American Literature in an historical format:
http://www.americanwriters.org/chapters/one.asp
http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/faulkner/faulkner.html
Go to the above website to read this inspiring and thought provoking speech.
William Faulkner: Nobel Prize Speech
Stockholm, Sweden
December 10,
1950
Other recommendations by William Faulkner:
1. “A Rose for Emily” Short Story Collections: These 13 and Collected Stories
Read only if you are not afraid of the macabre.
2. “The Bear” This will make you think.
Date published: May 9, 1942
Publication: Saturday Evening Post
Reprinted in: Uncollected Stories
Notes: The Post version was extracted from the Go Down, Moses version; a
different extracted version also published in Big Woods.
3. The Reivers Published June 4, 1962, by Random House. Funny
George Orwell (Famous for 1984). English writer
Recommended Reading by Orwell:
“To Kill an Elephant” A short autobiographical story. Very
disturbing, but provides insights into the conflicts between Burmese
and English cultures and values during the time of colonial rule.
Homage to Catalonia – Autobiographical experience in the Spanish Civil War
of late 1930’s.
Down and Out in Paris and London Autobiographical experiences
working as a waiter in both Paris and London. During his time in
Paris he met Ho Chi Minh, also working as a waiter.
Mircea Eliade: Eternal Return; The Sacred and the Profane, and
others. Eliade discusses the recurring icons and themes in various
cultures and religions.
Joseph Campbell: Hero with a Thousand Faces; Shows the
relationship between “hero” concepts and figures in various cultures
throughout the world.
John Steinbeck: Tortillia Flat set in Monterey, Calif. (funny); The
Pearl, set in Mexico (tragic); Grapes of Wrath (about the American
depression and the great migration to California. These are just a few
of the novels Steinbeck wrote. He also wrote about his adventures
traveling across the United States with his dog Charlie called Travels
with Charlie.
If you like poetry, these are some of my favorite poets:
John Donne (13th Century English poet).
Dylan Thomas (20th Century Welsh poet)
E.E Cummings (20th Century American poet)
I also recommend:
La Roman de la Rose was begun by Guillaume de Lorris in 1237 as an
allegory of the art of courtly love, but it was left incomplete at line
4058. The poem was winding down but presumably Guillaume died
before finishing it. An anonymous poet supplied a quick 78-line wrapup, but later in the century Jean de Meun wrote an enormous
amplification to line 21,780 (public.wsu.edu).
The Nibelungenlied, translated as The Song of the Nibelungs, is an epic
poem in Middle High German. The story tells of dragon-slayer
Siegfried at the court of the Burgundians, how he was murdered, and
of his wife Kriemhild's revenge (Wikipedia.org).
Ovid’s Metamorphosis and also The Art of Love (Ars Amatoria). The
first is stories about the various gods of Roman mythology and the
second deals with relationships between men and women