeare, so he should be easy. But others like Wollstonecraft might be harder. So up and coming are Milton, Kant, Blake, Coleridge, Keats, Cooper, Tennyson, Dickens, Emerson, Hawthorne, and Melville. Those are just on my list. I'm sure other people are studying other sections of history or just reading other works and would value info for other authors, if you know of good resources for other authors as well.

 

Thank you for any resource ideas!

[Nan in Mass]

I've mostly been using the introductions in the books themselves. I skim through and mark the part that is author bio or historical background and we skip the rest (which mostly assumes we've already read the book). We usually have the edition recommended in TWTM/TWEM or sometimes whatever is cheap, since I buy 3 copies of everything, like Dover or Penguin Classics.

[Michelle in MO]

I've mostly been using the introductions in the books themselves. I skim through and mark the part that is author bio or historical background and we skip the rest (which mostly assumes we've already read the book). We usually have the edition recommended in TWTM/TWEM or sometimes whatever is cheap, since I buy 3 copies of everything, like Dover or Penguin Classics.

 

When I read a book, I don't always want to get heavily into literary analysis. Many good versions of books have excellent notes in the introduction in the book. You can always add reading the author's biography and the historical background, if you want. Many introductory notes are written by professors in English literature. Typically, when I read a book, I do read every single introductory note and any pertinent background information, mostly because I find it interesting and I want to place the author's work in context of history.

[Joan in GE]

We do have the Penguin edition of Donne's major works, but the introduction seems dry (as well as introductions of other authors' works in that type of book). That is why I was looking for recommendations of "living" types, which incorporate biographical material that might be more interesting for young high schoolers...which is what I found so useful about MxHx chapters. Ok those are really written for a younger crowd, but in such a way and with so many interesting tidbits, that older ones benefit as well.

 

I also have a copy of Van Loon's lives (SBW recommended his History of Mankind), where he invents interviews with various historical figures. They are done in such a way that a lot of their personality comes across as well....but this book doesn't cover all the authors I mentioned above either...maybe I'm looking for material that is impossible to find for certain authors...Ah maybe some aspiring author on this list could write these?

Edited November 20, 2008 by Joan in Geneva
typo

[Nan in Mass]

Dry seems to come in two types - dry because the material is boring, and dry because the presentation is boring. I suppose the intro's are rather dry in the second sense, since they are often written at a fairly high reading level. Every time we read one, I wonder how much my children are understanding. But if I ask them to summarize for me, they almost always seem to know what the author is talking about, so I finally decided that it was good practice. And sometimes they fill me in on interesting bits that people have told them or that they picked up from TWTM reading lists. I know what you mean, though, and I often think I'd be a better teacher if I fished around a bit more and took the time to come up with some interesting background tidbits. It doesn't take many to make a person come alive, I've noticed, judging from how I react to the tidbits my children tell me. Mostly, though, I'm busy and just let the books speak for themselves. And as I said, my children usually supply that part for themselves. I provide a pretty loose framework and leave them to fill it out however they please. It seems to help keep them interested, and it is certainly easier for me.

Sometimes I get books from the library for them to look at. We got (I think this is the title) The Everything Shakespeare Book and it was full of tidbits like how much a loaf of bread cost and how the actors were paid and how a theatre was run. I think that is what you are looking for? Often, when we are doing something, someone will recommend something, or a magazine we get will providentially have an article on the author, or the Teaching Company catalogue will have a sample lesson on something we are doing, or my parents will tape a PBS program for us. It is amazing how things just sort of show up when we need them, everything from pertinant pirate teeshirts in a boating magazine that fit in with The Iliad to NPR programs that we just happen to tune in to. If all else fails, the enrichment stuff comes when the children do a paper or project afterwards. They often have something they want to know more about or something they want to try, and that is when things sort of come alive. Mostly, I think TWTM grammar and logic stage reading lists were so rich that our reading, whether it is Plato's Republic or Beowulf or Paine's Common Sense, seems to be plenty alive.

 

So - some specifics:

For Beowulf, we found an internet video of someone playing a harp-like thing and reciting it.

The Everything Shakespeare Book for Shakespeare, along with an article on likenesses of Shakespeare (possibly Smithsonian?) and the book Elizabethan Songs

Odd's Bodkin's The Odyssey

The first few lectures in the Teaching Co.'s Iliad lectures (the rest were more about comprehension and we found we didn't need them) and pirate teeshirts

The Dover version of Common Sense had a nice history review at the beginning

A Time Life book and a National Geographic article on Marsh Arabs and model reed boats for Gilgamesh

An assortment of different translations and my mother for info on The Bible

A book on Greek theatre from the library (I'm sure your library has something with lots of pictures, too) for Greek Drama

 

This got long. Sorry. I was just trying to explain how I manage to combine being so lazy and lacksidaisical about this with such good results LOL. And none of it is probably very helpful. The library often has books that are pretty "young and fun", like the Dummy and Idiot and Everything books. You could see if any of your missing authors appear in any of their books. I think this is a cool project and I hope other people contribute to it.

 

-Nan

[Joan in GE]

We got the used "The Story of Thomas More", which I just found is available free online and there is just fascinating information.

 

http://www.cin.org/farmor.html

 

He homeschooled his children even when a friend opened a school close to his home (Ch 8) and had a monkey and all kinds of other animals, emphasized humility, educating his daughters, etc. This got my son interested in reading Utopia, even though we're not doing that portion of historical literature.

 

Nan, thanks for your ideas. (My son built a reed boat too, but didn't do or read the other things you suggested - Yet.)