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/lit/ - Literature

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16242766 No.16242766 [Reply] [Original]

So I am taking AP literature this year (yes I am 18), and these are some of the books we will read this year

Colson Whitehead’s "The Nickel Boys"
Margaret Atwood’s "Oryx and Crake"
August Wilson’s “Fences”
William Shakespeare’s “Othello"

The first and third appear to be social justice indoctrination academia garbage, but obviously I have not read any of them yet. I came in thinking we were going to read Dostoevsky or Heart of Darkness, or even catch-22. At least we have one Shakespeare.

If anyone read these, can they please weigh in?

>> No.16242886

>Hello /lit/. I am incapable of thinking for myself, so please tell me what my opinion of these books should be before I read them.

>> No.16242896

I got a perfect score on my AP lit essay about heart of darkness, which I didn't read. If you are able to understand and write about even ONE aspect of literary technique/interpretation in a vaguely competent way then you will be fine. At the AP level reading the book at all is definitely optional.

>> No.16242899

>>16242766
how weak do you have to be to ask strangers on the internet for their opinion before making your own?

>> No.16242906

>>16242896
meaning the one for the exam, scored out of 9. i just made up shit about the symbolism of the white sepulcher. just read things and absorb them, you're a kid you aren't capable of thinking about politics - your life has zero stakes and your brain is drawn to the trivial

>> No.16242907

>>16242766
Dude, relax. Learn to let their ideology wash over you. Remember that if you want to gain any legitimacy for your views, you will have to show that you are competent at interpretation and analysis regardless of the political views of the author or the content of the work. Do your work, refrain from discussing ideology, and read cool stuff like von Salomon and Junger on the side, and everything will be fine.

>> No.16242910

>>16242907
how about children just stay out of politics entirely

>> No.16242911

>>16242766
Oh boy, yeah OP, youre not smart enough to hold the opinions youre holding. Stick a sock in it, read the assigned texts and actually try to learn what they have to teach, but as it stands now, youre embarrassing yourself

>> No.16242924

>>16242766
>pls tell me what to think, anonmouse
How does a person grow up to be so pathetic? Especially as a teen when most are questioning everything about the world.

>> No.16242984

>>16242924
parental neglect, without receiving guidance in the proper form in your life you will seek it elsewhere or pathologically

>> No.16242993

>>16242766
Imagine being an American and having to read this shit.
Is what I would say if my UK uni didn't have Ngugi wa Memongo as a compulsory reading.

>> No.16243016

>>16242984
I don't know, man. My dad was basically never around and then kicked the bucket. Mom was overwhelmed with her own life.

At no point would the kiddy me even consider asking for guidance. I was arguing with fags who claim to know better, trying to figure flaws in my own thinking in the process.

>> No.16243017

>>16242766
lmao you’re gonna have to read and write a report on a literal bbc cuck book hahaha

>> No.16243020

>>16243016
not all people cope in the same way, my post is literally saying this is something you can deal with by replacing it in a good way or it can develop into pathological need for leadership/instruction

>> No.16243047

>>16243020
I guess it's possible though most kids I know who had messy parenting, generally were more headstrong, since they had to grow up faster. Then again, I don't know anyone IRL like OP for reference.

>> No.16243334

>>16242886
Why wouldn’t I ask for others opinions on the matter? Whether I agree or not is irrelevant, but why should different perspectives than my own be neglected? Do you never take advice on anything?

>> No.16243349

>>16242896
in freshman year of Uni the best i ever did on an essay was when we had to read heart of darkness and write a paper about it but i just read a chapter and wrote some bullshit

so this post checks out

>> No.16243360
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16243360

>>16242766
loooool
here was ours

>> No.16243404

>>16242907
Well of course, I never planned to denounce modern literature in class and be just plain irritating. I was just disappointed with the patterns in our curriculum replacing the canon with something relatively over-political as if a certain message is being continually parroted. The last thing I want is to become a Charles Walker type.

>> No.16243411

>>16243360
What year did you take it? I am thoroughly jealous.

>> No.16243419

>>16242993
yeah imagine being American and having to read fucking Shakespeare lmao. Classic Amerimutts am I right

>> No.16243429

>>16242766
Whitehead's dope.
Atwood's dope.
Fences is great. It's particularly cool because there's no white characters yet you can feel the force of racism throughout the play. As someone who has seen Wilson's works performed live, the film is pretty damn good. [The big interpretive liberty they took was shooting a scene away from the porch. Wilson wrote the play - and it's always produced - such that all the action we see is by the house. I'm not saying it's bad. just something to notice.]
Othello is the first shakespeare play I read that I actually enjoyed. The film with Kenneth Branagh is great.

>> No.16243489

>>16243411
senior year
10 years ago

>> No.16243510

>>16243404
>zoomer thinks the canon isn't political
This is what happens when you're raised on memes I suppose. Wait, does this mean, we're at fault for zoomers being the way they are?

>> No.16243572

>>16242766
They're fine books. Schools try to keep youth interested in lit by pandering to social justice, of course, but that can't be helped.

