Comments on: Book Smarts http://tomatonation.com/culture-and-criticism/book-smarts/ better red than dead Sat, 11 Feb 2012 18:11:39 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Amanda http://tomatonation.com/culture-and-criticism/book-smarts/comment-page-1/#comment-65358 Amanda Sun, 12 Dec 2010 05:23:03 +0000 http://tomatonation.com/?p=569#comment-65358 Revisiting this after a semester that filled a lot of my reading gaps. I'm not sure what makes one "well read," either, what the magic cutoff is; I read more in English because I've spoken it my whole life, but the volume of "important" Spanish literature I've consumed en route to a B.A. is substantial. So which language am I better read in? Don't know. Hard to tell. Just some suggestions for people looking to be well-read and using this piece as a starting point. I actually would highly recommend reading at least one Aristophanes. Richmond Lattimore's translation of <i>The Frogs</i>, which can be found in <i>Four Comedies</i>, is legitimately hilarious, and you can read the <i>Lysistrata</i> in the same edition if you like. It's also good to know some Plautus, I think -- he was extremely important in his time and influenced much later theatre, including Shakespeare. No need to read it if you don't want to; watch <i>A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum</i> instead. It's a combination of <i>Miles Gloriosus</i> and <i>Pseudolus</i> and a third minor work. I read <i>Paradise Lost</i> this semester. I agree: read it. Read the SparkNotes with it if you have to -- I did -- but read it. It's actually really good and it's become almost as important as the Bible in church teaching since it was written. No one reads it, but they should. If you read one Spanish text, try to read the <i>Quijote</i>. I've never read an English translation, but I'll bet the Norton is fine; for Spanish, I have the Vintage Español. The novel's influence is vast -- language, art, film, theatre, music, you name it. Hell, Spanish is referred to as "<i>la lengua de Cervantes</i>." You survived Shakespeare? Read the <i>Quijote</i>. If you can't tolerate masochism, read a book about the book. No one will blame you for that. It is long and bizarre. I like it, but I had a professor whose enthusiasm for it was so strong that you couldn't hate it even if you tried while reading it with him. I guess that's all I'd add, and stress the point about just reading. Even if we were all as fortunate as Milton and got to spend six years <i>after</i> college doing nothing but studying and writing while our parents supported us, we'd never read everything. Also, just for hilarity: I can count on one hand the novels I've read from between 1600 and 1900, but I need two hands just to count up the Faulkners. Eight, friends. Eight. I know more people in Yoknapatawpha County than I know in my own town. I need to get out more. Revisiting this after a semester that filled a lot of my reading gaps. I'm not sure what makes one "well read," either, what the magic cutoff is; I read more in English because I've spoken it my whole life, but the volume of "important" Spanish literature I've consumed en route to a B.A. is substantial. So which language am I better read in? Don't know. Hard to tell.

Just some suggestions for people looking to be well-read and using this piece as a starting point.

I actually would highly recommend reading at least one Aristophanes. Richmond Lattimore's translation of The Frogs, which can be found in Four Comedies, is legitimately hilarious, and you can read the Lysistrata in the same edition if you like. It's also good to know some Plautus, I think — he was extremely important in his time and influenced much later theatre, including Shakespeare. No need to read it if you don't want to; watch A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum instead. It's a combination of Miles Gloriosus and Pseudolus and a third minor work.

I read Paradise Lost this semester. I agree: read it. Read the SparkNotes with it if you have to — I did — but read it. It's actually really good and it's become almost as important as the Bible in church teaching since it was written. No one reads it, but they should.

If you read one Spanish text, try to read the Quijote. I've never read an English translation, but I'll bet the Norton is fine; for Spanish, I have the Vintage Español. The novel's influence is vast — language, art, film, theatre, music, you name it. Hell, Spanish is referred to as "la lengua de Cervantes." You survived Shakespeare? Read the Quijote. If you can't tolerate masochism, read a book about the book. No one will blame you for that. It is long and bizarre. I like it, but I had a professor whose enthusiasm for it was so strong that you couldn't hate it even if you tried while reading it with him.

I guess that's all I'd add, and stress the point about just reading. Even if we were all as fortunate as Milton and got to spend six years after college doing nothing but studying and writing while our parents supported us, we'd never read everything.

Also, just for hilarity: I can count on one hand the novels I've read from between 1600 and 1900, but I need two hands just to count up the Faulkners. Eight, friends. Eight. I know more people in Yoknapatawpha County than I know in my own town. I need to get out more.

]]> By: JB http://tomatonation.com/culture-and-criticism/book-smarts/comment-page-1/#comment-54200 JB Fri, 23 Apr 2010 04:34:03 +0000 http://tomatonation.com/?p=569#comment-54200 Stumbling across this nearly a decade after this was written... as a fellow English major myself, I have similar gaps in my education. I have read Kate Chopin's <i>The Awakening</i> no fewer than four times (and by the fourth time I was ready for Edna to hurry up and drown already). I know too much information about Hemingway's sex life, have read the most painfully obscure Shakespearean comedies (<i>Troilus and Cressida, anyone?</i>) explained to a study group of freshman that John Donne had essentially invented the "nice shoes, wanna..." pickup line, and the fact that you can sing every Emily Dickinson poem to the tune of the Gilligan's Island theme song, but at the same time, I have huge gaps in my education, such as never having read any of the Greeks or Romans... in fact, outside of some postcolonial literature, my education was very American and British centered. Stumbling across this nearly a decade after this was written… as a fellow English major myself, I have similar gaps in my education. I have read Kate Chopin's The Awakening no fewer than four times (and by the fourth time I was ready for Edna to hurry up and drown already). I know too much information about Hemingway's sex life, have read the most painfully obscure Shakespearean comedies (Troilus and Cressida, anyone?) explained to a study group of freshman that John Donne had essentially invented the "nice shoes, wanna…" pickup line, and the fact that you can sing every Emily Dickinson poem to the tune of the Gilligan's Island theme song, but at the same time, I have huge gaps in my education, such as never having read any of the Greeks or Romans… in fact, outside of some postcolonial literature, my education was very American and British centered.

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