Here are a few of the contemporary writers I’ve worked into classes: Wendell Berry, Mark Helprin, Raymond Carver, Paul Mariani, Tim O’Brien, John Updike, Annie Dillard, Joyce Carol Oates, Chaim Potok, Lucille Clifton, Walter Wangerin, Madeleine L’Engle. There are quite a few more, but that’s a quick list off the top of my head. I love the classics and think that students should know them. After all, their quality and historical importance is what cinched their spot as classics. I also think, however, that it is important for students to realize that significant writing is still happening today and that God may be calling some of them to join in that endeavor. I look for a variety of ways to incorporate contemporary work. Sometimes I bring it in to study as literature; sometimes I use it as a model for something we are working on in composition; sometimes I use it simply to provoke thought about a particular issue.
JDV
Feb 16 2003
04:57 pm
Here are a few of the contemporary writers I’ve worked into classes: Wendell Berry, Mark Helprin, Raymond Carver, Paul Mariani, Tim O’Brien, John Updike, Annie Dillard, Joyce Carol Oates, Chaim Potok, Lucille Clifton, Walter Wangerin, Madeleine L’Engle. There are quite a few more, but that’s a quick list off the top of my head. I love the classics and think that students should know them. After all, their quality and historical importance is what cinched their spot as classics. I also think, however, that it is important for students to realize that significant writing is still happening today and that God may be calling some of them to join in that endeavor. I look for a variety of ways to incorporate contemporary work. Sometimes I bring it in to study as literature; sometimes I use it as a model for something we are working on in composition; sometimes I use it simply to provoke thought about a particular issue.