Readings
Purves, A. (1993) Towards a reevaluation of reader response and school literature. Language Arts, 70, 348-361.
Holden, P. (1999) The great literature debate: Why teach literature in Singapore. In Chua, S. H. & Chin, W. P. (1999) Localising pedagogy: teaching literature in Singapore (pp. 79-89). Singapore: NIE Press.
Harold Bloom’s list of the Western Canon. Retrieved from http://sonic.net/~rteeter/grtbloom.html
Poon, A. (2007) The politics of pragmatism: some issues in the teaching of literature in Singapore. Changing English, 14(1), 51-59.
MOE Syllabi’s Aims and Outcomes.
Other Reference Texts
Wee, W-L. (2010). Culture, the arts and the global city. In Terence Chong (Ed.), The management of success: Singapore revisited (pp. 489-403). Singapore: ISEA
Greene, M. (1995) Releasing the imagination. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. (excerpts)
Sinfield, A. (1998) How to read The Merchant of Venice without being heterosexist. In Cole, M. (1998) The Merchant of Venice: Contemporary critical essays (pp. 161-180). London: Macmilliam Press
Eagleton, T. (2001) Literary theory: an introduction (2nd ed.). London: Blackwell Publishing.
‘A Clockwork Orange’ by Anthony Burgess had been sitting on my bookshelf for more than two years. Taking up the challenge to read what I would not normally read, I finally completed reading the novel (one down from the 2012 New Year resolution list, hooray!)
ReplyDeleteI think that the use of unfamiliar slang words put me off reading the book in the past. This time, I persevered. I loved it! The aestheticization of violence in the novel is disturbingly arousing - its effects can be found reproduced in modern popular films/ television programmes like 'Silence of the Lambs', 'Saw' and 'Dexter'. Horrible as it may sound, this is definitely a plus point for today’s youths to appreciate the novel!
But, would I consider using the novel as a literary text in the local school curriculum?
I am undecided.
The language makes the novel difficult for secondary school students to appreciate the content of the novel. In addition, the setting of near future England may not be easy for some local teenage students to relate to. That said, aren’t teachers supposed to expose their students to the world beyond the classroom?
I suppose the greatest challenge is to manage parents’ and the school board’s expectations as to why a novel whose protagonist is a violent young man who enjoys drugs, rape and general mayhem should ever be regarded as a ‘worthy’ literary text. Even more disturbing is when readers start to empathise with the narrator (Alex) when he is subjected to the Ludovico technique – an unpleasant punishment to turn him into a socially acceptable citizen. This and other mature themes in the book make it difficult to justify the book’s place in the school curriculum – a curriculum which emphasises on 21st century skills core values. What’s more? Some of these values are sometimes challenged/ questioned in the book.
And so, in a school system where only two literary texts will be chosen from a pre-selected list of books in the examination syllabus, I have a feeling that ‘A Clockwork Orange’ would not be a popular choice.
However, if educators want authentic assessments, ‘A Clockwork Orange’ is worth considering. With the rise of teen gangsterism in Singapore, this book offers the perfect platform for students to discuss/ offer readers’ response/ “explore areas of human concern” and “demonstrate a deeper awareness of their concerns and attitudes”. (MOE, 1999)
So, would I use the text in the classroom? I suppose I would recommend it for more mature students (and not for secondary school students) so that the themes of the book may be discussed in more “sensitive and informed personal response(s)” (MOE, 1999) and where both teacher and student are” actively engaged in the construction of meaning” (Applebee, 1993 in Poon, 2007).
Firhana Alsagoff
Hi Firhana, I have many books sitting on my shelves waiting to be read too! You have raised some pertinent issues of censorship (self, school, parental) in the choice of a text and also the suitability of certain themes in terms of maturity of the student. A Clockwork Orange was on the 'A' level list together with other Science Fiction titles such as Brave New World by Huxley. While students may be linguistically able to deal with a text, one other question is whether they are mentally able to deal with the issues raised.
DeleteDear Dr. Loh,
DeleteIn light of today's lecture, which criteria does 'A Clockwork Orange' fulfil to make it a suitable text to be read at 'A' Levels?
