Literature

Teaching the Bible in any context, especially the classroom, is tricky. Teachers and professors have to be careful not to present the text in a devotional context, because not everyone is a devotee. However, the Bible is also a rich literary work; excerpts from it appear in many curriculums, especially World Literature textbooks. With this in mind, discuss the best way to teach the Bible as literature. For example, could certain parts of the Bible be paired with different classics (the story of David and Bathsheba Romeo and Juliet, excerpts from Revelation a time-honored apocalyptic or dystopian novel)? What would be your chosen pairings? Are there any parts you'd want to stay away from, or parts that lend themselves to literary teaching better than others?

A mash-up novel (also called mashup or mashed-up novel), is a work of fiction which combines the text from pre-existing literature, often a classic work of fiction, with another genre, such as horror, into a single mashed-up narrative. Though the term itself wasn't coined till about 2009, the first mash-up (of sorts) may have been "Move Under Ground" by Nick Mamatas, a 2004 novel combining the Beat style of Jack Kerouac with the cosmic horror of H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. The first mash-up proper was Seth Grahame-Smith's hugely successful 2009 novel, "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies". Subsequent mash-up novels include "Sense and Sensibility and Seamonsters", "Little Women and Werewolves" and "Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter" (also by Grahame-Smith), the last of which was adapted into a film of the same name. A more recent phenomenon within the genre is the combination of more than two original works, or genres, as in the case of Robinson Crusoe (The Eerie Adventures of the Lycanthrope), which combines the original novel with elements borrowed from the works of H.P. Lovecraft as well as the popular genre of werewolf fiction, and is accordingly attributed to three authors – Daniel Defoe, H.P. Lovecraft, and Peter Clines. Mash-up novels are, by their very nature, derivative and lacking in creative substance … or am I being hypercritical? Is it all just a cheap marketing gimmick that's doomed to die from lack of originality… or does the mash-up have potential creative legs to keep it running?

Children's and young adult (YA) literature has exploded in recent decades, giving young people more reading options than ever. Additionally, young protagonists have more power than ever. Harry Potter is a wizard. Tris and Katniss from The Hunger Games are almost unstoppable heroines of dystopian societies. The Descendants protagonists are the magical offspring of Disney villains.

While these protagonists and their books are wonderful, they bring to mind a question: do today's protagonists always need powers, magical and supernatural connections, or the high stakes of dystopia? Put more succinctly, do they always have to be "the chosen ones?" What does fiction for young people gain by putting protagonists in that position? Does it lose anything by not focusing on more common kid/teen issues? Or, do we actually have a good balance between powerful and ordinary protagonists in our current literature? Discuss using the above examples and any others that fit the topic.

Analyze what themes and challenges a feminist writer might endure when creating fiction or nonfiction. How do they skillfully educate the masses while still creating a story to win over even the most misogynistic in society?

Cinderella, Snow White, Belle. These are just a few of the heroines from traditional fairy tales that lack a maternal figure. Most often, the mother is deceased and the heroine must navigate the world without her guidance. What is the significance of this maternal absence? How has the lack of a loving, nurturing mother in traditional fairy tales enabled the story to progress? Or has the lack of maternal figure hindered the development of the heroine?

I have always wondered why it was that John Grisham, within his genre, has come to such massive fame. Please do analyse the ways in which his work appeals to his target audience and his rise to success.

The protagonists in Haruki Murakami's works are usually simple, average individuals with routines are certain behavioral traits. In fact, the majority of his stories are built up around characters discussing their idle thoughts and activities to pass the time. By having these characters come across as "simple" and "average" we can understand their feelings with more depth as they are thrown into surreal, ridiculous situations. It can be said that, by making them "boring", we further sympathize and connect with them.

This book was written in the late 1950s as a dystopian and cautionary tale about the perils of all out nuclear war. Rereading it in 2017, explore the dystopian tropes of the book in the light of American relationships with North Korea, China, Russia, etc.