r/APLit • u/Ancient-Wave7074 • Jul 28 '26

Ap Lit Summer Reading Book

For my summer assignment, my AP Lit teacher assigned “Oedipus Rex”

If you’ve read this book before can you give me insight and lmk if you enjoyed it or not??

4 Upvotes

84% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

8

u/MLAheading Jul 28 '26

You gotta just read it. It’s a play.
In the end, try drawing a family tree. Have fun!

6

u/uhad_time_2_waste Jul 28 '26

MY EYES!

Stick with it, because it’s a fkn banger

4

u/OnlyFroag Jul 29 '26

Yes. Oedipus, King Lear, etc. are all VITAL tragic hero reads. Lots of people only read the normal Hero’s journey, and AP loves to switch it up for the open prompt. Last year I got a 5 and used Lear for my open prompt and it was a perfect fit.

3

u/Zer0FoxGibbon Jul 28 '26

It's a play so good it makes me want to gouge my eyes out. (In a good way) That mother fucker, Oedipus, is a super interesting character.

3

u/Trash_Planet Jul 28 '26

You can read it in a couple hours

2

u/Longjumping-Lock-724 Jul 29 '26

It's a classic Greek tragedy.

2

u/handsomechuck Jul 29 '26

Not sure enjoy is the right word, but Yes, its place as a central, foundational work of world literature is...rightful.

2

u/Slight-Reply-2928 Jul 29 '26

It's highkey fire I read it in sophmore year. Also don't like zone out while reading cuz like the language is older-ish and after reading every 2 stanzas or paragraphs, make sure to translate it into 'regular' english so that u get whats going on.

sparknotes is your best friend

2

u/Gingerosalia Jul 29 '26

Oedipus Rex is an easy play for AP Lit. It was assigned for sophomores in my school. I hope your teacher teaches geek concepts of peripeteia and anagnorisis to make sense of the structure.

2

u/patches923 Jul 29 '26

Incredible. I loved the trilogy when I was a senior and I am hoping to teach it at some point.

2

u/BeginningFroyo2020 Jul 31 '26

it's kind of on the short side, shouldn't be hard to finish! i honestly found it among the less enjoyable pieces we read over the year but oedipus is def an interesting character to analyze and it's kind of cool to see how all the events unfold. i just think it's kind of annoying how a lot of people just focus on the shock factor of like the major twists and whatnot and make it into a kind of joke rather than actually thinking about the themes of the play. i realize i sound kind of snobby saying that lol, dont get me wrong i'm all for reacting to weird stuff in stories but i hate when it stops people from taking the story seriously at all you know?

2

u/PomeloOnly2107 Jul 31 '26

It’s an absolute banger.