What makes literary texts attractive to the reader is its ability to convey meanings through different indirect ways known as literary devices. These function as techniques adding aesthetical effects to the text. One of many devices is wordplay--a figure of speech used by people as part of their everyday communication. This research paper aims at…

In recent years, numerous computational methods have been developed that have been widely used in humanities and literary studies. In spite of the potential of such methods in providing workable solutions to various inherent problems in research within these domains, including selectivity, objectivity, and replicability, very little empirical work…

The paper reports a study on the teaching of character education in higher education using English Bildungsroman, "Jane Eyre." The participants were 35 sixth-semester students of English Literature program in an Indonesian state university. Guided by the approach to teaching character education exemplified by Ryan & Bohlin (1999),…

In the current Neoliberal climate of educational reform, the enlightenment project in education is more susceptible than ever to the machinations of historical amnesia. The notion that education can be transformative in a positive sense represents a moral ideal that teachers in the foundations of education find increasingly difficult to integrate…

"Waiting for Godot" is one of the classic works of theater of the absurd. The play seems absurd but with a deep religious meaning. This text tries to explore the theme in four parts of God and man, breaking the agreement, repentance and imprecation and waiting for salvation.

Bullying remains a wretched, pervasive problem in the society, especially for teenagers. Bullying is commonly defined as negative acts that occur repeatedly and involve an imbalance of power (Olweus 413); since this widely accepted definition excludes one-time acts of cruelty, the authors prefer to use the word "conflict" in their conversations…

The aim of this article is twofold. Against the traditional interpretation of "the conscience of Huckleberry Finn" (for which Jonathan Bennett's article with this title is the locus classicus) as a conflict between conscience and sympathy, I propose a new interpretation of Huck's inner conflict, in terms of Huck's mastery of (the) moral language…

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…

Mainstream cultural studies, it seems, is unwilling to take art of any kind seriously, whether popular or classic. Richard Posner is not far wrong in suggesting that the aim of cultural studies "is to knock literature off its pedestal and find vehicles easier than literary works for making political points." To respond fully to literature and art…

High school teachers Simao J. A. Drew and Brenda G. Bosnic help familiarize students with gender role analysis and feminist theory. Students examine classic literature and contemporary texts, considering characters' historical, literary, and social contexts while expanding their understanding of how patterns of identity and gender norms exist and…

The authors decided to use Bob Dylan's 2004 memoir "Chronicles" as a text in their freshman humanities seminars at Villanova University, partly to illustrate to increasingly career-oriented students--prospective engineers, business majors, and the like--how a liberal education and exposure to classic literature are relevant to everyone, and partly…

French children's literature, which includes so many masterpieces of the rarest and most remarkable kind does not constitute a literature in the strict sense. It has neither continuity nor traditions. (Author)

There is almost a revivalist movement in English children's classics, but the author questions their ability to survive in an increasingly mechanical age, and cautions against the negative effects of the new media and insensitive techniques of publishers. (SJ)

The author recommends Tom Sawyer,'' Huckleberry Finn,'' Hans Brinker,'' Little Women,'' The Story of a Bad Boy,'' and The Peterkin Papers,'' as the major classics with current appeal. Also included are a few more recent titles recommended for children's reading. (SJ)

Distressing the classics can be avoided by avoiding three biases in the most commonly taught research program for literary historiography: (1) the bias of bibliography; (2) the bias of antiquarianism; and (3) the bias against social and behavioral sciences. Successful interpretation of text is possible when recognized as being context-dependent,…