>> No.16243590

>>16242766
all those books are fine you are probably just a racist/sexist/etc. you are the problem not academia. get off of this shit hole.

>> No.16243649

Is it sexist/racist to prefer Tolstoy, Dosotevsky, Goethe, Shakespeare, etc over books written last year about black people being victims? I’m not racist, but rather getting a bit tired.

>> No.16243830 [DELETED] 

>>16243649
the fact that you think those books are just whining does make you a sexist/racist yes. get off this shit hole.

>> No.16243867

>>16243649
the fact that you think everything written by a non-white non-male is just whining does make you sexist/racist/etc yes. get off this shit hole.

>> No.16244018

>>16243867
I would be perfectly content reading Mishima, Soseki, Dazai, Shelley, Woolf, or Bronte, etc. Its not a matter of if they are dead white men but rather that they are not brand new to the scene espousing contemporary political views I have no interest in being subjected to.

>> No.16244041
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16244041

You need 4chan to verify your beliefs that badly?

>> No.16244091

>The Awakening (Chopin)
>Like Water for Chocolate (Esquivel)
>The Kite Runner (Hosseini)
>Things Fall Apart (Achebe)
>The Stranger (Camus)
>Oedipus Rex (Sophocles)
>Oedipus at Colonus (Sophocles)
>Hamlet (Shakespeare)
>Wuthering Heights (Bronte)
>Heart of Darkness (Conrad)
>Waiting for Godot (Beckett)
>Metamorphosis (Kafka)
>The Catcher in the Rye (Salinger)

I think that’s everything I read in AP English 10 years ago.
We also read a lot of poetry I haven’t listed and we did a major research project about a poet of our choosing.
Also, don’t forget that this was senior year and the choices were made keeping in mind what other teachers had already assigned us (Gatsby, MacBeth, etc)

>> No.16244203

>>16244091
>Crime and Punishment (Dostoevsky)
Left one out
>>16242766
I also find it hard to believe you weren't handed a list of everything you’ll read on the first day.
I also think it’s possible that the Atwood you were assigned was supposed to be easy, Summer reading you were supposed to have done before the first day

>> No.16244303

>>16242766
Oryx and Crake is the only Atwood novel that is actually enjoyable to read. You've dodged a bullet there, kid.

Othello will almost certainly be taken from a black experience angle given the rest of what's there, so just try and enjoy it for what it is and dont let the interpretation of it you hear distract from just how good it is.

Never read Wilson desu. Was never one for plays. My teacher for AP Lit/English did Oscar Wilde, Shakespeare x2, Dickens and Stoppard, excerpts from Chaucer, an overview of poetry up to 1950, then gave us free reign to choose two novels ourselves from a list of like 70(I ended up doing The Trial and Oliver Twist). Never had any SJW bullshit to deal with.

Whitehead is too new to be judged accurately, his work is fine but check back in twenty years to see if it's going to stick around.

>> No.16244338

>>16243334
You're supposed to discuss a book after you've read it. Asking for someone's opinion of a book before you've read it, especially when you have to read it, is completely retarded, yes.

>> No.16244429

>>16244338
Why is this retarded? I honest don’t understand. Whatever they tell you about the book is just a perspective that you can take into account, not necessarily something you just adopt as your own. Obviously until I read it myself I cannot engage them but still...

>> No.16244514

>>16244429
Not him, but as I pointed out before I think there’s a tendency to toss students a bone and throw in a popular, contemporary book or two that’s designed to be an enjoyable read.
Highschool classes especially aren’t designed for people with a love of literature but for ambitious students who always take the most rigorous coursework no matter what the subject.
I’m pretty sure this is how Catcher in the Rye wound up becoming a public education mainstay a generation or two ago.
So when you just toss three novels out there it doesn’t really give the information that would let us know if you happen to be in an english program run by people who’ve entirely lost their heads.
And given the tone of every college kid who posts on this board and the impression of academia they give it seems like there might be some value in figuring out how to evaluate literature through something other than the woke lens right now.

>> No.16244540

For Lang/Lit I read
>The Catcher In The Rye
>Crime And Punishment
>The Grapes Of Wrath
>The Great Gatsby
>Hamlet
>Heart Of Darkness
>Invisible Man
>King Lear
>A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man
>Pride And Prejudice
>Their Eyes Were Watching God
>1984
Seems like there were more but that’s all I can remember. Lots of poetry and probably a couple nonfiction works

>> No.16244595

>>16243404
Don't worry about it. Just keep going. Keep reading, keep thinking, and remember that any political games you see being played around you are not to your benefit.

>> No.16244608

>>16244203
The only info we were told was that these 4 books are to be purchased throughout the schoolyear, I am not in school irl so its a bit hard to confirm whether these books are all we will read, or that these are just the ones we ourselves have to buy. I expected way more books but these 4 are spread out like 2 months apart for each date we need to have it by. In AP lit, did the school provide most of the books? Because if that is the case it would make a lot more sense.

