> sound the alarm over Gen Z undergrads not finishing Les Miserables because they are uninterested in reading a pompous French man drone on for chapters about the Paris sewer system
I'm sorry, but if gen Z isn't interested in the Parisian sewer system from 1830, then I think there is little hope for them. I remember being told to read the abridged version of Les Miserables so you wouldn't need to hear Hugo ramble about Waterloo, sewers, and fertilizer, but I just thought "can I read just the parts taken out of the abridged version?"
On the other hand, I’d be very happy to take the side that assigning a 1500 page 19th century novel in high school is a really heavy lift. You might as well beg students to read the online equivalent of the Cliff Notes.
Nowhere in the Atlantic article does it mention students being asked to read all of Les Miserables, either in high school or college. I think the OP brought it up as a strawman because it is notoriously digressive, and has few fans these days. The books actually mentioned in the Atlantic article include My Antonia, Great Expectations, The Illiad, the Odyssey, Moby-Dick, Crime and Punishment, Pride and Prejudice.
That's because I'm responding to her substack post, not the article. The substack post references Les Miserables and that professors are sounding the alarm for students not finishing it. Presumably, if professors are upset that students aren't finishing it, they are assigning it to be read.
I'm sorry, but if gen Z isn't interested in the Parisian sewer system from 1830, then I think there is little hope for them. I remember being told to read the abridged version of Les Miserables so you wouldn't need to hear Hugo ramble about Waterloo, sewers, and fertilizer, but I just thought "can I read just the parts taken out of the abridged version?"