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Austen: the complete works as medicine

June 22, 2010 By 3 Comments

My wife has been ill for a few months, and it seems that the very best medicine for her is Jane Austen.  Lots and lots of Jane Austen. And, thanks to the Bruins’ disappointing playoff run, I found myself lost in Austen with her.

Since April, she and I have read aloud Emma, Sense and Sensibility, Mansfield Park, and Northanger Abbey.  So far we’ve skipped Persuasion and Pride & Prejudice, both of which we’ve read before.

We’ve also watched just about every film adaptation of all of Austen’s books, and I now consider myself somewhat of an expert on all forms of Austen. Also, I’ll admit it’s been fun to read each novel and then watch 2-3 different adaptations of it.

So, ladies, if you’re planning on encouraging an Austen marathon with your husband, here’s a little friendly advice:

Start with Pride and Prejudice. Elizabeth Bennett and Mr. Bennett are two of the greatest characters ever, and your husband will want to climb into the pages to strangle Mrs. Bennett. Encourage him to do so. And, as I’m sure you’re already aware, the film adaptations are all quite good, especially A & E’s with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle.

Emma is another excellent novel and has, by far, the best film adaptation of a novel that I’ve ever seen; the 2009 BBC film with Romola Garai and Johnny Lee Miller will have your husband begging for more Austen! Begging. The screenplay is excellent, the casting brilliant, and the cinematography very, very good.

Persuasion continues to rank as my number one Austen novel, though I felt a little let down by the two film adaptations. Amanda Root (1995) was a fine Anne Elliot, but her Wentworth’s smile disappointed. The recent BBC TV series (2007) felt more like a music video than dramatic cinema.

If your husband can survive reading the first half of Mansfield Park, he should end up enjoying the remainder of the novel. However, I wouldn’t recommend asking him to sit through either of the film adaptations I sat through. You’d be better off re-watching Romola Garai’s Emma.

Northanger Abbey is okay with its commentary on literacy: interesting that at the beginning of the 18th Century, individuals were considered intelligent for reading histories and biographies, but simple for reading novels. J.J Field is a decent Henry Tilney.

Finally, I would avoid Sense & Sensibility altogether, or at least save it for the end. Both the book and the two movie adaptations almost ruined Austen for me. I have trouble liking any of the characters, and Col. Brandon must be an impossible character to cast.

… Now, if my wife still doesn’t feel up for the complete works of William F. Buckley Jr., perhaps I could be convinced to watch Emma again.

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Reading Reflection: New Canadian Library

March 25, 2010 By 2 Comments

As with most book lovers, I’m always intrigued by new book lists, collections, and libraries — discoveries that can revolutionize my reading habits. Not surprisingly, then, I’ve always been intrigued with the New Canadian Library series published by McClelland & Stewart.

My intrigue, however, often led to some frustration over how difficult it was to collect the series, and disagreement over the titles selected for the NCL series. Well, as it turns out, my frustration was uncalled for. I had misunderstood the series, and I would like to now thank Janet B. Friskney for writing a wonderful report of this Canadian publishing icon and for setting the record straight. Friskney takes a look at the origins of the NCL series and tells about the relationship between the general editor, Malcolm Ross, and the publisher, Jack McClelland between 1952 and 1978.

Apparently the NCL had no intention of deciding on and representing the Canadian canon. Rather, the New Canadian Library series was published to deliver “a quality paperback series of literary reprints that gathered together works either written by Canadians or set in Canada … for the Canadian reading public and … to establish firmly the teaching and research of Canadian literature within post-secondary institutions across Canada.” (3) Rather than selecting only books with the greatest literary merit that have resonated most with our nation, titles were selected that “could be seen as reflecting Canadian life in the various regions of Canada during the different periods.” (14)

Also, I’ve now learned that the NCL never guaranteed that a work would be immortalized. The decision not to number the titles in the series has made it easier for the publisher to drop titles “without arousing public attention.” (6)