>> No.16244698

>>16244514
I wonder if collegeboard changed the books we read as a result of the protests as to do their part. Ultimately, until I figure out what the entire list of our reading really is (whether it really be these 4 (which for some reason are to be bought at the start of each quarter) or way more actual classical lit) I can’t really make any claims about the dynamic.

>> No.16244705

>>16242766
The Nickel Boys is actually great. However if you want to read Dostoevsky and Conrad, there's nothing stopping you from doing that outside the classroom.

>> No.16244734

>>16244705
This is good to hear. Of course I will still read on my own, but its always great to do schoolwork on something you love and have read already.

>> No.16244739

>>16242766
>I need my internet friend simulator to tell me what to think and do!
Part of being an adult (which you are since you're 18) is to think for yourself and to stop relying on people.

>> No.16245176

>>16244739
so many keep posting this and I understand. But i'm just asking if anyone read these books and what they thought about them. I am not adopting their views as my own but rather collecting testimonies as to see what some sort of consensus of the book could look like. I will rely on people insofar as I am not dependent on them to have the capability to think for myself. Is that better?

>> No.16246178

>>16242766
If you want to do well on the exam, work hard on the essay assignments you're given over the course of the school year. Try to find an interesting insight, and express it clearly.

Fences is good. August Wilson is a good, perhaps very good writer. I think I probably like The Piano Lesson or Ma Rainey's Black Bottom better than Fences. I've never seen Wilson in performance. I imagine a well-mounted production of one of his plays could be quite entertaining, and make for good theater.

Othello is a great work of art -- although not Shakespeare's greatest.

Just spend the time reading it, and doing the work. And frankly, you can learn something from resources like Cliff Notes and Sparknotes -- they're essentially written by smart grad-school types who need a paying gig, and the notes digest and synthesize the thinking of a broad swath of critics. Just don't flat-out steal from those secondary sources. Put in the effort to write something original -- it's the only way you'll learn to write. You have to put in that effort -- sweat equity.

Haven't read the Atwood or Whitehead.

>> No.16246188

>>16243360
That's pretty hard-core for senior year of high school; not any individual work, but C&P, Lear and Anna Karenina -- those are some big bites.

>> No.16246193

LOL!

>> No.16246739

>>16242766
>The first and third appear to be social justice indoctrination academia garbage
cringe

ap literature is a joke
literature in general is a joke

>> No.16247236
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16247236

>>16245176

>> No.16247610

>>16246188
Not really. Soviet kids read C&P and Annie K without being forced to do it by their school. At worst the names are bit complicated for Anglos. Only Willie can count as something advanced, mostly due the language used just making it hard to read.

>> No.16247622

>>16242886
fpbp
>>16243334
zoomers are literally frightened of having opinions
not even controversial opinions, just opinions at all

>> No.16247651

>>16247622
dude they have only known a world of cancel culture where having an opinion can have life changing consequences

>> No.16247739

>>16247651
Back in my day we called it boycott.

>> No.16247743

>>16247651
I'm only a couple years older than this kid, I have no sympy. I'm not pretending to be fucking hardass, I repeat all the NPC lines back to them to fit in in real life, but this is 4chan. It's not the deepweb, but it's also not Facebook. The FBI isn't going to break down your door for having a private opinion on your freshman reading.

>> No.16248243

Man this is the average /lit/erati so fucking embarrassing

>> No.16248249

>>16242766
Nothing you do in highschool matters

>> No.16248258

>>16244018
Yes yes yes Mishima and Dazai are totally not political

>> No.16248409

>>16248258
Yes, they were political by denouncing the decadence they were living in. The same decadence the proponents of niggerlit want to bring upon us

>> No.16248647

>>16248409
>politics I was told to agree with be gud in art
>politics I don't understand be baaad in art
Doesn't it hurt being such a simp?

>> No.16248902

>>16248647
So you admit you want decadence. Sry dude but consenting to being cucked doesn't make it any less sad

>> No.16250063

You're 18 ? did you have to retake a year? maybe stop using 4chan.

>> No.16250320

>>16248647
>politics I was told to agree with
What? Pretty sure no school forced reading Dazai or Mishima. Also are you implying that they even had the same political ideas in the first place?

>> No.16250509

>>16242766
I cringed really hard at this. Please stop listening to /lit/ about the "value" of literature. Most of what you read has value. Keep an open mind or you'll end up looking like a pretentious dipshit.

>> No.16250725

>>16250063
this

you should get off 4chan if you are this young, especially considering the fact that you're still in school

>> No.16251743

>>16250509
Literature written after 1900 has no value

>> No.16251973

>>16242766
Here's some advice: drop the nerd classes and go fuck some young primo pussy.

>> No.16252014

>>16242896
This, OP just learn enough of the professor to tell them what they want to hear. If there's a book on the curriculum you don't give a fuck about, by all means read only as much as you need to get your grade. Use your time to read things that interest you.

>> No.16252039

>>16251973
Or keep the nerd classes and just get nerd pussy. Split the difference.