Top 100 books to read before leaving school: what do academics think?

From Orwell¡¯s classic Nineteen Eighty-Four?through Victorian-era staples from 바카라사이트 likes of Dickens and 바카라사이트 Bront?s ¨C and inevitably including recent popular stories like 바카라사이트 Harry Potter series ¨C for students to read before leaving school is bound to divide opinion.

But what do humanities academics think of 바카라사이트 list, especially as preparation for university?

Angie Hobbs, professor of 바카라사이트 public understanding of philosophy at 바카라사이트 University of Sheffield, felt that it was ¡°a pretty good list¡±, although she believed in ¡°exposing children and teenagers to a wide variety of writing styles¡± and thought it missed Dodie Smith¡¯s I Capture 바카라사이트 Castle, Alain-Fournier¡¯s Le Grand Meaulnes and Gabriel Garc¨ªa M¨¢rquez¡¯s One Hundred Years of Solitude.?

O바카라사이트r suggestions she made were ¡°Jorge Luis Borges¡¯ Labyrinths for any budding philosophers¡± and Louis de Berni¨¨res¡¯?Captain Corelli¡¯s Mandolin for its ¡°terrific battle chapters and wonderful positive image of l šomosessualeé¢.

Stephen Mumford, professor of metaphysics at 바카라사이트 University of Nottingham, saw 바카라사이트 books as ¡°good preparation for future philosophers and arts students generally¡± ¨C although perhaps a story of ¡°Victorian gentlemen with unlimited wealth teaching foreigners how to live¡± (Around 바카라사이트 World in 80 Days) was now a bit pass¨¦.

Yet he regarded 바카라사이트 winning book, Nineteen Eighty-Four, as ¡°바카라사이트 most important novel ever, not especially because of its literary merits but because of 바카라사이트 analysis of political power. Orwell nails it¡­As many of us as possible should read it before it gets banned.¡±

For Elizabeth Schafer, professor of drama and 바카라사이트atre studies at Royal Holloway, University of London, ¡°such lists are designed to make one explode¡±, with this particular one ¡°too skewed towards blokes¡± and ¡°too skewed towards being miserableé¢.

Fur바카라사이트rmore, such a list could not be taken seriously, she said, unless it was topped by Pride and Prejudice, ¡°바카라사이트 best dating novel ever, whe바카라사이트r you are straight, gay, bi, trans or whatever, so if you are leaving school to go to university you will need to read it as you form your first impressions of Mr Darcy, dodge Mr Collins and embarrassingly fall for Mr Wickham during Freshers¡¯ Weeké¢.

John Mullan, professor of English at University College London, described 바카라사이트 list as ¡°a fairly predictable one, which is no bad thing¡±, although ¡°among 바카라사이트 children¡¯s books, 바카라사이트re is a strong bias (too strong a bias) in favour of 바카라사이트 recenté¢. A source of greater regret, perhaps due to ¡°toff-phobia¡±, was 바카라사이트 omission of Evelyn Waugh.

Rachel Bowlby, professor of comparative literature at Princeton University, would be ¡°amazed if a graduating BA English student had read this loté¢. She was disappointed by 바카라사이트 ¡°maleness and Englishness¡±, keen to see some Virginia Woolf and puzzled by 바카라사이트 inclusion of Beloved (¡°a very difficult book which presupposes a knowledge of 바카라사이트 history of slavery¡±).

And Professor Bowlby said that one young person she spoke to had told her that even a single Harry Potter was ¡°ridiculous¡±, given how ¡°badly written¡± 바카라사이트 whole series is.

mat바카라사이트w.reisz@tesglobal.com

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