http://www.geekologie.com/2011/01/youve_got_to_be_kidding_me_sch.php
http://english.osu.edu/administration/syllabi/

Ohio State University professor Amanpal Garcha has apparently decided all students taking English 261 Honors: Introduction to Fiction need to read that godforsaken, awful literary vomit so ignorantly called a "book" by Stephanie Meyer.

I am appalled by this! Twilight is a piece of censored. I don't care what the millions of Edward Cullen fangirls say. Twilight is nothing more than a genre-ruining trash bag of words.

To quote an excerpt from the class's syllabus: "we will also explore how these texts, like much other fiction, try to create particular reading experiences, as they push us to consider the nature and importance of literary imagination and the way fiction’s seductiveness is tied to other potentially dangerous attractions"

Literary imagination? Fiction's seductiveness? Here's a classic riposte from The Oatmeal.

I don't care if the gist of that segment of the class turns out to be learning why Twilight sucks. There are some things that are just so inherently horrible that you... Leave. Them. Alone. Period.

Oh hey, Garcha's email is in the syllabus. Who wants to send angry but civil emails?


[edit]
This was two years ago, apparently, so I guess you can put all this in past tense. Regardless, still an outrage. Furthermore, the syllabus could still be in current iterations of the class, as evidenced by why the syllabus is two years outdated... (no updates)

[double edit]
Gosh, I sure wish I could read dates

Still outraged.

[triple edit]

Sense. I don't make any.

I remember the outrage when that was first news two years ago. I'd imagine the professor did it to try to evoke more insightful discussions among the students, on the assumption that something from pop culture would be more popular with students, and even if the literature itself is poor, hopefully the students will still use their brains in analyzing and discussing it. Same reason some literature courses use Harry Potter, even though despite its entertainment value that series is also not the pinnacle of classic fiction. Just playing Devil's Advocate here.

You are severely overreacting. It's a book, and not even the worst book. It's mostly just mediocre. I'm going to hazard a guess that you haven't actually read it. I could be wrong, but if you did, I'm not sure why you'd think it's "inherently horrible" or "godforsaken, awful literary vomit". As for teaching it in a fiction class, well, it's fiction; and incredibly popular fiction at that. There's nothing wrong with adding this book to the syllabus of a class. Just because you don't like something doesn't mean it's objectively egregious. You quote the syllabus as saying "we will also explore how these texts, like much other fiction, try to create particular reading experiences, as they push us to consider the nature and importance of literary imagination and the way fiction’s seductiveness is tied to other potentially dangerous attractions" but fail to mention the part where this sentence is referencing such works as "Frankenstein", "Dracula", and "Turn of the Screw". Even if this book is "godforsaken, awful literary vomit" (which is isn't, like I said, it's mostly just mediocre), it's been incredibly influential on fiction; ignoring that would be wrong.

Hey, I'm an American! Let me overreact and make bogus claims! It's my god-given right

As a big vampire fan, I really can't help but have such over-the-top negative feelings towards the book series and Stephanie Meyer.

Or maybe I'm being sarcastic by pretending to be this way. Who knows?

tl;dr: I need to not post stuff when I've just woke up and am still groggy

as a devoted castlevania fan I want to slap this "professor" across the face and shove some Bram Stoker up his as--- nose

Oh well, at least it's less boring than some crap they made us read in French classes sometimes. They wanted us to diversify our center of interests, in terms of reading, but I don't understand how one person can succeed as well in a reading comprehension test involving a book he gets bored to death of reading compared to a reading comprehension test involving a book that he doesn't mind or that he enjoys. In French classes I scored better in the latter tests because the book kept me interested so I tried harder at reading between lines.

Dj, hmm, some here, I did good with the book 1994 but I HATED Cold Sassy Tree

guess which book test I failed?


btw, this (a bit off-topic) sickens me



I love the comments on it , especially the highest rated ones