Book Information

Teaching Literature

By: ELAINE SHOWALTER (Princeton University)

Reviews

"It is to Showalter's great credit that she has written a book that exemplifies many of the virtues she associates with literature: curiosity, empathy, compassion. It is also a deeply personal work...

Description

Teaching Literature is an inspirational guidebook for all teachers of English and American literature in higher education.

• Written by leading academic, prolific author and cultural journalist, Elaine Showalter.
• Original and provocative reflections on teaching literature in higher education.
• Encourages teachers to make their classroom practice intellectually exciting.
• Wide-ranging - covers the practical, theoretical, and methodological aspects of teaching literature.
• Highly practical - employs real examples from real classes and careers throughout.
• Draws on 40 years of international teaching experience.

TopTable of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgements.
1. The Anxiety of Teaching.
2. Theories of Teaching Literature.
3. Methods of Teaching Literature.
4. Teaching Poetry.
5. Teaching Drama.
6. Teaching Fiction.
7. Teaching Theory.
8. Teaching Teachers.
9. Teaching Dangerous Subjects.
10. Teaching Literature in Dark Times.
Conclusion: The Joy of Teaching Literature.

Notes.

Index.

TopAbout the Author

Elaine Showalter is Professor of English at Princeton University. She has been a teacher of English and American Literature for 40 years and has taught high school students, undergraduates, graduate students, faculty and other adults in the United States, Canada, Britain and Europe. She has also directed a teaching seminar for graduate students. During 1998 she was President of the Modern Language Association of America.

The author's publications include A Literature of Their Own: British Women Novelists from Brontë to Lessing (1982), The Female Malady: Women, Madness and Society 1830-1980 (1987), Sexual Anarchy (1991), Sister's Choice: Tradition and Change in American Women's Writing (1991) and Inventing Herself (2001).