As a recent graduate with an English degree, one of the challenging but interesting parts of the major was having to read several books, short stories, poems, and plays that were written nearly a hundred years ago by a long-dead author.
Most of the stories weren't like the typical books young adults read today which spoon-feed exposition, plot, character development and pathos. These stories for English Majors required hard concentration just to make out what was going on and who the characters were.
Afterwards we had to gather around and talk about the themes we read saw the story, or make up something that might have been a theme of the story because we didn't read it all. And eventually we use the text and plot as a resource to set up an argument comparing it with other materials and what themes the author and/or reader saw in a five page essay.
By that description it sounds like nothing but a pain-in-ass which takes up too much of our college time. However, for the very few committed English majors, they can find a way to engross themselves in a dark or fascinating tale which inspired many books and film they know of from today, but take the plot in bold directions no modern author would take.
Below are twelve of the many famous stories and literature I myself had to read and concentrate but was rewarded with a fascinating tale.
Waiting For Godot (Samuel Beckett, 1955)
Forget Seinfeld having a show about nothing, the play for Waiting For Godot is about absolutely nothing. The plot is literally two men named Vladimir and Estragon sitting around next to a dirt road waiting for their friend Godot to show up and spoiler alert: He never comes. Instead they sit around trying to take off their boots while a few other strangers pass by. So why is a play about nothing considered one of the great plays of all time? Because audiences are given the opportunity to make their own theories and interpretations of what it's about. The general conclusion is that it's about life in purgatory and waiting for a God(ot) who never comes. So the play was a precursor to West World in a way. Also Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen performed in the play, what's not to love about that?
Doctor Faustus (Christopher Marlowe, 1592)
Something Something You Know Nothing Something Something
Before Shakespeare became England’s playwright king, Christopher Marlowe was the most popular stage writer theater had to offer. In fact, there are rumors Marlowe was actually Shakespeare all along and wrote his plays under a pseudonym! Doctor Faustus is his most famous work as it created the standard story of a man corrupted with temptation to gain more power for himself. The title character is a doctor of medicine, law, and theology who obsessed with knowledge, and turns towards magic and necromancy to satisfy his thirst. He summons Mephistopheles (a demon who's a representative of Lucifer) to make a deal and gain powers of sorcery. Of course, it doesn't work out in the end. This famous tragedy was the one to introduce the "deal with the devil" story and the plot device of "good angel and bad angel on each side of the character's conscious arguing against each other." The role of Faustus has been a great role actors have strive to perform, including a recent performance done by Kit Harington from Game of Thrones!
Jane Eyre(Charlotte Bronte, 1847)
At first glance, Jane Eyre looks like a typical romance novel you would see at super markets, but in actuality it's a Gothic tale of a young woman's struggle to gain acceptance and happiness in a world that has done her no favors. While it's a fictional book, it was described as an autobiography for the titular character who wittingly describes her journey through life from a child to a young woman. When she becomes a governess for a household, she has begins a strange but romantic bond with the much-older house master Edward Rochester. The brooding Rochester takes affection for Jane but hides a dark secret from a mysterious past...
Wide Sargasso Sea (Jean Rhys, 1966)
A past we find out about in this prequel written over a century. Before Jane, Rochester once had a wife while living in Jamaica who lost her sanity, so he took her back to his mansion and locked her in the attic for years. Wide Sargasso Sea is told from the perspective of Bertha Mason, known in the beginning as Antoinette Cosway before marrying Rochester. It's surprising when realizing that this is a prequel to Jane Eyre because it is tonally different: Exotic location, erotic circumstances, and a protagonist whose wild passion turns into madness. And Rochester does not come off as nice a guy as readers thought when readingJane Eyre. So technically this is one of the earliest and most successful fan fiction ever written, sorry E.L. James.
The Iliad (Homer, 8th Century)
You know the story of the Iliad, but have you actually read it? With the possible exception of The Odyssey (Hey, I write for that website!), The Iliad is the definitive story of Homer and Ancient Greek mythology. It details the fictional but compelling saga of the Trojan War with characters like Achilles, Hector, Paris, and Agamemnon . To give you the cliff-notes version of a story as detailed as Star Wars mythology: Helen of Troy is taken by the kingdom of Troy and everyone goes to war against them. Achilles is a great warrior who gets angry a lot. They sneak a wooden horse into Troy and then come out to sack the city. Almost everyone dies and then we get The Odyssey. The movie version of that story is the forgotten but solid 2004 film Troy.
