Challenge: 50 Books discussion
Recommendations for my dissertation?
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Hi! I'm totally new here, but Try Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl(although this is really an autobiography) by Harriet Jacobs, Kindred (kind of sci fi, but still pretty good) by Octavia E. Butler, and Puddin'head Wilson by Mark Twain. That's about all I can think of right now...hth!
IF you are writing about slavery, you will find that most African-American literature up until fairly recently (historically speaking) has been in the form of the slave narrative and/or autobiography.Harriet Jacobs is a good place to start, but I would also have to recommend Frederick Douglass' "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" (which is a pretty amazing book in many ways). Also consider Olaudah Equiano (although his might be of less value for your purposes). All three are pretty standard fare here in the US.
If you are trying to focus on fiction, look into Uncle Tom's Cabin, Roots, Beloved, etc. Uncle Tom is a classic in its own right. Roots is ridiculously long, but it caused quite a stir in the US. Beloved is often cited as one of the best works of contemporary (American) fiction.
Have at it!
Two novels on that front that I've found to be good reads and from which I still carry lessons are: "The Known World" by Edward P. Jones, which is about a black slave owner in Virginia. It won the Pulitzer Prize in 2004. I also liked "Cane River" by Lalita Tademy. Although it's based on her family it is a novel, not narrative non-fiction. It explores the slave experience over several different generations from the female slave's perspective.
Good luck with your project-I wanted to add a couple of recommendations for you.
Cane River by Lalita Tademy is a novel the traces four generations of African American women two of which were slaves Although it is a novel, it is based on the true story of the author's family. It is extensively researched and could add a lot of your work.
I also LOVED "The Known World" by Edward P. Jones. Is is also a work of fiction but it is fantastic. It is about a slave owning black couple if Virginia. I would highly recommend it for anyone!
jlynn
Thanks for all of your suggestions! I'm very grateful for your help. If you think of any more titles then I'll be happy to look into those as well.I noticed that someone commented that all of these books are "standard fare" in US. I actually live in Scotland, so unless I'm willing to order the books from Amazon, they're not the easiest titles to get hold of!
However, I can order copies of:
'Uncles Tom's Cabin' by Harriet Beecher Stowe
and 'Pudd'nhead Wilson' by Mark Twain
from local libraries.
I can also get hold of book by Lalita Tademy called 'Red River' (the sequel to 'Cane River') and a collection of short stories by Edward P. Jones called 'All Aunt Hagar's Children.' So I'll see what those are like. If not, I might have to go for a scrounge in the used book shops in Edinburgh, as I cannot afford to buy loads of books for this dissertation.
Someone commented that there haven't been many fictional books written about slavery until recently - and that is fine, as apparently the exam board prefer it when you write about modern novels rather than classics! Maybe this is because they know you haven't just read a copy of "York Notes on To Kill a Mocking Bird" and wrote your essay from that?
Anyway, I will look into these books over the summer.
I can highly recommend The Known World by Edward Jones, as well as Beloved and The Confessions of Nat Turner by William Styron. Good luck with your dissertation--let us know how it goes.
Gah, I'd read an extract from the third book you mentioned, and remembered it immediately when I read the synopsis on Amazon...however, it is yet another book that none of the local libraries has! This is beginning to become irritating. However, reading about the Styron novel reminded me of an anthology of extracts from novels which Malorie Blackman collected to celebrate the anniversary of the abolishment of the slave trade, so I'll try to find that book again and look up all the authors whose work was featured.
I also recently read Beloved, and found it really interesting. I'm hoping to include it as one of my three novels for my dissertation.
Definitely check out "Queen" by Alex Haley.
Jamie - thanks for the recommendation, although this does seem to be more non-fiction than fiction from the descriptions I've read. Sadly, yet again, this book is not available in my libary catalogue! So far I have two books which I'm going to try to analyse for my dissertation:
Beloved by Toni Morrison
and
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
I only need a third book and then I'll have finished my search!
Any more recommendations are still welcome!
How about To Kill a Mockingbird? You could discuss slavery and, I think more importantly, what happens after slavery...the lingering prejudice in America.This book takes place in the Depression @ 60 years after slavery and looks at the problems still existing in the American South (same problems in the North, different experiences).
As an American, I think we are still suffering from what happened AFTER slavery...the Jim Crow laws, the segregation and hatred.
I'm not allowed to use To Kill a Mockingbird for my dissertation as it is used in the Standard Grade cirriculum (like eight and ninth grade) and therefore isn't suitable to be discussed in an Advanced Higher essay (twelth grade). I did ask my teacher, as I love that novel, but she said it really wasn't suitable. Yeah, I was thinking of trying to do a "Before the Civil War" book then a "During the War" one and an "After the War" one, and then comparing...something in them. I'm not completely sure yet. So far I'm just trying to find books.
