> about the academic study of his work, and Wolfe typically responds with fear and trepidation
I really respect that, I know far too many people who have been turned off reading entirely by bad teachers in high school!

I think the process of dissecting a novel - or, rather, the approach to dissecting a novel that teachers are obliged to present in English classes - can be as bad as having a bad teacher, to be fair. The best English teacher I ever had started taking us through A Wizard of Earthsea, which I had previously read and enjoyed, and even then by the end I wound up resenting it. Fortunately, after some years I was able to go back, enjoy it again, and read the sequels, but how many kids were put off LeGuin forever?

That teacher, by the way, was Conn Iggulden, who went on to write The Dangerous Book for Boys and a bunch of brick-sized historical epics.

Hmmm...we could introduce a literary totty section. There's Mr October right there. I really really need to read some Wolfe, especially since it'd be a pleasure not to have to divorce the human being from their work. The killing books through studying them angle is a difficult one; generally studying ANYTHING at school makes it suck. But beyond that, perhaps, it's a matter of a personal taste? I mean, nothing on this earth and I mean it could force me to touch Milton with a ten foot pole. And I understand he's generally accounted quite good. On the other hand I read Austen obsessively and I never get bored and I always find something worthwhile on repeated readings.