The List of the Most Often-assigned English Works Today...
Talk George Macy devotees
Join LibraryThing to post.
This topic is currently marked as "dormant"—the last message is more than 90 days old. You can revive it by posting a reply.
1Django6924
...in USA universities, from in a recent article in the Washington Post newspaper, are nothing startling for LEC fans. Considering the Macy family sold the businesses almost a half-century ago, universities are still leaning heavily on the same works that appeared as LECs or HP books. The prestigious Ivy League schools in particular could provide virtually all of their most-assigned books from the LEC:
1. Canterbury Tales
2. Paradise Lost
3. Persuasion
4. The Faerie Queen
5. Hamlet
6. The Spanish Tragedy
7. Heart of Darkness
8. Jude the Obscure
9. Twelfth Night
10. Frankenstein
The single exception not in the Macy canon is Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy, the pre-Shakespeare play that did much to establish the style of Elizabethan and Jacobean tragedy. A bit of a surprise to see it trump the plays of a much greater pre-Shakespeare playwright, Christopher Marlowe, but perhaps its historical importance outweighs Marlowe's superior literary and dramatic skill.
Indeed, this list is virtually identical to the most-assigned English works from a half-century ago when I was a student, although Persuasion has replaced Sense and Sensibility among the core works.
1. Canterbury Tales
2. Paradise Lost
3. Persuasion
4. The Faerie Queen
5. Hamlet
6. The Spanish Tragedy
7. Heart of Darkness
8. Jude the Obscure
9. Twelfth Night
10. Frankenstein
The single exception not in the Macy canon is Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy, the pre-Shakespeare play that did much to establish the style of Elizabethan and Jacobean tragedy. A bit of a surprise to see it trump the plays of a much greater pre-Shakespeare playwright, Christopher Marlowe, but perhaps its historical importance outweighs Marlowe's superior literary and dramatic skill.
Indeed, this list is virtually identical to the most-assigned English works from a half-century ago when I was a student, although Persuasion has replaced Sense and Sensibility among the core works.
2cpg
The list looks substantially different for universities in general. For example, Jude the Obscure is 768th overall. Also, this list seems to have been primarily compiled by scraping publicly-accessible course materials. I stopped posting my course materials online in 2003. Online course materials get stolen by sites like CourseHero.
3astropi
Along those lines, you might enjoy this (although it's not a great article by any stretch of the imagination, but nevertheless interesting):
“Are the Great Books the Moral Heart of Liberal Education?” with a decisive “no.”
http://thedartmouth.com/2012/02/17/prof-discusses-role-of-great-books/
“Are the Great Books the Moral Heart of Liberal Education?” with a decisive “no.”
http://thedartmouth.com/2012/02/17/prof-discusses-role-of-great-books/
4JustinTChan
>1 Django6924:
If the point is to convince the average student that literature is an unbreakable
code which may be decrypted, but never understood, that's the list.
Not criticizing the works themselves, some of which I love, but subjecting the unwilling products of our public education
system to 'The Faerie Queene' is just unrealistic (and cruel).
A much better list would be composed entirely of foreign language works translated into a clean, contemporary English.
The above list could then be assigned to French, Chinese, Indian students, etc. in equally accessible translations.
If the point is to convince the average student that literature is an unbreakable
code which may be decrypted, but never understood, that's the list.
Not criticizing the works themselves, some of which I love, but subjecting the unwilling products of our public education
system to 'The Faerie Queene' is just unrealistic (and cruel).
A much better list would be composed entirely of foreign language works translated into a clean, contemporary English.
The above list could then be assigned to French, Chinese, Indian students, etc. in equally accessible translations.
5dlphcoracl
>4 JustinTChan:
Making someone in high school read Spenser's 'The Faerie Queene' is unconstitutional and should be considered "cruel and unusual punishment".
Making someone in high school read Spenser's 'The Faerie Queene' is unconstitutional and should be considered "cruel and unusual punishment".
6Django6924
>4 JustinTChan: >5 dlphcoracl:
These are works assigned to university students, not in the secondary schools, and assigned at the most prestigious and most expensive universities in the USA, so they would not really be "unwilling."
These are works assigned to university students, not in the secondary schools, and assigned at the most prestigious and most expensive universities in the USA, so they would not really be "unwilling."
7LolaWalser
What I take from that list is that the nefarious liberal cabal of feminists, communists and homosexuals supposedly reigning supreme at the US institutions of higher learning is oddly inefficient in undermining Western civilization as we know it. ;)
8booksforreading
>7 LolaWalser:
Why such aggressive, denying-appeals tone?
