Literary Studies

A Preparation for Tertiary Education (and Life Beyond)

Bibliographic Data

ID20502126
AuthorsThomas Zabka (Universität Hamburg, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume23
Issue3
Pages227-240
Publication date2016-07-02
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueChanging English (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1358-684X • E-ISSN: 1469-3585
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/1358684x.2016.1203618
OpenAlexW2514204280
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited1

My argument is that a literary education should build on a primary level of responsivity towards literature, involving empathy and immersion in the world of the text. To engage with literary works from the past involves a play between familiarity and strangeness, and this play should be located as part of a reader’s response to texts, rather than expecting students to imbibe the ‘dead knowledge’ about literary periods and authors in which textbooks and literary guides traffic. Literary responsiveness involves sensitivity towards the specific character of the text, which means locating it in relation to other texts belonging to that genre without reducing it to being merely illustrative of a genre’s so-called characteristics. In all these respects, contemporary educational standards reflect questionable assumptions about the development of a capacity to respond to literary texts, especially the supposition that a ‘mature’ response to literature somehow involves moving beyond personal response to more analytical forms of engagement

Aesthetics · Art · Empathy · Literary criticism · Literary genre · Literary science · Literature · Sociology · Chemistry · Computer Science · Contemporary Literature and Criticism · History · Narrative Theory and Analysis · Philosophy, Ethics, and Existentialism · Psychology · Social Psychology