Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Response to Literature

Question: What is the essence of response to literature?

Answer/Quote: “At the center of the curriculum are not the works of literature. . . but rather the mind as it meets the book. The response.” Purves, 1972.

“In this statement, Alan Purves has articulated what many textbook writers promise but few actually achieve—a significant change in our way of thinking about the teaching of literature. If we, as teachers and researchers, accept Purves’ notion, our primary interest is no longer in students’ mastery of information (about historical period, an author’s life, a set of literary terms) or of a given critical procedure. Rather, our chief concern is with the reactions, perceptions, interpretations, and value judgments students make in response to a piece of literature.” P. 203.

Comment: Which can be enriched by the thoughts of literary critics. RayS.

Title: “Describing Responses to Works of Fiction.”  Lee Odell and Charles R Cooper. Research In the Teaching of English (Winter 1976). 203-225.

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