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| Back to school, Mr Gove: authors choose their GCSE set texts | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Mary Beard | Mary Beard |
| Julius Caesar William Shakespeare I, Claudius Robert GravesWar Music Christopher LogueThe World's Wife Carol Ann Duffy | Julius Caesar William Shakespeare I, Claudius Robert GravesWar Music Christopher LogueThe World's Wife Carol Ann Duffy |
| Like everyone who might have control over the GCSE syllabus, I have an axe to grind. Mine is to bring in the classical world by the back door, via some great works of English literature. Julius Caesar offers a glimpse of raw political opposition, as well as the treachery of high-flown rhetoric. Graves takes us to a great ancient narrative of corruption (with the possibility of comparing it with the TV series). Logue shows the power of Homer even now. But you need to read Carol Ann Duffy's poetry to see that you can contest that classical tradition. What did King Midas' wife do, she asks. There's an important counternarrative here. Of course, my own choices show exactly how dangerous it is to let an ideologue have control of the syllabus. | Like everyone who might have control over the GCSE syllabus, I have an axe to grind. Mine is to bring in the classical world by the back door, via some great works of English literature. Julius Caesar offers a glimpse of raw political opposition, as well as the treachery of high-flown rhetoric. Graves takes us to a great ancient narrative of corruption (with the possibility of comparing it with the TV series). Logue shows the power of Homer even now. But you need to read Carol Ann Duffy's poetry to see that you can contest that classical tradition. What did King Midas' wife do, she asks. There's an important counternarrative here. Of course, my own choices show exactly how dangerous it is to let an ideologue have control of the syllabus. |
| William Boyd | William Boyd |
| Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson James Boswell My Life: Story of a Provincial Anton Chekhov The Ballad of Peckham Rye Muriel Spark | Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson James Boswell My Life: Story of a Provincial Anton Chekhov The Ballad of Peckham Rye Muriel Spark |
| My three choices – one each from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries – are expressly designed to be doors giving on to other doors and then, exponentially, to others in the huge sprawling house of literature. This, surely, should be the subplot in any choice of text for a curriculum. The fact that these books are highly entertaining and highly intelligent in their own right is a significant bonus. | My three choices – one each from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries – are expressly designed to be doors giving on to other doors and then, exponentially, to others in the huge sprawling house of literature. This, surely, should be the subplot in any choice of text for a curriculum. The fact that these books are highly entertaining and highly intelligent in their own right is a significant bonus. |
| The Johnson and Boswell double-act is wonderfully beguiling; the Hebrides and the Scottish Enlightenment have never been examined by such gimlet eyes. After the Tour, the Life of Samuel Johnson may appeal and there is Boswell's scabrously candid collection of intimate journals for further investigation. | The Johnson and Boswell double-act is wonderfully beguiling; the Hebrides and the Scottish Enlightenment have never been examined by such gimlet eyes. After the Tour, the Life of Samuel Johnson may appeal and there is Boswell's scabrously candid collection of intimate journals for further investigation. |
| Onwards, then, to the enormous richness of Chekhov's work and Russian literature beyond (not to mention the treasure of literature-in-translation awaiting). Finally, Muriel Spark's astonishing, inventive novel. Spark is one of those rare novelists whose immediately posthumous reputation seems dramatically on the rise. Her place as one of the great novelists of the 20th century appears annually more assured – and she offers another amazingly diverse oeuvre waiting to be explored. | Onwards, then, to the enormous richness of Chekhov's work and Russian literature beyond (not to mention the treasure of literature-in-translation awaiting). Finally, Muriel Spark's astonishing, inventive novel. Spark is one of those rare novelists whose immediately posthumous reputation seems dramatically on the rise. Her place as one of the great novelists of the 20th century appears annually more assured – and she offers another amazingly diverse oeuvre waiting to be explored. |
| Russell Brand | Russell Brand |
| Revolution Russell BrandThe Power of Now Eckhart TolleAping Mankind Raymond Tallis | Revolution Russell BrandThe Power of Now Eckhart TolleAping Mankind Raymond Tallis |
| Shami Chakrabarti | Shami Chakrabarti |
| To Kill a Mockingbird Harper LeeOranges Are Not the Only Fruit Jeanette WintersonMeasure for Measure William ShakespeareWe are Britain! Benjamin Zephaniah | To Kill a Mockingbird Harper LeeOranges Are Not the Only Fruit Jeanette WintersonMeasure for Measure William ShakespeareWe are Britain! Benjamin Zephaniah |
