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| Publicity photo from a silent film version of Pudd'nhead Wilson (1916) (Wikimedia) |
Note: We take for granted some of the most common "CSI"-type technology. But there was a time when fingerprint technology was unknown. This combines with a story of racial inequality to make one of Twain's more interesting novels.
Get Ready: What do you think might happen when a child is raised to believe certain things about himself, and discovers in his 20s that they just aren't true?
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| Miss Havisham, Pip, and Joe (Wikipedia) |
Note: I first read Great Expectations in 8th grade, and again in adulthood; it was stunning both times.
Get Ready: What (if anything) is the "secret of success" in this world?
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| Bertie and Jeeves (Wikimedia) |
Note: Like Holmes and Watson, Jeeves is a capable problem solver, and his follower Bertie writes the "adventures" down. But here, the follower is technically the boss!
Get Ready: How do you feel about servants? Are they "second-class" citizens, or are they equal to their bosses?
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| A View of Howth (Wikimedia) |
Note: Ahh, James Joyce. Some of his work seems more like a puzzle or guessing game than like literature. At the top of that list is this book, Finnegans Wake.
Get Ready: Do you think reading literature should be a struggle, or as easy as watching television?
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| Harvey Cheyne Jr. is pulled into a fishing dory (Wikimedia) |
Note: Rudyard Kipling is famous for stories in exotic settings--India, for example. But this one happens mainly off the coast of Canada and New England!
Get Ready: Within reason, do you think children should be given anything they ask for, and allowed to do anything they want to? Why or why not?
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| Left to right: Horse, Sandy, Monkey, Tripitaka, Pigsy (Wikipedia) |
Note: Great books often lend themselves to a deeper way of reading. Let's see how that works with this popular Chinese novel.
Get Ready: Are you familiar with the Chinese novel (or Japanese TV show) about the Monkey King?
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| Walter Hartright is accosted by the Woman in White on a lonely road--at night (Wikimedia) |
Note: Wilkie Collins was a popular novelist, but this and The Moonstone are his two best-known works.
Get Ready: Have you ever had someone tap you on the shoulder (or otherwise get your attention) when you thought no one was there? What happened?
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| Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine as Maxim and Mrs. de Winter in the Hitchcock adaptation (Wikipedia) |
Note: The suspenseful novel Rebecca has a Hitchcockian twist at the end. No wonder Hitchcock made such a successful film of it!
Get Ready: What would you do if you learned you had a painful, fatal illness?
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| Scrooge and Marley: together again (Wikipedia) |
Note: Like any good book (or film), Dickens's A Christmas Carol never gets old, and we can find something new in it each time we read it. Let's zero in on the often-forgotten character of Jacob Marley: the fourth ghost.
Get Ready: What would it take to convince most people to change their bad habits?
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| Hannay crashes a meeting (Gutenberg) |
Note: A thrilling movie, and an even more thrilling book, featuring one of the prototypes for James Bond.
Get Ready: Can the actions of one common man really affect the fate of nations? Can you think of examples?
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| The governess sees a man--Peter Quint?--on a high tower (Wikipedia) |
Note: The "unreliable narrator" is a fairly recent storytelling technique, coming into its own in the 19th century. This is an excellent example.
Get Ready: Have you ever sworn something strange was happening--but no one else would agree, or admit they saw anything unusual?
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| Uncle Sam on a U.S. Army recruiting poster (Wikipedia) |
Note: When we want someone to give up, we tell them: "Say Uncle!" But the word has lots of other idiomatic uses besides.
Get Ready: What does the word "uncle" mean to you (besides the obvious, literal meaning)?
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| John Carter and Dejah Thoris (Gutenberg) |
Note: Tarzan wasn't the only "manly man" created by Edgar Rice Burroughs: Meet John Carter, veteran Civil War officer and beloved of a Martian princess!
Get Ready: Do you fell "cheated" when an author makes something happen (like being transported to Mars and back) without explaining how?
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| "Look at the man's face. It is a face disguised--and here's the proof of it!" (Wikimedia) |
Note: Wilkie Collins may be a minor shadow of Dickens, but his novels give the same pleasure to the reader. Here. the intrigue ends with a surprise, and coincidences abound.
Get Ready: Can a person do something under the influence of drugs or alcohol that goes against his or her basic nature?
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| Hans and Gretel skating (Wikimedia) |
Note: Mary Mapes Dodge's book is a wonder in many ways: an accurate portrayal of a country she had never seen, and a made-up "legend" that even people of that country believe!
Get Ready: What would you be willing to give up to see another person, perhaps a sister or brother, be successful?
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| Erik--the Phantom--shows his true face as though it were a mask (Wikipedia) |
Note: This "haunting" tale of love and madness seems to be perfect for the modern stage, but in fact started out as a French novel over 100 years ago.
Get Ready: How do you think physical deformity (or not) affects a person's mental or moral processes? Is it fair to say "ugly equals evil"? Or "beautiful equals good"?
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| A cemetery in Algiers (1899) (Wikimedia) |
Note: This story has also been published under the English title, The Outsider--perhaps a better description of the main character's relationship to the world.
Get Ready: How important are other people in your life? Too important? Not important enough? Or just right?
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| Cover of the first issue of The Sandman graphic novel (Wikipedia) |
Note: As usual. Neil Gaiman has created a convincing alternate reality, this one influenced by seven supernatural beings called "The Endless."
Get Ready: Do you believe that dreams have any importance to our waking selves?
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| Edward Bear is bumping down the stairs on the back of his head... (Gutenberg) |
Note: Winnie-the-Pooh--whose prototype lives today at the New York Public Library--is probably the world's most famous stuffed toy. Let's learn more about him.
Get Ready: Did you have a favorite toy (or other oject, like a blanket) that you dragged around when you were a kid?
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| Elsie Leslie Lyde as Little Lord Fauntleroy, painted by William Merritt Chase (Wikiart) |
Note: To a certain generation of Americans, "Little Lord Fauntleroy" inspired a way of dress; for the next, he inspired ridicule.
Get Ready: Is there a past fad in clothing or hairstyle that today is commonly made fun of?
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