Buddhism teaches that we can let go of illusion by letting go of “our story,” i.e. letting go of our insistence on seeing reality our way. Many literary classics teach us the same lesson, sometimes through characters metamorphosing by undergoing evolutionary cycles including tragic moments. We see this struggle and more or less successful letting go performed by protagonists such as the Buddha, Oedipus, Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Henry James’ Maisie, Edith Wharton’s “Ethan Frome,” Ishiguro’s characters in The Remains of the Day, Toni Morrison’s Sethe in Beloved, and Murakami’s un-hero in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle who learns to let go of all his stories by sitting in a dark well for a long time.
The common theme in these fictions as well as in many others is letting go of illusion by letting go of one’s story, all unfolded in fiction. What sort of fiction must one invent to not add to the world of illusions? Does something distinguish these fictions in addition to the theme, something that makes them resist becoming part of our illusions? Or is it impossible not to add to the illusory? Where do commonalities between letting go of one’s story end and differences in consequences thereof open up, according to whatever works of fiction we decide to look at? What do these fictions have to say about what stories we rarely let go of? How does this theme of letting go of story in story speak to the story-telling during the global pandemic in 2020, specifically about the stories we tell of the “before-the-pandemic” world? Are we, like Murakami’s character, in the well, or are we emerging? How can we tell? Tell us.
What can be considered a new classic? Writers like John Green and Stephan King boast quite a large fan base (and literary output), but will they go down in history? Does fame equate to immortalization in literature? After all, many writers were unbeknownst while they lived, but others (such as Shakespeare) received wide fame amid their careers. Whose work can be considered literary? Are they losing ground in the shadow of these modern, famed "genre writers"?
Genre shouldn't matter re: enduring quality of a piece of literature. It's a little risible to suggest the likes of Shakespeare might be losing ground in the shadow of John Green! Fame doesn't equate to immortality in history, but obscurity tends to mean you're not even in the mix for future consideration. One of the biggest problems nowadays is the general disconnect with "things past", losing touch with history i.e. self-censoring art and literature and creative content based on its date of creation. It not only makes it harder to source new classics but means - for most - the canon of older classics is shrinking. Contemporary fame matters but originality and lineage and breadth of vision should matter more. Also there's a growing parochialism, especially in the Anglosphere - facilitated in part by the net and social media bringing together 'communities' in large enough numbers so they satisfy the 'interaction' instinct most of us possess. If people don't feel the need to step outside their echo chambers, their horizons narrow and their creative output follows suit, eventually becoming mere placebo. All this is a path of least resistance and any book worthy of "new classic" should either transcend this reductionism by scope or scale; or burst the bubble of whatever tribal boundaries might seem to appropriate or contain it. John Green is a sweet guy with a nice turn of phrase but none of his novels yet will be "classics" except maybe for future social historians; and not for the literary merit of the books themselves. Stephen King is different. He's a Balzac type: quantity over quality to such an extent the sheer quantity actually becomes a quality. – magisterludi7 years ago
Terry Eagleton (literary critic) wrote in his book 'Literary Theory: An Introduction' that if something is deemed to be 'literature' it is done so because the text is highly valued by society, and those value judgements are made based upon societal ideologies and historical context. I think the same could apply here - what do we value in a classic text? That is at the crux of this. – Samantha Leersen5 years ago
the original and well known authors or artists such as Shakespear, Mozart etc, will likely never be replaced. However many consider people like Charles Bukowski and his poetry as 'classic' and exquisite. A more modern example could be someone such as Billie Eilish. she is known her her originialy and voice. ultimately, its the people who negate societal expectations within their generations that tend to become more well-known. – annaegan4 years ago
i think that fame has a little to do with being immortalized but its more about the effect it has on people if some people thought it just was a good book they would have read it and never read it again but if you were emotionally effected by a book in a good way they would want to read it again – katawaMan4 years ago
In the wake of recent global uprisings on the Black Lives Matter movement, people have turned to books about and written by black people to further educate themselves on the subject. Perhaps the article could talk about a list of books that sheds light on the topic, and why the book is relevant today. While I can think of a list of authors such as Alice Walker, Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, James Baldwin and a few others, it might be interesting to see a list of both classic and contemporary books that are worth reading and why. It might also be interesting to do a research on lesser known authors or books/short stories published by anonymous sources and look into why you think they were anonymously published or why you think the author/the work did not recieve as much attention as it should have.
