Mr. Mark's World Literature

I’ll be moving into administration at ICS next year, but I’ll always treasure my memories of my World Literature classes! These blog sites were a really meaningful part of what we did, and I always enjoyed reading them. I’ve made sure they have remained saved so that my students can come back and re-visit them…

This is it, guys!  Your last blog ever!  I can’t tell you how much I’ve enjoyed reading these.  I appreciate you taking the time to articulate your thoughts here with creativity and sincerity, and I hope you’ve taken the time throughout the year to read the shared ideas of your classmates as well.  Ultimately, I…

Beginning the first pages of Cry, the Beloved Country with a portrait of an Edenic landscape that has been marred by human abuse, Paton weaves throughout his whole novel the theme of damaged things that are in need of healing.  Beginning with his scorched up native country, he goes on to explore unjust social norms, corrupted political systems,…

Although his legacy is rather messy and controversial, I think anyone can find at least something to admire in the life and vision of Ernesto “Che” Guevara.  I like that The Motorcycle Diaries book included his later speech to Cuban medical students because we are able to hear for ourselves how Che’s journey around Latin America shaped…

ICS students are some of the most well-traveled people I’ve ever met, and I know a lot of you really enjoy experiencing new places and new cultures.  I hope that this makes you appreciate the travel-minded spirit that permeates The Motorcycle Diaries.  But, I also hope you notice that the book does not merely describe the adventurous…

I think that Che’s reflections on the City of Cuzco in his chapter called “The Navel” (pg. 103-104) are brilliant.  This is how he sets up his descriptions: “There are two or three Cuzcos, or it’s better to say, two or three ways the city can be summoned.”  From there, he goes on to articulate…

As reflected in our presentations and papers, I love both these books for their commentary on particular social/cultural issues.  But I’ve also found them to provide great insights on deeper, existential topics that are universal to all people.  I’ll explain the separate prompts for each book below, but what I’m basically asking you to do…

As I hope you remember from 10th grade, Europe has been home to some of the finest poets the world has ever known.  Because I like to touch on a little poetry as we “travel the world” in each unit, I’d like you to spend today digging into some quality European poetry.  A while back,…

To me, this is another important piece of “the war of ideas” that we did not get much of a chance to talk about in our Middle East unit.  But, it’s obviously a big part of the history and themes we are talking about in our Europe unit.  I want you guys to do some…

You’ll often hear political commentators talk about “waging the war of ideas.”  While I am a pacifist, this is a fight that I would like to say I support!  I’d even say that I hope my classroom is a place where different ideas can be shared, discussed, analyzed, and weighed — all in the effort…