Tuesday, August 15, 2006

More on the classics

Stephen Moss responds to the reading list changes taking place in the U.K. (In the Guardian's Comment is Free blog)

It's a funny piece, but also true. Take a look at Moss' thoughts about Henry James:
  • "Why do teenagers need to read the 'classics'? What on earth do they make of Henry James, whose late novels should be read at a funereal pace?...Sometimes you read James and think you are going mad, so complex is the prose and intricate the thought: this is literature to be interrogated, not read. It is madness to instruct teenagers to read it, and will probably put them off reading for life. Certainly off James."

Henry James is for that year after college when you're working a really boring job in advertising. Trust me, I know.