I'm a Vietnamese international student in the US, and I read quite a lot, but mostly fantasy epics and sci-fi. My best friend is a college professor in Vietnam (English major), and he will start teaching a new course in August next year. The course is English Literature. He asked me to recommend some books, but I haven't read a lot of the classics. I have taken a bunch of ENG courses in college here, and I know some good short stories like Yellow Wallpaper and The Lottery. But I don't know a lot.
I need some recommendations for the books/stories that he should assign to his students. Preferably something not too long, not too complicated, and deep enough to analyze. If I don't know the stories already, I will read them myself and see if they're suitable.
(Some extra context: English teaching and learning in Vietnam is very technical. We learn grammar and vocabulary, and whatever else needed for different jobs like in banks and stuff. English Literature is a very new thing there)
by Witch_King_Malekith
6 Comments
possibly The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin… although it’s definitely more obscure and not actually a classic.
Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin – James Baldwin in general is a really good classic American author. He wrote a lot about Black American experiences, which I think is important, especially for a book about America
The Animal Farm by Orwell. Please!!!
There was a book I had in high school. It was an anthology of short stories from around the world. https://www.pearson.com/en-au/subject-catalog/p/the-new-windmill-book-of-stories-from-around-the-world/GPROG_A100063931161_learnerau-availability/9780435124809?tab=table-of-contents
The best ones I recall were
– everyday use by Alice walker (still an incredibly rich story)
– country lovers by Nadine Gordimer
– the stolen party by Liliana hecker
This is for a high school class where English was the official language and language of instruction throughout school, but most students spoke another language at home. The best part is that it’s not just American or British writers but very broadly English diaspora representative
Diary of wimpy kid and daddy long lege I think both of them good for beginners in English
Northanger Abbey – Jane Austen
Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald
Any short stories or poetry by Edgar Allen Poe
If they’re open to poetry, Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti is a long poem that tells a story, and would be long enough to analyse.
I’m teaching at a University in the Middle East, Steinbecks Of Mice and Men is my primary text for teaching American literature. Other than that I mostly use short stories and excerpts.