In this essay, the authors extend their ongoing conversations within the overarching project on "critique as signature pedagogy in the arts and humanities" by considering how the position of literary studies within this broader context may explain some of the difficulties students have with a cornerstone activity of the undergraduate…

This article is meant as a useful classroom methodology by which teachers of literature may give their students a coherent rubric for understanding literary meaning and exegesis which can incorporate most literary theories while addressing the basic-to-advanced concepts required of literary students. Also, it will provide a working methodology for…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to describe an approach to analyzing qualitative data that uses Bakhtin's concepts of dialogue as a framework. Design/methodology/approach: Polyphonic Analysis (PA) is proposed as a critical approach to qualitative data analysis that emphasizes creating virtual dialogues of participants' voices, bringing…

Since the late 20th century, scholars have called for a need to broaden the aims of teaching English Literature away from its Eurocentric focus. Much effort has also been invested in making the subject more relevant through diversifying the texts studied and connecting texts to current social and global issues. It is pertinent now to ask what the…

In this classroom study, the authors examine the use of popular psychology myths as a frame for literary analysis in high school English. The study reflects a cultural studies approach to teaching that attends to students' cultural awareness in interpreting what they read. Previous research has demonstrated that students' cultural awareness, in…

Shannon Hale, Dean Hale, and Nathan Hale's graphic novel set "Rapunzel's Revenge" (2008) and "Calamity Jack" (2010) features fractured fairy tales that take up the issue of 'the damsel in distress,' questioning and complicating traditional gender roles in fairy tales. Throughout both graphic novels Rapunzel's character…

"Tess of the D'Urbevilles" is a tragic monumental work of Thomas Hardy, an English writer of critical realism.The paper will analyze "Tess of the d'Urbervilles" through character's personalities, its social background and the old traditional religion. The paper introduces the causes of Tess's tragic fate which is influenced by…

The play within a play has long been understood as Hamlet's attempt to catch the conscience of the King. But is that all it is? Perhaps there's more to the "Murder of Gonzago" than either Hamlet or even Shakespeare, himself, intended? While the narrative of the Player King and Player Queen clearly works to tap into the private guilt of…

Literary criticism nowadays is essentially crossing the boundaries of disciplinarity and canonicity where literary theory has increasingly been shaped by overlapping concepts and branching out of theories as well as whipping out the limitations imposed by theory itself. The post-conditions of contemporaneity have imposed a view of reading and…

In "Good God but You Smart!" Nichole E. Stanford provides an account of how attitudes toward Cajun English (CE) perpetuate and are perpetuated by an economic system designed to maintain unequal power relations. While non-Cajun Americans are interested in what they see as Cajun culture, Stanford explains that most misunderstand what…

The "College, Career, and Civil Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies State Standards" guides teachers to initiate complex inquiries by sparking students' disciplinary literacy and critical analysis of rich sources. With effective scaffolding and engaging content, elementary students can explore and contextualize complex historical…

Literature has been an imitator of life for generations on this earth, this literature has voiced the voiceless. Recent contemporary and postmodern literary theories have catered to burgeoning notions of logic that go beyond human survival on the planet. Science fiction is a genre of fiction that encompasses imaginative concepts like futuristic…

This essay examines the state of Digital Humanities work in the subfield of literature from the Spanish speaking world. It provides a case study of a multiyear digital mapping project conducted with undergraduate students at a highly selective liberal arts college. This project serves as a means of examining the digital state of the field and…

When preparing specialists of Oriental studies, reading fiction in the language being studied is very effective for mastering a foreign language. The fiction text reflects not only the richness of a language and style, but also features of the development of the standard language and changes in its lexical composition. It is also expedient not…

Building on the work of children's literature scholars who are thinking about the intersection of religion and children's literature (Brewbaker, 1983; Dávila, 2015), the author conducted a literature review with two guiding research questions. What methodologies have children's literature scholars used to research religion in texts for young…