Monday, May 27, 2024

Books I’ve been re-reading for courses and exams, and a note on “Great Expectations” and “The Great Gatsby"

My recent posts on Vladimir Nabokov are all related to my re-reading of him to prepare for a Master's oral exam this week. At the same time, I have been re-reading three novels for a written Bachelor's exam I will grade next week: F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" (1925), John Dos Passos's "Manhattan Transfer" (1925), and Nella Larsen's "Passing" (1929). And with me teaching Charles Dickens's "Great Expectations" (1861) this semester as well, I keep associating all those novels with Dickens – but especially "The Great Gatsby", whose overlapping with "Great Expectations" begins with the titles and continues in their explorations of what happens when poor young men have "great expectations". (Andrew Shields, #111Words, 27 May 2024) 

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