Literary Scarring

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

I think they do that because the kids whine about writing essays. Which, really, is the only way to test how well you can criticize literature. You could have mutiple choice or short answer, but that's really only going to test whether you read the book (or at least the Cliff's Notes).

So that's a teacher problem. Cursed teachers! Give me essays!

[Tekiel]

Wow, I guess I was in a unique situation.  I don't remember hating any English-assigned books that, if read on my own, I wouldn't have hated anyways.  I guess that's cause I never took the books very seriously.  If it was bad, I'd probably read the "notes" on it and answer the questions as my teacher wanted them answered.  Why should I care if I didn't like the book anyways?  If it was good, I'd add it to my library and not care what the teacher thought of it (aside from getting the right answers on a test).  

On a side note, I started reading Lord of the Flies for fun as a freshman.  I didn't know the plot of the story, but if you just read the first part without any comparison or analysis, it's a really good story.  I finished the second half as a senior, but by then I had good memories of the book.  Strangely, even after all the analysis of it, I like that book.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Humm. I don't think I've ever had a book ruined for me. There are a couple books I read in classes that I didn't like (Wuthering Heights, A Thousand Acres), but I think I wouldn't have liked those anyway. And other books I've read in classes I have enjoyed.

But still I don't like literary criticism. The classes that turned me off on literary criticism failed to turn me off on books.

[fuzzyoctopus]

Ditto on a lot of that.  Books make sense. Literary criticism is nuts.