Although the aims of literary study have often been spelled out in ethical terms, scholars have tended to discuss the how of literary interpretation in more ethically neutral terms. Reading pedagogical enactments of two predominant theories of literary interpretation--New Criticism and reader response--through the lens of Rancièrean ethics, I…

Coupling Royster's (2000) conceptual framework of "zamani" with Rosenblatt's (1978) reader response theory, the researcher explores the ways African American women's writings supported, nurtured, and "mentored" the writings of adolescent girls. Findings show that the mentor texts helped in generating ideas for writing, thinking…

Re-reading James Moffett's work in the light of more recent scholarship in the humanities and social sciences, this paper presents a "deconstructive" account of Moffett's key texts. Understanding them as instances in themselves of rhetoric and textuality, and reading them at once "with" and "against" the grain, the…

Examines how literary criticism exploits and marginalizes the poem as printed artifact. Argues that the author-centered, phonocentric premise of close reading neutralizes spatial dynamics and reduces material identity to the status of a transparent medium. Suggests that appreciation of silent visual form is a convention of post modernist writing.…

Relates how E.B. White's classic teaches the young reader the complicated pleasures of becoming a good writer. (HOD)

Examines two contrasting texts, "Little Goody Two-Shoes" and "A High Wind in Jamaica" to point to differences between "child" reading and "adult" reading. (HOD)

A sophomore-level course surveying world literature through the seventeenth century emphasizes the theme of heroes and heroic codes using western classics and the "Tale of Genji," a fictional account of an idealized Japanese courtier and gentleman written in the tenth century AD by the court lady Murasaki Shikubu, and often considered to…

Teachers' dismissal of Robert Cormier's books as "too depressing" suggests a lack of sound critical understanding of his work and a lack of faith in individual young people. The body of adolescent or young adult literature has come a long way in recent years. The writing has shown a much fuller range of literary quality and the content…

Relates experiences teaching Philip Larkin's poetry. (HOD)

Examines what teachers do when they read texts in particular genres, and suggests how to encourage similar behavior in students. (CRH)

This article analyzes the function of deixis in the poetry of the 20th century Italian, Eugenio Montale, in particular, his "In limine." The main objective is to show how deixis is involved in the dynamic relationship between text and reader. A constant problem in Montale's texts is that of a disharmony felt by the poetic voice with the…

This paper provides a creative approach to developing literary understanding and writing ability in students in a college introduction to literature course. Eight assignments are described which pair literary works having some feature in common. A sample suggestion from the first group of exercises, concerned with characterization, is as follows:…

Reports a conversation between Cleanth Brooks and Willie Morris concerning changes in literature during the postmodern era. Discusses narrative form, arguing that contemporary literature is moving away from story telling. Contends that the small percentage of the public which reads serious fiction is the reason for this shift. (KO)

To put the interdisciplinary Turko-Danish Fairytale Project, which is concerned with the dynamics of reader response to literature, into a theoretical framework, this paper first describes how modern aesthetics take an interdisciplinary approach and investigate--by cross cultural approaches and in human behavior terms--the phenomenon of art and…

Although modern readers often find the interpretation of medieval literature difficult, they should be encouraged to use their imagination to resolve the dilemmas they encounter. Often, these are the same issues with which medieval audiences had to wrestle and which the poets intended to raise. W. Iser's and H. R. Jauss's principles of…