A superficial examination of the content of the series of the Ross-McClelland years readily disqualifies the NCL of that era as a canon in and of itself. Numerous titles had no claim to canonical status at any point in the series’ life, while a number of titles highly valued by the academic community between the 1950s and the 1970s, such as W.O. Mitchell’s Who Has Seen the Wind, Hugh MacLennan’s Two Solitudes, Robertson Davies’ Fifth Business, and Alice Munro’s Lives of Girls and Women, were notably absent from it. When the list is analysed more deeply, it becomes evident that during the twenty years between the launch of the series and Ross’s retirement, certain titles were largely ignored, others experienced a surge and then a decline of interest, and still others established or consolidated a claim to canonical status. (154)

The appendices alone make Friskney’s work worth picking up. The lists of titles included in the NCL, as well as all the titles that were only considered, will keep me busily reading well into my forties — provided I can find copies still in print — and I hope that Friskney publishes a follow-up book informing us on the NCL since Malcolm Ross’ retirement.

I really liked that Stephen Leacock titles were used as a financial aid for the publication of the series, as well as Ross’ careful selection of appropriate writers to introduce each work. Like many Canadian readers, I dream of being selected to write an afterword for a Canadian classic. (One of my aspirations is to be the Robert Fulford of my generation.)

I also really liked the discovery that many NCL titles were being used in high schools because instructors were selecting “titles to which they themselves had been exposed as university students” (164). Isn’t that just so true?

Alright, after reading Friskney’s work, I think I have a greater respect for the New Canadian Library series. While I still wish that Robertson Davies were included in today’s collection, and I wish that published NCL titles would never be out of print, I can’t think of a better series of Canadiana than the NCL collection.

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Reading Reflection: Herodotus' The Histories on the iPad

February 19, 2010 By 5 Comments

I am convinced, along with a number of other teachers, that I could benefit from owning an iPad. I didn’t read Herodotus’ The Histories on an iPad because, unfortunately, I do not yet own this wonderful new device from Apple. I did, however, just finish reading that classic, weighty tome – the first example of historical writing in Western civilization – lugging it around in my brief case, to and from work, and from class to class.

It was, at least, an absolutely beautiful copy: last year’s The Landmark Herodotus, edited by Robert B. Strassler, complete with pictures of artifacts and numerous maps. Probably the best book published on ancient Greece in recent history. I was quick to share it with my colleague in the History department who gushed over it… until he opened it. “Oh, too bad it isn’t in colour.”

No kidding. All that love and care, only to publish it in black and white.

Now, imagine The Landmark Herodotus on an iPad. Colour? Of course. Maps? You bet; and much more interactive, at that. And so much more. Hyperlinks. Video. My goodness. The iPad will change the way we read.

The illustrated edition of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code was wildly popular because of the many references to art, architecture, and history, brought alive through accompanying images. The same goes for Lawrence Hill’s The Book of Negroes (published as Someone Knows My Name for our American neighbours). Well, as more and more of us pick up an iPad, we’ll expect every book to include, not just images, but hyperlinks and more. Our reading experience, for better or for worse, will be revolutionized.

Incidentally, Herodotus’ The Histories was interesting, but not a book that I will be quick to return to. His digressions were worth hearing – interesting (and degrading) stories about cultures to the east of his home – still, nothing against Strassler’s translation, but I’d like to read a completely re-written account of the history of the Greek-Persian wars. I don’t have the ability to read it in the original Greek, but I didn’t find the prose particularly uplifting. What would The Histories sound like under the pen of Tom Wolfe, or of Guy Vanderhaeghe?

Give it the wit that Herodotus avoided, and put it on the iPad, and we’ve got a story our students would love.

