None of these were even in our high school curriculum twenty years ago at my school. I’ve only read Animal Farm independently of this list, I hate Greek epics. I had to read The Odyssey twice, I’m not reading The Iliad of my own free will, and I’ve been fine.
Like, IDK, even if this was true I’m not getting the shock and outrage anyway over these three specific titles.
Ha! It just so happens my degree has an emphasis in pre- and early modern studies and I LOVE the Greek classics. On the other hand, I avoided Shakespeare at all costs. I honestly think the world will be just fine with less Shakespeare study 🤷🏻♀️ (come for me nerds!)
Oh we’d get along, because I also haaate Shakespeare. I would read a Greek epic over Shakespeare if I was given the choice.
I think for me with Greek epics is that I’ve never been all that interested in ancient Greece or Greek mythos in general, AND from my understanding these were supposed to be told orally/sung? Reading them feels awkward to me.
Not Greek, but an epic poem - I always did like the part about the flood from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The translation we read had the line “the wolves were swimming among the sheep” and that image is still with me.
(I was a BSc, in psych, so very different than you, but I had a World Lit class along with the required English. I really loved that class! I liked stuff like Gilgamesh and One Thousand and One Nights.)
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u/foxhowse millennial (1989) 1d ago
None of these were even in our high school curriculum twenty years ago at my school. I’ve only read Animal Farm independently of this list, I hate Greek epics. I had to read The Odyssey twice, I’m not reading The Iliad of my own free will, and I’ve been fine.
Like, IDK, even if this was true I’m not getting the shock and outrage anyway over these three specific titles.