The Turn of The Screw (Henry James, 1898)
One of the earliest and influential stories about ghosts and creepy children. The story revolves around a young housekeeper named Ann who begins to see spirits and notices some odd tendencies in the two children she's looking after. What made it appealing and timeless were the many mysteries and questions it raised. Were there always ghosts? Were they hurting or possessing the children? Or was Ann crazy and seeing things all along? None of those questions had firm answers, it's up to the audience to determine what they think was really going. For a story where not a lot was going on, the discussion readers make is what keeps the legacy of The Turn of The Screw alive.
All Quiet On The Western Front(Erich Maria Remarque, 1929)
When Donald Trump was asked what his favorite book was beside the bible, his answer was the World War I novel All Quiet on the Western Front. And guess what…that’s actually a legitimate great novel! The book is one soldier’s exploration and psychological torment he suffers in the trenches of World War I. Dark, powerful, and tragic, it was one of the first war novels to display post-traumatic stress disorder many soldiers have had since.
The Death of Ivan Ilyich(Leo Tolstoy, 1886)
You may know author Leo Tolstoy from epic works such as War and Peace and Anna Karenina, but his third most famous story is one about an old man coming to terms with....you guessed it...death. Ilyich is a successful but considerably average person who lived a decent life and is now in his death bed. He looks back on his life and how it could have led him to getting sick, feeling a sense of unfulfillment in a long, grueling process of dying. Tolstoy has been quoted in saying that "Ivan Ilyich's life has been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible." And that is what makes this story a tragedy, not that he dies, but that he lived a meaningless and mundane life.
Paradise Lost(John Milton, 1667)
You could also rename this story: 2016.
The Adam and Eve story is one of the most famous stories of all time, but this version in Paradise Lost is more detailed and complex compared to what was read in the bible. It's a story that not just the bullet points the bible used but an interesting study of "the fall of man" and the humane weakness of temptation. It goes into detail how the demons Satan and Beelzebub go from Hell to Earth to tempt Eve into eating the forbidden fruit. Afterwards Adam sees visions of the world that will unfold into our own. There was also a lesser known and more optimistic sequel called Paradise Regained.
The Rime of The Ancient Mariner(Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1798)
Also could be about 2016 and beyond.
The metaphor "Albatross" as a burden or curse was inspired by the albatross who was shot and hung from the neck of the narrator of this famously gruesome poem. It's also a rhyming poem by Samuel Coleridge about a ship crew's dark and doomed journey through icy cold seas where they encounter death personified. Ghosts and monsters take over the ship in the night and creates an endless pit of hopelessness. Only one man lives to tell the tale, and that sailor is burdened with his critical decision for the rest of his life.
Frankenstein (Mary Shelley, 1818)
Mary Shelley’s original novel of Frankenstein is nothing like the classic MGM movie made in 1931, but a fascinating look at what happens when man tries to play God. The titular character (who yes, is a scientist, not the monster) is a smart and likable protagonist who only wants to become great at his craft. But eventually the wild experiment he conducts in creating another life form goes awry and his creature turns loose. Frankenstein looks for the creature as it becomes more intelligent and philosophical, trying to become accepted in society but rejected due to it's hideous deformities. Therefore the creature embraces it's status as a monster and vows revenge on his creator, driving Frankenstein mad. Experts consider Shelley's Frankenstein the first science-fiction novel.
Carmilla (Sheridan Le Fanu, 1872)
As an English major, there were obviously many Vampire tales and stories to go through, but the one I found most fascinating was not Dracula, but the short storyCarmilla. The story is basically about the relationship between the titular female vampire and her human friend Laura. Reading it it's clear as day that the vampire has an intense obsession with her human friend on a romantic level. What makes that really interesting is how it underscores passionate desires between females for a story written in 1872. While it's not even close to Dracula in notoriety, it remains popular in obscurity, even being adapted into a YouTube miniseries.
