Uses the example of Samuel Richardson's readers' responses to his characters as "real" to illustrate the importance of readers' attitudes toward book characters. (DD)

Argues that the way out of worn out analogies of Canadian literature is found not only by acquiring knowledge of other cultures, but also by abandoning the deceptive parallelisms that overcome differences only by hiding them. (RAE)

Argues that the work of translating the Old English poem, "Beowulf," has yielded an artistic work of the literary imagination that, although far different from the work of the original poet, is compelling for readers of today. Outlines numerous problems of translating the work. (HB)

Distressing the classics can be avoided by avoiding three biases in the most commonly taught research program for literary historiography: (1) the bias of bibliography; (2) the bias of antiquarianism; and (3) the bias against social and behavioral sciences. Successful interpretation of text is possible when recognized as being context-dependent,…

Discusses the work of Blake and how it situates the author in thinking about literary criticism and theory and how it affects his teaching. (SRT)

Discusses William Beatty Warner's "Reading Clarissa: The Struggles of Interpretation," a study of Samuel Richardson's role as eighteenth-century critic and interpreter of his own novels. Examines the treatment of character by both Richardson and Warner, focusing on Richardson's humanist interpretation and Warner's anti-humanist…

Contains readers' comments as well as the authors' responses to earlier "College English" articles by Kenneth Bruffee and Johnathan Kamholtz and Robin Sheets. Contains comments only on articles by Ann Berthoff and William Marling. (EL)

Discusses how narrators (distinct from authors) emerged in English prose works during the last decade of the sixteenth century. Reports that instances of the use of narrators can be found throughout the seventeenth century, but that it was another hundred years before the technique developed fully enough to constitute a recognizable narrative…

Argues that the interaction among the various sub-discourses that collectively constitute English as a discipline can keep alive a vision of English teachers not simply as critics, composition people, or even poets, but as men and women of letters. (RAE)