(no subject)
My first class ever (not counting an art class at fifteen) was a literature and ethics class. In it, we read short stories, excerpts, poems, and essays from a large textbook. As it was my only class, I followed the syllabus closely and read each assignment twice, every single time, and sometimes more often if it was short enough. Then, halfway through the semester, we got to a story called "Bartleby the Scrivener" by Herman Melville. I'd started to read Moby Dick when I was eight or so, gave up because it was boring, but otherwise knew nothing of the author.
"Bartleby" was the single assignment that, no matter how hard I tried, I could not read it a second time. It was bloated with detail and slow in plot even in "action-oriented" scenes. Most of all, it was boring. This from someone who just read and enjoyed a book of essays on ways to teach writing.
When I told my older sister about it, her response was "Yeah, Melville should never be first read as an assignment." Everyone I know who has read Moby Dick did so as a personal challenge, not enjoyment. I, however, am not a sadist. I was assigned it in class. Fuck.
Already I can see traces of what I hated about "Bartleby" in it, by the first chapter alone. How so? The entire chapter is a monologue! I haven't wanted to bring out the Red Pen of Doom Editing this bad since Harry Potter and the Six Page Monologue with Voldemort!
Y'know, just because something is a classic? Doesn't make it good.
"Bartleby" was the single assignment that, no matter how hard I tried, I could not read it a second time. It was bloated with detail and slow in plot even in "action-oriented" scenes. Most of all, it was boring. This from someone who just read and enjoyed a book of essays on ways to teach writing.
When I told my older sister about it, her response was "Yeah, Melville should never be first read as an assignment." Everyone I know who has read Moby Dick did so as a personal challenge, not enjoyment. I, however, am not a sadist. I was assigned it in class. Fuck.
Already I can see traces of what I hated about "Bartleby" in it, by the first chapter alone. How so? The entire chapter is a monologue! I haven't wanted to bring out the Red Pen of Doom Editing this bad since Harry Potter and the Six Page Monologue with Voldemort!
Y'know, just because something is a classic? Doesn't make it good.