Teaching Literature

182 Pages·2002·10.17 MB·English

by  Elaine Showalter

=
b
~
e
aes
Teas kKL A
Literature
. ELAINE SHOWALTER _
JOJ y[e)
¢
:e
Zu
O p
y
v
a
ud18D s
pO
SIA
ejo IWNUO
sU
s}
] s
d d
] VSo][OO()J OA ) QO:p ‘wuoJNO sanb
JeIOIIT 19178 oys
N o
I J
o Z
Ie
DdsAiup
oea a sno D
y prs O
SuI s ouAu\ e N]OU
IeIg AepUl[],9AUSISS UOIS S
|I H DUI S
WN S JU
O‘
“
-OX:sSL S AJOAD JOy}IAOA N OQS¢I p “UIJLO SUIPBoI saiodye yp ur
YysIsuq 10 ]. J99U UOISJSOGOeY } CZ
| NO lu
T [
S
E
h B
V
“Y“—Su§SJe_IUs qO uUiIsUyS-ISgSye
e

d
o
U SOsse]d JOUO AIQAQ posn sonbruyse} oy) UO 0U WY} ISI O} YS¥ JOJ X ose ul ev [eoisosep OvoId0}d e 9Y} "9SINOD TYIVI} “oINJVIO}] S[RUINOL gS-AAq d“ICMOAO T pf ,e ny y
Ad1d no YSU e‘iS |l y
“UOISSNOSIp JISIA 9UO JO JO Ydeiseseuo “SIDYIVI} JIT YIM‘snqey[As ureydxgqy ey) Y} jnOgGR J19y) og Jo}dUOe Yd 0i}d “yoo] OoYS [Jomyo a a“ A oam
d OO v M
:SJUSWIUSISSY SUONRAIASGG Ul pC-ZO] p ‘wd pue JO 990Id UONBAIOSGO UP ALAA “499M YIO Ssep uUe OY} osu0O}d sal “W9Y} UISIA OY) SASSLIJDO JB ISB¢] 1OYIO ZO] UOTSstUpIued 0 } Ysv J0Jk & Adoo Jo oy) sejo sae} swWOs suoNsonb Apeos 0} yse UPUL] pue oreYs SoIdJOod U e apoJOB Y a8ayjoD YSYsuyI YsoIqUB nMs o Suryova aunjAosqa yrT] surely “JoyeE poAr wedye rtyp)a s
JO “s yy
*| UI °Z “¢ a

Teackin
Literature
Photograph by Denise Applewhite
Teackir
Literature
ELAINE SHOWALTER
( Blackwell
OF Publishing
Copyright © Elaine Showalter 2003
BLACKWELL PUBLISHING
350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA
9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK
550 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia
The right of Elaine Showalter to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted
in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act
1988, without the prior permission of the publisher.
First published 2003 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd
ie AUN
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Showalter, Elaine.
Teaching literature / Elaine Showalter.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-631-22623-9 — ISBN 978-0-631-22624-6 (pbk.)
1. Literature-Study and teaching (Higher) I. Title.
PN59 .S49 2003
807.11-dc21
2002006133
A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
Set in 10 on 12.5 pt Galliard
by SNP Best-set Typesetter Ltd, Hong Kong
Printed and bound in Singapore
by Ho Printing Singapore Pte Ltd
The publisher’s policy is to use permanent paper from mills that operate a sustainable
forestry policy, and which has been manufactured from pulp processed using acid-free and
elementary chlorine-free practices. Furthermore, the publisher ensures that the text paper
and cover board used have met acceptable environmental accreditation standards.
For further information on
Blackwell Publishing, visit our website:
www.blackwellpublishing.com
Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments
The Anxiety of Teaching
=
Theories of Teaching Literature
Methods of Teaching Literature
Teaching Poetry
Teaching Drama
Teaching Fiction
Teaching Theory 103
Teaching Teachers
Teaching Dangerous Subjects
AfWWOFY N ON
10 Teaching Literature in Dark Times
Conclusion: The Joy of Teaching Literature 141
Notes 144
Index r59
Preface and
Acknowled gments
The first time I ever taught literature, in 1963, the students addressed me
as “Teacher Elaine.” It was the custom at the Quaker Friends Select School
in Philadelphia, but I certainly wasn’t much of a teacher then. I was taking
a year off from graduate school, and although I had been exposed to a lot
of professors, lectures, and seminars, no one had ever talked about what
might be involved in teaching literature and few appeared to have given it
much consideration. But I enjoyed teaching literature so much, and learned
so much from my dedicated English department colleagues, Teacher
Margaret Sheats and Teacher Margaret Bender, that I decided it was worth
the drudgery of getting a PhD in order to keep on doing it on a higher level.
Over the next 40 years, as I have became “Professor Showalter,” and have
taught undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and alumni in the United
States, Canada, Britain, and Europe, I’ve continued to think about what
teaching literature means, both in theory and in practice. I hope I’ve
improved; I have had the chance to learn from the best, both teachers and
students.
This book is based partly on my own experience, but mainly on the ideas
on teaching I’ve acquired and borrowed and stolen from many colleagues
and friends at Rutgers, Princeton, Roehampton, the School for Criticism and
Theory, the Salzburg Seminars, and the Modern Language Association
(MLA). As a Phi Beta Kappa Scholar in 1993, I traveled around the US, lec-
turing, meeting faculty and students, and visiting classes at campuses as
diverse as Birmingham Southern in Alabama, Clemson in South Carolina,
Macalester in Minnesota, and Claremont in California. Best of all, I had the
good fortune to hold one of Princeton’s Cotsen Faculty Teaching Fellow-
ships for three years, during which I had time to reflect on the teaching of
vi