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Image by bazylek100

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Top 5 Canadian Storytellers

December 14, 2009 By 1 Comment

My wife recently complained that Canadian Literature has really become like the Emperor’s New Clothes — we expect a book to be brilliant and then overlook the fact that many of these novels fail to tell a story at all. In contemporary literature, it appears fashionable to completely disregard the plot; authors seem caught up in a play of words that present a series of images which us readers are then expected to string together. These authors are more tricksters than guides. We’re expected to scratch our heads at the story and simply applaud the author’s erudite phrases; we’re expected to lead ourselves down the garden path.

Author David Adams Richards on Flickr

Where is the Robertson Davies or Mordecai Richler of today?

Well, for the record, here are my Top 5 Canadian authors that I happen to think are still doing an admirable job of telling our stories:

  1. Farley Mowat
  2. Wayne Johnston
  3. David Adams Richards
  4. Fred Stenson
  5. Stuart McLean

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Image by Canada Reads

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Reading Reflection: Batman, The Dark Knight Returns

December 6, 2009 By 2 Comments

batman_f_millerOur high school library has been increasing the number of graphic novels on its shelves and purchased Frank Miller’s Batman: The Dark Knight Returns just in time for my King Lear unit. As with The Watchmen, I find a lot of appropriate parallels to Shakespeare’s masterpiece, not the least of which is an aging figurehead unable to accept retirement, a power-struggle for the kingdom, and a lot of gratuitous violence.

While my students are creating multi-media presentations for their assigned King Lear scene, it helps to show them example pages from Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.

Alan Moore and Frank Miller have repeatedly proven to be ahead of their time; it seems incredible to me that their work was published in the mid-80s — the last great decade. The power and the fear, the hope and the despair, the tragedy and the comedy — it belongs in a Shakespeare unit, and it never disappoints the students.

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Reading Reflection: Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell

October 12, 2009 By Leave a Comment

A colleague placed this book in my hand saying, ‘This guy is brilliant! I love the way he thinks.” After reading Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, I couldn’t agree more.

Outliers is a book about why some people succeed: what factors beyond simply hard work and a high IQ lead to individual success. It’s a book about being in the right place at the right time, about what exactly that means, and about what type of individual is then prepared to catch that wave.

I found this book especially relevant to educators everywhere as it describes the advantages of being born early in the year, where children with early leads on their peers are selected for rep teams and gifted programs, and given extra opportunities to hone their skills. A blue print for the ambitious, Outliers describes too the importance of the 10,000 hour rule — hours of serious practice needed to become expert.

Educators will also be especially interested in Gladwell’s discussion of ‘entitlement’ — where middle class children gain an understanding of their right to pursue their preference. As Gladwell describes demographic luck, meaningful work, the importance of our cultural legacy, and more, Outliers makes an excellent case for the story of success being much larger than simply tales of individuals overcoming all odds to reach great heights.

I highly recommend Outliers to teachers everywhere, and hope myself to see my students in light of a much bigger picture in the future.

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Reading Reflection: iCon Steve Jobs

September 28, 2009 By 1 Comment

ICon-SteveJobs_CoverTwo years ago, I taught a Grade 12 Business Technology course and had my students choose a book from a list of options (shared below). Only having read half of the books on the list myself, I’ve been slowly picking away at the list since. Last week, I finally got around to reading iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business.

The book is coauthored by Jeffrey S. Young and William L. Simon and was published in 2005. I’m always skeptical about coauthored books, but am slightly more forgiving when it is a work of nonfiction. Still, I was interested to read their disclaimer in the appendices about the challenges of writing a book together, saved by this: ”We were lucky to find each other and discover a mutual fascination with Steve Jobs that spanned more than twenty years.”

Indeed, Steve Jobs is intriguing to anyone owning an Apple product, and this book was enlightening. Of course I’d heard rumours that he could be difficult to work with but I didn’t know that he was a vegetarian practicing Zen meditation and voting Democrat. I applauded the attitude towards television: “‘When you’re young, you look at television and think there’s a conspiracy. The networks have conspired to dumb us down.’ For Steve, television is the ‘most corrosive technology’ ever. He prefers technology that spurs him to interact and think, and he has spent his life giving the world computers that enhance exactly that.” (305)

It is still incredible to think that Steve Jobs was ever excused from the executive offices of Apple, and it truly has been a remarkable return. I enjoyed having students read this book, not only for the brief history that it provided of the personal computer industry, but also the realization that if at first they don’t succeed, they really should try and try again.