| To Kill A Mockingbird has inspired so many towards the cause of human rights, no wonder the government wants it off the syllabus. This young girl's account of summer in the deep south is a big book in a small one – touchingly human and intimate but concerned with massive issues of race discrimination and injustice. | To Kill A Mockingbird has inspired so many towards the cause of human rights, no wonder the government wants it off the syllabus. This young girl's account of summer in the deep south is a big book in a small one – touchingly human and intimate but concerned with massive issues of race discrimination and injustice. |
| Issues of gender, sexuality, religious belief and bigotry are weaved into Winterson's powerful and heartbreakingly personal account of growing up. Most children feel one or two moments of profound alienation; this book can ease the loneliness of those times. | Issues of gender, sexuality, religious belief and bigotry are weaved into Winterson's powerful and heartbreakingly personal account of growing up. Most children feel one or two moments of profound alienation; this book can ease the loneliness of those times. |
| "But man, proud man, / Dressed in a little brief authority, / Most ignorant of what he's most assured,/ His glassy essence, like an angry ape / Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven / As makes the angels weep." Measure for Measure is a cheeky choice perhaps, but I've often thought of this quote when confronted by the worst side of our political life. This play is rich enough for a lifetime of discussion about mercy, justice and fairness. | "But man, proud man, / Dressed in a little brief authority, / Most ignorant of what he's most assured,/ His glassy essence, like an angry ape / Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven / As makes the angels weep." Measure for Measure is a cheeky choice perhaps, but I've often thought of this quote when confronted by the worst side of our political life. This play is rich enough for a lifetime of discussion about mercy, justice and fairness. |
| If some of us look to the dominant narratives in our country and can't see ourselves anywhere, what damage this is going to the individual and national soul. Zephaniah's poetry is a step in the right direction – towards a more inclusive story that speaks to us all. | If some of us look to the dominant narratives in our country and can't see ourselves anywhere, what damage this is going to the individual and national soul. Zephaniah's poetry is a step in the right direction – towards a more inclusive story that speaks to us all. |
| Margaret Drabble | Margaret Drabble |
| Riddley Walker Russell Hoban Ariel Sylvia PlathThe Grass is Singing Doris LessingTop Girls Caryl Churchill | Riddley Walker Russell Hoban Ariel Sylvia PlathThe Grass is Singing Doris LessingTop Girls Caryl Churchill |
| Some texts have been set for far too long. Gove is right, it's time for a change. Riddley Walker's vision of post-nuclear-holocaust Britain is an excellent study in creative spelling from which teenagers will learn much. | Some texts have been set for far too long. Gove is right, it's time for a change. Riddley Walker's vision of post-nuclear-holocaust Britain is an excellent study in creative spelling from which teenagers will learn much. |
| Ariel is perhaps the greatest volume of poetry published in the 20th century, and is also well suited to prompt discussions on the themes of depression and self-harm. | Ariel is perhaps the greatest volume of poetry published in the 20th century, and is also well suited to prompt discussions on the themes of depression and self-harm. |
| The Grass is Singing is a useful introduction to one of the great writers of our time, and easier to teach than some of her more important works. Good clear points on colonialism, racism, and so on. Top Girls, a key experimental drama of 1982, with its all female-cast, is strong on feminism, Thatcherism, and a sense of history. | The Grass is Singing is a useful introduction to one of the great writers of our time, and easier to teach than some of her more important works. Good clear points on colonialism, racism, and so on. Top Girls, a key experimental drama of 1982, with its all female-cast, is strong on feminism, Thatcherism, and a sense of history. |
| Bernardine Evaristo | Bernardine Evaristo |
| The Colour Purple Alice Walker Being Human edited by Neil AstleyMacbeth William Shakespeare | The Colour Purple Alice Walker Being Human edited by Neil AstleyMacbeth William Shakespeare |
| I've chosen The Colour Purple because it's a beautifully written and often harrowing story of the life of a poor black southern girl that has the power to move, shock and speak directly to the heart. Being Human deserves a place because it contains hundreds of amazing poems by poets of all generations and cultures that defy the notion of a western canon that privileges the select few over the many. And Macbeth, because of its exploration of human psychology, fate, violence, guilt and destiny; its poetic voracity and dramatic tension; and because the female characters rock it. | I've chosen The Colour Purple because it's a beautifully written and often harrowing story of the life of a poor black southern girl that has the power to move, shock and speak directly to the heart. Being Human deserves a place because it contains hundreds of amazing poems by poets of all generations and cultures that defy the notion of a western canon that privileges the select few over the many. And Macbeth, because of its exploration of human psychology, fate, violence, guilt and destiny; its poetic voracity and dramatic tension; and because the female characters rock it. |
