Picking up the thread started by Will Okun’s NY Times essay “None,” reader Deirdre Mundy posts the following “relevant” plot summary of a “dead white guy’s classic” on joannejacobs.com:
“A boy lives with his single Mom. Where’s his dad? Dead, Prison, Who knows. He left with his buddies years ago and never came back. Son doesn’t even know him. Mom has a string of abusive boyfriends who leach off her and never work, just sit around drinking. So the boy goes off on a quest to find dad, beats up an old guy to get some info…..
“Meanwhile, Dad is wandering around, shacking up with random girls and getting into fights…. but eventually he comes home to find out that sonny boy has grown up and is all set to follow in his Dad’s footsteps…..
“Or we could just call it “The Oddessey.”
“Maybe the teacher’s problem is that he’s too lazy to read classics and FIND the relevance to his students’ experiences. So it’s easier to read the ones that proclaim their relevance on the dust jacket. The Greeks and Romans had a LOT of testosterone. So did Shakespeare. And Doestoyesky and Tolstoy…..
“Maybe if English Teachers were required to take a great books class?”
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