The argument of this paper is that many texts of the Western literary canon rather than being vehicles of establishment values are critical of these values. Teaching these texts allows educators to challenge the interests of those who hold power in society as well as conventional sexual morality and gender stereotypes. Many important works of…

Recent debates among scholars in Literature education have led to polarizing views about the aims of the subject. The debate reignites ancient quarrels about the aesthetic and political values of literary study and relatedly, the different pedagogical approaches to teaching. In the first part of this paper, I explore the aesthetic-political divide…

This article uses feminist perspectives on decoloniality as a lens for analysing selected poems from Francine Simon's début collection, Thungachi (2017). Simon is a South African Indian woman poet from Durban, raised by Catholic parents of Tamil linguistic heritage. Her poetry collection, while feminist and experimental, deeply captures the…

The study aims to demonstrate the negative treatment of women and the purpose behind this treatment in selected short stories by Katherine Mansfield and Ernest Hemingway. Mansfield depicted her female characters as paralysed, invisible women or victims. She concentrated on representing the systematic and determined victimisation of women in a…

"The Call of the Wild" and "White Fang" both are masterpieces of Jack London. The protagonists Buck and White Fang are the incarnation of Jack himself to some extent for the two novels reveal a great deal of the writer. This essay aims at psychoanalyzing Jack London's creative process, the Oedipus complex and the confliction…

As documented by multiple NEA studies ("Reading at Risk," 2004; "To Read or Not to Read," 2007), reading has become devalued in American life, on sale in the clearance bin along with notions of greatness, classic works and ideas, and Western civilization itself. Trying to teach fine literature, writes the author, has become the struggle of how to…

This paper examines Hermann Hesse's penultimate novel, "The Journey to the East", from an educational point of view. Hesse was a man of the West who turned to the idea of "the East" in seeking to understand himself and his society. While highly critical of elements of Western modernism, Hesse nonetheless viewed "the East" through Western lenses…

This paper explores ways in which Western literature can be taught to Non-western students. This paper demonstrates that non-western values do not have to be overcome but rather Western values can be highlighted and reinforced to deal with literary complexity. Values and ideals such as freedom, self-identity, religion, feminism, and equality are…

Malintzin Tenepal (Dona Marina, La Malinche) is portrayed as a woman who was able to act beyond her prescribed societal function. (NQ)

Examines the published works and private correspondence of the English drama critic Huntly Carter and concludes that his religious enthusiasm for early Soviet theatre was more a part of London theosophy in 1914 than the Moscow stage of 1923. (MH)

Differs with Muhlhausler's (1995) assertion that no culture-neutral boundary exists between what is literal and what is metaphorical. The article concludes that some serviceable account of literal meaning is needed; the two systems of meaning interpenetrate in any language; and over time, metaphorical expressions may assume the status of literal…

The purpose of this collection of essays is to inform students intending to study English at British Universities of the choices of institutions and kinds of courses available to them. The introductory essay explores the nature of some of the course choices available and discusses why courses take the form they do. The body of the book consists of…

This book argues against the politicization of literature and presents a guide to the great works and essential writers of the ages, the "Western Canon." The book studies 26 writers and seeks to isolate the qualities that made these authors canonical, that is, authoritative in Western culture. Noting that although originally the…

Considers how literary critic, George Steiner, explores the failure of Western Civilization to humanize humanity. Analyzes Steiner's ultimately elitist model of culture to shed light on implications of his brutal paradox in which Nazism's death camps are juxtaposed to high culture. Theorizes about the possibilities of a culture inclusive of all…

Developed for a high school quinmester unit on the romantic hero, this guide contains teaching strategies for a study of the characteristics of the romantic hero as he appears in various literary selections. Several major literary works are analyzed and discussed in comparison with popular culture heroes, and the portrayal of the romantic hero in…