h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Back to Pippi Långstrump... My opinion is that Astrid Lindgren is really worth mentioning... And other children's books - Moomins by Tove Jansson?? And of course Winnie the Pooh but someone said that already...

I don't know much about German literature but wasn't Goethe a great one...?

And has anyone mentioned Shakespeare of Molière...? Just wondering...

So we have a strong Scandinavian contingent -- will Soren Kierkegaard go into the religion course? Could you explain Astrid Lindgren? Not saying she isn't important, but I myself don't recognise the name. Is all that still in the category of children's books.

Shakespeare is in the intro course, and of course Goethe.

Category: science fiction! How do we teach that to a class with lots of extraterrestrials in it?

Astrid Lindgren is the one who wrote Pippi Långstrump... And that's all children's books, yes...

Astrid Lindgren has written at least 50 children's books, and been translated into 20 or so languages I think. She's huge in Scandinavia. My personal favourites when I was younger was Ronia the Robber's Daughter, and the Brothers Lionheart.

They have both been filmed - interesting note is that now, maybe 10-15 years after the release of the film Ronia the Robber's Daughter, there is a significant amount of 8-10 year old swedish girls named Ronia.

A.A. Milne, of _course_!

BTW, as a side line, if anyone has noticed any book mistakes there's a Booknook conversation at:
http://www.h2g2.com/forumframe.cgi?forum=29359&thread=36192
about them.

The religion course - while translations are interesting, you might want to stick with the original (actually this applies to all books). The exception to this being the King James Bible of the Old Testament - the original Hebrew is waaayyy different, which has made a significant impact on a whole lot of people.


But something insane that jumped out at me - we could have this "course". I would guess there is someone who knows loads about each of these books. It would be a bunch of book talks to another level. Where better than H2G2? Oh, the internet.

Despite the many inaccuracies of translation that have been logged against the King James Bible (the Wycliffe translation), I think it counts as a significant poetic work, just like the Koran and Vedic writings -- not to mention the Tao Te Ching.

Yes, we could have this course -- these courses - if you have already rounded up some aliens who want to register. I would be disappointed if only humans signed up.

We've talked a lot about the Religious Earth Lit and Literature for Earth Children, but what would people suggest for the Introductory course? As an English speaker, of course I'm swayed toward the books I know, but I want to be fair. This, we assume, is to be an alien's first real taste of what we Terrans call literature.

I would rather not introduce them to religious books at first. I think it will be important to avoid even the semblance of missionary-hood....

You would probably want ot start them on something light. Don't want to have to explain the Italian political situation during the Renaisance in the first class. This probably means that childrens books should come first, as they do for humans after all. Having to explain that Winnie The Pooh, while indeed being a real bear, is only a toy in the books, named after the real bear is probably as complex as you want to get early on.

I would start with Shakespeare, preferrably a comedy. Much Ado About Nothing, perhaps. Everyone loves that, even my husband who's never finished a book in his life.

If there are no language difficulties, Shakespeare would be fine.

Personally I would give them a bit of good children's lit, maybe Alice (though we wouldn't want to scare them), and then something like Huck Finn for both great humour and some universally human struggles.

Munchkin has an interesting point, about introducing aliens to Terra Lit via children's books. What if we step even further back than Alice and Huck, and give them a taste of the books we give kids in order to teach them to read? Including examples of BAD starts like Dick & Jane, thru the surreal (and why that works for kids) like The Cat in the Hat. Of course if I ever hear green eggs and ham again I shall go postal...

What A great topic lil!

I agree that Shakespeare id the way to start - his works cover the range of human writing -- comedy, romance, tragedy, history --

I would start with Twelth Night -- it has some great conceits, and characters -- wow.

"If music be the food of love, play on . . ."

And if books are the breath of love -- read on.

~Beeblefish (Who is Very Very Nearly All There)

Well, just imagine all those multi-coloured, multi-shaped faces sitting before you in the ampitheatre. Not only do you want to bring them the best of earth literature, but in many cases, you may have to introduce them to concepts they don't have in their own cultures.

Could a Vogon possibly pass a course in Earth Lit, seeing as he or she lacks a sense of humour?

Did any of y'all ever read a really scary scifi short called "Sporting With the Chid"?

Nope -- what was it about?

Some hunters arrive on a planet, properly permitted and all, and one of them meets with a very serious injury. The only other ship on the planet is a party of Chid. The hunters have some analogue of a Hitchhikers Guide which says only this of the Chid race "Do not approach the Chid."

The rest of the story tells why by what happens to the hunters. The Chid like to make bets, and noone is killed, but one might wish differently...

As I read your two weeks ago post, Lil, I was (still am) listening to "Green Eggs and Ham" by Moxy Fruvous.

A-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-agh!
*runs screaming into the night*