Grrr.
Bother. I had been planning to use the same syllabus as I taught this fall in my spring section of Freshman English, same texts and all. And now, having looked at my roster and discovered my class is more than half boys, and almost all students in the sciences, I'm wondering if I'd be sadistic (or would it be masochistic?) to try and teach Pride and Prejudice.
But it's hard to think of a gender-neutral text (other than Shakespeare - that's our first unit) which lends itself so well to an assignment about the varieties of modern adaptation. How many other classics have had six full-length adaptations/spin-offs in the past decade?
Sigh.
* * *
On an unrelated note, a recent project has got me pondering the influence that packaging and presentation have on the reception of books. A book I started lately has made me wonder: we can fall into thinking of great literature as transcending sordid concerns like marketing, but really, how often would we read a novel today if it wasn't well-received in its own time? And how much did that reception actually depend, not just on merit, but on catering to the tastes and even the contemptible prejudices of the contemporary market? For instance, would we still read two particular novels today if they had been published as Gwendolen Harleth and Hetty Sorrel by Mary Anne Evans? (As they clearly should have been...)
But it's hard to think of a gender-neutral text (other than Shakespeare - that's our first unit) which lends itself so well to an assignment about the varieties of modern adaptation. How many other classics have had six full-length adaptations/spin-offs in the past decade?
Sigh.
* * *
On an unrelated note, a recent project has got me pondering the influence that packaging and presentation have on the reception of books. A book I started lately has made me wonder: we can fall into thinking of great literature as transcending sordid concerns like marketing, but really, how often would we read a novel today if it wasn't well-received in its own time? And how much did that reception actually depend, not just on merit, but on catering to the tastes and even the contemptible prejudices of the contemporary market? For instance, would we still read two particular novels today if they had been published as Gwendolen Harleth and Hetty Sorrel by Mary Anne Evans? (As they clearly should have been...)