Senior Research Paper (Author Help)

[cyco]

Well its not due until next year around March, but I have to choose two books from an author. I don't read much so I figured you guys could help me out.

 

 

 

What I'm kind of looking for is an author that is pretty modern and isn't really hard to follow because of the way they wrote (like Charles [bleep]ens). I'm not really sure what genre I like because I don't read much. I pretty much just look at the synopsis of a book then read it.

 

 

 

Here is the list in alphabetical order. These are the only authors I can choose from.

 

 

 

Achebe, Chinua

 

Austen, Jane

 

Camus, Albert

 

Cervantes

 

Chaucer, Geoffrey

 

Defoe, Daniel

 

[bleep]ens, Charles

 

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor

 

Dumas, Alexandre

 

Eliot, George

 

Goldsmith, Oliver

 

Hardy, Thomas

 

Hesse, Hermann

 

Huxley, Aldous

 

Ibsen, Henrik

 

Kafka, Franz

 

Kipling, Rudyard

 

Lewis, C.S.

 

Malory, Sir Thomas

 

Marlowe, Christopher

 

Marquez, Gabriel

 

Orczy, Baroness

 

Remarque, Erich

 

Rostand, Edmond

 

Scott, Sir Walter

 

Shakespear, William

 

Shaw, George Bernard

 

Solzhenitsyn, Alexander

 

Stevenson, Rovbert Louis

 

Voltaire

 

White, T.H.

 

Wilde, Oscar

 

 

 

So thats the list lol. If anyone could helpe me out that would be awesome. I want to get an early start since I have to read two books.

[Nom]

Eh, for starters, none of the authors on that list wrote in Old English, not even Shakespeare (common misconception). Geoffrey Chaucer is Middle English, though, so I wouldn't touch him.

 

 

 

I've read a Chinua Achebe book, Things Fall Apart, it was OK I guess. Pretty good list of authors there. I would go with CS Lewis and Robert Louis Stevenson personally.

[cyco]

Eh, for starters, none of the authors on that list wrote in Old English, not even Shakespeare (common misconception). Geoffrey Chaucer is Middle English, though, so I wouldn't touch him.

 

 

 

I've read a Chinua Achebe book, Things Fall Apart, it was OK I guess. Pretty good list of authors there. I would go with CS Lewis and Robert Louis Stevenson personally.

 

 

 

Well I meant a harder to follow writing style. I know its not Old English.

[indy500fan]

Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is an awesome book.

[Barihawk]

Could you tell us what you are going to have to write on the selected texts? Otherwise it's just random booktelling.

[cyco]

Could you tell us what you are going to have to write on the selected texts? Otherwise it's just random booktelling.

 

 

 

Biography of the author.

 

 

 

Description on the historical era the Author lived in.

 

 

 

Summary of each novel.

 

 

 

How the authors writing reflects his or her life and time period (Novels like other stories during the time, Cultural values or ideals depicted in the novel, Ideals shaped by events in the authors life, Any common themes that appear in his or her writing).

[Barihawk]

Could you tell us what you are going to have to write on the selected texts? Otherwise it's just random booktelling.

 

 

 

Biography of the author.

 

 

 

Description on the historical era the Author lived in.

 

 

 

Summary of each novel.

 

 

 

How the authors writing reflects his or her life and time period (Novels like other stories during the time, Cultural values or ideals depicted in the novel, Ideals shaped by events in the authors life, Any common themes that appear in his or her writing).

 

 

 

I would go with Kipling, then. All of his books were excellent social commentary, and he lived in a very interesting era, and is a good symbol of British colonialism in India.

[Make7upu101]

Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is an awesome book.

 

 

 

2nd that. It's pretty easy to understand too. It can get slightly deep but it pretty much lays it out for you.

[Althalus]

Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is an awesome book.

 

 

 

2nd that. It's pretty easy to understand too. It can get slightly deep but it pretty much lays it out for you.

 

 

 

Me 3, I read this book in my senior year in high school and I actually went out after and bought it. Good read all around.

 

 

 

That book and anything by Oscar Wilde.

