The Classics by Heart. Whims of Love to the School Curriculum

Article

Abstract

[In Russian]

 This article is inspired by «the classics» shown on TV in Russia.
The world of classical literature plays a great role in the school
curriculum. The so called «obligatory reading» aims to form a
good, normal, moral person. Pupils are depressed by standart
ways of perception. In our post-industrial, information age it’s not
possible to be interested only in reading without viewing. Classics
are taught in the classroom in a way that ignores the age of visual
culture. Film adaptations of classics on TV help to rehabilitate our
negative reading experience. Television, in contrast to the school
programme, brings to the classics vivid energy of pleasure and relaxation in a way which democratises them and makes them contemporary. By favourite and well-known actors, television makes
the classics safe and desirable. «Fundamental classical senses» are
transformed by media images, but television itself is also a disciplining form of power. Between reading and viewing, between
school and television it is possible to open a unique space for more
visual-enlightened reading and reading-enlightened watching, so
that to try to discover our proper attitude to the presence of the
classics in our everyday life.