| Richard Eyre | Richard Eyre |
| The Rattle Bag edited by Seamus Heaney and Ted HughesLord of the Flies William GoldingThe People's War Angus Calder | The Rattle Bag edited by Seamus Heaney and Ted HughesLord of the Flies William GoldingThe People's War Angus Calder |
| The most important thing about recommending books is that they encourage an appetite for more. Barney, a five-year-old son of a friend, has just learned to read. "You eat books with your eyes," he said. "It's called reading." | The most important thing about recommending books is that they encourage an appetite for more. Barney, a five-year-old son of a friend, has just learned to read. "You eat books with your eyes," he said. "It's called reading." |
| Poetry is essential to get a sense of how language works – how distillation and rhythm and rhyme and colour can give the mere act of putting words together an extraordinary expressive power. The poems in the best recent anthology, The Rattle Bag, are mostly short, accessible, and good – even though some of them might not meet the Gove criterion of being British. The collection is alphabetically ordered, which makes for some surprising and illuminating juxtapositions. | Poetry is essential to get a sense of how language works – how distillation and rhythm and rhyme and colour can give the mere act of putting words together an extraordinary expressive power. The poems in the best recent anthology, The Rattle Bag, are mostly short, accessible, and good – even though some of them might not meet the Gove criterion of being British. The collection is alphabetically ordered, which makes for some surprising and illuminating juxtapositions. |
| To replace To Kill A Mockingbird, I'd suggest Lord of the Flies. It's not such an effective moral primer but it's a very readable, well-written allegory about how people can quickly decline from the civilised to the savage: it can't fail to strike a chord in the mind of every schoolchild. | To replace To Kill A Mockingbird, I'd suggest Lord of the Flies. It's not such an effective moral primer but it's a very readable, well-written allegory about how people can quickly decline from the civilised to the savage: it can't fail to strike a chord in the mind of every schoolchild. |
| A history book is essential if only, to paraphrase Auden, to teach the unhappy Present to recite the Past. The People's War is a brilliant excavation of a world of, on the one side, fighter planes, convoys and armies, and on the other, gas masks, ration books, air raid sirens, Anderson shelters, allotments, bakelite radios and bombed-out houses. The book is filled with anecdotes of figures who have the status of demons and giants – Hitler, Lord Haw Haw, Nye Bevan, Generals Montgomery and Rommel, Churchill and Attlee – but mostly it's the people's story, told through the medium of diaries and Mass Observation surveys. Calder describes the endurance, patience, heroism and humanity of ordinary people, as well as their cowardice, complaints and selfishness. It's a marvellous way for a teenager to understand how their country has evolved during the lifetime of their grandparents. | A history book is essential if only, to paraphrase Auden, to teach the unhappy Present to recite the Past. The People's War is a brilliant excavation of a world of, on the one side, fighter planes, convoys and armies, and on the other, gas masks, ration books, air raid sirens, Anderson shelters, allotments, bakelite radios and bombed-out houses. The book is filled with anecdotes of figures who have the status of demons and giants – Hitler, Lord Haw Haw, Nye Bevan, Generals Montgomery and Rommel, Churchill and Attlee – but mostly it's the people's story, told through the medium of diaries and Mass Observation surveys. Calder describes the endurance, patience, heroism and humanity of ordinary people, as well as their cowardice, complaints and selfishness. It's a marvellous way for a teenager to understand how their country has evolved during the lifetime of their grandparents. |
| Aminatta Forna | Aminatta Forna |
| Death and the King's Horseman Wole SoyinkaWide Sargasso Sea Jean Rhys The Handmaid's Tale Margaret Atwood | Death and the King's Horseman Wole SoyinkaWide Sargasso Sea Jean Rhys The Handmaid's Tale Margaret Atwood |
