Re: Best last lines

William December Starr <wdstarr@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> In article <X4kEj.1928$qT6.673@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
> "Mike Schilling" <mscottschilling@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> said:
> 
>> I still don't know what books you're talking about.  Hemingway?
>> Fitzgerald?  Steinbeck? Mailer?  Bellow?  Roth? McCarthy?  Chabon?
>> Best-sellers all.  Twain?  Dickens?  Poe?  Beloved by the common
>> reader.
> 
> Can, for many of those, the clause "in their time" be appended?

In case you didn't mean this already, I'd say "in their context" is 
also im****tant.  As one example, Dickens was an extremely popular 
writer in his time, but for modern readers, some of his works require 
some context of his times to fully appreciate them.

As to the rest of this interesting discussion, here are some 
general points that could be inserted just about anywhere:

- Given the wide variety of subject matter and styles, it would 
  be the rare person indeed who liked every classic shoved upon 
  them in school.

- Reading for school almost always has associated work that 
  most people do not enjoy (or at least are not interested in)
  doing.  This can lessen the enjoyment of reading, no matter
  how much you'd have enjoyed something if reading it on your 
  own.
 
- There are reasons the classics are the classics, and they
  usually represent great examples of whatever-it-is that the 
  teachers want to get across.  Regardless of the entertainment
  value of the book, what they want to get across may or may not 
  be of interest.  Readers having to focus on stuff that's far 
  less interesting to them are likely not to enjoy reading that 
  work as much.

- The classics are also so well-known and so well-vetted that 
  the teachers/schools don't have to do a lot of thinking about 
  possibly different choices.  Add in that literature choices 
  can be controversial in school systems, and it's little wonder 
  that the same works are chosen over and over again.

- Developing critical/analytical reading skills is im****tant,
  and is one of the main goals of the exercise.  I don't think
  anyone could pick a body of literature that would make this 
  easier or more fun for everybody.

- There are far more grade-school teachers who enjoy English/reading 
  than there are who enjoy mathematics.  This clearly plays a role in 
  how the these disciplines are presented and how they are perceived.

Tony