Those Foreign Books Coming Over Here and Telling us their Stories

It's been quite a depressing few days.  What with the Farrage barrage and the Times revealing that Michael Gove intends to change the English Literature GCSE syllabus, so that children no longer study books that aren't English it seems as though everyone in the UK (except those that I actually know to talk to about these things) are terrified of anything 'foreign'.

I know I'm naive about politics but I will never understand how only about 1/3 of the eligible population vote and when they do they vote for a party whose only policy seems to be to not want to be part of the council they've just been elected to.  It seems as though they won the votes of the poor, the uneducated and the tabloid readers (according to the BBC) by instilling fear of foreigners.

I wasn't going to write about politics so I will stop now but the book thing is just something I couldn't avoid writing about and I have quite a bit to say (just warning you) and my thoughts are confused.

 I love books and I get quite upset at the thought that anyone can think a book is bad.  Especially, a book being bad because of the nationality of the author. It worries me.  I think of Nazi Germany where Hitler banned anything that wasn't German and burnt books.  It didn't really work too well for him in the end.  The Germans only had their German music but we could listen to anything, so we corrupted theirs (Lily Marlene and Beethoven's 5th spring to mind). Maybe burning books stopped people reading but it didn't stop them remembering or telling other people about what they'd read.

On the other hand I don't really mind if they change the English Literature syllabus.  Pupils study a small number of books and most never actually read those books.  They read little bits and discuss those little bits and if they run out of time to finish reading in class they watch the film.  I know this because my son's English teacher told me that it really 'wasn't necessary' for him to read the whole book.  Would my son's life be any worse for not answering questions about 'To Kill a Mockingbird'?   The truth is that I think it's a great book and I think he should have read it and reading it might change his perspective but I think he should have read lots of books.  In fact, he did decide to read the whole book (the day before the exam!) and the act of reading it in one sitting has convinced him that reading is a good thing to do. I do worry that if a boring book is chosen to replace it then children like him would not get turned onto reading.

Choosing books because they're English could be very confusing. Could books by English authors set in foreign countries be on the curriculum? What about books written by British people who are living in another country? Or books about the UK written by people from other countries? We don't really know what Mr Gove is thinking because the details are vague but we do know that he studied literature at University and has confessed to hating Of Mice and Men. He is entitled to his opinion and as a widely read person he will be able to prefer some books over others. I'm not surprised at his dislike of this book, which don't fit with his personal ideology. I didn't like Alan Hollingsworth's Line of Beauty for the same but opposite reason.  I wonder if he is banning these books because they are too left wing?

I sort of hope that the political leanings of the books is the real reason for their removal from the syllabus. The alternative is too horrific. If only British things can be taught in schools then no more chemistry (periodic table invented by a Russian, Mendeleev), we would have to teach that the earth is the centre of the solar system or that the world was flat. Driving would be a bit tricky as I'm sure Karl Benz wasn't English and we'd have to get rid of the roads that those pesky Romans brought here. 

I'm sure people who set the exams will be widely  read and will be able to find books by British authors that will annoy Gove just as much. If not I have a few suggestions.

1. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists Robert Tresssel

2. Hard Times - Charles Dickens

3. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy

4. How Green was my Valley - Robert Llewellyn

5. PD James - the Children of Men

6. Living - Henry Green

7. Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

8. Wuthering Heights - Bronte

9. The Time Machine - HG Wells

10. The Hired Man - Melvyn Bragg

11. Peaches for M Le Curee - Joanne Harris.

12. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

13. 1984 - George Orwell

14. A Room of One's Own - Virginia Woolf

15. The Golden Notebook - Dorris Lessing.

Actually, after 15 books off the top of my head he probably should just ban all books. Books are dangerous - they could give people ideas!

And just to prove how confused my thoughts are on the subject I start to wonder if Gove has done us all a huge favour. He's got us talking about books. People are reading Of Mice and Men to find out why he hates it so much (all most of us can remember is a big, not very clever man who accidentally squishes a mouse). To Kill a Mockingbird has shot up to number 9 on Amazon's best seller lists and it has given bookstores a marketing hook.

Also, I don't think it matters what people read. Gove is a bit of an intellectual snob when it comes to books. He is quoted as saying, "You come home to find your 17 year old daughter engrossed in a book. Which would delight you more - Twilight or Middlemarch?" I've read both and would probably say that Twilight was more gripping (annoying but gripping) and while Middlemarch is certainly a very well written book it is a bit old fashioned. Both stories have women who give up their own self for a man, so I probably wouldn't be too thrilled about either but I would just be happy that she was engrossed in a book, making up her own mind and forming her own opinions.


Note:  Since writing this blog I have read Michael Gove's piece in the Telegraph and it seems as though the whole thing was made up.  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/10857079/Michael-Gove-attacks-fictitious-claims-he-has-banned-US-books-from-schools.html