Students in the English Language Arts classroom have access to more author commentary than ever. While following authors on social media may deepen students' engagement with their assigned reading, it also threatens to subdue students' own interpretations of the authors' texts. This essay explains how educators can introduce basic aspects of…

In the reaction against biographical and historical criticism, critics have dogmatically emphasized pure textual explication and have thus distorted or restricted responses to literature and art. To correct this improper emphasis, teachers, in addition to stressing the integrity of the art work, should treat individual creations as "different…

Offers glimpses into the landscapes of people's lives. Discusses Edith Bruck's "Who Loves You Like This,""Life Stories: Profiles from 'The New Yorker'," and Hugh Sidey's "Portraits of the Presidents: Power and Personality in the Oval Office." (SG)

A teacher discusses how she used criticism of "The Scarlet Letter," when studying the book, in her honors class. The students were also intrigued by the biographical information they learned about Hawthorne, and eager to use it in interpreting his novel. (SRT)

This biography explores poet Robert Frost's techniques as a teacher from the early days of teaching at Pinkerton Academy in Derry, New Hampshire, to his acceptance of a chair at Harvard University and his subsequent associations with numerous other schools. Also examined are his educational practices and philosophy--particularly his life-long…

The scope of this quinmester unit of instruction ranges from a cursory look at newspapers, magazines, and sources of biographic material to a development of skills which enable the student to make effective use of them. The focus of the course is primarily exploratory as the student moves through the various media, but he is made aware that not…

One of a series of works aimed at presenting contemporary critical opinion on major authors, this collection includes essays by George Steiner, Leo Tolstoy, Ezra Pound, Erich Auerbach, Edwin Muir, Cedric H. Whitman, Albert B. Lord, W. H. Auden, Ernst Bloch, Georg Lukacs, C. Day Lewis, Gabriel Germain, Franz Kafka, Rachel Bespaloff, Robert…

One of a series of works aimed at presenting contemporary critical opinion on major authors, this collection includes essays by Alfred Harbage, H. B. Charlton, Willard Farnham, H. T. Price, Donald A. Stauffer, Brents Stirling, Maynard Mack, Helen Gardner, C. S. Lewis, Alvin Kernan, Bernard Spivack, L. C. Knights, Francis Fergusson, G. Wilson…

One of a series of works aimed at presenting contemporary critical opinion on major authors, this collection includes essays by Leon Edel, Joseph Conrad, Max Beerbohm, Ezra Pound, Edith Wharton, Percy Lubbock, Virginia Woolf, T. S. Eliot, Van Wyck Brooks, Edmund Wilson, E. M. Forster, William Troy, Pelham Edgar, Stephen Spender, Graham Greene,…

One of a series of works aimed at presenting contemporary critical opinion on major authors, this collection includes essays by Richard Chase, D. H. Lawrence, Newton Arvin, Alfred Kazin, Henry A. Murray, R. P. Blackmur, Marius Bewley, Richard Harter Fogle, Daniel G. Hoffman, Robert Penn Warren, and F. O. Matthiessen--all dealing with the biography…

One of a series of works aimed at presenting contemporary critical opinion on major authors, this collection includes essays by Irving Howe, Edmund Wilson, Louis Auchincloss, Percy Lubbock, E. K. Brown, Q. D. Lewis, Alfred Kazin, Diana Trilling, Blake Nevius, Lionel Trilling, Vernon L. Parrington, and Louis O. Coxe--all dealing with the biography…

One of a series of works aimed at presenting contemporary critical opinion on major authors, this collection includes essays by Jacques Guicharnaud, Rene Bray, Gustave Lanson, Alfred Simon, Will G. Moore, Ramon Fernandez, Paul Benichou, Lionel Gossman, Andre Villiers, James Doolittle, H. Gaston Hall, Robert J. Nelson, Jacques Copeau, Charles…

Biography is a form of nonfiction that, when well-researched and well-written, can be as enjoyable and as engaging as the best of novels. The quality of these books can be judged by the quality of writing and by the honesty and accuracy in the presentation of the subject. There has to be in the text or in supporting materials some assurance that…

One of a series of works aimed at presenting contemporary critical opinion on major authors, this collection includes essays by Jonas A. Barish, T. S. Eliot, L. C. Knights, Harry Levin, Edmund Wilson, Arthur Sale, C. H. Herford, Paul Goodman, Edward B. Partridge, Ray L. Heffner, Jr., Joseph Allen Bryant, Jr., and Dolora Cunningham--all dealing…

One of a series of works aimed at presenting contemporary critical opinion on major authors, this collection includes essays by Rene Girard, Robert Vigneron, Henri Peyre, Jacques Riviere, Albert Thibaudet, Walter A. Strauss, Germaine Bree, Georges Cattaui, Elliott Coleman, Leo Spitzer, Richard Macksey, Robert Champigny, Charles Du Bos, Ramon…