You do realize that several members of this forum work in higher education, so why use an offensive tone, when your opinion could be expressed in a less aggressive way? I usually respect your points of view, and I realize that you probably have some experience in US high education, plus you have already mentioned in the past that you have some data that supports you strong stance; however, in my opinion, expressing your views about others’ establishments in such facts-stating attacking tone, does not show high culture of the person who expresses such views, even in a form of a joke.
I am originally not from the USA, and, due to the nature of my work, I travel frequently to many places around the world, including Europe. In my observation, people in Europe are the only ones to willingly volunteer to tell me and to go on and on about total absence of culture in the USA and how civilized Europe is comparing to America. And, all it displays to me is total absence of elemental culture and civilization in such speakers. I also observed that more than half of such critics are wishing to live in America for some strange reason.
Just a food for thought…
Why such aggressive, denying-appeals tone?
You do realize that several members of this forum work in higher education, so why use an offensive tone, when your opinion could be expressed in a less aggressive way? I usually respect your points of view, and I realize that you probably have some experience in US high education, plus you have already mentioned in the past that you have some data that supports you strong stance; however, in my opinion, expressing your views about others’ establishments in such facts-stating attacking tone, does not show high culture of the person who expresses such views, even in a form of a joke.
I am originally not from the USA, and, due to the nature of my work, I travel frequently to many places around the world, including Europe. In my observation, people in Europe are the only ones to willingly volunteer to tell me and to go on and on about total absence of culture in the USA and how civilized Europe is comparing to America. And, all it displays to me is total absence of elemental culture and civilization in such speakers. I also observed that more than half of such critics are wishing to live in America for some strange reason.
Just a food for thought…
9LolaWalser
>8 booksforreading:
I firmly deny any "aggression" on my part, but can't answer, of course, for what you choose to hear--or choose to impute to me.
I was (and am) most of all amused. Amused by the discrepancy in what the list in #1 implies, and the frequent jeremiads that have taken place in this neighbourhood about what damage the "liberals", feminists, gays, "PC" martinets etc. have wrought on American education.
I've never noticed your handle before (certainly I don't remember "it" taking part in any previous discussions, including those about education) and as I can't be sure you're not a sock-puppet, I opt to cease all communication with you from this post onward, because YOUR post is in fact an act of aggression masquerading as "concern".
P.S. I see you have zero books catalogued, and as I said, I don't recall coming across your posts before. So I wonder whether you're familiar enough with the site to know this: there's a "Ignore this user" feature on everyone's Profile. I suggest you place me on "Ignore"--it will hide my posts from you; you will be spared their "aggression", and I will--I hope--be spared your interventions.
I firmly deny any "aggression" on my part, but can't answer, of course, for what you choose to hear--or choose to impute to me.
I was (and am) most of all amused. Amused by the discrepancy in what the list in #1 implies, and the frequent jeremiads that have taken place in this neighbourhood about what damage the "liberals", feminists, gays, "PC" martinets etc. have wrought on American education.
I've never noticed your handle before (certainly I don't remember "it" taking part in any previous discussions, including those about education) and as I can't be sure you're not a sock-puppet, I opt to cease all communication with you from this post onward, because YOUR post is in fact an act of aggression masquerading as "concern".
P.S. I see you have zero books catalogued, and as I said, I don't recall coming across your posts before. So I wonder whether you're familiar enough with the site to know this: there's a "Ignore this user" feature on everyone's Profile. I suggest you place me on "Ignore"--it will hide my posts from you; you will be spared their "aggression", and I will--I hope--be spared your interventions.
10booksforreading
>9 LolaWalser:
I have some friends in higher education who are feminists and homosexuals, and I never question or think about who they are and what their inclinations are. They are brilliant professionals in their fields and great human beings, and I see them for who they are, not for what they can be labeled by others. Such attitude is not better than racism.
I have some friends in higher education who are feminists and homosexuals, and I never question or think about who they are and what their inclinations are. They are brilliant professionals in their fields and great human beings, and I see them for who they are, not for what they can be labeled by others. Such attitude is not better than racism.
11Constantinopolitan
>7 LolaWalser: Well Lola, I thought that your post (and others that you have made) were amusing and where necessary trenchant.
If opinions run contrary to our own, as long as they are well expressed and argued, why should we object?
If opinions run contrary to our own, as long as they are well expressed and argued, why should we object?
Join to post