| Literature was the way I learned about the world. When I was 10 I lay on my bed in the 30C heat of a west African night, shivering at Jack London's description of mid-winter on the Yukon trail. Literature was also the way I learned to think about how the world works, progressing from the good-over-evil battles of Narnia to the moral complexities of Brave New World. I detest the idea of a canon and because I studied law and not English literature at university, fortunately I was never obliged to read my way through one. On the notion of canons I am at one with Ngugi wa Thiong'o, the great Kenyan writer, who argues that students should study simply literature and not "English literature". | Literature was the way I learned about the world. When I was 10 I lay on my bed in the 30C heat of a west African night, shivering at Jack London's description of mid-winter on the Yukon trail. Literature was also the way I learned to think about how the world works, progressing from the good-over-evil battles of Narnia to the moral complexities of Brave New World. I detest the idea of a canon and because I studied law and not English literature at university, fortunately I was never obliged to read my way through one. On the notion of canons I am at one with Ngugi wa Thiong'o, the great Kenyan writer, who argues that students should study simply literature and not "English literature". |
| Teaching literature should be aimed at teaching children how to read. When they read Hamlet, I would have them tackle Death and the King's Horseman, to understand the universality of tragedy. Jane Eyre is on the current syllabus. I would add Jean Rhys' imagining of the life of Rochester's wife Bertha Mason in Wide Sargasso Sea, in order to present students with the idea of alternative narratives. | Teaching literature should be aimed at teaching children how to read. When they read Hamlet, I would have them tackle Death and the King's Horseman, to understand the universality of tragedy. Jane Eyre is on the current syllabus. I would add Jean Rhys' imagining of the life of Rochester's wife Bertha Mason in Wide Sargasso Sea, in order to present students with the idea of alternative narratives. |
| The Handmaid's Tale is seen far too narrowly as a feminist text instead of the powerful study of corruption and oppression that it is. Read it alongside Animal Farm and discuss the nature of despotism and exploitation. Hopefully my students would grow to understand the purpose of fiction, of why writers write and why reading matters, unlike so many adults who give up on literature the moment they leave school. | The Handmaid's Tale is seen far too narrowly as a feminist text instead of the powerful study of corruption and oppression that it is. Read it alongside Animal Farm and discuss the nature of despotism and exploitation. Hopefully my students would grow to understand the purpose of fiction, of why writers write and why reading matters, unlike so many adults who give up on literature the moment they leave school. |
| Linda Grant | Linda Grant |
| The Catcher in the Rye JD SalingerPortnoy's Complaint Philip RothSelected Poems Coleridge The Tempest William Shakespeare | The Catcher in the Rye JD SalingerPortnoy's Complaint Philip RothSelected Poems Coleridge The Tempest William Shakespeare |
| I don't believe the English syllabus is the place for "issue" books which contain an easily digestible message like "Racism is Wrong". For the novel, I'd alternate between Catcher in the Rye and Portnoy's Complaint, the poems of Coleridge (mix of drugs and horror) and The Tempest. But that's an all-male list, so back to the drawing board. | I don't believe the English syllabus is the place for "issue" books which contain an easily digestible message like "Racism is Wrong". For the novel, I'd alternate between Catcher in the Rye and Portnoy's Complaint, the poems of Coleridge (mix of drugs and horror) and The Tempest. But that's an all-male list, so back to the drawing board. |
| Philip Hensher | Philip Hensher |
| A selection of short stories from 1890‑1914 Joseph Conrad, HG Wells, Arnold Bennett, Katherine Mansfield, Kipling, Saki, Conan Doyle, MR James, EM Forster, GK Chesterton and DH LawrenceLetter to Lord Byron WH AudenA Fine Balance Rohinton MistryThe Good Terrorist Doris Lessing | A selection of short stories from 1890‑1914 Joseph Conrad, HG Wells, Arnold Bennett, Katherine Mansfield, Kipling, Saki, Conan Doyle, MR James, EM Forster, GK Chesterton and DH LawrenceLetter to Lord Byron WH AudenA Fine Balance Rohinton MistryThe Good Terrorist Doris Lessing |
| The job of GCSEs ought to be to open up the world of literature, and the world. I think a set of books with interest in outside events – a coming world war, turmoil in India, social unrest and common duty – might be the right thing. The other thing it could do is teach the distinct skill of reading a long novel, and Mistry's is the most engaging one out there. Of Mice and Men and Animal Farm ought to be read by 12-year-olds. My list is slightly skewed towards a masculine taste – the loss of interest in books by boys is one of the most worrying developments in education. I don't think we should be teaching very contemporary stuff – a novelist publishing now ought to be read for pleasure, not as an essay subject. A reader who has come across the great period of the English short story is going to have some standards when it comes to reading his or her contemporaries. And no translations. | The job of GCSEs ought to be to open up the world of literature, and the world. I think a set of books with interest in outside events – a coming world war, turmoil in India, social unrest and common duty – might be the right thing. The other thing it could do is teach the distinct skill of reading a long novel, and Mistry's is the most engaging one out there. Of Mice and Men and Animal Farm ought to be read by 12-year-olds. My list is slightly skewed towards a masculine taste – the loss of interest in books by boys is one of the most worrying developments in education. I don't think we should be teaching very contemporary stuff – a novelist publishing now ought to be read for pleasure, not as an essay subject. A reader who has come across the great period of the English short story is going to have some standards when it comes to reading his or her contemporaries. And no translations. |
