Gatsby, Paraphrase, ESL

[jsburbidge]

Regarding Roger Ebert's takedown of the "Intermediate Level" version of The Great Gatsby: some of the discussion seems to centre around a defense based on the use of the book to teach people who are learning English as a second (or third, or whatever) language.  To which my reply is: crap.  I have plenty of experience with picking up languages by learning a basic amount and then reading with a dictionary beside me.  The books I have used for this -- say, Daudet's Lettres de Mon Moulin or Le Grand Meaulnes, or Dante's La Divina Commedia (so I'm not interested in modern Italian, hmmm?) -- aren't the most difficult books in the world (try reading Ariosto after Dante, or Voyage Au Bout De La Nuit after Daudet) but they aren't dumbed-down, either.