[mad4u689]

Okay. I'm going to give you as much advice as I can about as many authors as I can, which sadly is not all of them:

 

 

 

Achebe, Chinua - an African writer. I've only read "Things Fall Apart," which was an interesting book. Note that his books are a very different style from most that you're probably used to - it can be hard to get into them, and even harder to analyze them in a literary way without a teacher's guidance. However, it's totally worth it if you do. I recommend this if you're interested in other cultures, perspectives, and discourses :D

 

 

 

Austen, Jane - These books are... considered classics, somehow, but really they're just soap opera chick flicks, in book form and written a long time ago. That said, I've read a ton of them. These are good easy and enjoyable reads (though I would say more targeted toward females than males), and it's not too hard to talk about them from a critical feminist perspective or from a satirical perspective. They talk a lot about life in striving-to-be-upper-class England and the way romances needed to be strategic. They all have happy endings. (Sorry if I spoiled it for ya :P)

 

 

 

Camus, Albert - This is a great, great author. This is also not an author if you're looking for an easy read. Even when his books aren't difficult to get through plotwise, he had a very definite philosophy he was trying to get across in anything he wrote. This is a great author to pick if you want a challenge. Very existentialist. Very modern (well, postmodern, really, if you want to be picky =P )

 

 

 

 

 

Cervantes

 

Chaucer, Geoffrey

 

 

 

Both Cervantes and chaucer are not good picks if you're looking for a modern author :P

 

 

 

[bleep]ens, Charles - sounds like you don't want [bleep]ens then... =P

 

 

 

Dostoyevsky, Fyodor - another existentialist writer. These books are more rambley, a bit more negative in nature. It might be hard to read a lot of them, because that would just physically be a lot of reading. Really interesting, but the themes can get repetitive. If you do pick him, definitely read Brothers Karamazov though.

 

 

 

Hesse, Hermann - oh man. my favourite author. Again, not easy reads though themewise (except for Siddhartha). Kind of existentialist. Similar themes throughout his books. Might change your perspective on the world and life and everything. Really easy to talk about symbolism and write an intellectual sounding paper, though, since everything in these books is intellectual. My favourite book of his is Steppenwolf. If you do choose him, I suggest reading Steppenwolf (amazing book, bit hard to get into, but amazing), Siddhartha (not a bad read, a classic that lots of people have read), Demian (not a bad read, better than Siddhartha), and The Glass Bead Game (longer but not a bad read, kind of a culmination of his thoughts about everything).

 

 

 

Huxley, Aldous - fun dystopian stuff up your alley? Huxley is great.

 

 

 

Ibsen, Henrik - wrote a lot of plays. i find them boring and not very intellectually stimulating. But they're pretty modern, and the plot isn't hard to get through. Maybe you'd like them :P

 

 

 

Kafka, Franz - Easy to find symbolism - kind of hard to figure out what that symbolism is supposed to mean =P If your project involves reading literary criticism on your author, a TON of litcrit on Kafka exists and is interesting, so that might be a factor. A lot of short stuff - a little more difficult to analyze. Interesting.

 

 

 

Lewis, C.S. - books are clearly fun and not difficult reads. This is a good choice if you're interested in talking about Christian symbolism, because that's really... all you'd be talking about.

 

 

 

Marlowe, Christopher - older playwright. probably not what you're looking for :P

 

 

 

Marquez, Gabriel - ahhh, another one of my favourite authors. This dude is the representative magical realist, I think. His prose is absolutely beautiful. It can be a little hard to get through, and his stories wind around a lot. But if you do, it's just... beautiful :D You feel cleansed after reading them.

 

 

 

Shaw, George Bernard - playwright, not a bad read. Worth reading.

 

 

 

Stevenson, Robert Louis - blaaahh. Not my style. Probably not yours either. If you like romantic (literary romantic, not mushy gooey love romantic) works, then I guess he's your guy. In fact, I actively DISLIKED Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Ugh. It's not as interesting as the popular image of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde would have you think. It's really short (100 small pages?) and yet it still took me a month to read it, I hated it so much. But hey, maybe you're different... :P (If you're interested in this style, Frankenstein was just better written, I think.)