It was interesting when you pointed out that a serious subject matter like suicide was thought to be ok to be introduced by some texts but not in others (Catherine Lim’s Little Ironies vs. Jay Asher’s Th1rteen R3asons Why. I'm just wondering, as a secondary school teacher, what guidelines do we follow?
If we find some texts that fulfil the purpose, relevance, text length, text richness, etc. criteria, can we use them in classrooms even if they may mature/ disturbing themes?
Firhana
to be answered in class today...
DeleteI used to think that easy-to-read texts were no longer suitable for me, that I had to plough through the likes of War and Peace in order to feel sufficiently like a Literature scholar. Imagine my surprise when we did 'Little Lord Fauntleroy' in my Masters 'Victorian Children's Literature' module. I am ashamed to admit that I rather scoffed at the thought of doing such a simple text, but by the end of the module, I stood corrected.
ReplyDeleteI think an obvious problem is that the apparent simplicity of the text might be a deal breaker for some who, like me (before I did this module), feel compelled to stock up on cultural capital by reading the 'greats'. I think a well-structured, challenging curriculum would address this issue easily.
On to the possibilities. Easy though the text was to read, it was also one that entered into contemporary debates about gender, class and identity, and puts forth quite a complex theory of Victorian childhood. I've recently re-read it and I think it can sit quite comfortably alongside Tennyson and Dickens in the JC 'Victorian Literature' paper, both in terms of the challenge it offers and its thematic links with these the other victorian texts in the paper. Furthermore, it provides the opportunity for students to learn niche knowledge that they would otherwise have no chance to gain. For an example, students studying Fauntleroy will delve into questions like why such a text was written specifically for a young audience and why adults, both Victorian and modern alike have been fascinated with this text, particularly with the character of Cedric, the girlish boy who identifies primarily with the mother figure. Questions of identity, gender and class are still very much alive today, which fits the 'areas of human concern' component Firhana has raised. Also, the text is accessible, fun and relatively short, which makes the reading process (and memorization of quotes) much easier for students. So the teacher can spend less time doing word-by-word analysis and concentrate on teaching her students about the Golden Age of Children's Literature.
If you think about it, there is a "greats" in our list of children's literature too! Reaading these "greats" shores up on our cultural capital and prepares us for the other more complex texts read at a later stage.
DeleteHi Priya,
DeleteI like your idea of introducing a 'rich' text that is not linguistically difficult to digest.
One of the problems I had when I was teaching at Dunman Secondary was that the students had difficulties getting past the reading process but they were very capable of offering what I learnt today as 'content of interest for conversation' (granted that of the discussion centred on whether Abigail was a whore or not...but still..)
Thank you for sharing.
Firhana
"Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card is a young adult fiction book more popularly used in American (and UK?) classrooms than in, perhaps, Singapore. Different from A Clockwork Orange or Brave New World, however, Ender's Game is sci-fi set in space rather than in a dystopian future. It also involves young prodigies becoming military generals to battle aliens in space and so could be more accessible to our children in the classroom. It's also a story told through first-person narrative i.e. Ender.
ReplyDeleteThe fact remains, however, that I would never think to use any science fiction books in the Singaporean classroom. Could it that I think they are unfamiliar to the space narrative, or that I think they wouldn't be interested in such themes like war and ethics? Mostly, I think, it's because they might find it difficult to relate to the character in a space setting even if the novel deals with familiar themes such as right vs. wrong, violence vs. peace etc.
Thus, should we choose texts that are familiar in settings and themes for our students, or challenge them with books that convey similar themes and then bring them on a journey to foreign places? Why doesn't fantasy novels like Harry Potter and Percy Jackson appear more in the curriculum? Is there a distinct hierarchy of value in young adult fiction which separates Harry Potter (fiction) from The Giver or Little Ironies (literature) that we must adhere to when choosing books for our curriculum?
Personally, I would like very much to bring in fiction to the classroom (Harry Potter etc).
