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"Readings from American literature" | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| I'm Russian Senior Member Russian Federation svet-v-mir.narod.ru Joined 6154 days ago 111 posts - 113 votes  1 sounds Studies: English | Message 1 of 4 30 September 2008 at 5:01am | IP Logged | ||
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Hello
"Readings from American literature" is a small collection of stories and poetry of some American writers. The book is on my table now but I feel some doubt about one. Just I think it's seems more appropriate to read the book from it's end to beginning. I would like to see do you will disprove or approve my opinion. The compilers of that book arranged stories in chronological order, it is why "The last of the Mohicans" is in the first place and "Fahrenheit 451" in the last one. So I think the first novel is a historic thing and its expressions probably are strongly obsolete. There are couple of stories by O.Henry. They were written at the beginning of 20 century. I like O.Henry but I must learn modern English. Is O.Henry's language out-of-date? There're stories by Mark Twain, Jack London, Theodore Dreiser there. Can I use expessions from thier stories in every day life or not? Thank you in advance. Edited by I'm Russian on 30 September 2008 at 5:09am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| JW Hexaglot Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/egw Joined 6128 days ago 1802 posts - 2011 votes 22 sounds Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Ancient Greek, French, Biblical Hebrew Studies: Luxembourgish, Dutch, Greek, Italian | Message 2 of 4 30 September 2008 at 9:44am | IP Logged | ||
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The book sounds very interesting. I actually love readers like that to bring your reading skills from Intermediate to Basic Fluency (I am currently reading similar books in Dutch and Italian). They give you an overview of the literature in that language. You can then go back and read books from the authors that you like most.
The authors that are in your book are excellent and you will certainly improve your English skills by reading them. Some of the expressions may be obsolete, but for the most part, the language is not out-of-date. Of the ones you listed, I especially love Mark Twain. He is my favorite English language author. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| I'm Russian Senior Member Russian Federation svet-v-mir.narod.ru Joined 6154 days ago 111 posts - 113 votes 1 sounds Studies: English | Message 3 of 4 30 September 2008 at 12:30pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thank you for reply.
Mark Twain. For long time I counted him as a child writer, that was my mistake. In my childhood I have never read any book by him. It is an accidental gap. All the authors listed above are well known in Russia but in translation only. We have also a lot of Russian movies made on ones' novels and stories(they were made in Soviet time). Well, the language of these works is rather modern so I can read ones without doubt. I see that each language moves on its own way. For example the language of good old Russian writers is out-of-date now. Gogol(Гоголь), Pushkin(Пушкин), Dostoevsky(Достоевский) are rather far from modern Russian. Edited by I'm Russian on 30 September 2008 at 12:34pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| JW Hexaglot Senior Member United States youtube.com/user/egw Joined 6128 days ago 1802 posts - 2011 votes 22 sounds Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Ancient Greek, French, Biblical Hebrew Studies: Luxembourgish, Dutch, Greek, Italian | Message 4 of 4 01 October 2008 at 1:13pm | IP Logged | ||
Mark Twain was a polymath. He had many interests including languages (He spoke German, Italian, Portuguese, and French). He had an incredible command of the English language and used humor, irony, and wit in a way that, in my opinion, is rivaled by no other English language writer. Here is an interesting site that contains his works and a short biography: http://www.online-literature.com/twain/ 1 person has voted this message useful |
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