posted
I am taking a class for my Gifted and Talented license. For my big project, I'm writing a unit about Fantasy Literature. I'll be using The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis, The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling, and The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien.
I was wondering if any of you might be able to refer me to some of your favorite quotes about setting, characterization, etc. I'd really like to find some from authors the kids will know (5th graders). I think it would be a great way to introduce the different aspects of fiction writing.
posted
Get me a job teaching G/T, and you're on! I'm going to have different groups reading different novels and then coming together to discuss the "big picture" of fantasy writing. After the lessons, 2 weeks to work on independent projects: Write an original fantasy story, Create a detailed map of a fantasy world, Produce a fantasy film (videotape), or Make a role-playing game/computer game based on fantasy literature. Collaboration is encouraged!
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posted
Sorry, no quotes, but I did this unit in middle school. I think I wrote a story for it. My poor teacher loved the story but I seemed to have not followed the directions; heaven only knows what I was supposed to have done, because I sure didn't.
Anyway, we read Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles and Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End. They are still two of my favorite books.
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posted
I'm going specifically for fantasy, as a separate genre from sci-fi. I'm still hunting for quotes about such things as character, setting, etc. from authors the kids will know. Doesn't have to be a writer from this genre or unit. Just a big name. I'm looking for interesting quotes to interest the students in the various aspects of fiction writing.
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posted
Jenny, are you familiar with any of Madeleine L'Engle's books about writing? I'm thinking specifically about the one subtitled A Writer's Life, but any of her non-fiction stuff should have good quotes in it. I can look some up for you tonight if you wish.
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posted
Ooooh! I didn't know she had written any books for writers! Sounds promising. If you'd look some up, that would be so kind of you. I'll have to check my local library, as well.
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posted
Here is a quote by Tolkien that I have always liked:
"My work did not 'evolve' into a serious work. It started like that. The so-called 'children's story' [The Hobbit] was a fragment torn out of an already existing mythology. In so far as it was dressed up as 'for children', in style or manner, I regret it. So do the children." (from the tolkeinonline database of his quotes)
Tolkein also has an essay "On Fairy-Stories" found on pages 33-99 of the mass market paperback version of The Tolkien Reader. It has a lot of good stuff in it, though some of it might go over a 5th grader's head. Some quotes:
"Fantasy is a natural human activity. It certainly does not destroy or even insult Resaon; and it does not either blunt the appetite for, nor obscure the perception of, scientific verity. On the contrary. The keener and the clearer is the reason, the better Fantasy will it make. If men were ever in a state in which they did not want to know or could not perceive truth (facts of evidence), then fantasy would languish until they were cured. If they ever get into that state (it would not seem at all impossible), Fantasy will perish, and become Mobid Delusion.
"For creative Fantasy is founded upon the hard recognition that things are so in the world as it appears under the sun; on a recognition of fact, but not a slavery to it. So upon logic was founded teh nonsense that displays itself in the tales and rhymes of Lewis Carroll. If men really could not distinguish between frogs and men, fairy stories about frog-kings would not have arisen." (page 74-75)
"This 'joy' which I have selected as the mark of the true fairy story (or romance), of as the seal upon it, merits more consideration.
"Probably every writer making a secondary world, a fantasy, every sub-creator, wishes in some measure to be a real maker, or hopes that he is drawing on reality: hopes that the peculiar quality of this secondary world (if not all the details) are derived from reality, or are flowing into it. If he indeed achieves a quality that can fairly be described by the dictionary definition "inner consisteny of reality," it is difficult to concieve how this can be, if the work does not in some way partake of reality. The peculiar quality of the 'joy' in successful Fantasy can thus be explained as a sudden glimpse of the underlying reality or truth. It is not a only a "consolation" for the sorrow of the world, but a satisfaction, and an answer to that question, 'Is it true?' The answer to this question that I gave at first was (quite rightly): 'If you have built your little world well, yes: it is true in that world.' That is enough for the artist (or the artist part of the artist)." (page 87-88)
These quotes might be a little advanced (and might not be what you were looking for), but I think if you guide your class a bit, they will can figure out what he means.
posted
Oh, these are excellent. My plans are for a G/T 5th grade class, and these quotes will give them a lot of good stuff to chew on!
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