Monday, January 11, 2010
Huck Redux
Okay, so I got a faceful of owch from Doc O'c today about how my Huck Finn post was garbage. And he's right! That was garbage. So let me explain myself a little better. I, like our teachers, believe in the integration of current events into our American History course. But I take it a step further. See, books and such are on the "English" side of the history spectrum. And yes, I know we don't separate the two, but can Huck Finn really be called even mildly accurate history? So why then, do we mire ourselves in the past in the English department of our learning? I don't think we've read one book that was less than 15 years old, I can't remember when Reservation Blues was written. So my point is, why can't we read something current, either to our country or perhaps something relevant to the adults we've become? Maybe Speak, Night, or something else more current? I mean, I just think the book's a little outdated, and to be honest, that's one of my biggest pet peeves, outdated things. There ya go, Doc O'c, better?
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G-man, Batman,
ReplyDeleteAs we announced, unless you name a post, we go with the first one. I'm glad you rewrote that Huck post more thoughtfully, but...
Huck Finn is NOT an attempt at writing history. It is a work of fiction. By presenting a brilliant portrait of early 19th C. life in a divided country, it has become an important cultural artifact -- a Rosetta Stone for understanding who we were/are as a nation. Hemingway says all American Literature springs from this novel.
I think it's interesting that you name a young adult book and a Holocaust memoir as substitutes.
Res Blues was written after Night. So was KY Cycle, an upcoming book. So were all the poems and stories we've read.
I think you have enormous potential, but you still take a cavalier approach to... well... just about everything.