Incidentally, for anyone interested, here are the other biographies, leadership books, classics, and corporate histories my students were able to select:

  1. Winning, Jack Welch
  2. Talking Straight, Lee Iacocca
  3. The Road Ahead, Bill Gates
  4. Leadership, Rudi Giuliani
  5. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Patrick M. Lencioni
  6. The Leadership Challenge, James M. Kouzes
  7. First, Break All the Rules, Markus Buckingham
  8. Leadership is an Art, Max DePree
  9. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen R. Covey
  10. Good to Great, Jim Collins
  11. Freakonomics, Steven Levitt
  12. The World is Flat, Thomas L. Friedman
  13. The Wealthy Barber, David Chilton
  14. The Tipping Point and Blink, Malcolm Gladwell
  15. How to Win Friends & Influence People, Dale Carnegie
  16. Fast Food Nation, Eric Scholsser
  17. The Long Tail, Chris Anderson
  18. The HP Way, David Packard
  19. The Cult of iPod, Leander Kahney
  20. Apple Confidential 2.0, Owen Linzmayer
  21. Inside the Magic Kingdom, Thomas K. Connelian
  22. Made in America, Sam Walton
  23. Grinding it Out: The Making of McDonalds, Ray Kroc
  24. The Company of Adventurers, Peter C. Newman
  25. Secret Formula: Coca-Cola, the Best-Known Product in the World, Frederick L. Allen
  26. For God, Country, and Coca-Cola, Mark Pendergrast
  27. Always Fresh: The Untold Story of Tim Hortons, Ron Joyce

Do you have any favourite business books that students may enjoy?

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Shakespeare Club… #37: The Complete Works

September 2, 2009 By 4 Comments

So, the plan to meet with colleagues once a month to discuss a Shakespeare play over an Americano or a London Fog disintegrated. Actually, it first became something of a free-for-all, then a foot-race to the finish. Nevertheless, as I turn the final page on the summer holiday, I have turned the final page on the Bard’s Complete Works.

Over the past year, my colleagues and I managed to meet infrequently — more often in a swimming pool than at the Cafe — and had a lot of fun debating the merits and meanings of Shakespeare’s words. I would happily repeat this exercise of a Shakespeare book club with my colleagues in the future, especially if we would agree to skip King Henry VIII which surely is not the work of William Shakespeare. (Forgetting that there was considerable debate over the authorship of that particular play, I kept pausing from the reading of it to complain to my wife, “This just doesn’t feel like a Shakespeare play.”)

Shakespeare taught me something about the way I learn: my understanding of the text increased ten-fold if I created and maintained a visual map of the play as I read. Based on characters’ relationships and settings, I would chart an outline of each play to keep everything straight. I’ve always done this on the chalkboard for students to assist them with characters’ names, but I think I should give them the opportunity to create their own ‘chart’; many visual and spatial learners would perhaps organize it much differently.

I saved Cymbeline for last, remembering that Tennyson had a copy open on his lap when he died. This bit of trivia really struck me when I approached Act V, Scene IV and read of Posthumus’ readiness for death, “I am merrier to die than thou art to live.”

Perhaps our English department will repeat this exercise soon? Another Bard Book Club on the horizon?

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Reading Reflection: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

May 21, 2009 By 2 Comments

Based on others’ recommendations, I placed four novels that I had not previously read on the list of options for my Grade 12 University level students’ upcoming multi-genre assignment. Then I promptly began reading them in order to be well-informed before my students give their presentations and submit their papers.

