AP English Literature

I thought it might be interesting to post about other reading I have done outside of the assignments given. This does not mean that I will be posting about anything I just decided to grab off the shelf, but rather important and meaningful reads that challenge our minds and astonish our senses. In short, AP level works. I doubt they will be suitable for actual classroom discussion as there is already a floor plan for the course, but I would urge anyone who might have actually taken the time to read this to look for these and perhaps give them a shot.

 

One novel I attempted (for the second time) and failed, was the massive postmodern epic Gravity's Rainbow, by Thomas Pynchon. Perhaps one of the most singularly challenging books I have ever read, I was only able to reach 100 pages into the work before calling it quits (the first time I only managed 50 pages). Gravity's Rainbow is set in World War Two and primarily concerns the V-2 rockets that were launched by Germany. I chose this novel after reading earlier Pynchon works, and because of its notoriety as one of the greatest American novels of all time. Pynchon has a liking for dense in-depth conversations, ridiculous random songs, and frequent references to mathematics, science, obscure historical occurences and pop culture of the time period. I found the work to be a little too much, and have not since gone back to it, although it still remains a candidate for serious reading in the future. I enjoyed what I got to, but there is so much attention to detail and digression to less important themes that I guess you could say I got lazy, and simply refused to go on.

 

What I am currently reading is David Foster Wallace's The Pale King. Wallace is notorious for Infinite Jest, as complex and massive as its title might suggest (taken from Hamlet). Wallace died at a young age in 2008, and the pages from The Pale King were left behind in the tragedy. Wallace's editor put these various chapters together to form what is not a finished work, but a testament to a literary genius, a book threaded with humanity and hilarity. The Pale King takes place at the IRS Regional Examination Center in Peoria, Illinois. There is little steady plotline, no singular driving force. Instead, its chapters concern various employees' experiences on the job and in everyday life. Some are lengthy reflections, others include newspaper headlines about an IRS employee being dead for four days at his desk. One chapter contains nothing but dialogue, a group of men stuck in elevator, discussing changing social customs of American citizens and the effect of this on politcal and capital agendas, and/or how politcal and capital agendas have been changing the behaviors of American citizens. One chapter is titled the "Author's Foreword" where Wallace makes a point of adressing the reader directly to state that the entire novel is in fact nonfiction, and that the only fictous part of the book is the disclaimer stating "This is a work of fiction." Wallace refers to this as an "irksome paradox" and explains legal disputes about the novel, his leading up to writing, makes various legal references that are nothing more than jargon to the common reader, and writes footnotes that are sometimes pages unto themselves. The Pale King isn't entirely exhausting, it's quite an accessible read, and Wallace has the amazing ability to create very humanistic environments and very lifelike characters. But it is not a simple read, and requires a great of mental focus. I will not be quittibg quite so easily on this book, and intend to see it through to the end.

 

This is really all I'll say about readings I've done. Nothing else would be all too purposeful to write about, due to lack of challenging material. I hope this was helpful.