I will admit that I have yet to read many "classics" from America's literature canon. The Scarlet Letter is one of those books that I wasn't force-fed in high school, and I somehow avoided it in ALL of my college lit classes. Instead, I was introduced to Hawthorne by way of "Young Goodman Brown" and "The Birthmark," and "Rappacini's Daughter." These were all incredible short stories that I reccomend to anyone, therefore I was very enthusiastic upon cracking the spine of The Scarlet Letter. Therefore I am a very unsatisfied reader. Hawthorne's short stories are so inspiring and enthralling and then he throws this crock of over-elegant Puritan psychological mind shit our way. I don't mind so much, except that this is how most people are introduced to him. He has, in a sense, put a scarlet letter of B (for boring) on himself to all high school students that are given a copy of The Scarlet Letter to read involuntarily. And then they are unaware that he is actually a pretty good author that writes short stories, not long, tedious, melodramatic ones. Anyway, that's about all i have to say for tonight. Hopefully I can make a change to the high school curricula and give my students "Rappacini's Daughter" rather than The Scarlet Letter and give Hawthorne an updated image to the next generation. 
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
The Scarlet Letter.... Number 40!
The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne
I will admit that I have yet to read many "classics" from America's literature canon. The Scarlet Letter is one of those books that I wasn't force-fed in high school, and I somehow avoided it in ALL of my college lit classes. Instead, I was introduced to Hawthorne by way of "Young Goodman Brown" and "The Birthmark," and "Rappacini's Daughter." These were all incredible short stories that I reccomend to anyone, therefore I was very enthusiastic upon cracking the spine of The Scarlet Letter. Therefore I am a very unsatisfied reader. Hawthorne's short stories are so inspiring and enthralling and then he throws this crock of over-elegant Puritan psychological mind shit our way. I don't mind so much, except that this is how most people are introduced to him. He has, in a sense, put a scarlet letter of B (for boring) on himself to all high school students that are given a copy of The Scarlet Letter to read involuntarily. And then they are unaware that he is actually a pretty good author that writes short stories, not long, tedious, melodramatic ones. Anyway, that's about all i have to say for tonight. Hopefully I can make a change to the high school curricula and give my students "Rappacini's Daughter" rather than The Scarlet Letter and give Hawthorne an updated image to the next generation.
I will admit that I have yet to read many "classics" from America's literature canon. The Scarlet Letter is one of those books that I wasn't force-fed in high school, and I somehow avoided it in ALL of my college lit classes. Instead, I was introduced to Hawthorne by way of "Young Goodman Brown" and "The Birthmark," and "Rappacini's Daughter." These were all incredible short stories that I reccomend to anyone, therefore I was very enthusiastic upon cracking the spine of The Scarlet Letter. Therefore I am a very unsatisfied reader. Hawthorne's short stories are so inspiring and enthralling and then he throws this crock of over-elegant Puritan psychological mind shit our way. I don't mind so much, except that this is how most people are introduced to him. He has, in a sense, put a scarlet letter of B (for boring) on himself to all high school students that are given a copy of The Scarlet Letter to read involuntarily. And then they are unaware that he is actually a pretty good author that writes short stories, not long, tedious, melodramatic ones. Anyway, that's about all i have to say for tonight. Hopefully I can make a change to the high school curricula and give my students "Rappacini's Daughter" rather than The Scarlet Letter and give Hawthorne an updated image to the next generation. 
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