Classic Literature for a New Generation
When one watches "Rambo: First Blood Part II" are we actually watching a contemporary version of the Iliad about the ferocity of Achilles on and off the battleground? When we watch Francis Ford Coppola's "Godfather" trilogy, are we really watching Aeschylus's Oresteia trilogy? Is today's "Jerry Springer" yesterday's Euripides' Hippolytus? Is Rodney Dangerfield's "Back to School" really Aristophanes's The Clouds? Could flicking through the pages of Playboy be tantamount to listening to Plato's Symposium, a discourse on sex and love, or reading Castiglione's Renaissance courtesy novel The Book of the Courtier? (Spectrum, Australia, 1)
Richard Keller Simon, in his book Trash Culture advocates the simultaneous study of classic literature through its traditional forms and contemporary interpretation, highlighting the importance of promoting popular culture in conjunction with classic literature in order to comprehend the crucial perspective in which the books materialize. (R. K. Simon, California, 3-5) In rejecting Stallone's interpretation and condensation of the Iliad as not having the ability to convey any of the inherent messages of its classic counterpart, we deny popular culture as a possibly influential schooling device. (Spectrum, Australia, 1)
There are many proponents of Simon's assertion, literary enthusiasts who see the benefits of studying literature in pairs - the traditional as well as the contemporary way. Leslie Fiedler, in his book What Was Literature?, stated that the examination of the art novel (Joyce, James, Edith Wharton) is an passe exercise; that our approach is flawed if we cannot cater to the detective novel, the pornographic fancy, the comic strip. (A. Burgess, New York, 1) Marshall McLuhan placed great importance on the delivery of the themes inherent in novels. The fundamental idea behind his book The Medium is the Massage is that the message is largely influenced by the method of delivery.... If the substance is destroyed by the medium, "what" we say is not significant - only "how" we opt to convey that message. McLuhan's conviction in hi-tech determinism is apparent by his saying, "we shape our tools and they in turn shape us." (http://www.regent.edu/acad/schcom/rojc/mdic/mcluhan.html)
However there are also many opponents to Simon's radicalism. Neil Postman disputed that today's medium often undercuts the impact of the traditional works and its incorporation in the educational system should not be encouraged. "[T]elevision's conversations promote incoherence and triviality... And that television speaks in only one persistent voice - the voice of entertainment.... To enter the great television conversation, one American cultural institution after another is learning to speak its terms. Television, in other words, is transforming our culture into one vast arena for showbusiness. It is entirely possible, of course, that in the end we shall find that delightful, and decide we like it just fine." (N. Postman, U.S., 64-82)
Alvin Kernan through his book The Death of Literature advocated similar views to Postman. "In the electronic age, books, words and reading are not likely to remain sufficiently authoritative and central to knowledge to justify literature.... At the deepest level the worldview of television is fundamentally at odds with the worldview of a literature based on the printed book. As television watching increases therefore, and more and more people derive, quite unconsciously, their sense of reality and their existential situation in it from television, the assumptions about the world that have been identified with literature will become less and less plausible, and in no time will become downright incredible." (http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_05.09.96/ARTS/bo0509b.htm)
Undoubtedly the best answer to these critics is empirical evidence. Simon isn't asserting that in order to impact on a smarter, wiser, more impatient population of thinkers, the most appropriate method of doing so would be to speak their lingo, to communicate through cultural mediums. Robert Scholes conveyed his apprehension that English departments were going to become obsolete unless they modernised. (Spectrum, Australia, 1) The answer is this: What students love, and what teachers know how to teach are almost the same. The outlook of English division relies on their skill in incorporating the two types of narratives.
For instance, the trendy television sitcom Friends, is a current interpretation of Shakespeare's over-the-top comedy Much Ado About Nothing. Despite the difference in settings (Renaissance Italy, contemporary Manhattan), and that one is written in poetry...
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