IB English ll Summer 2019 Reading Assignment
Download and print the IB English ll Summer Reading Assignment.
Dear IB English II Student,
Welcome to IB English 2. We look forward to working with you this coming school year.
For your summer assignment, please read Candide by Voltaire. We strongly recommend the Penguin edition, translated by Theo Cuffe:
ISBN-13: 978-0143039426 (preferred) or ISBN-13: 978-0140455106
We encourage you to purchase the text. This version of the text has many helpful notes and is a contemporary translation. If you choose not to do so, a copy will be available for you to check out over the summer and return at the start of the school year. The satiric novel is also freely available online. We ask you to bring a printed copy to class for note-taking.
As you read the novel, consider the following questions:
- What institutions and human vices is Voltaire satirizing?
- For each institution or vice that is satirized, consider what aspect of that institution or vice is worthy of ridicule. In other words, what problem does Voltaire see with the institution or vice?
- For each institution or vice that is satirized, identify a satiric technique used by Voltaire that highlights the aspect worthy of satire.
During the first two weeks of school, we will engage in discussions of the satirical elements of the novel.
For your reference, here are the texts we will examine during the 2019-2020 year:
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First Semester—Part 1: Works in Translation Candide by Voltaire (ISBN 978-0140455106) Selected Poems by Wislawa Szymborska (poems provided by the teacher) One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn (ISBN 978-0451228147) |
Second Semester—Part 3: Genre Study: Drama Othello by William Shakespeare (Folger Edition ISBN 978-0743477550) The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde (Penguin Edition ISBN 978-1613822548) A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams (ISBN 978-0811216029) Fences by August Wilson (ISBN 978-0452264014) |
If you have any questions regarding the book or the assignment, please send us an e-mail. We will reply as soon as possible. We hope you have an enjoyable summer. We have an exciting year ahead of us.
Emily Tuttle Laurence Ward