Hi Hafizah, Science fiction such as Clockwork Orange and Brave New World were A level texts and yes, you can bring Science Fiction to the classroom! Like you point out, there are themes worth exploring and I think it's relevant for students to think about issues such as loss of freedom, ecological destruction etc. As a side note, I did a Science Fiction unit for English with my Sec. 2 class before. We read short stories, watched and read Minority Report (discussed why there were different endings, hopeful in the movie, Hollywood style and pessimistic in the short story by Philip K Dick) and at the end of it, the students wrote Science Fiction. I had some great stories, think I'll see if I can dig them out to read. Science Fiction is a great genre to study.
DeleteOscon Scott Card is awesome! :) He does fantasy as well!
DeleteDear Fizah,
DeleteWow, it never occured to me to explore Science Fiction in the Literature classroom!
And though I read both Brave New World and A Clockwork Orange, I never really regarded these as sci-fi. Your input together with Dr. Loh's suggestions make excellent food for thought.
Thank you for sharing.
Firhana
The Book Seller of Kabul is a piece of literary journalism written by a Norwegian journalist who disguised herself by wearing a burka and stayed with a bookseller and his family in Afghanistan for three months. This is a very rich text as the author is able to interweave the themes of democracy, polygamy, arranged marriages and the conflict between westernization and traditional Islam skillfully by just simply narrating their daily life.
ReplyDeleteThere will be many issues with using this text in the literature classroom; firstly, this is a highly controversial book with many themes that can be sensitive in our local context. As racial harmony is one of the key components in our national education, secondary students may not have the maturity or capacity to read this book with an open mind. This may cause misconceptions or misinterpretations against the Islam religion. Secondly, students do not have any/much exposure to Afghan culture compared to British or South East Asia culture, thus they may face a greater difficulty in trying to comprehend and relate to the text. Thirdly, this is a piece of literary journalism; students may find it hard to grasp the figurative language and other stylistic features employed in the text.
Hi Penny, the book sounds interesting and worth picking up for a read. While perhaps unsuitable for a secondary classroom, might it not be suitable for A level students? You also bring up the issue of whether literary non-fiction should be introduced to the literature classroom. Should it?
DeleteDear Dr. Loh,
DeleteJust out of curiousity, has a literary non-fiction ever been used as a literary text in Singapore classrooms?
Firhana
Hello, short reply to this - not for O levels. I'm not sure about classrooms but I think most lower secondary classrooms do not do use non-literary texts in the literature classroom.
DeleteI have two books in my mind which, if given a choice, I'd bring in to my class.
ReplyDeleteOne is Khalid Hosseini's The Kite Runner and the second "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker.Both have intense complex plots and characters with graphic scenes.However,they ofcourse deal with different themes and issues.
The possible challenges of teaching these two texts are but many since both were subjected to high controversies.Hosseini's depiction of ethnic rivalry and ravages of the civil war may be just a smaller part of the more controversial and perversive rape episode.While The Color Purple reverberates with debatable themes of homosexuality,incest,race explicit sexual content and abuse one after the other.
Then should we settle for the apparent "harmless" "Gulliver's Travels" , Rushdie's "Haroun and his sea of stories" and their likes, naively overlooking the controversial content in it much aided by the author's use of symbolic language to sugar-coat such themes?Then the question arises how are we to integrate critical thinking in them?How are we to teach them analyse a text and construct meanings from such metaphors and symbols?Or would you suggest that we treat the lesser controversial issues and help them analyse it without highlighting the more disturbing ones?
But I believe when we already know the extent to which our students our exposed to the social evils,then why do we want to safely underestimate their capacity to take in books with such contents?Schools conduct sexual education classes/talks for them;parents expose them to movies or even games on violence and war themes then why is it so that when we teach Literature we have to carefully hand-pick books for students so as to not adulterate their minds?Why would anybody assumes in the first place that such books could cause harm?!"Good literature" and "Bad literature" again?
I again remain supremely confused by the end of this.
Hi Aish, The Colour Purple is an A level/ IBDP text and though I do know of secondary school students who have read The Kite Runner, it certainly isn't a school text. You do bring up a relevant point about censorship and when issues such as say, sex and rape are appropriate. As you point out, the mere existence of sex in a text does not mean it will cause harm. In both texts, it seem to me that it deals with the reality and the pain of such things and allow students to see a world that they may not otherwise see.
