ERIC Number: EJ1112843
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1358-684X
EISSN: N/A
Literary Studies: A Preparation for Tertiary Education (and Life Beyond)
Zabka, Thomas
Changing English: Studies in Culture and Education, v23 n3 p227-240 2016
My argument is that a literary education should build on a primary level of responsivity towards literature, involving empathy and immersion in the world of the text. To engage with literary works from the past involves a play between familiarity and strangeness, and this play should be located as part of a reader's response to texts, rather than expecting students to imbibe the "dead knowledge" about literary periods and authors in which textbooks and literary guides traffic. Literary responsiveness involves sensitivity towards the specific character of the text, which means locating it in relation to other texts belonging to that genre without reducing it to being merely illustrative of a genre's so-called characteristics. In all these respects, contemporary educational standards reflect questionable assumptions about the development of a capacity to respond to literary texts, especially the supposition that a "mature" response to literature somehow involves moving beyond personal response to more analytical forms of engagement.
Descriptors: Literature, English Instruction, Familiarity, Reader Response, Empathy, Teaching Methods, Standards, Higher Education, Reflection, Foreign Countries
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Austria; Germany
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A