Every literature lessons are the same – you always learn only about classic books. In USA/England – Shakespeare, in Poland – Mickiewicz, in Germany – Goethe, etc.
BOOOOORING!
Maybe not for everyone. Some people like classics, some horrors, some romance, some fantasy etc. So why we torture our kids with only classic books? If it would heal people, then obviously it should be teach, but most books are made for entertainment.
We should teach our kids about all genres
They should learn about world and the best way is to show them a piece of everything, so they can decide where they want to belong, how to live their live.
I think… EKHM! I THINK! On the literature lessons teachers should give us a piece of text of every genre. For example fantasy and sci-fi and we should tell the difference between these two.
Let me show you. Below you will find two texts of:
Fantasy vs. sci-fi
The stars were out in a dark sky above the trees. He thought of the jewels of the dwarves shining in dark caverns. Suddenly in the wood beyond The Water a flame leapt up—probably somebody lighting a wood-fire—and he thought of plundering dragons settling on his quiet Hill and kindling it all to flames. He shuddered; and very quickly he was plain Mr. Baggins of Bag-End, Under-Hill, again.
***
Vogon Constructor Fleets. Here is what to do if you want to get a lift from a Vogon: forget it. They are one of the most unpleasant races in the Galaxy—not actually evil, but bad-tempered, officious and callous. They wouldn’t even lift a finger to save their own grandmothers from the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal without orders signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public inquiry, queried, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighters.
This was simple right?
The first text obviously is fantasy book (The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien) and the second one is sci-fi (The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams).
NOW
Can you tell the difference between steampunk and futuristic?
Steampunk vs. futuristic
Deryn hadn’t realized the whale could be such a clever-boots, adapting to the new engines so quickly. And she’d never seen an airship move this fast. The pursuing zeppelins—some of them small, nippy interceptors— were already falling behind.
***
I, on the other hand, am a finished product. I absorb electrical energy directly and utilize it with an almost one hundred percent efficiency. I am composed of strong metal, am continuously conscious, and can stand extremes of environment easily. These are facts which, with the self-evident proposition that no being can create another being superior to itself, smashes your silly hypothesis to nothing.
These two are very similar, yet so different. The first text is classic steampunk book Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld, the second one futuristic I, Robot by Isaac Asimov. Both genres can have robots and some experiments, but futuristic is a modern world with a lot of holograms, androids, new technology and steampunk is the world inspired by 19th-century industrial steam-powered machinery, British Victorian era (shortly – lot of steam, machinery and zeppelins).
Thriller vs. horror
This time only one text, but a little longer:
It was in the blue room where stood the prince, with a group of pale courtiers by his side. At first, as he spoke, there was a slight rushing movement of this group in the direction of the intruder, who at the moment was also near at hand, and now, with deliberate and stately step, made closer approach to the speaker. But from a certain nameless awe with which the mad assumptions of the mummer had inspired the whole party, there were found none who put forth hand to seize him; so that, unimpeded, he passed within a yard of the prince’s person; and, while the vast assembly, as if with one impulse, shrank from the centres of the rooms to the walls, he made his way uninterruptedly, but with the same solemn and measured step which had distinguished him from the first, through the blue chamber to the purple –through the purple to the green –through the green to the orange –through this again to the white –and even thence to the violet, ere a decided movement had been made to arrest him. It was then, however, that the Prince Prospero, maddening with rage and the shame of his own momentary cowardice, rushed hurriedly through the six chambers, while none followed him on account of a deadly terror that had seized upon all. He bore aloft a drawn dagger, and had approached, in rapid impetuosity, to within three or four feet of the retreating figure, when the latter, having attained the extremity of the velvet apartment, turned suddenly and confronted his pursuer. There was a sharp cry –and the dagger dropped gleaming upon the sable carpet, upon which, instantly afterwards, fell prostrate in death the Prince Prospero. Then, summoning the wild courage of despair, a throng of the revellers at once threw themselves into the black apartment, and, seizing the mummer, whose tall figure stood erect and motionless within the shadow of the ebony clock, gasped in unutterable horror at finding the grave-cerements and corpse-like mask which they handled with so violent a rudeness, untenanted by any tangible form.
And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall. And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.
Oh, you thought it would be easy? Hella no! Not with our good fella Edgar Allan Poe! Sometimes the details decide about genre. Here the killer isn’t a human, isn’t even a living being. Poe’s works are very hard to read and to understand, but a good horror should have that kind element of surprise, that you leave the book with shaky hands and have a sleepless night. AND the difference between horror and thriller is quite simple – horror must be horrified, thriller must have thrill (and mostly thrillers are only about stalking, chasing and killing [and blondes, oh god, how much murders love blond girls, like OMG, gotta kill these blondes]).
Of course for the literature lessons these texts should be longer (maybe 1 or 2 pages) with more characteristic signs of genres. We shouldn’t forgot about the fact, that one book can belong to a lot of genres, like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which belongs to the comedy too. BUT some genres can’t be mixed, like thriller and horror, comedy and drama, steampunk and futuristic.
There’s a lot of examples for this. It depends on you – will the kids in school learn about genres? Or we want to stay in the shadows of the past? And I’m curious, what classic books/authors you learn in school in your country? Do you like classic books?
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