British Literature for Christian Schools by Ronald Arthur Horton

by Ronald A. Horton

Traces the development of English literature from the early Middle Ages to the early twentieth century including examples of poems, essays, plays, short stories, and religious writings.

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 31, 2003

Reviews

[Werner · Rating 3 out of 5]

What I'm reviewing here is actually the 1992 (hardback) edition of this book, though Goodreads' record combines all the editions in such a way that the reviews of one are all listed under each of the others. This is a similar textbook, by the same publisher, to American Literature for Christian Schools (which see), which I reviewed earlier here on Goodreads, and as such it has very similar strengths and weaknesses. Like the other volume, I used it successfully in homeschooling, with some supplementation (especially in teaching literature, a certain amount of supplementation is probably a good idea whatever textbook is used). I've awarded it three stars, rather than the two the other text got, because I thought Horton's introductory overviews for the various literary periods here (Old English, Middle English, Tudor, Stuart, Neoclassical, Romantic, Victorian, and Modern), and short bio-critical introductions to various writers, were more constructive than Raymond St. John's. Though they have some of the same limitations and blind spots, they at least avoid (which St. John's sometimes don't) socio-political comments so egregiously off-beam as to be embarrassing, and mostly eschew unfair attacks on individual writers, though Horton is quite partisan in attacking Thomas More --but nobody else!-- for "bigotry". There is also less inclusion, in this volume, of non-literary, utilitarian writing selections --though John and Charles Wesley were not writers of "literature" as such; excerpts from the former's journal, and some of the latter's hymns, are dragged in only to provide an excuse for discussing their lives in detail here. (And some other selections from the earlier periods are open to criticism on this point, too.) While Beowulf, The Canterbury Tales, Morte d'Arthur, The Faerie Queen, and The Pilgrim's Progress are perhaps inevitably represented (the first two in modern English translation) by excerpts, and so are several other writings, there may be less excerpting of larger works here than there is in the American literature counterpart. Again, the discussion questions for particular works tend to be helpful and well-focused.

The choices of writers to highlight and represent individually here, up to the Victorian period, tends to follow the traditional canon (though with the addition of excerpts from divines or hymn composers like Wycliffe, Tyndale, Rutherford, Baxter, Isaac Watts, etc., as well as the Wesleys, all of whom really belong to the study of general and church history). As in the other book, poetry is represented much more than fiction (which takes a back seat to non-fiction prose, much of the latter in excerpted form.) A lot of the poetry is outstanding; two masterpieces I'd never read before, and was introduced to here, are Keats' "The Eve of St. Agnes" and Robert Graves' "Coronation Address." Only five short stories are included, but those five are well-chosen: Hardy's "The Three Strangers" (the only one I'd read before); Kipling's too-little-known "The Conversion of Aurelian McGoggin;" Joyce's "Araby;" Woolf's "Three Pictures," which is an excellent introduction to her existentially pessimist worldview; and Mansfield's splendid gem "Feuille D'Album." The essay as such also tends to be slighted, though Charles Lamb's "Old China" (a subject I didn't think I'd be interested in --but the ostensible subject is not really the focus here! :-)) is one of the few that do appear. (Swift's "A Modest Proposal" was omitted, though he would have been much better represented here by that than by a selection from Gulliver's Travels!) Macbeth is the only play included, but a weakness in presenting drama is more forgivable --that form is better experienced by viewing than reading. (I didn't assign Macbeth for reading --but I DID assign videos of good productions of both Macbeth and Hamlet to be watched. :-))

My biggest criticism here, especially for a textbook that claims to represent a Christian perspective, is that a number of major modern Christian writers --Eliot, Chesterton, Lewis, Waugh, Sayers, etc.-- are not represented and featured here, and are almost totally ignored. (Ironically, Horton concludes his introduction to the Modern period by quoting approvingly and at some length from Eliot on the right Christian response to modern literature --but Eliot's writing otherwise is invisible in this book!) Some of this may be due to snobbishness against "genre" fiction, in which some of these writers wrote (and which is also invisible here); and one might argue that Eliot was an American writer, though I consider him British. Then too, any works of creative literature written after 1922 are usually under copyright --and purchasing the rights can pose a crushing financial cost to a small press, or make the textbook prohibitively expensive for Christian schools and homeschooling parents. (The entire modern period from 1900 on is represented by exactly seven selections from as many writers, a phenomenon almost certainly related to the former.) Still, I suspect their absence also reflects prejudice against Roman Catholic and "High" Anglican writers --either the author/publisher's own, or in the press' constituency.

In summation, this isn't a perfect text, and it's certainly possible to imagine a better one. But for now, it is (or at least was when I picked it) about the best one of its kind available; and, supplemented by a good public or college library, will fit the bill as a tolerable high school text to begin a young person's acquaintance with British literature. (And such a class should be the beginning, not the end, of what ought to become a lifelong reading adventure!)

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taught juniors out of these books at Northside Christian School in North Charleston, SC. I used the student versions myself in high school (2000).