Boys Who Fell This Deep into Literature

In an era overflowing with hostility and rejection toward different ideas,
two literature teachers and their students respected one another, cheered each other on with warmth, and grew together—
this is the story of the literary classroom they built side by side.

This book is a record of the extraordinary classes shared by two veteran Korean-language teachers and their all-boys high school students as they read novels and poetry together.
At a time when most teenagers study literature through summaries of required reading lists, these two teachers' passionate lessons—introducing students to the magnificent worlds that poetry and fiction can open—are nothing short of remarkable. The students in this book display a depth of literary understanding that makes you wonder, "Do high schoolers like this really exist in Korea?" Yet even these boys initially feared engaging with the complexities of human experience, insisting they were more comfortable with science and math because "the answers are clear-cut." The book movingly captures their transformation and growth as they immersed themselves in literature—a journey that invites us to reflect on the meaning of literature and the possibilities of education alike.
Above all, these classes embody the authors' deep commitment to the question of how to share the power and beauty of literature with their students. Boys Who Fell This Deep into Literature will serve as a potent literary and intellectual catalyst for young readers, and as an outstanding literature-classroom guide and reading companion for parents and teachers alike. The rich stories of poets, novelists, and works from Korea and abroad featured throughout the book multiply the joys of reading.