DeleteHi Aish,
DeleteI love both the books you have read.
For me, my concern with The Kite Runner is not so much on the mature themes of sex and rape but more so of the cultural senstivity of its other themes.
Firhana.
I recently read Julian Barnes’ The Sense of an Ending, and think that it would be suitable for this assignment. The Sense of an Ending was last year’s recipient of the Booker Prize, and I don’t usually read books just based on the awards/accolades they have won. I think it would be interesting to look at these award-winning books, especially since they are the ones who are usually on the short-list to make the quick transition from contemporary fiction into literature of a/the canon. These books are usually immediately accorded with literary credit, and I guess I would teach them in class, (and really, a book on the books on the prescribed text lists are often established books by established authors, even though it is refreshing when the board chooses lesser known works by authors – such as the current drama pick from Miller, that isn’t The Crucible of Death of a Salesman) but be very careful to assess their literary devices/merit as we would any other text. I think what I am saying is basically an echo of what both Priya and Hafizah have said - that even though we are doing the more canonical, more proper texts, we should always ask why they are considered to have more merit than popular or easier fiction, and provide both kinds of texts with equal attention. I, too, would love to see Harry Potter or Percy Jackson used one day in classes, and I already know students who are so much better informed from reading Percy Jackson - having sec 2 students who can explain who Demeter or Circe are to their classmates is an unexpected joy.
ReplyDelete(And I was flummoxed and disappointed by Sense of an Ending – anyone read it and felt the same?)
Haven't read it but Percy Jackson is on the lower secondary recommended text list for literature! You are right in pointing out that the contemporary texts may allow students to look back into Greek mythology and get interested!
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ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe book that I've chosen to read is one that most would probably avoid, because it's not really considered to be 'high-strung' literature... however, it certainly brought back some fond memories of my lost youth (LOL). Anyway, I've decided to flip through the yellowing pages of Meg Cabot's The Princess Dairies (Yup, the one that starred the beautiful and talented Anne Hathaway in 2001).
ReplyDeleteThere was no particular reason why i was drawn to the novel in the first place... except that it used to be a popular teen fiction which propelled a generation of 'Royalty Wannabes' who dream of becoming a real princess in some far off, make believe country called 'Genovia'.
With regards to whether the said book is suitable to be analysed as a literary text? Well, I personally believe that it'll appeal to teenage girls since it explores various facets of an adolescent's life, that is still very much applicable today (i.e. boys, crushes, friendship, curfews, school life, betrayal, etc)
However, the down side of such gender specific text is that it only fascinates the females and not the males. Much of the book revolves around the protagonist (Mia) who is trying to grapple with her own personal identity and learning the ropes to be a distinguished royalty. Obviously, Mia eventually morphs into an elegant nobility, sheds away her formal life and assumes the royal position as the crown princess of Genovia.
But, what really perturbs me about this seemingly whimsical ending is that it's too reminiscent of Hans Christian Andersen's autobiographical account of the 'Ugly Duckling'. In addition, Mia's internal strife to establish self-actualisation and her subsequent ascension to the Royal throne (to replace her deceased father) oddly resembled the theoretical underpinnings of Freud's Psychosexual Analysis (i.e. Penis Envy). This notion of Penis Envy becomes even more pronounced during the later editions of The Princess Diaries series, where mia would actually contest anyone who tries to jeopardise her chance to be Queen.
I applaud the writer's simplistic style of infusing realistic dialogues into her text and making it highly relatable to its niche audience. However, the said novel could at times seem like a 'cheap imitation' of other literary classics. Does anyone else possess the same sentiments as me? =)
I haven't read it, Desmond, I have to admit but I do dislike the princess idea and will never call my daughter princess or dress her up in a Disney Princess outfit. In Cherland's book, Private Practices, about girls' reading and identity practices, she shows how a group of middle-class girls in Canada negotiate, responding to and resisting these stereotypes while at the same time appropriating certain ideas/ themes. I wonder if this text will be a good way to talk about gender stereotypes and happy endings? A bit like using Shrek to get students to rethink fairy tales and stereotypes. The advantage might be that students are so familiar with the text you don't need to do that much work to get them into discussion?