 

 

 

Voltaire - Candide is a fun, easy read. It's a critique of philosophical and religious optimism, but it's pretty easy to pick up his philosophical points through the fun (and short) story. I haven't read anything else by him, but I think his other works are probably similar (though Candide is the most famous and well-read). Good if you're interested in historical philosophy, and also not a bad read, and easy to sound intellectual about :P

 

 

 

Wilde, Oscar - hehe. another fun read who is not hard to sound intellectual about. Interesting themes surrounding hedonism, aestheticism, wit, and class in England; most of his favourite characters are based off himself. I read a biography of him recently - he really was that ridiculous in real life.

 

 

 

Hope that helped :D Sorry I didn't know so many of them :(

[Zonorhc]

Huxley's Brave New World is really accessible and easy to analyse, but I'm not familiar with any of his other works, and since it's asking you to look at two books... Maybe you can make a case for Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and argue that each one is a separate book in its own right.

 

 

 

Although I question why you're being asked to perform such a simple task for a senior paper, and why you're being given so much time to do it in.

[mad4u689]

Mm. Given your assignment, I think Oscar Wilde is a pretty solid choice. The cultural connections with his time are obvious - everything he writes is a direct commentary on them - but his books are also fun to read. Additionally, writing a biography of him would just be fun :P

 

 

 

Voltaire might sound more impressive, but would also be pretty easy given the assignment, since again, everything he wrote was a direct reaction to the philosophical times.

[Zonorhc]

Mm. Given your assignment, I think Oscar Wilde is a pretty solid choice. The cultural connections with his time are obvious - everything he writes is a direct commentary on them - but his books are also fun to read. Additionally, writing a biography of him would just be fun :P

 

Because he was a closet homosexual who supported the eugenics movement? =p

[mad4u689]

Mm. Given your assignment, I think Oscar Wilde is a pretty solid choice. The cultural connections with his time are obvious - everything he writes is a direct commentary on them - but his books are also fun to read. Additionally, writing a biography of him would just be fun :P

 

Because he was a closet homosexual who supported the eugenics movement? =p

 

 

 

Well, yeah, largely :P

 

Also because he was obsessed with wit and popularity in his everyday life, couldn't control his debts, and tried really hard to be held in high esteem in the London elite, but eventually was thought badly of by most everyone because of what he purportedly did with other men :P

 

His life was ridiculous.

[kelem_ryu]

Huxley. "Brave new world" and "The island". The awsomeness! Well at least i'd pick those. The meaning of these books is also pretty obvious and the books aren't too long. However there isn't too much stuff on the web about the island, you could choose another book by him.

 

 

 

 

 

Whatever you do, don't pick Camus! He makes you wish to kill yourself.

 

 

 

Also why would you want to choose a non english writer?

 

 

 

 

 

You can rule out Kafka if you want a writer that is easy to follow.

 

 

 

 

 

My second pick would be Dumas' "Count of Monte Cristo" and "The three Musketeers". He isn't exactly modern though.

[jak722]

I'd say Kipling is one of the easiest in your list.

 

 

 

Bernard Shaw is also nice to follow. There are alot of secondary sources on him.

 

Austen is good.

 

 

 

I find [bleep]ens somewhat boring, and depressing, but there are alot of materials about him and his works, so its good to consider him.

 

 

 

Kafka is definitely out, unless youre into the freaky...

 

 

 

If you want to do Shakespeare, youre gonna have trouble since alot of people have a pretty serious view towards him. That is to say, you can't [cabbage] around shakespeare.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But on the list, I would definitely go after Kipling first.

[Rebdragon]

Why not consider Romeo and Juliet, even if you want it modern? You'd get to explain all the innuendos!

[tintin113]

I would go with CS Lewis and Rudyard Kipling.

 

 

 

CS Lewis is just a personal favourite, however I could write a book on Rudyard Kipling.

 

 

 

For Rudyard Kipling, talk about the way he uses simple stories to convey either a moral or fictional story. Biblical ways of telling stories to the simple man - making things simple and in a relatable environment to aid maximum input of information.

 

 

 

You haven't specified whether it is two papers or one, however if it is one with both of the authors in it, try to find a link between their style of writing, or what they write about ect.

 

 

 

Also, for A* quality work, try to find out about the real lives of these authors, and how this could effect their way of writing, or what they wrote about.