So I was taking a mental break from the homework for this class and in my current reading I found a short story that everyone can appreciate. Ado by Connie Willis. It's a story with the premise that Political Correctness has gotten so out of hand that the entirety of Hamlet is pared down to two lines in order not to offend anyone. It's a humorous take on how out of hand PC censorship of language and literature can become. Unfortunately, it made me sad more than it made me laugh.
If anyone is interested, it's in the collection "The Winds of Marble Arch." All Connie Willis stories, she's a fairly well known Science Fiction author.
More on life later!
~Ren
Your description of "Ado" reminds me of Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron," in which governmental attempts to equalize everyone go horribly out of whack. Here's an online copy that, frankly, shouldn't be online: http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/harrison.html
ReplyDeleteYes, I've read Harrison Bergeron, I also love that one. Connie's publisher was a bit more savvy and has thus far managed to keep Ado offline.
ReplyDeleteRen- what a good idea to post this for everyone. I was actually going to do the same thing because of what my group talked about in Dianna's class today. We discussed how effective it would be for student's to be able to relate to poetry in their own way- to have students read poems that might be meaningful in their own lives. A comment was made that students should be able to use music as inspiration for understanding poetry and writing it. I was going to post a short story that was based on Bob Dylan's song "It's all over now baby blue."
ReplyDeleteAlso, great job being able to read for fun outside of class! I think it is necessary to stay sane!
Molly,
ReplyDeleteI force myself to have an hour each night just to read for the purpose of unwinding. I just hope I'm able to keep it up during the school year without sacrificing my exercise time too!
I read that short story link you told me about, it is so CREEPY! I don't know the song it's based on, is it the Bob Dylan one you're referring to? I'll have to find and take a listen to it.