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By James J. Miracky, S.J.
 Teaching a book one loves to undergraduates can be a risky
undertaking. The results can range from exhilaration, when
the students are energized and enlightened by the work, to
desolation, when they are bored or just don't "get it." Fortunately,
I have experienced more booms than busts in teaching my literary
favorites. What follows is a list of contemporary works that
have been especially effective with and appreciated by Holy
Cross undergraduates.
Waterland by
Graham Swift (Vintage 1992). This has probably been my favorite
novel to teach at Holy Cross. It is a detective story, coming-of-age
romance, historical epic, and meditation on history-as-storytelling,
all in one. Set in the Fen Country of England and narrated
by Tom Crick, an about-to-be-sacked history teacher whose
wife has just kidnapped a baby, this Booker Prize-nominated
novel is a complex and poignant account of Tom's attempt,
via his-story, to draw together some of the strands of his
personal and family background in order to make sense of
his present-day crises.
Come to Me by
Amy Bloom (HarperPerennial 1994). A finalist for the National
Book Award, this collection of short stories by a psychotherapist
presents a great challenge to my students. Bloom takes up
unconventional and sometimes disturbing psychosexual situations
(e.g. incest, adultery, potential sexual abuse) and uncovers
the humanity (and even moments of beauty) that can be found
in the midst of moral failure. Teaching this book has yielded
some of the best literary and moral discussions I have experienced
in class.
Midnight's Children (Penguin
1991) and Shame (Holt
1997) by Salman Rushdie. Both novels are demanding texts
which are among the finest examples of postcolonial fiction.
Each is a hybrid novel of Eastern and Western traditions,
set in India/Pakistan at the time of their independence,
that mixes elements of myth and fantasy with fragments of
historical and political events to produce a wonderful serio-comic
narrative that raises important questions about colonialism,
racial and religious purity, and contradictory representations
of "the truth."
The Wellspring: Poems by
Sharon Olds (Knopf 1996). This is an emotionally wrenching
yet inspiring collection of poems that covers all of the
hot topics undergraduates (and all of us) relate to: family,
love, sex, rebellion, death and more. Olds has an acute sense
of details and an expressive way with imagery in her work,
and her series of poems on relating to one's parents is especially
moving.
The Things They Carried by
Tim O'Brien (Penguin 1991). O'Brien's book of short stories
relating events surrounding the Vietnam War is a triumph
not only of war fiction but also of postmodern narrative.
Blurring the lines between fiction and the "facts" of his
war experience, O'Brien's tales of battles fought and comrades
lost thrive equally on love and hate, horror and beauty to
get at "truths" about war that defy human logic. I get a
kick out of seeing students wrestle with the gray areas of
these stories, which resist the desire for neat explanation
or resolution.
Top Girls by
Caryl Churchill (Methuen Drama 1985). This British play has
a wonderfully topsy-turvy quality about it, as it moves from
a dinner party attended by a group of notable women from
history and literature from across the ages (e.g. the legendary
Pope Joan, Japan's Lady Nijo, and Chaucer's Patient Griselda)
in Act I to a Thatcher Era showdown between two sisters who
have followed radically different careers and roles as women
in Act II. Taking up the contentious question of the "proper" role
of women in past and present societies, the play generates
much heated debate over gender expectations and offers no
easy solutions.
Angels in America: Millennium
Approaches and Perestroika by Tony Kushner
(Theatre Communications Group 1993-1994). Winner of
multiple awards, including the Pulitzer and the Tony,
this two-part epic play has probably generated the
most surprising positive responses from my students.
It is an ambitious and controversial work that contemplates
the place of justice, compassion, and hope in the era
of Ronald Reagan and AIDS. Populated with one of the
most eccentric casts in a long time, including drag
queens and angels; rabbis, Mormons, and WASPs; and
even the adversarial Ethel Rosenberg and Roy Cohn,
the play's combination of philosophical speculation,
religious myth, and wickedly funny dialogue makes for
a thought-provoking read and a thoroughly engaging
dramatic experience.
James Miracky, S.J., is an
assistant professor of English at Holy Cross. Miracky received his Ph.D.
in English from Rutgers University. His specialty areas include 19th and
20th century British novel, history and theory of the novel, and modern
and contemporary
drama.
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