Verily, let us fling mud upon them!

So, I'm part of a group on goodreads.com called Books I Loathed, which is pretty much an arena for English majors and our fellow nerds to kvetch/complain/blow off steam about so-called classics and other books that we hated for whatever reason. Among the more amusing (to me) posts of this group is one entitled: "The Scarlet Letter: Killing Literacy Since 1850." Not the most academic discussion, but amusing nonetheless:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/37891-the-scarlet-letter-killing-literacy-since-1850



It begs the question...did others on this blog also encounter The Scarlet Letter as required reading in high school? If you did, did you like it? Did you loathe it? Above all, why do you think this book in particular lands on so many required reading lists in American high school classrooms?

As for my own experience, although it was assigned, I don't think more than half the class actually read it. The rest were preoccupied with making big red A's out of notebook paper and trying to stick them on each other's backs ala Kick Me signs.

A Political Cartoon

I get these cartoons and articles in my email from The Cagle Post and I just thought this one was funny/awesome:

Quoth the Raven: "Eat My Shorts"

This suggestion may sound absurd, but I think this Simpsons cartoon (circa early 90's) captured the spirit of "The Raven" better than any other version, even though it's comical and a bit irreverent. The segment starts at 16:00 even.


The Simpsons 203

Poe in the Venture Bros. (Again)

I could only find the full episode, so you need to click on the bottom right box on the video screen and you'll see him again right after the credits roll (it's at about 22:00 if you want to just skip ahead). It's hilarious. Poe is the best.

More ravens

Here's a clip of Vincent Price reciting "The Raven."



I like both Price and Walken's readings, but neither captures (what I see as) the true un-hinged, mouth-frothing lunacy of the speaker at the end of the poem.

A reading of The Raven.

i thought this was cool..

A little bit of Poe

Instead of The Simpsons, here's some Venture Brothers.