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Hi, all. I'm planning out my syllabus and am trying to figure out which
single-author text to use. I haven't read all the books on the list, so
I'm interested to hear why other people chose the texts they chose. I
want a text that is reasonably accessible to EW 4 students and not too
long...so I picked up a copy of Ehrenreich's <i>Bait and Switch</i> in
the hopes that it would fit the bill. I'm about halfway through, and
it's not really grabbing me. It doesn't quite seem to do what it sets
out to do, but I can't say that for sure until I am finished.<br>
<br>
I'm also torn between nonfiction and fiction.<br>
<br>
A few thoughts about the other texts:<br>
<br>
I read <i>The Jungle</i> when I was much younger, and I loved it then.
I don't know how I feel about it now. It seems a little long for EW 4;
I'd like to assign the reading over a week and a half or maybe two
weeks. (The book is bloody depressing, but I used to love stuff like
that; <i>Germinal </i>used to be a particular favorite of mine.
Still, I don't know what EW 4 students will get out of it.)<br>
<br>
I read <i>Death of a Salesman</i> many years ago--in high school, I
believe--and I tend to think of it as a high-school text. I know that
it's a classic, but I don't care for it much and am not thrilled about
the idea of teaching a text that I can't feel fairly enthusiastic
about. I also don't like reading plays; I would rather watch them. It's
fairly short, however, and would fit well into the time period that I'm
carving out for it.<br>
<br>
Of the Thoreau, I've taught "Civil Disobedience" in 1B and am quite
fond of it. However, even my 1B students seem to consider it a bit of a
slog. I suspect that a lot of them rely on the Sparks Notes, but that
does not help them much when they have to write an essay on it. I have
only read excerpts from <i>Walden</i> and found it rather irritating,
but perhaps it is worth a second look. I wouldn't want to assign only
"Civil Disobedience," so I would likely go with both works or with <i>Walden</i>
only, since the latter seems to speak to this year's CHASS topic.<br>
<br>
I haven't read Orwell's <i>Down and out in Paris and London</i>. I
know nothing about it. Perhaps I should try Wikipedia. Comments,
anyone? (About the book, not the Wikipedia reference.)<br>
<br>
I would appreciate any feedback you have to offer; I don't want to wait
till orientation week to make my decision. I hate the last-minute
approach and much prefer to have time to read and reread a text and
mull it over before I even decide to teach it. Yes, I am one of those
people. After all, it took me twenty years to decide to transition. <span
class="moz-smiley-s4"><span> :-P </span></span><br>
<br>
Thanks in advance,<br>
Benedict Jones<br>
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