10hp - CLASS BOOK SELECTION

Hey again,

I decided that the following books have elicited the most interest among students:

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov*
100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess*

I also want to throw the following out there, as personal suggestions:

The Road by Cormac McCarthy*
White Noise by Don DeLillo
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller


All in all, this is a fantastic list of books.  Excepting A Clockwork Orange, all are literary masterpieces in their own right.  Clockwork is no less important or interesting than the others--it is a deeply pervasive, seminal work, and is arguably as famous as any book published in the 20th century.

The books marked in an asterisk (*) will require parental permission from ALL students in order to be considered a book we read in class.

Lolita presents some challenges and some advantages.  It deals with a man, Humbert Humbert, who writes from prison the story of how he seduces his 14-year-old stepdaughter.  The novel contains nothing graphically or explicitly sexual--if anything, this Humbert considers himself far too intellectual to describe his sexual encounters in anything less than the most delicate, poetic prose.  In fact, of all the books on this list, Lolita offers students the opportunity to read the words of Nabokov, whom I consider to be the finest prose stylist of the 20th century.  Anyone who reads it will emerge a sharper thinker, and a better writer.

The Road also presents some challenges due to the graphic violence depicted within.  I don't want to spoil any plot details, but do know that there are scenes within the book that would make even a heartless murderer cringe.  That said, the novel is about as emotionally moving as novels can get.  You will need a full box of tissues when you turn the final page.  A profound experience to read.


A Clockwork Orange is just as graphic, and adds a vicious rape scene as well.

So what do we do, if indeed these books are chosen?

Well, a few years back I taught The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.  That story deals with rape as well, and I allowed students to not read certain sections of the book that might be considered offensive (they would know from a summary in class).  In teaching any of these books, I would make sure that students were aware ahead of time of any scenes they might come across that could offend the sensibilities.

That said, if any parent or student SERIOUSLY OBJECT to the teaching of these books, I would like to know from you firsthand: email me at msurrago@smmusd.org and let me know what you think.  None of these books, in my opinion (or in the opinion of the literary establishment) are obscene.  They treat their subjects with reverence and respect--violence and sex are used as a means to an end to prove a much larger point about human nature, society, and so on.  However, I would be doing a disservice to all should I not expound upon the contents of these books up front.

So do let me know what you think.  Voting begins the day we get back, and permission slips go out then.