reader...writer...runner

Great Gatsby: New Again?

A remake of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic is going to be released later this year. Philip Hensher asks why now.

A Gatsby moment is upon us. The Great Gatsby is by far the most popular novel of F Scott Fitzgerald; it embodies the 1920s, and has attained an iconic status, both for American novelists and for many readers. Still, the flood of adaptations about to pour over us is unprecedented. Is there something in the air? Is there something that makes this most glamorous of novels speak to us with especial resonance?

Personally, I have loved this book ever since high school. There is something appealing yet haunting about the title character that I can’t get out of my head after reading.

Young Adult Fiction Frustrations

I’ll admit my prejudices right up front: I do not like Young Adult Lit. I do not like reading it, and I do not like teaching it. I know thousands of kids and adults alike derive a lot of pleasure devouring these titles, and I have tried to be one of them. I read a Harry Potter novel; I tried Twilight, but the genre as a whole just doesn’t grab me. With that said, I still think I have an objective complaint in regards to this genre and it’s effect on literacy among the next generation.

First, we must note that we are witnessing a truly golden age in the YA publishing world. The Association of American Publishers say that from 2002 to 2005,  young adult hard-cover books made for the largest increase of books marketed to a general audience in the United States. One need look no further than the local theater these past few years to see the cinematic fruits of this harvest: Harry Potter, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Twilight, Hunger Games.

Newspapers have run admiring stories of ten-year-old bibliophiles lining up at their local book store to purchase the next volume in the beloved series-of-the-moment. Parents have gushed that their children are spending hours reading, hours that may have otherwise been spent in front of a screen of one sort or another. While many have credited the YA craze as being the savior of the reading for pleasure movement, not many have seriously looked at some of the pitfalls of this historically recent development. 

I will speak anecdotally from personal experience. I have taught 8th grade English for 15 years, and in that time have spent countless hours discussing fiction with my students. Both “The Count of Monte Cristo” and “To Kill a Mockingbird” have been part of my school’s curriculum for years, and from these I can make some educated suppositions. 15 years ago, at the very beginning of Potter-mania, and the renaissance of YA, students regularly plunged the depths of symbolism which runs rampant through each novel. Today, most struggle to simply follow the plot. (And lest you think this is simply a curmudgeonly rant about “kids these days” it is not. For the sake of brevity I am not including actual test and paper data, but I could. And I am only 39, not yet old enough for official curmudgeonness.)

So what has changed? I realize that I have not set up a double blind study, nor do I have some control group to look to.  However, I do feel fairly confident in my fears about YA fiction. I think that it is largely to blame- or to be more specific- poorly written YA fiction that is to blame.

Kids do not have a filter for good and bad fiction, which is one the reasons they need guidance when choosing books. That guidance is built into the system when reading a classic, but in the YA world students are often left adrift. As Flannery O’Connor put it in her 1963 essay, ” Total Effect and the Eighth Grade”

“And what if the student finds this is not to his taste?” she asked. “Well that is regrettable. Most regrettable. His taste should not be consulted; it is being formed.”

Before you jump to conclusions, not, I am not ignoring the elephant in the room. I am fully aware that as the YA craze has grown so has student use of technology. And many would jump to blame Facebook for the worsening of our children’s literary capacities before blaming actual books. However, how does one make sense of the fact that students are actually reading more books today than they were 15 years ago, yet their ability to analyze those books has fallen dramatically? It is because the books they are reading are not actually benefiting them academically, and in fact they are training them to be poor readers.

All books are not created equal. There are thousands of “junk” novels published for adults every year. But we do not teach those in our schools. The books reserved for scholarly analysis are those that have passed the test of time. With YA books, the current of new publications is so swift our students are drowning in the junk before finding anything of truly timeless value to grasp on to.

To use an analogy, let’s say you had some natural basketball talent. Now imagine that you only played at the local park against players who really are not your peers in terms of skill? Would you get any better? Not significantly. In fact you would be more likely to pick up bad habits because you don’t need good ones to be successful on this court. The same goes for reading. Poorly written and stereotypically plotted books allow for sloppy reading. You are going to “get it”, or win in our analogy, either way. No heavy lifting is required.

So, now when a student picks up a classic they struggle to grasp it, and worse, parents get frustrated because they know their child reads all the time. Both parent and student become distraught over the fact that what has been a personal passion has become something tedious and difficult.

They have been trained in poor reading habits by poorly written fiction. They think reading should be an easy, passive experience. True reading is anything but.

Request for Journalistic Consistency

The news came out today that President Obama is now in support of same sex marriage. This news has been greeted with near universal praise by the main stream media.

Disclaimer: I want to be clear that I am not criticizing the President’s position. I am somewhat conflicted on this issue myself. On the one hand I think it is patently immoral to deny visitation rights or property rights to anyone who is in a committed relationship, regardless of gender. On the other hand I do think, semantically, that marriage is something between a man and a woman. I also fear that this may be a slippery slope to requiring religious organizations to perform marriage ceremonies that are against their beliefs. On the (third?) hand I know, respect and like some people who are currently in a same sex marriage. Needless to say, I am  not a hardliner either way.

However, the morality of same sex marriage is not really what I want to comment on; rather, I take issue with the media’s apparent hypocrisy in it’s coverage of the President’s change in position. Some things to note:

1. Last week Gallup for the first time showed 51%, a majority, of responders supported same sex marriage.

2. Today the majority of news reports characterized Obama’s change of position as a change of heart, or an evolution in thinking. Almost totally positive.

