Uses an informal survey to explore students' attitudes toward the study of English and literature. Concludes that an introductory course should keep literature in touch with the history of ideas, allow for the systematic take-up of critical issues and problems, and enable students to relate their reading to particular philosophical, moral, and…

Defends Blume's works by presenting internal evidence displaying the honesty and lack of exaggeration that make her books popular with adolescents and unpopular with critics. (CRH)

Argues that the essential discipline in literature is neither learning to write essays for an exam nor keeping up with the latest scholarship but giving close attention to the words on the page and learning to respond to them. (MM)

Examines how students' difficulty in understanding Chaucer stems from differences between modern and medieval assumptions about the function and method of narrative. (CRH)