IIRC we read ‘Nausea’ and ‘The Plague’ in high school senior English. What I discovered by reading them was that I had a visceral hatred for Existentialism in all of its forms. But then I hated almost every assigment in that English class. I’d already been booted out of “honors English” for having a bad attitude and refusing to do assigments. I gave them a figurative middle finger in return by getting a near perfect score on the SAT verbal. School and I did not get along.
You were one of those smart kids who refused to be (figuratively) caged, leashed or brought to heel if you could help it. A natural rebel.
One of many advantages of trying out certain books now on my own, is if it’s too boring or doesn’t motivate me to finish it, no problem. I just throw that used book in the trash.
No one needs to know about it.
I read some work from James Jones (From Here To Eternity).
I tried reading another of his books A Touch of Danger, but I realized i did not like the main character, like not at all. He was someone in need of Poetic Justice. So I tossed that book. Not meant for me. Many other books by James, yes.
Ew! What a cruel high school English teacher you had! I don’t blame you one bit for hating that class! Nausea and The Plague, both in one year of high school? That is cruel and unusual!
I loved honors English as a junior, but we allowed to do “mini-courses” we could choose from, which was cool. One was “The Bible as Literature” which was taught by an excellent and deeply Christian elderly lady teacher and it was very interesting even though limited to the various literary forms used in the Bible. One was “Folklore” and, it being near the Bicentennial, was quite popular. We had to make our own folklore collections, meaning we had to “field work” and interview lots of people — elderly people were best — and I amassed a whole book of stories, sayings, expressions, recipes, superstitions, etc., all properly classified and categorized and sonforth like a proper cultural anthropology study. I even learned how to make split white oak shingles from a kindly elderly gentleman who lived in what at the time was still a rather isolated mountain farming community. That class was fascinating to us, and we loved it and learned a lot.
But I rebelled, too, and started college early, so I missed the whole senior year thing — if it was going to include Nausea and The Plague, I really dodged a bullet there! But, as you read, I got my due punishment in that Existentialism class (German class, too!). Looks like we have that in common — torment by way of Existentialism :( You have my full sympathy.
I don’t know why they made us read A Separate Peace in junior high (hated it) or made you read The Plague and Nausea in high school. There is so much fine and wonderful literature in our Western canon. Why that stuff?