| Alan Johnson | Alan Johnson |
| To Kill a Mockingbird Harper LeePossession AS ByattWolf Hall Hilary MantelLord of the Flies William Golding | To Kill a Mockingbird Harper LeePossession AS ByattWolf Hall Hilary MantelLord of the Flies William Golding |
| My board would allow four books and would certainly continue to include To Kill a Mockingbird. This sumptuous piece of writing tells an important and absorbing story from the viewpoint of a child who is about the age of the GCSE students. I'd also include Possession – a gripping tale that's part mystery, part history with poetic allusions and a fantastic plot – and Wolf Hall. It's going to be on the syllabus eventually, why not now? | My board would allow four books and would certainly continue to include To Kill a Mockingbird. This sumptuous piece of writing tells an important and absorbing story from the viewpoint of a child who is about the age of the GCSE students. I'd also include Possession – a gripping tale that's part mystery, part history with poetic allusions and a fantastic plot – and Wolf Hall. It's going to be on the syllabus eventually, why not now? |
| I think Lord of the Flies is on there already. It certainly should be. I read it at around the age of 16 (though not for an English exam). Its challenging theme haunted me and the demise of Piggy showed how words can create a more profound experience than film. | I think Lord of the Flies is on there already. It certainly should be. I read it at around the age of 16 (though not for an English exam). Its challenging theme haunted me and the demise of Piggy showed how words can create a more profound experience than film. |
| Hanif Kureishi | Hanif Kureishi |
| Wide Sargasso Sea Jean RhysMoney Martin AmisA Passage to India EM ForsterThe Black Album Hanif Kureishi | Wide Sargasso Sea Jean RhysMoney Martin AmisA Passage to India EM ForsterThe Black Album Hanif Kureishi |
| Children should have read Jane Eyre and see the links to Wide Sargasso Sea. Discussion would lead to a background to colonialism on which the wealth and power of this country is based. | Children should have read Jane Eyre and see the links to Wide Sargasso Sea. Discussion would lead to a background to colonialism on which the wealth and power of this country is based. |
| If the British contemporary is defined by the ideology of neoliberalism, Amis's witty and exciting novel is a good place to start when we begin to think about how we got to where we are now. Forster's book teaches us about not so recent British history and beautiful writing. And The Black Album, which concerns drugs and religious fundamentalism and literature in the 90s, is an ideal introduction to our present concerns about religion and the limits of free speech. | If the British contemporary is defined by the ideology of neoliberalism, Amis's witty and exciting novel is a good place to start when we begin to think about how we got to where we are now. Forster's book teaches us about not so recent British history and beautiful writing. And The Black Album, which concerns drugs and religious fundamentalism and literature in the 90s, is an ideal introduction to our present concerns about religion and the limits of free speech. |
| Hilary Mantel | Hilary Mantel |
| Should we play the Gove game, by setting up opposing lists? Or should we ask, which Gradgrind thought up the idea of set texts in the first place? Why should students be condemned to thrash to death a novel or a corpus of poetry, week after week, month after month? No novel was ever penned to puzzle and punish the young. Plays are meant to be played at. Poetry is not written for Paxmanites. Literature is a creative discipline, not just for writer but for reader. Is the exam hall its correct context? We educate our children not as if we love them but as if we as if we need to control and coerce them, bullying them over obstacles and drilling them like squaddies; and even the most inspired and loving teachers have to serve the system. We have laws against physical abuse. We can try to legislate against emotional abuse. So why do we think it's fine to abuse the imagination, and on an industrial scale? What would serve children is a love of reading, and the habit of it. I wonder if the present system creates either. | Should we play the Gove game, by setting up opposing lists? Or should we ask, which Gradgrind thought up the idea of set texts in the first place? Why should students be condemned to thrash to death a novel or a corpus of poetry, week after week, month after month? No novel was ever penned to puzzle and punish the young. Plays are meant to be played at. Poetry is not written for Paxmanites. Literature is a creative discipline, not just for writer but for reader. Is the exam hall its correct context? We educate our children not as if we love them but as if we as if we need to control and coerce them, bullying them over obstacles and drilling them like squaddies; and even the most inspired and loving teachers have to serve the system. We have laws against physical abuse. We can try to legislate against emotional abuse. So why do we think it's fine to abuse the imagination, and on an industrial scale? What would serve children is a love of reading, and the habit of it. I wonder if the present system creates either. |
