My Curiosity About English Academics

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This is basically intended for the British or those who have grew up in England. But I would appreciate other Europeans and Americans who would like to share.

I was just wondering what kind of books does an average 10 year old English boy would read. That would be for 50 and 30 years ago, and presently. Is it somewhere like Morte d'Arthur, Lord of the Rings, Shakespeare's works, David Copperfield, Wuthering Heights, Divine Comedy, and some of those classics?

It's kind'a pressing question to me but I'm holding my reasons for much later on, maybe after around 5 serious answers from you people.

Thanks.

 

A twenty-something English academic here (maybe your title should've been 'My Curiousity About British Education in English Literature'?) so I suppose I'm talking about present-day studies.

Anyway, like most countries, we British are proud of our heritage and like to extol the virtues of patriotism and reading our own home-grown literature (which is, quite frankly, the best).

Anyway, the 'classics' (e.g. Shakespeare, Jane Austin, etc) are forced upon us as syllabus material for our GCSE exams (High School/at 16 years old). This causes one of two things to happen- either we fall in love with the brilliant writing and try to get all the books we can get our grubby little mits on (rare!) or we're put-off reading these literary masterpieces for a long time because of their association with memories of school and having to study them (not through choice).

 

I agree with your choice of title. And I have no problem that English Literature is one of the best, but I wouldn't want to say THE best, I'd like to keep that open... I hope you don't mind.

The thing that is bugging me now is that I want to know whether a 10 year old kid (a correction to my previously quoted "boy" so as to include girls) is normally taught or forced (whether in school or at home) to read the type of books that I have mentioned earlier (not necessarily those books but rather books of such length and depth). And is this going like that 50 years ago, 30 years ago, and presently?

Thanks again.

[ January 17, 2003, 11:53: Message edited by: nior ]

 

Oh yes, Pratchet is a very good choice. And HP of course, but if your ten and haven't read them then there is something wrong with you.
And a ten year old would be bored ****less reading classics

 

I'm english and can tell you what 10-year olds (like me) read in schools 26 years ago. No Shakespeare, Austin, Dickens, etc. I was just encouraged to read whatever interested me. We did read books in class that were sort of text books. As I remember, they seemeed to be books full of short stories followed by some questions on comprehension. We tackled the questions or would write brief descriptions of the stories we read about or sometimes talk about them as a class.

The only examples of English classics I can think of were Roald Dahl (James & the Giant Peach, etc), C.S. Lewis (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, etc) and maybe some others. But they were definately kids books nothing heavy or adult at all. These books were also read to us and we were encouraged to read similar ones on our own.

Of course, the UK education system has changed beyond recognition in the last 20 years (the young kids today face frequent examinations) so it may have been very different for younger Brits.

[ January 19, 2003, 19:23: Message edited by: Slappy ]

 

Here's the reason why I made this query, someone from a local forum said that the main reason that Tolkien wrote LOTR was because of 10 year old boys. I don't have any qualms about Tolkien's work are for children but I do think that LOTR was a bit too long and complicated for a 10 year old to absorb or even read through. I have learned the stories of classical works such as "Wuthering Heights", "For Whom the Bell Tolls", "Prisoner of Zenda", "Diveine Comedy" and the such when I was about ten... but not from the books. It was through comic books. I realized that for a 10 yr old to venture into such works is like trying to reach the moon... possible but hard. But this guy, he believed that a 10 yr old boy would have already read Beowulf, King Arthur, some of these classics before they even ventured into LOTR. So I gave him the benefit of the doubt and ask you people.

So here it is again, plain and simple: Do you know anybody who have read LOTR when they were 10 yrs. old? You might prove me right or prove me wrong.

 

Heh, I didn't even know it existed when I was ten, I read The Hobbit when I was eleven and LOTR when I was twelve. Ten year olds care very little about epic fantasy

 

Having studied Tolkien extensively, including biographical study and reading all of his available published letters, i would have to say that this person from the forum that you are talking about is full of crap. THere is absolutely no evidence that Tolkien grounded his story on the fact that a ten-year old kid would have read Beowulf, etc.

Now the Hobbit, that is a different story - one of the earliest supporters of the Hobbit was the ten-year old son of Tolkien's publisher, Rayner Unwin. I think that your "local forum" person has his information mixed up, to say the least. Although it is quite possible that a ten-year old would be familiar with Arturian Legend and Beowulf, that does not mean he has read and studied them (as this person seems to say.)

Anyways, I hope that helps you out a bit.

 

I'm not sure if this helps, Nior, but I finished the English Lit. program at a large American university. After doing basic survey courses we moved mostly into our areas of concentration. My area was Medieval and Renaissance Studies, and as a result, my classes were what one would expect: Chaucer, in Middle English, a class devoted to Shakespeare, the Norse sagas, etc. This program also included a compliment of history classes, for backgroud, covering the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
What is striking is the emphasis away from the literature that I studied when I was ten and the direction towards a multi-cultural format for students today.
While no serious reader would belittle the accomplishments of Twain, Hemingway, Hawthorne, Melville or Thoreau, the movement is towards a less "chauvinistic" format: woman writers, black writers, Eastern poets and the like. Also, genre fiction, such as sci-fi and fantasy, was really frowned on at my university, but it is a real mainstay for programs in American public schools. Hope this helps.

 

I haven't heard of any one from my school who actually read something like the hobbit at 10, it was far too complex. I read it when I was about 12, I understood it but I didn't take interest because it was a school book.

I think that at the age of ten, you think the importance of school and books is a punishment, but two years later, when you're preparing to go to secondary (or high school, whatever you want call it) you realise that you won't be a child anymore and you decide to learn more to help you in later life. While your learning more, your mind can read more complex books because you can now understand them.

I just realised I strayed a lot from the topic.

At ten you won't read long classic books, you'll read things like the lion witch and the wardrobe to help develop your reading skill.

 

I think the reason why someone says LOTR was written for kids is that IIRC Tolkien started the book as a sequel for Hobbit. Some years ago I read somewhere that's the reason why the beginning of LOTR: The Fellowship of the Ring is so different from later parts; Tolkien started to write a book for kids (because his publisher requested a sequel for Hobbit) but it developed into something much different.

 

Personally I read The Hobbit first in third grade after I saw the cartoon. I didn't understand half of it but the rest was enough for me to be hooked by the genre ever since. I didn't actually UNDERSTAND it until I read it again when I was 13.