DeleteFor the purpose of this post, I re-read Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children. As most of us know, Rushdie's books are challenging to read. Reading this particular book again brought back memories of my university days, when I was first introduced to the genre of magical realism. Though I found it hard to comprehend the book initially, I fell in love with it once my lecturer explained the nuances of the genre and how Midnight's Children documented the history of the Indian subcontinent.
ReplyDeleteReading this 530 page novel filled with over 80 characters is a daunting task in itself; a task that secondary school Literature students may not be able to cope with. Secondly, most Literature students(in both secondary and JC) may not be familiar with the magical realism genre and therefore may not be able to comprehend the form, function and meaning of the text.
However, I believe that it could be an A-level Lit text. It would be an excellent way to introduce students to post-colonial literature, magical realism and historical fiction at the same time. Plus, I'm sure they will be intrigued to read a book that was awarded the 'Booker of Bookers'. The magical, supernatural and grotesque themes in the text will also capture students' attention as opposed to familiar (and boring) themes that they have been exposed to such as love, revenge, tragedy, etc. However, I must add that this is not a text that can be taught in 1 or 2 weeks. It has to definitely span over a term at least.
I must admit that for this exercise I attempted to read Twilight. Apart for wanting to stab my eyes and cut off my hands every time I picked up the book... I can see why it would be tempting to use such a piece of writing in class. High jacking popular culture to inculcate a passion for books is a launch pad I suppose. You can also go further in your investigation of themes I suppose since more students would have the necessary foundational knowledge (meaning I haven't read the book but I have watched the movie and it will suffice for discussion :p) it would be easier to open up the themes that received little Hollywood attention. For example the character of bella as a regression of the feminine, or the character of the vampire as a personification of humanity's fetish with death and materialisation of his Thanatos. The possibilities are endless ( hur hur )
ReplyDeleteThe problem in this approach however is that students are exposed to rubbish that apparently passes for literature. Putting Meyer in the same league as Shelley and Stoker is blasphemous. Twilight has literary appeal that will transcend generations and cultures?!?! I think not. Also the argument that "at least we are inculcating a love for reading in them" is highly problematic. We are shortchanging their literary education, assuming JC teachers will pick up the pieces or worse that uni professors will turn lead into gold...
"Putting Meyer in the same league as Shelley and Stoker is blasphemous."
DeleteCan double like this comment =)
And we dare to say people in the past are stupid...=)
Way to go Ian for staying true to the spirit of the assignment and reading what you would not normally read.
DeleteI enjoyed reading your post. Although, I will not be picking up the book anytime soon. I must admit though..I've watched the movie.
Firhana
@Firhana: I must admit to the sin of having watched the movie too... =p
DeleteThere actually aren't any books I won't read. I prefer to think of it as an opportunity cost issue--why use the time to read Twilight if I can read Coetzee instead? Of course, I don't deny that this ranking is highly subjective.
ReplyDeleteI think that the problem is that the books studied in class (at least, at Secondary/ JC) level are perceived as Good Books. I suppose it's because we practice a lot of close reading at that level (like I mentioned before, a formalist bias), and hence we privilege books with a narrative complexity. I have no issues with studying Twilight/ romance novels as a cultural artefact and as an interesting reflection of society's desires, psychoanalysing the text etc. but this isn't an approach which we take in classrooms here, or one that is perhaps feasible at a lower level.
One thing I've never quite understood is why graphic novels have never quite made it to the list of examined texts, especially with all this emphasis on multi-modality. I think Maus (Art Spiegelman) could potentially be an excellent text to bring into the classroom, perhaps at a higher level--upper secondary and JC? The art adds an extra dimension to the text, and one could talk about ideas of representation, masks, identity, history....the list goes on. I don't think the language itself is very challenging either. Basically, I think the book is awesome, and I own a copy, so if anyone is interested, they're welcome to borrow it x
I've read excerpts of it during creative writing classes in university! It looks like a promising read and a less threatening portrayal of the Holocaust.
DeleteAgree that graphic novels (though they do not have a place in the "Canon") should be considered, in light of how we are using ICT tools to help students to visualize topics/ texts.