| Blake Morrison | Blake Morrison |
| Jerusalem Jez ButterworthThe Circle Dave EggersRed Dust Road Jackie Kay | Jerusalem Jez ButterworthThe Circle Dave EggersRed Dust Road Jackie Kay |
| English literature is in decline as a subject. Fewer students are taking it at GCSE level. And after next year, when a new compulsory English language GCSE is introduced, the risk is that it will become even more marginal – an option for high achievers only. Making the syllabus more nationalistic isn't the way forward; it's the lit that needs bumping up, not the Eng. Of course, children should be encouraged to read Shakespeare and Dickens: Caliban can teach them about colonialism and those other monsters, Gradgrind and M'Choakumchild, about the stifling of young minds. A selection from the A-Z (Ali to Zadie) of homegrown contemporaries should be there too. But literature doesn't end at Dover. There ought to be room for Kafka and Hemingway, Plath and Walcott, Achebe and Joyce. | English literature is in decline as a subject. Fewer students are taking it at GCSE level. And after next year, when a new compulsory English language GCSE is introduced, the risk is that it will become even more marginal – an option for high achievers only. Making the syllabus more nationalistic isn't the way forward; it's the lit that needs bumping up, not the Eng. Of course, children should be encouraged to read Shakespeare and Dickens: Caliban can teach them about colonialism and those other monsters, Gradgrind and M'Choakumchild, about the stifling of young minds. A selection from the A-Z (Ali to Zadie) of homegrown contemporaries should be there too. But literature doesn't end at Dover. There ought to be room for Kafka and Hemingway, Plath and Walcott, Achebe and Joyce. |
| On the basis that GCSE texts are chosen for the moral and political issues they raise as well as for the quality of the writing, it would be fun to see these three on the syllabus. | On the basis that GCSE texts are chosen for the moral and political issues they raise as well as for the quality of the writing, it would be fun to see these three on the syllabus. |
| Jerusalem: with his alternative lifestyle and defiance of the authorities, Johnny "Rooster" Byron is one of the great charismatic antiheroes of our time. What price rebellion? How far can you go? Discuss. | Jerusalem: with his alternative lifestyle and defiance of the authorities, Johnny "Rooster" Byron is one of the great charismatic antiheroes of our time. What price rebellion? How far can you go? Discuss. |
| The Circle: the dystopian tale of young Mae and her journey into the heart of social media. "Privacy is theft," "Secrets are lies", "Sharing is caring". Discuss. | The Circle: the dystopian tale of young Mae and her journey into the heart of social media. "Privacy is theft," "Secrets are lies", "Sharing is caring". Discuss. |
| Red Dust Road: the story of a girl born to a Scottish mother and Nigerian father and adopted by a white couple – a funny and moving exploration of family, race and sexuality. Nature or nurture? Discuss. | Red Dust Road: the story of a girl born to a Scottish mother and Nigerian father and adopted by a white couple – a funny and moving exploration of family, race and sexuality. Nature or nurture? Discuss. |
| Andrew Motion | Andrew Motion |
| Howards End EM Forster Beloved Toni Morrison The Prelude William WordsworthDisgrace JM Coetzee | Howards End EM Forster Beloved Toni Morrison The Prelude William WordsworthDisgrace JM Coetzee |
| Forster's conversation about how to connect the prose with the passion resonates loudly today. I would also choose Beloved, for too many reasons to squeeze into this paragraph, the first and shortest version of The Prelude (1789 version) and Disgrace because it's one of the most widely searching novels of recent times, as well as one of the most compelling. | Forster's conversation about how to connect the prose with the passion resonates loudly today. I would also choose Beloved, for too many reasons to squeeze into this paragraph, the first and shortest version of The Prelude (1789 version) and Disgrace because it's one of the most widely searching novels of recent times, as well as one of the most compelling. |
| John Mullan | John Mullan |
| Macbeth William Shakespeare Selected Poems John Keats The Great Gatsby F Scott FitzgeraldA Bunch of Fives Helen Simpson | Macbeth William Shakespeare Selected Poems John Keats The Great Gatsby F Scott FitzgeraldA Bunch of Fives Helen Simpson |
