IB English Literature 2 Summer Reading

The paper 2 exam is May 2017 will pose questions concerning two of the three (SL) or four
(HL) works youll read for part 3 of the course. Here is a sampling of the types of questions
that have appeared in previous exams:

My own preference is for a story that is kaleidoscopic, with a number of different voices
rather than one character speaking for the entire novel or short story. Focusing on single
and/or multiple voices, discuss the effects of viewpoint in two or three novels you have
studied.

The characters of a novel can only be individualised if they are set in a background of
particularised time and place. How important is the setting of a particular time and/or place
to the development of the characters?

Not rounding off, but opening out. Comment upon the way the writers of the novel and
short story deal with the ending in relation to the whole. In your answer you should refer to
two or three novels you have studied.

There are three principal sources of interest in narratives (such as novels or short stories):
suspense, mystery and irony. Discuss both the ways writers in your study have used one of
these sources and the effect this feature has on the narratives.

My characters are contradictory, not only in their language but in their behaviour as well.
Discuss the ways in which you see contradictions within individual characters as adding to the
interest of fiction you have studied.

A story has to be told by somebody. Compare in detail your impressions of the storytellers in
two or three novels that you have studied. Was the storyteller the same as the writer
(implicitly or explicitly) or not? How does this question influence your reading?

The reason Im sharing these is that we will have no idea what questions will be asked on the
May 2017 paper 2 exam. It could be about any aspect of the craft of narrative fiction.
Therefore, I always populate part three of the course with works of modernism and
postmodernism that have a more pronounced manipulation of narrative techniques, since
paper 2 points at differing devices and approaches.

A haunting, unsettling book that ideally should be read at one sitting, as

long as you are prepared to bear the brunt of its full impact. To do so is to
be richly rewarded... The Road is a landmark in depicting the worstand
bestthat humanity can muster. Daily Express
Your summer reading assignment is to read Cormac
McCarthys Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Road.
Ideally, once straight through in one sitting, then later
with note-taking. Please purchase the edition shown
(ISBN 9780330513005). We will be discussing this book
immediately upon our return from Summer break, and
comparing it with other texts during semester two in
anticipation of paper 2 exam.
You need to begin and maintain a reading journal for
this work and the others covered in the course. Please
record the following for each chapter (but since there are
no discernible chapters in this book, make an entry
around every 10-15 pages:

a brief summary of events,

important quotes that stand out to you (and, briefly, why they seem to be important),

vocabulary youve never encountered before (and definitions),

techniques that you see McCarthy doing as a writer, and

any questions you might have about specifics in the text.

Upload what you have done before school begins. The class
ID on turnitin is the same as last year: 9980261 and the
password is white-whale. If there are problems, email Mr.
Blendheim at cblendheim@acs-schools.com.

One of the most shocking and harrowing but

ultimately redemptive books I have read. It is an
intensely intimate story. It is also a warning
Observer Books of the Year