Sparky Sweets PhD - Thug Notes: A Street-Smart Guide to Classic Literature

A VINTAGE ORIGINAL, AUGUST 2015

Copyright 2015 by Wisecrack, Inc.

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Vintage Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York, and distributed in Canada by Random House of Canada, a division of Penguin Random House Ltd., Toronto.

Vintage and colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sweets, Sparky.
Thug notes : breakin down the worlds best classic lit / by Sparky Sweets, PhD
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Best booksHumor. 2. American literatureHistory and criticism. 3. English literatureHistory and criticism. 4. Literature and society. I. Title.
PN6231.B62T48 2015 818.607dc23 2015012205

Vintage Books Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-101-87304-5
eBook ISBN: 978-1-101-87305-2

Cover Design by Joan Wong

v3.1

TO MY WELL-READ BALLAS AND ALL YOU UP-N-COMIN LITERARY HUSTLAS

All da worlds a stage,

And all da men and women playas.

Shakespeare, As You Like It, 2.7.139140
(remixed by Sparky Sweets, PhD)

Introduction

What it do, reader? Names Sparky Sweets, PhD, and yeahI like to keep it thug. But you know what? I still keep it real in da library. If you ask Webster, a thug aint nothin mo than a violent criminal. But on da real, da word thug got roots in da Sanskrit word sthagati, meanin he who covers or conceals.

Maybe my bling and Ged-up swagga do hide somethin bout me: my mad love for da classics. Dostoevsky, Dickens, Shakespearedeez cats are da real OGs. So jus cuz you might see me swangin down yo block bangin chopped-and-screwed music, dont think I couldnt school even da most pretentious literary hustla at his own game.

Lemme lay a story on you. Couple years ago, I rolled up on da university library decked out like a straight balla. I walked up to conversate wit da librarian and girl started buggin in her seat. Da hell?! Hadnt she seen my ass there erry night porin over tomes of existentialist theory and comparative analysis? Maybe she couldnt handle da swag?

I put her to da test Say, where can a brutha find a legit translation of The Brothers Karamazov? Uh um, excuse me one moment. Da librarian locked her computer real quick and headed to da stacks. When she got back, she handed me a book. Heres The Brothers Karamazov, she said.

I grabbed da book and looked it over. Yo, scuse me. This heres Constance Garnett. You got da Pevear and Volokhonsky translation by chance? Its got da elegance, semantic depth, and attention game sowed up. Girl gave me a look like, dayum. Astonishment. Confusion. Bet she didnt think I even knew deez words. How could I, a black man bustin a killer saga thugpossibly know a damn thang bout nineteenth-century Russian lit?

Dat girl learned real quick not to judge a book by its cover. Sho, I grew up jammin to NWA, Pac, and Snoop. But I also rock summodat Shostakovich on da reg. I chilled wit whites, blacks, Asians, Christians, Muslims, Jewsyou name it. I grew up on da streets of LA and in da libraries of Compton.

Dat librarians mess gave me a new mission in life: to wreck da arrogance some literary fools feel like they gotta roll wit. Theres a reason libraries are public. All dem words and stories are for errybody to enjoy. To me, literature like a club wit no line and an open bar 24/7: Anybody can come in and get crunk as they want on dat sweet knowledge joose. Prollem is, a lotta folk dont treat it dat way. Instead, they do da exact opposite: make errything so damn confusin jus to sound smart, or to make somebody else sound stupid.

As many a G has asked: Why deez haterz gotta hate? Classic literature is timeless, agelessand it should be classless. Da whole point of droppin knowledge is to keep buildinfor da lit game OGs to help a new crew get on they level, or maybe even higher, not to jus shit on da peeps who came before you or dat sittin in front of you.

Deez days, science is pretty damn popular. But even tho da newest gadget or breakthrough study make shit smootha, fasta, and betta, it caint fill all da holes in our lives. When it come to figgerin out who we are, who we wanna be, how to treat otha people, and da decisions we gonna make, its literature dat gonna hook us up. It got da ability to put us in anotha playas shoes and see da world from different perspectives. It teach us how to empathize and connect wit othas on a much deeper level, even if they seem different from us.

So why Thug Notes? Sometimes people look at me like I lost my damn mind cuz Im relatin books to hip-hop culture. So, lets get back to what bein a thug is: To me, a thug is somebody who buck da system; who stand up and try to make they imprint on da world. A thug live how they wanna live, and do what they wanna do, even in da face of a world tellin em they gotta act a certain way. Most of da novels and authors in this book you holdin aint no different. Some of da best works of lit can be thought of as expressions of rebellion or great dissatisfaction wit da worldexistential, political, social, or emotional. And to me, plenty of rappers singin they heart out bout da same thangs: da oppression they face, da troubles wit they lives, and all da fucked-up shit goin down in da world around em. So how different is dat really from any of deez authors? Dont jus dismiss somethin cuz it dont look, sound, or feel da way youre used to: Theres shit from all ova packed wit mad meanin.

So heres my main jam, my illest flow, my Masters Thesis, and my dissertations argument par excellence:

Learnin bout literature is mo than jus memorizin names, dates, faces, and book summariesit can broaden our minds and open our hearts by remindin us not to judge a book by its coverand aint nothin mo important.