| Choosing GCSE set texts is not so easy. They have to be not too long, not too difficult, not too sexy – but they must be true introductions to the delights and subtleties of literary form. They should provide specimens of drama, fiction and poetry (and if possible the short story). They should also (Michael Gove is right here) give students a taste of what is old and strange. | Choosing GCSE set texts is not so easy. They have to be not too long, not too difficult, not too sexy – but they must be true introductions to the delights and subtleties of literary form. They should provide specimens of drama, fiction and poetry (and if possible the short story). They should also (Michael Gove is right here) give students a taste of what is old and strange. |
| With its accelerating plot, it is no accident that Macbeth is so often gripping in performance, yet its language glistens as weirdly as anything in Shakespeare. Teenage boys sometimes like it. | With its accelerating plot, it is no accident that Macbeth is so often gripping in performance, yet its language glistens as weirdly as anything in Shakespeare. Teenage boys sometimes like it. |
| The poems of Keats – rhyme, metre, diction, enchantment – contain things to learn off by heart and things to tease the intellect. Every formal resource and pleasure of poetry seems to be here. | The poems of Keats – rhyme, metre, diction, enchantment – contain things to learn off by heart and things to tease the intellect. Every formal resource and pleasure of poetry seems to be here. |
| The unliterary will think Gatsby is about money and love (and will be able to confirm this from a DVD) – the literary will see that it is all about how to tell a story, and why we trust or distrust a narrator. | The unliterary will think Gatsby is about money and love (and will be able to confirm this from a DVD) – the literary will see that it is all about how to tell a story, and why we trust or distrust a narrator. |
| Finally, it is good to reach to the present day, and Simpson's meticulous fragments of contemporary self-delusion make beautiful narrative shapes out of the ordinary horrors of domestic life. | Finally, it is good to reach to the present day, and Simpson's meticulous fragments of contemporary self-delusion make beautiful narrative shapes out of the ordinary horrors of domestic life. |
| Josie Rourke | Josie Rourke |
| A Raisin in the Sun Lorraine HansberryTranslations Brian FrielA Number Caryl Churchill | A Raisin in the Sun Lorraine HansberryTranslations Brian FrielA Number Caryl Churchill |
| I feel most qualified to suggest plays, so perhaps these can be taken as mix and match with other, prosier, suggestions. | I feel most qualified to suggest plays, so perhaps these can be taken as mix and match with other, prosier, suggestions. |
| Nina Simone wrote "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" about Lorraine Hansberry. Raisin in the Sun is a great play about struggle, family and property. It's also, crucially, by a young, black, brilliant woman writing in the late 1950s in a medium that has not always held its door wide open. I always think aspiration is about tangible example. | Nina Simone wrote "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" about Lorraine Hansberry. Raisin in the Sun is a great play about struggle, family and property. It's also, crucially, by a young, black, brilliant woman writing in the late 1950s in a medium that has not always held its door wide open. I always think aspiration is about tangible example. |
| Translations is a magnificent play, about Britain and Ireland, of surprising compassion and has an Arthur Miller-like understanding of the power of naming. It shows how a playwright can use the past to write about the present. | Translations is a magnificent play, about Britain and Ireland, of surprising compassion and has an Arthur Miller-like understanding of the power of naming. It shows how a playwright can use the past to write about the present. |
| A Number is the kind of science fiction that sits just on the brink of the present. With a father played by one actor and three sons played by another, it distils theatre down to its purest form. A dazzling insight into nature versus nurture, it's also about cloning, which is cool – right? | A Number is the kind of science fiction that sits just on the brink of the present. With a father played by one actor and three sons played by another, it distils theatre down to its purest form. A dazzling insight into nature versus nurture, it's also about cloning, which is cool – right? |
| Will Self | Will Self |
| Down and Out in Paris and London George OrwellWhite Teeth Zadie SmithMaster Georgie Beryl BainbridgeRunning Wild JG Ballard | Down and Out in Paris and London George OrwellWhite Teeth Zadie SmithMaster Georgie Beryl BainbridgeRunning Wild JG Ballard |
| I think the Orwell worship that dominates English letters is, for the most part, a shabby raiment, but the fact remains that he writes with exemplary clarity. This, one of his shorter works of reportage, will be easily accessed by contemporary young readers who struggle with vocabulary and context; it will introduce them to a world they know little of, and unite the poverty and desperation of the interwar period with our own highly divided society. | I think the Orwell worship that dominates English letters is, for the most part, a shabby raiment, but the fact remains that he writes with exemplary clarity. This, one of his shorter works of reportage, will be easily accessed by contemporary young readers who struggle with vocabulary and context; it will introduce them to a world they know little of, and unite the poverty and desperation of the interwar period with our own highly divided society. |