Michael Chabon is probably one of the greatest authors in the world today, so I’m very glad to be introducing him to my Grade 12 class. His novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, fits well with my course’s theme of scripted identities, and the particular student that will be presenting this novel to the class just happens to have a penchant for card tricks and comic books! A perfect book for this semester!

I can see why the jacket summary would attract my Grade 12 students:

Joe Kavalier, a young Jewish artist who has also been trained in the art of Houdini-esque escape, has just smuggled himself out of Nazi-invaded Prague and landed in New York City. His Brooklyn cousin Sammy Clay is looking for a partner to create heroes, stories, and art for the latest novelty to hit America — the comic book. Drawing on their own fears and dreams, Kavalier and Clay creat the Escapist, the Monitor, and Luna Moth, inspired by the beautiful Rosa Saks, who will become linked by powerful ties to both men. With exhilarating style and grace, Michael Chabon tells an unforgettable story about American romance and possibility.

After reading the novel, I must say that there are a few things about the book that I hope my student’s paper can clear up for me:

  • who was the girl that Josef was hoping to/was afraid to run into? Why? (p. 40)
  • how exactly did Kavalier and Clay get a contract? (p. 161)
  • what exactly was the reason Josef became an escape artist? (p. 37)
  • where is Rosa going with rouge, eye-liner and perfume? (p. 519)
  • what is the history of the Golem? what is its purpose? (p. 14)
  • who is S.J. Perelman? an author?
  • what is the literary allusion being made with “Wakefield”? (p. 578)
  • what did early Superman comics (created by Joe Shuster) look like?

Chabon’s voice frequently reminds me of my all-time favourite author, Mordecai Richler. For example, in this passage from The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, I hear Richler’s humour:

Longman Harkoo, though he tried, was one of those people incapable, due to some abnormality of vision or comprehension, of following the movements of a magic act, the way some people go to baseball games and never manage to see the ball in flight; a towering home run is just ten thousand people craning their necks. (p. 335)

This dark and dry, Richler-esque humour of Chabon’s is hilarious and, in my opinion, is even more pronounced in his latest, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union.

I will always keep my eye out for new Michael Chabon titles. And it is possible that my entire Grade 12 class will too.

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100 Poems to Read Before University

May 20, 2009 By 4 Comments

As I’ve mentioned before, students considering an English Literature program at university should at least be familiar with Homer’s The Odyssey, several great Shakespeare plays, and The Bible. Of course, professors will assume a far greater familiarity with English literature so I recommend to my students that they at least read the following poems before departing high school. Some are childhood favourites, others are much more challenging. Nevertheless, it is from this list that my Grade 12 class selects a work for their upcoming poetry seminars.

I’m sure I’ve overlooked many. What would you cut? What would you add?

