I agree with most of the suggestions here. (Particularly Squatter's!)
Thanks for reminding me about Gawain,
Bethberry, I think Tolkien would probably have picked it for his list...I wonder if he might have suggested a mediaeval prose work such as Njalssaga, as well.
Of course, he might have just narrowed himself to English literature....and natural modesty might have prevented him from suggesting Gawain or Beowulf, as he of course was responsible for the translations then most readily available.
As for more general points:
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There is also a certain amount of controversy (and quite rightly in my opinion) about the extent to which some schools are using 'extracts' for study instead of complete works.
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Indeed,
Lalwende, this is a problematic issue and one I don't know the answer to. In my day, we did a few texts extremely thoroughly, now they get through a lot more but don't read them right through - "selected scenes" from Othello, Oliver Twist or whatever and watch the video for the rest of the story.
Sad truth is, a lot of children just aren't up to ploughing through a whole Dickens, and giving them a taste is better than nothing, I suppose. What say those Downers still at school?
My own list for teenagers would probably be closest to JK Rowling's, with some of Pullman. David and Goliath was the first bit of the Bible I ever read of my own volition...I think children should definitely read something from the St James version, and not for religious reasons.... I think Tolkien would have mentioned the Bible, too.
I'd probably have stuck Brighton Rock and/or Camus' L'etranger in there somewhere as the alienation in both books goes down well with angsty teenagers....a bit less predictable than Catcher in the Rye. A bit of Tolstoy or Zola wouldn't go amiss either. And I'm a Wuthering Heights rather than a Jane Eyre girl....But what about Lord of the Rings? No-one mentioned that....or the Hobbit....
PS. Motion-inspired confession: I am an English graduate and I have never read Ulysses or Don Quixote. Nor have I read the Iliad or Odyssey all the way though. (Or Portrait of a Lady, for that matter, but I should get round to it at some point, I suppose, ho hum)