Good topic! I'd add some recent YA offerings by black authors or featuring black characters. Actually, you could probably write a whole article on that genre alone. – Stephanie M.5 years ago
As a Black writer, especially of speculative fiction, I would love for a piece like this to shed some light on some of the hidden gems of Black speculative fiction that would be of particular value in this historical moment. I'm sure just exploring this singular angle would be more than enough for a piece on its own. – therisingtithes5 years ago
Great topic! I love Zora Neale Hurston's writing, but her strengths lie in how she depicts folk culture and daily life, not in her politics. (Hurston has been soundly criticized from her time to our present time for an apparent lack of political awareness, in fact.) She's nowhere near as relevant to the Black Lives Matter movement as, say, James Baldwin. – JamesBKelley4 years ago
Analyze and compare the various stories of creation through various parts of the world. The stories examined will include Genesis, Aztec Mythology , Norse Mythology, Greek Mythology, Eastern Mythology, African Mythologies, et cetera. Specifically how are they similar? How do they differ? What sort of message do they impart?
This is a very interesting topic that would involve a lot of scholarly research! This could be an extensive article so perhaps picking three to four mythologies would allow the most room for detailed research and reflection. – Scharina5 years ago
I agree that is might be good to narrow it a bit. For example, comparing the flood in Gilgamesh to Moses with the Great Flood of Gun-Yu. Instead of contrasting several of these religions, could one perhaps write it on the religious commonalities? – ruegrey5 years ago
This does need narrowing, but I don't blame you for wanting to explore every possible religion and mythology. Perhaps exploring in subgroups might help? An example might be monotheistic creation stories vs. polytheistic, or Middle Eastern (Torah, Bible, Koran) vs. European or African? – Stephanie M.5 years ago
Perhaps the focus could be created in one of the following ways: 1) focus on historical influence, e.g. how the Babylonian creation story influenced at least one of the Biblical creation stories; 2) thematic focus with a Nietzschean twist, e.g. how is creation achieved in creation stories, and for what purposes? Who benefits from the creative acts and who gets excluded? Whose agendas are asserted? "Cut bono?" Who benefits? 3) focus on narrative purpose: why do we tell creation stories? W hat purposes do we aim at in telling them when there are so many other kinds of stories we can tell? At what point in our story-telling cycles (sacred or not) do we reach for stories of creation? For instance, the Jewish people may have finalized their version of the creation story when they found their story in competition with the Babylonian version, and the Jewish people wanted to show their god was superior by showing their god cared more. 4) focus on relationship between creation "entities" and representatives of fate. I'm sure this will be a fun topic to delve into. – gitte5 years ago
Suzanne Collins’ newest book, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, a prequel to The Hunger Games trilogy, is set to release May 19th, 2020. This prompts the question: What benefits do prequels provide for a story? The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes supposedly takes place in Panem 64 years before the original trilogy. By backtracking, not only do audiences lose favorite and well known characters, but any world-building that existed needs to be restructured and changed. On the other hand, it does provide significant details to the history, as well as the opportunity to flesh out backstories. Collins isn’t the only author to do this; J. K. Rowling wrote the Harry Potter series, and then Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, going back 70 years in her timeline. So, analyze the potential benefits and possible drawbacks to prequels for beloved novel series.
