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Post by housesparrow on Apr 8, 2011 7:35:48 GMT
From the Telegraph:
The best way for children to learn about the world is through classic works of literature, says Jenny McCartney.
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Children have a powerful instinct for intrigue and adventure, and the cruel, rampantly uncertain world beyond the family home: they can find it all in our classic literature, wrapped up in some of the finest prose in the English language. Indeed, we are all hard-wired for gossip, but its status is often a matter of context. If you refer casually to Pepys’s sexual fumblings with his maidservant Deb, you are a literary savant; speak of John Prescott’s affair with his diary secretary, and you are a political historian; talk of Jude Law’s fling with his nanny, and you are an avid reader of Heat magazine. The nub of the topic is much the same – the inability of a successful older man to resist the illicit charms of a younger woman – but its treatment is radically different. Yet Pepys’s diaries give us the flavour of the time, as well as the troubling and moving detail of marital betrayal, anger and eventual reconciliation. The modern equivalent, told in a gossip magazine, is likely to be garnished with expressions like “OMG!” and “in the doghouse”.
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Post by aubrey on Apr 8, 2011 21:01:07 GMT
Better written gossip.
Kids will find it in their own time. But they had better be able to get hold of a version that isn't cut; I can't think what The Telegraph whould say if children were able to read uncut Pepys at school.
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Post by trubble on Apr 10, 2011 8:27:00 GMT
You can't beat Dickens for kids. Dickens and Blyton, that's all you need.
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Post by Weyland on Apr 10, 2011 8:37:34 GMT
You can't beat Dickens for kids. Dickens and Blyton, that's all you need. Not enough vitamins for modern life. Needs to be topped up with a stiff dose of Salander. ~ Q: Why do elephants have big ears? A: Noddy won't pay the ransom. |
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Post by everso on Apr 10, 2011 16:57:57 GMT
You can't beat Dickens for kids. Dickens and Blyton, that's all you need. You are entirely and utterly correct. Although I would add that for young kids an expergated version of Dickens' novels would be best (can't think that a youngster would be able to get into A Tale of Two Cities that easily. I remember reading one of David Copperfield when I was young and it really had a powerful effect on me. Similarly Jane Eyre (not Dickens of course, but Charlotte Bronte) My daughter was an Enid Blyton fan and read just about everything of hers - she especially loved the Mallory Towers novels. When we recently sorted out our attic we found her Enid Blyton books and when she paid us a visit she spent some while going through them, reliving her childhood. |
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Post by Weyland on Apr 10, 2011 17:37:13 GMT
You can't beat Dickens for kids. Dickens and Blyton, that's all you need. You are entirely and utterly correct. But Enid, by all accounts including her daughter's, was a nasty piece of work. There was a TV biography a year or two ago. Not nice at all. And her daughter's comments were mentioned again on R4 today – can't remember the context. Selfish, lying, evasive, unameit.  |
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Post by aubrey on Apr 10, 2011 18:24:54 GMT
Doesn't matter Weyland. Her books do the trick.
I much prefer Charles Hamilton, though:
"... I say, you fellows, it's pretty sickening having a burglar for a form master -"
"You fat duffer!"
"It's time he was run in," said Bunter. "That man's no gentleman, you fellows! He doubts a fellow's word!"
"Ha, ha, ha!"
"Blessed if I can see anything to cackle at. Practically called me a liar!" said Bunter indignantly. "I told him he was a cad!"
"You told Steele?" ejaculated Bob Cherry.
"Yes - and so he is! Doubting a fellow's word - making a fellow out to be a liar!" said Bunter warmly. "Caddish, if you like. I said 'You beastly cad!' Just like that!"
"To Steele?" yelled Johnny Bull.
"Yes."
"And what did he do?"
"Nothing. I-I didn't say it until I was outside the study," explained Bunter. "I thought I'd better not let him hear."
"You fat idiot!"
"Oh, really, Cherry!..."
(CH wrote under the name Frank Richards, as well as maybe 50 others.)
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Post by riotgrrl on Apr 10, 2011 19:31:41 GMT
My daughters were raised with all the classics - 'Trainspotting' by Irvine Welsh was always a particular favourite with them when they were young.
