Classics Tips
When it comes to Classics, we've been there, done that, now serving 29 tips in 10 categories ranging from American Minority Lit. to Understanding Literary Movements.
Some of Kerouac's most popular works
Jack Kerouac's first published novel was The Town and the City, later followed by his most famous work, On the Road. On the Road is said to have captured the spirit of a generation the way The Sun Also Rises did for Hemingway's era. Many of Kerouac's other novels tackled the issues of his childhood (Visions of Gerard, Maggie Cassidy) and his spiritual journey in life (The Dharma Bums, Desolation Angels).
The Beat Defined
A "beat" or "beatnik" was a social group of young people in the 1950's. They were the predecessors of the hipppies of the 1960's and wrote poetic ficiton and poetry. Sterotypically, beatniks are associated with coffee shops, bongos, and black turtlenecks. For ficitonal interpritations of these over-the-top beatniks, see Manard G. Krebs in the television series Dobie Gillis or Pia Zadora's role in the movie Hairspray.
Aside from these stereotypes, the beats are typically thought of as a literary movement including authors like Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, and Allen Ginsberg.
Penguin Classics Anotated Listing
Not sure what classics you want to start reading? Get the new Penguin Classics Annotated Listing for free at a bookstore near you! The ISBN is: 0-14-771791-4. It is a complete listing of all the Penguin Classics with author bios, plot synopsis, and more!
Definition of a slave narrative
"In the period between 1830 and 1860, as a part of the abolition movement in America, anumber of autobiographical accounts of slavery by escaped slaves were published. The best of these slave narratives was 'A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave.'"
Definition of a Shakespearean Tragedy
A Shakespearean tragedy is the polar opposite of a comedy; it "...exemplifies the sense that human beings are inevitably doomed through their own failures or errors, or even the ironic action of their virtues, or through the nature of fate, destiny, or the human conditionto suffer, fail, and die...." In other words, it is a drama with an unhappy ending.
Important Works of Thomas Hardy
Some of the most important and critically acclaimed works of Thomas Hardy are:
Tess of the D'Urbervilles
Jude the Obscure
The Mayor of Casterbridge
The Woodlanders
Far from the Maddening Crowd
The Return of the Native
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