I think this is a great topic for modern books and films, which have seemed to embrace the prequel. – Sean Gadus5 years ago
Good topic! I'm very into well-drawn characters, so I'd say it depends on how strong your characters are and how relatable their journeys are. I haven't read The Hunger Games yet, but for an example, I can tell you Newt Scamander is a great protagonist. Also, he's one of those rare characters who manages to be a cinnamon roll without being insufferable. – Stephanie M.5 years ago
Just read the Ballad of the Snake and The Songbird and I absolutely loved it. Tracing the history of the hunger games was intriguing and it was great delving into the experience of being part of the Capitol during and after the war! – Sean Gadus5 years ago
Between Melville's description of the color white as one of unsettling nothingness and the meticulous description of whales/whaling that can border on the obsessive (which could mirror Ahab's mindset), Moby Dick sports a kind of thematic link that emphasizes humankind's grappling with that which they either can't/won't understand or are willing to study if it means being better able to control the unknown. Have any of you gotten the impression that Ahab—in his single-mindedness—stands as a metaphor of sorts for the individual who not only dreads the strange, but also seeks to annihilate/tame it?
When some think English classes, one might think of novels such as: To Kill a Mockingbird, The Great Gatsby, Of Mice and Men, Lord of the Flies, Hamlet, etc. What importance do novels like these hold in literature? Why might some be considered the building blocks of English? Analyze the importance of classic novels in English courses and why they are still relevant in today's classes.
I think this is a very interesting question and engaging question. One topic of it would be work investigating is the idea of Canonicity. it is related to the different purposes of reading, why things are considered important or significant works, and why we teach certain things in classes. A big takeaway of Canonicity is that there isn't just one reason we read a group of works and there are different important works depending on who you ask this question and the reasons behind reading. This might be an area to explore related to the reading of classic novels in English class – SeanGadus8 years ago
Great topic, and truly relevant given today's educational system. I work at a large university and find that students are ill prepared in both writing and their backgrounds in literature. Pretty much all of the books you mentioned were things I read in high school. We talked about character development, plot lines, and other relevant themes within them. Nowadays, it seems as if most English classes are centered around blogging and social media and not the perpetuation of great literature. – NoDakJack8 years ago
In my English classes, we did read the classics; however, there was also a focus on reading material written by authors other than white men. Because of this, we supplemented the classics with more modern, yet still popular works, such as The Kite Runner. It would be interesting to show both the benefits and possible drawbacks of the classics, as there is a great benefit from reading material written by authors who are not white men. – rosacan8 years ago
Beautiful topic. I've been a bookworm practically since toddlerhood and declared my major in English as early as I could get away with, so I definitely think there are "building blocks" of English lit that students should read. They are still relevant, and they should be considered building blocks. My thought, however, is that the canon may be evolving. That is, I wonder if we're focusing on building blocks too much, or if some books have been read so often that students and teachers feel they are "done to death." I'd be interested in an author who looks at some of these classics and then tries to decide which ones the canon should "keep," and which might be traded in for more modern books in middle, high school, and college classes. For instance, should we give Hamlet a break and study a lesser-known play such as A Winter's Tale? Should we toss out Of Mice and Men in favor of a contemporary book with a contemporary understanding of cognitive disabilities? The list goes on... – Stephanie M.8 years ago
This would be a great read, and if I could suggest another avenue, look into The Decline of the English Dept. by William Chase. Really delves deep into the humanities and how English is the basis of most avenues of learning – sophiebernard5 years ago
In my experience, classic novels are usually really easy to analyse. They’re usually filled with techniques, symbols, motifs, allegory, the themes are usually obvious. While the content may be problematic, they’re often useful for teaching students how to approach texts because they’re so accessible in that way. – Samantha Leersen5 years ago
I think this article would make for a swell addition to the website, especially if it tackles the Western canon and the parallels of those works included under the high art umbrella. Generally speaking, classic English-language novels such as Dubliners, Blood Meridian, Moby-Dick, and Heart of Darkness tend to delve into and expose the human condition via plot, setting, and character. All of these combine to craft a thematic arc and consensus that conveys the work's tone and atmosphere. – Michel Sabbagh5 years ago
Adaptations of Lovecraft's tales are, of course, rife in modern society. Just last year, the film adaptation of Color Out of Space (2019), attempted to visually recreate the cosmic horror of the original text. However, when the original story made it very explicit that the 'color' is indescribable by human standards, is it faithful to attempt to visually represent it and, more generally, can any visual adaptation of Lovecraft's work be truly faithful?