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Post by Weyland on Apr 10, 2011 21:21:04 GMT
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Post by everso on Apr 11, 2011 22:14:59 GMT
My favourite character was Hurree Jamset Ram Singh.
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Post by everso on Apr 11, 2011 22:17:54 GMT
You are entirely and utterly correct. But Enid, by all accounts including her daughter's, was a nasty piece of work. There was a TV biography a year or two ago. Not nice at all. And her daughter's comments were mentioned again on R4 today – can't remember the context. Selfish, lying, evasive, unameit. Her stories were wonderful and encouraged my daughter's love of reading - even to this day, with twins and another baby on the way, she still finds time to read a lot. Lots of authors had bad reputations but that doesn't detract from their ability to enthrall. |
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Post by housesparrow on Apr 12, 2011 8:23:02 GMT
My daughters were raised with all the classics - 'Trainspotting' by Irvine Welsh was always a particular favourite with them when they were young.  When I was about 12 my brother gave me Steinbeck's Cannery Row to read. I loved the characters and vowed to grow up an idle bum. |
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Post by Weyland on Apr 12, 2011 8:41:22 GMT
When I was about 12 my brother gave me Steinbeck's Cannery Row to read. I loved the characters and vowed to grow up an idle bum. That is a most wonderful read, and it led me to read another brilliant book by Steinbeck — The Log from the Sea of Cortez. It's non-fiction, about a scientific trip around the Gulf of California with the real Doc from Cannery Row. You'll love it. I worked with a British woman at IBM who had also worked a year or two in California and lived in Monterey for the duration, directly because it was the model for the Row. I love visiting places used in books. The only other I writer I can think of who can match Steinbeck's descriptive writing and sheer effortless ability to paint a picture is Ray Bradbury, also a native of California. |
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Post by aubrey on Apr 12, 2011 9:50:29 GMT
The horse that tries goes longest to the well, as the English proverb so sagely remarks.
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Post by housesparrow on Apr 12, 2011 17:52:34 GMT
The horse that tries goes longest to the well, as the English proverb so sagely remarks.  But I am wondering what makes something a "classic". Ray Bradbury seems modern to me, and Steinbeck's stuff wasn't so very old when I read it. I loved books written a long time ago when I was a kid; and some that were written not so very long before. I inherited some children's books from older relations, some of them published in the war. Even though the war had probably ended a dozen or so years before, the stories set in war-torn London seemed like a world away. |
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Post by Weyland on Apr 12, 2011 17:57:09 GMT
The horse that tries goes longest to the well, as the English proverb so sagely remarks. But I am wondering what makes something a "classic". Ray Bradbury seems modern to me, and Steinbeck's stuff wasn't so very old when I read it. I loved books written a long time ago when I was a kid; and some that were written not so very long before. I inherited some children's books from older relations, some of them published in the war. Even though the war had probably ended a dozen or so years before, the stories set in war-torn London seemed like a world away. Ray Bradbury? His best work dates back to the 50s and 60s. My favourite is The Silver Locusts. |
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Post by housesparrow on Apr 12, 2011 18:20:39 GMT
Oops - I'm mixing him up with Malcolm Bradbury. I'm ashamed to say I can't remember reading Ray Bradbury, but still wouldn't consider 50s and 60s writing to be classical.
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Post by Weyland on Apr 12, 2011 18:34:30 GMT
Oops - I'm mixing him up with Malcolm Bradbury. I'm ashamed to say I can't remember reading Ray Bradbury, but still wouldn't consider 50s and 60s writing to be classical. I didn't mean to imply that it was, Sparra. But Noddy wasn't much earlier. (Can't be bothered with Malcolm Bradbury. Pompous git.) |
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Post by jean on Apr 12, 2011 18:42:06 GMT
Have you lot never heard of Modern Classics?  (Not that that one is suitable for really young children.) |
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Post by Weyland on Apr 12, 2011 18:57:08 GMT
Have you lot never heard of Modern Classics? (Not that that one is suitable for really young children.) I wouldn't call that a classic either. I was in Dublin for the last Bloom's Day. Boozing with Trubs and Mrs YI. Had a great day. |
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