Dear students and parents:

Welcome to World Culture/World Literature. As you know, WC/WL is an interdisciplinary humanities course in which we devote equal time to world history after 1700, literature and art history. It is a demanding, honors-level course for students who are serious about their work. Students will be expected to complete long-term assignments and projects more independently than they did in ninth grade. All three disciplines, especially art history, require the ability to take good notes as an aid to understanding and remembering difficult text.

While the two summer assignments are not especially difficult, the assignments are somewhat time-consuming and cannot be left until the last week of vacation.

Summer Reading Assignment #1: An understanding of Greek mythology is important to our course, particularly for the art history component. Therefore, all WC/WL students will complete a summer reading assignment from Edith Hamilton’s Mythology. We have selected myths that appear frequently in literature and art. Some will be familiar to you from middle school; others will be new.

We expect you to take notes from only this text. DO NOT use other sources (print or electronic) because versions and translations of myths differ; we want everyone to begin the year with the same body of knowledge. (Page numbers refer to the hardbound edition; the paperback will differ slightly but will have the same chapter/section names.) Take notes by hand—no typing or word processing.

When you begin class in September, there will be an open-notes test on this material. We will collect your notes after the test. You may use any note-taking method that works for you—Cornell method, outlining, mapping/webbing, etc.

The Titans and the Twelve Great Olympians 24-35

How the World and Mankind Were Created 63-74

The Cyclops Polyphemus 81-85

Daedalus 139-140

Theseus and Hercules 149-172

Oedipus 256-261

Summer Reading Assignment #2: Read one of the challenging books listed below. (All but one are taken from the general Shenendehowa summer reading list.) Approach the book as a text.  Read closely and take careful notes, writing chapter summaries, webs, or outlines as needed; highlight or use sticky notes to identify key passages.  Your notes should allow you to recapture specific plot events and elements of characterization as well as locate significant passages to quote in support of an idea.  You will use these notes in the first weeks of class.

Carlos Eire, Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy

Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises

Sue Monk Kidd, The Secret Life of Bees

Yann Martel, Life of Pi

Bram Stoker, Dracula   

Alice Walker, The Color Purple

We look forward to meeting you in the fall.

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