3. The most recent Gallup poll on abortion shows 51% of responders as pro life.

4. When Mitt Romney changed his position on abortion he was called a flip flopper, an extreme right panderer. Coverage was routinely negative.

I am not saying the President changed his position completely for political reasons, nor am I saying that Romney had an honest to goodness conversion in principles. What I am saying is that journalists need to show some consistency in how they present things.

Permanence and Impermanence

Currently, I am rereading one of my favorite old sci-fi novels, Alfred Bester’s “The Stars My Destination.” It is a retelling of Alexander Dumas’ classic, “The Count of Monte Cristo” set in the 25th century. My students have just begun work on “The Count” so revisiting Bester seemed a timely idea.

One of the tropes of the novel is that corporations have turned into powerful familial clans. The clans are by and large the power behind the throne both here on Earth as well as out on the habitable planets of the solar system. Being written in the 1950’s, the corporate clans are full of names like Buick, Kodak, Sears, Roebuck and Macy. The choice of names has really struck me this time around.

These companies were of course all household names at the time, but now most are inconsequential at best. It seems we always feel that those things of importance that surround us currently have a degree of permanence that as time goes on is simply not there. This hits close to home as well. After all,  of us growing up in the 80’s and 90’s could have imagined a day when Microsoft Word’s dominance would be challenged as it is today?

This concept of impermanence is not limited to big business either. It was only 100 years ago that eugenics and phrenology were considered cutting edge scientific thought. Today they are laughable and disturbing. Now we have word that one of the bedrock principles of modern science may be wrong.

Physicists at CERN think they may have recorded neutrinos traveling faster than the speed of light. If the discovery is true it would mean Einstein’s special theory of relatively, E-MC2, would be wrong. Einstein states in his theory that nothing is able to travel faster than light.

All this begs the question, if so much of what think to be permanent, solid and lasting, in fact isn’t, what should we focus on? What has time-tested permanence?

Redemption: A Rebellious Spirit, a Praying Mother, and the Unlikely Path to Olympic Gold

In ancient Greece the athletic ideal consisted of more than just prowess in a given sport. It was the combination of a healthy mind and a healthy body. The ancient Greeks believed that the development of the mind, spirit, and body were intimately joined, and that a true champion had mastered all areas. An athletic victory involved both the athlete’s physical and moral virtues. Physical training was valued for its role in the development of not only one’s physique but also one’s character. It is in this light that one must read Olympic Gold Medalist Bryan Clay’s autobiographical work,  “Redemption: A Rebellious Spirit, a Praying Mother, and the Unlikely Path to Olympic Gold.”

Clay went from a childhood involving drugs, violence, familial dysfunction and academic indifference to an adulthood that includes a healthy marriage, fatherhood, charitable foundations and Olympic gold. How he did this is the real story of “Redemption.” It is a story of a mother’s faith and unequivocal assurance that life had more in store for her son than his rocky beginnings. It is a story of a son’s resistance, and eventual acceptance of that faith.

Clay, along with co-author Joel Kilpatrick , interweaves a story of personal salvation with a heavy dose of track and field insider information that this reviewer found fascinating. Clay’s sport of choice, the decathlon, is far more grueling than I ever expected. The constant competition, grueling pace, and lack of sleep put it on par with any marathon event. And while the athletic aspect of the story is captivating, it pales in comparison to the internal war that raged in Clay’s mind and spirit throughout much of the narrative. That he was able to overcome these internal battles and emerge such a successful and likable individual is a triumph of the true Olympic ideal.

Overall, the book is a very interesting a rewarding read.

To Be Perfectly Honest

“To Be Perfectly Honest: One Man’s Year of Almost Living Truthfully Could Change Your Life. No Lie”, by Phil Callaway was a good read, but in keeping with the title I have to admit that at first I wasn’t all that interested in it. I picked it up on a whim without very high hopes. However, after about 20 pages I was hooked. Mr. Callaway’s challenge, as well as his wit, are enough to keep most readers interested in this book long enough to get to the fairly rewarding ending.

The premise is that for one solid year he will not tell a lie. He takes this a bit further by feeling the need to right old wrongs that were caused by past lies. While there is plenty of room in this for humor, (and as a humorist Callaway doesn’t disappoint in this regard) there is also some real risk and soul searching. This makes for a quick yes surprisingly meaningful read.

On Running

One foot in front of the other a steady rhythm ensues
The mind empties of worries, cares and anxieties
Blood pumps, muscles tense, lungs breathe
The world beyond the run fades away
Before the run doesn’t matter
After the run doesn’t exist
Right now, I am the run
I am the air I breathe
The sun on my face
Dirt under my feet
“I” no longer exist
Only the run

Close Encounters

I am a fair weather runner. From April to late October you can find me most weekends on one of the local trails, but during the New England winter I hibernate. Oh sure, I will occasionally break out the snow shoes or cross country skis if there has been a recent and as yet unspoiled snowfall, but for the most part I take the winter months off.

Then comes Patriots Day. As the runners line up for the Boston marathon, my own running season begins. I have always liked to equate it with the Celtic battle season, that time when the grounds were dry enough for some serious bloodshed to commence after a winter of sharpening axes and blades. True, the only bloodshed I witness is the occasional blister, but it still makes the whole process somehow more…manly.

Today on the trail I had a rather close encounter with nature, which I am going to take as a good omen for the season to come. First I had a hawk circling not more than 25 feet over my head. ( I am fairly certain I wasn’t the intended target of his gaze, but who knows, I am pretty slow at this point.) Next I ran into my first fox of the year. The little guy was standing off in some trees about six feet away.

Close encounters indeed.