  1. Dover Beach, Matthew Arnold
  2. This is a Photograph of Me, Margaret Atwood
  3. David, Earle Birney
  4. The Chimney Sweep, William Blake
  5. The Lamb, William Blake
  6. The Shepherd, William Blake
  7. The Tyger, William Blake
  8. The Swing, George Bowering
  9. Five Ways to Kill a Man, Edwin Brock
  10. We Real Cool, Gwendolyn Brooks
  11. How Do I Love Thee, Elizabeth Barrett Browning
  12. My Last Duchess, Robert Browning
  13. Pippa’s Song, Robert Browning
  14. Porphyria’s Lover, Robert Browning
  15. My Heart’s in the Highlands, Robert Burns
  16. O My Luve’s Like a Red, Red Rose, Robert Burns
  17. To a Mouse, Robert Burns
  18. She Walks in Beauty, George Gordon, Lord Byron
  19. So, we’ll go no more a roving, George Gordon, Lord Byron
  20. Jabberwocky, Lewis Carroll
  21. The Walrus and the Carpenter, Lewis Carroll
  22. A Kite is a Victim, Leonard Cohen
  23. Kubla Khan, Samuel Taylor Coleridge
  24. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Taylor Coleridge
  25. Lilacs, Michael Crummey
  26. If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking, Emily Dickinson
  27. No Man Is an Island, John Donne
  28. maggie and milly and molly and may, e.e. cummings
  29. next to of course god america i, e.e. cummings
  30. The Hollow Men, T.S. Eliot
  31. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, T.S. Eliot
  32. The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, Edward Fitzgerald
  33. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, Robert Frost
  34. The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost
  35. The Fairies, Rose Fyleman
  36. Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Thomas Gray
  37. The Darkling Thrush, Thomas Hardy
  38. God’s Grandeur, Gerald Manley Hopkins
  39. Summer Night, Langston Hughes
  40. The Song My Paddle Sings, E. Pauline Johnson
  41. La Belle Dame Sans Merci, John Keats
  42. Ode on a Grecian Urn, John Keats
  43. Ode to a Nightingale, John Keats
  44. On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer, John Keats
  45. If — , Rudyard Kipling
  46. Temagami, Archibald Lampman
  47. Piano, D.H. Lawrence
  48. The Jumblies, Edward Lear
  49. The Owl and the Pussy-Cat, Edward Lear
  50. Shooting the Sun, Amy Lowell
  51. A Day in June, James Russell Lowell
  52. High Flight, John Gillespie Magee
  53. To His Coy Mistress, Andrew Marvell
  54. Sea-Fever, John Masefield
  55. In Flanders Fields, John McCrae
  56. When Dawn Comes to the City, Claude McKay
  57. On His Blindness, John Milton
  58. The Highwayman, Alfred Noyes
  59. Anthem for Doomed Youth, Wilfred Owen
  60. Dulce Et Decorum Est, Wilfred Owen
  61. Crossing the Water, Sylvia Plath
  62. Annabel Lee, Edgar Allan Poe
  63. The Raven, Edgar Allan Poe
  64. Ode on Solitude, Alexander Pope
  65. Towards the Last Spike, E.J. Pratt
  66. The Shark, E.J. Pratt
  67. Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers, Adrienne Rich
  68. The Clearing, Sir Charles G.D. Roberts
  69. The Solitary Woodsman, Sir Charles G.D. Roberts
  70. Song, Christina Rossetti
  71. Who Has Seen the Wind?, Christina Rossetti
  72. Fog, Carl Sandburg
  73. Laurentian Shield, F.R. Scott
  74. W.L.M.K., F.R. Scott
  75. The Cremation of Sam McGee, Robert Service
  76. The Shooting of Dan McGrew, Robert Service
  77. Shall I Compare Thee (Sonnet 18), William Shakespeare
  78. Ode to the West Wind, Percy Bysshe Shelley
  79. Ozymandias, Percy Bysshe Shelley
  80. Crossing the Bar, Alfred, Lord Tennyson
  81. The Charge of the Light Brigade, Alfred, Lord Tennyson
  82. The Eagle, Alfred, Lord Tennyson
  83. The Lady of Shalott, Alfred, Lord Tennyson
  84. Ulysses, Alfred, Lord Tennyson
  85. Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night, Dylan Thomas
  86. Fern Hill, Dylan Thomas
  87. Give Me the Splendid Silent Sun, Walt Whitman
  88. I Hear America Singing, Walt Whitman
  89. O Captain! My Captain!, Walt Whitman
  90. When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer, Walt Whitman
  91. The Red Wheelbarrow, William Carlos Williams
  92. Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, William Wordsworth
  93. Composed upon Westminster Bridge, William Wordsworth
  94. She dwelt among the untrodden ways, William Wordsworth
  95. The Daffodils, William Wordsworth
  96. The Solitary Reaper, William Wordsworth
  97. Sailing to Byzantium, William Butler Yeats
  98. Song of the Wandering Aengus, William Butler Yeats
  99. The Lake Isle of Innisfree, William Butler Yeats
  100. Fear of the Landscape, Ian Young
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