The English teaching profession, spurred on by media and federal politics, has tended to construct aesthetic reading and political reading within a dichotomous conceptual framework (Morgan, 1997; Devine, 2004; Donnelly, 2007). The article argues that this need not be so, and that the two apparently opposed modes of reading can be performed not…

Argues that English teachers are not asking the most important questions about a piece of literature, suggesting that they are ducking the issues that are specifically political. (RB)

Argues that literary theory is a fact of professional life in English departments and that differences of intellectual concern will always remain. Discusses what should be the object of critical analysis, and questions whether answering such a question is even possible. (HB)

Describes a method of teaching students to identify and analyze misleading or manipulative rhetoric used in political campaigns. Provides excerpts from student-written journals based on the 1992 presidential debates. Argues that such activities are beneficial in English classes. (HB)