TKAMB would be a really great book for "After the War" but I'm definitely not allowed to use it because it's not a suitable level. Plus, my class read it and discussed it in fourth year (ninth grade) with our teacher, and there's a rule about not using a book which you've been taught about.
Perhaps there is another book set in a similar time period to TKAMB which also shows "lingering prejudices"?
I'm sorry to hear that Queen isn't available at your library - you can find it at Amazon, though. Even if you don't use it for your dissertation, I'm sure you'd enjoy reading the book someday anyway. Although Queen is based on Haley's family, it is categorized as fiction, so I would think you'd be able to use it(?). It is particularly interesting, due to its view of Antebellum America through the eyes of a bi-racial woman throughout much of the book.
Richard Wright's Native Son! It's perfect. Written in 1940, very good read with lots of symbolism for you to write about!
Jamie - yes, all of the books mentioned are available from Amazon and a lot of them do look very interesting; I'm just slightly wary about spending £6 or £7 on a book which turns out to be useless to me, or one which I don't enjoy. However, it is getting to stage that so few books are available from my local library system that I am considering buying a whole bunch of 1p used copies from Amazon!In a more positive light, I looked up a synopsis of Native Son and it does look quite promising! It is also available on the library catalogue - but from either the local community college or a high school. High schools and colleges usually don't like lending books to other libraries, but I might be able to speak to my librarian and get her to conact one of them and explain that I need it for school.
Thank you for all of your recommendations!
I can't believe they won't let you use To Kill A Mockingbird just because they use it in younger grades! That book is absolutely brilliant -- it touches the soul and makes you think hard at any age. Restrictions like that are ridiculous.
I know it is an amazing book, but I understand the restrictions. They want students to read more complex literature and to stretch themselves. There's no point in sitting an Advanced Higher in English and studying the same books you read in class three years ago; you won't be learning anything new, and that's the whole point in sitting the next level of study. Also, talking about a book which is well-known as being used at Standard Grade level in an Advanced Higher essay might make the examiner think that you aren't clever enough to read and understand books at a higher literary level. Even if you essay is amazing, they may think "This is a Stanard Grade text! Clearly this person isn't smart enough to sit an Advanced Higher!" and become biased while they read your dissertation, possibly giving you a lower grade. I know it sounds ridiculous, but there are all these slight possibilities and our teachers want us to avoid them as much as possible. My teacher also said that we should try and avoid any sort of classics as much as possible. I think this is because it's quite hard to get a good grade when talking about such a well-known piece of literature. I'd rather stick to less well-known books if it meant that the examiner wouldn't have read a lot about them and be able to say "Well, they missed out all of these points" or "I've read a better essay before" and then give me a lower mark. Again, it does sound ridiculous, but these things could happen. For instance, at Standard Grade level, my teacher told me all of my essays were at A1 standard, but when I got my marks back, I got an A2. Why? I have no idea. Examiners are just picky, I guess.
However, I'm not entirely sure what counts as a classic. Beloved is stated as being a "modern classic," and my teacher recommended it to me. I think I'll use it anyway.
I'm slightly worried about my teacher. She's been so vague about what to do for this! We're meant to have chosen our books and our topic by the beginning of October. Granted, that gives us six weeks when we get back to school, but she told us to do a lot of research over the summer, and I don't want to come back and have her tell her she doesn't like what I'm doing, or that it's no appropriate.
My minister's wife is an ex-English teacher, so I think I'll ask her some questions about this before I go back to school, so that I can clarify some points.
I'm kind of warbling here, but yes, my English teacher has some really strange rules about what is suitable and what isn't. But I wouldn't want to risk my English grade over a book. I think it would technically be completely against the regulations to use it anyway, as my class studied it when I was fifteen, and it is completely verborten to use a text which you've been taught about; all of the research needs to be your OWN. It's not fair on other students if your teacher tells you about it.
Anyway! Next time I'm at the library I'll get the librarian to order a few books, and try and find a third one to use.
I would recommend "Harriet Tubman: the Road to Freedom" by Catherine Clinton, if you need a non-fiction source. It includes many first hand accounts from those who survived slavery, as well as the life of one of the greatest fighters for emancipation.
I just find out how to write dissertation acknowledgments. Would be useful for all who are writing dissertation at the moment.
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I was originally considering a theme relating to prejudice or racism, so my teacher suggested that I read Beloved by Toni Morrison. I discovered from just reading the book that it was about slavery in the USA, which I'm now starting to think would be a good theme to cover.
I'm also studying Advanced Higher History this year, and we're spending the whole year on the US Civil War, so a topic of slavery from that time period would be a BRILLIANT overlap.
So, my question is -
Can you recommend any novels on this topic? Or even just on slavery in general?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
EDIT: I just thought I'd add that I'm open to any suggestions, as I will have to read more than three books during my research, but my dissertation will have to be on FICTION, specifically ADULT fiction. However, if anyone has any interesting autobiographies or teenage novels I may look into them as well.