For purpose of this discussion, I attempted to reread John Fowle's 'The Collector'. It is a psychological thriller where the antagonist Frederick Clegg kidnaps a young lady by the name of Miranda, hoping that she would come to love him. Frederick is a painfully socially inept character in the text and he has a peculiar hobby of collecting 'pretty' things in an attempt to have things he wouldn't normally be able to possess. Miranda eventually dies from an illness but most disturbingly, he handled her death and burial mechanically without any remorse or sense of guilt. The story ends with him staking out another girl - an eerie foretelling of the possibility of history repeating itself.
ReplyDeleteMost evidently, the content of the narrative is in itself, a problem. The theme of humanity (or lack of) is a little too dark for secondary school students and some of them may end up feeling disturbed. That said, it does explore other relatable themes like that of acceptance - society's inclusion and exclusion of those we deem as 'different' from us. The text also contains intertextuality where letters and journal entries help to frame the narrative. It highlights the different conduits in which the story is told. I like that the story is framed in a manner where readers are allowed to draw their own conclusions and form their own judgment towards the characters in the text.
What are the problems with using this text in the literature classroom? What are the possibilities?
ReplyDeleteI read Yann Martel's "Beatrice and Virgil". The language used is clear and simple, but this is deceiving... The underlying theme is on the Holocaust, though very vaguely and subtle, and this cool book is philosophical, postmodern AND metafictional as well. I really like the book, however, it may be a little problematic to teach this in a Literature class in a Secondary level. There is just too much to grapple with (lots of intertextuality involved too).
We had to read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and that was about the Holocaust as well, but if we were to compare it, Yann Martel's writing is more elliptical and less direct, so it would be harder for students to comprehend what Martel is trying to say. Martel uses different narrative forms in the text - there is a play within the novel, and a section on instructions for games. Critics are upset about Martel 'poeticizing' the Holocaust (I guess Gery's recommendation on Maus could fall in here too) although I don't see any wrong in having an alternative representation of it, isn't Lit all about different representations?... but that's another discussion. Still, because the topic of the Holocaust is addressed through a mysterious character in the book, who the reader does not know much about, this creates a greater distance between the reader and the topic, and therefore might be hard for younger students to comprehend.
As for possibilities, I really think the content and theme would make great discussions, and students would be exposed to history and see how this is a representation of the horrors of the Holocaust - Who gets to speak, and who doesn't?
I think the issue with Martel's "Beatric and Virgil" is that it is too oblique and elliptical--at times, it seems too metafictional and self-absorbed and hence the criticism that it is too removed from the realities of the Holocaust and ends up aestheticising it? I do agree that there is a lot of material here to be discussed in class, and perhaps even too much--but it is possible for some texts like these if as teacher, we provide a framework for understanding the text which...places less importance on the more complex, abstract issues the text pose. Blasphemy, I know.
DeleteBut as for the Holocaust theme--because it's such a huge issue, there's a wealth of (easier) material out there, so we could easily bring that into the classroom without the intertextual complications...
I have recently read the Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman. Although the novel’s target audience is teenagers, there are many instances of violence, death and murder in the book. Also, the novel is set in a parallel world where the ruling power is the Magisterium that advocates free thinking. The people living in this world have their soul in an external body in the form of an animal that accompanies the people everywhere they go. This embodies an anti-catholic theme, where souls are not part of the internal self. Therefore, bringing in such a text in a classroom can be problematic, because in an Asian context, these themes may bring about tension in relation to the Asian culture. Religious parents might also get insulted when they find out that the novel advocates free thinking and anti-christ beliefs. Furthermore, the violence in the text may not carry too well with the students and parents as well. So, although literature is about being exposed to a variety of texts and contents in writing, there are many things that we should consider before bringing a text into the classroom. Books that have any violence, sexual references or religious connotations should be avoided.
ReplyDelete"Books that have any violence, sexual references or religious connotations should be avoided."
