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Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries & Replies From Everyone Else 3.15.97: Top | Help
Hey, Alvin-- there's a lot of literature out there that wasn't written by dead white males. And lots of important stuff also not mentioned on your list that IS by DWM's-- like Melville, for instance. I'm not convinced of the greatness of Twain, having taught him to sophomores for the past 31 years (yes, I'm an ancient high school English teacher!).The two most significant western writers of the past 2000 years are Dante and Shakespeare. But there are so many others whom you should read. How about (in the Dante/Shakespeare period) Marie de France, Christine de Pisan, Heloise (of Abelard and... fame)? Austen, the Brontes, Wolfe, Wharton, Morrison, Walker, Hurston-- just to name a few of the most signficant British and American women fiction writers?
There's so much more out there that to say an English class that hasn't spent the year on Twain and Shakespeare is useless is to betray your own lack of experience. Major in English (not that you'll be able to find a job afterward) and revel in the world-wide cornucopia of literary experiences. I adore Shakespeare, and I adore chocolate, but no one can live solely on either.
Posted by Queen Mab on March 26, 1997 at 17:02:43
In Reply to "Well, what do you expect? They have their quotas to keep up." posted by Alvin Sidwick on March 26, 1997 at 13:17:26
Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries & Replies From Everyone Else 3.15.97: Top | Help