| Come the hour, come the woman: Smith's novel is exuberant, colourful and rambunctious; it formally and linguistically reflects the emergent and highly cosmopolitan England of the early 21st century. It isn't – contra some critical perspectives – the greatest novel ever written about the immigrant experience, but it's more than fit for purpose. | Come the hour, come the woman: Smith's novel is exuberant, colourful and rambunctious; it formally and linguistically reflects the emergent and highly cosmopolitan England of the early 21st century. It isn't – contra some critical perspectives – the greatest novel ever written about the immigrant experience, but it's more than fit for purpose. |
| Bainbridge's elliptical account of the realities of Britain as a growing imperialist power fixes together gritty war reportage with a quick study of the emergent technology of photography. This book will be an excellent teaching aid, providing students with an introduction to the past - the mid-19th century – crafted by a contemporary master prose stylist; it will assist them with context and language, and enable them to move forward to an appreciation of more difficult period writers. | Bainbridge's elliptical account of the realities of Britain as a growing imperialist power fixes together gritty war reportage with a quick study of the emergent technology of photography. This book will be an excellent teaching aid, providing students with an introduction to the past - the mid-19th century – crafted by a contemporary master prose stylist; it will assist them with context and language, and enable them to move forward to an appreciation of more difficult period writers. |
| Ballard's novella-length account of bored and disaffected teenagers destroying their affluent homes in an orgy of violence will speak to the politically disengaged and anomic youth of today; it will also be a gateway literary drug, exciting their sensibilities to the nightmare marriage of sex, death and technology that Ballard saw as integral to the modern world. | Ballard's novella-length account of bored and disaffected teenagers destroying their affluent homes in an orgy of violence will speak to the politically disengaged and anomic youth of today; it will also be a gateway literary drug, exciting their sensibilities to the nightmare marriage of sex, death and technology that Ballard saw as integral to the modern world. |
| With the exception of White Teeth I've chosen short texts, because young people exposed to digital media find it hard, if not impossible, to read for prolonged periods of time, or read texts that cannot be immediately apprehended. | With the exception of White Teeth I've chosen short texts, because young people exposed to digital media find it hard, if not impossible, to read for prolonged periods of time, or read texts that cannot be immediately apprehended. |
| Jeanette Winterson | Jeanette Winterson |
| Kidnapped Robert Louis Stevenson The Woman in Black Susan HillTrumpet Jackie Kay | Kidnapped Robert Louis Stevenson The Woman in Black Susan HillTrumpet Jackie Kay |
| Kidnapped is a great story and one with plenty of 21st-century themes to discuss: greed, evil, loss of homeland, trust, a young person's point of view – and where are the women? | Kidnapped is a great story and one with plenty of 21st-century themes to discuss: greed, evil, loss of homeland, trust, a young person's point of view – and where are the women? |
| Susan Hill's book contains some excellent writing, great storytelling. And it's short. It's also a good metatext as kids can see the film and the stage play and study how one form morphs into another. | Susan Hill's book contains some excellent writing, great storytelling. And it's short. It's also a good metatext as kids can see the film and the stage play and study how one form morphs into another. |
| Jackie Kay's book is pacy with a complex moral dimension. Why would a woman live as a man? Is it society? Is it personal? It was inspired by the true story of Billy Tipton. | Jackie Kay's book is pacy with a complex moral dimension. Why would a woman live as a man? Is it society? Is it personal? It was inspired by the true story of Billy Tipton. |
| However, all this is rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic because the subject is optional from 2015. Gove should be prosecuted for depriving children of essential services. The Tories want a future where literature belongs to an elite. There's no need to ban pesky writers – much smarter to make sure there are no readers. | However, all this is rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic because the subject is optional from 2015. Gove should be prosecuted for depriving children of essential services. The Tories want a future where literature belongs to an elite. There's no need to ban pesky writers – much smarter to make sure there are no readers. |