DeleteHeh impossible. Shakespeare's Macbeth has all of the above =)
Without at least one of these three themes, i think no literature is possible =)
I read "the boy with the striped pajamas" and i found it very poignant. I think it is a very good piece of literature and it treats the themes of friendship, childhood, domesticity, evil in a very skillful manner. Being a history student, i think this novel dovetails very well with the history of Nazi Germany. It is a story told from the point of view of a child, so I think students can relate to it. The ending where Bruno dies together with Shumel is very poignant and evokes a whole host of emotional and moral questions.
ReplyDeleteActually i would find it hard to see any "problem" but i guess since there is a move toward "Singapore' literature, this book might not make the cut because it is not Singaporean. No offense to Catherine Lim but i think my secondary one students would relate to this book much better than her short stories which are straightforward portrayals of Asian family pathologies.
I would if i could, introduce this to secondary one students. I think the story is quite unforgettable. I think also that they would be better to relate to upper secondary 3 history as they have prior knowledge.
I finally read "The Last Executioner", an autobiography by Chavoret Jaruboon, the last person employed by the Kingdom of Thailand to render the death penalty unto the condemned.
ReplyDeleteI bought this almost 3 years ago in Changi Airport bookshop but I had never really gotten into it. The premise was interesting but I almost never read autobiographies, because I find the narrative viewpoint a little too limiting, and autobiographies of real life people strike me as less interesting than my usual reading fare (Fantasy/Sci-Fi).
This book was actually quite easy to read. The author is not a writer by craft; moreover, the book was written in Thai and translated into English, so the resultant prose is rather, well, prosaic - no literary flights of fancy, not an ounce of poetry, and what humour that exists is rather dry. In general it is an easy read but not exactly distinctive.
The main problems that I could foresee in inroducing this text to the classroom are that:
1. the author isn't particularly literary;
2. the text is an autobio, which means it does not follow the usual narrative structure;
However, this text would be interesting because it would be a means of introducing a novel point of view within the classroom. The author is Thai and his claim to fame is being the last executioner. This premise is inherently interesting - how does a man whose job it is to kill for the state rationalise and justify his work? Does he ever feel guilty? What does he think about those he is called upon to end?
I read 'Truth Dare Kill' by Gordon Ferris, the kind of thriller and murder stories i enjoy in my freetime. I actually bought this book last year during the school holidays on my Kindle. It is written based in the UK set in the world war two about an agent and mysterious murders he is trying to solve, it is an easy read for me. It is easy for me to understand it partly because i have been to most of the UK during my exchange programme and also because i am an anglophile.
ReplyDeleteHowever the difficulty in implementing this text in a Literature class room is that most children in Singapore will not have had the experience i had. They will not understand certain british lingos and scottish slangs, they probably will not understand the humour of how the British love insinuating the French. The setting and places, character behaviour will be difficult to understand as well. There is some blood and gore which i do not think is appropriate for the audience in schools.
Possibilities: The plot however is exciting and there are many interesting things to engage the children in secondary school classrooms. The plot for example has many flashbacks and character hallucinations that turn the sequence of events into a mess, the vivid description of London, Glasgow, the World War II and especially when the main character goes on little missions. We can use such texts to "lure" secondary school students into loving reading. I formed this text movie in my head over many months reading as time allowed, on the train, on the plane, in a cafe, on my bed. Books are MORE exciting/awesome than watching movies because you can make the movie with your imagination.
Like Nick, I read The Boy with the Striped Pyjamas.
ReplyDeleteI've watched the film a couple of years back before reading the text this week. I find that it is a deceivingly simple text that deals with a piece of history that is associated with everything evil. I read the text anticipating what is going to take place and I have already decided that it is a 'dark' book and I am reading it because.
Would I introduce this book to Secondary School students? I don't know. I think one of my concerns is whether the students will be able to appreciate the richness and historical context of the novel and the distinction between facts and fiction-- history and the novel. It seems like it is necessary to make out the words such as "the fury" which really means "Führer" and Out-With which really is Auschwitz. What is the reason for these misspelled words? Is there more to it or is the narrator just being 'young' which symbolises a whole lot of other signifiers. By using a book that seems inseparable from its historical relations, it poses potential difficulties, because should the focus be on the texts or its authenticity and accuracy to history which is made up of perspectives anyway.