On Literature and Teaching

 At the heart of every literature class, there are some questions we hardly ever hear asked, or even acknowledged. Yet, in order to determine what we do, why and what for, it is essential that we do ask those questions, however uncomfortable they may make us feel. Ignoring them means missing the very point of our classes: why do we do what we do, what do we want to achieve, and the most important of all: do we in fact achieve what we claim? Can we achieve it?   Q.1: How difficult is it to read fiction? That is something we tend to forget, especially if we like to read ourselves: reading is not easy, and it’s one of those things where the reward might be long delayed, or, in any case, will take long to reap. Reading is time-consuming: chronophage , as we say in French, it eats (devours) time. Watching a complete episode, with a beginning, middle and end, of a series on Netflix will take 45 minutes; in that time, you will have read, what, 20 pages of a normal quality novel? Few

  ‘The old can talk till they’re blue in the face about the spiritual satisfaction to be found in art and literature, but when you’re young there’s a lot more fun to be got out of being with a girl than by listening to a sonata’ (S. Maugham, in the 1920s) When it comes to selecting texts for class, teachers always face the same dilemmas: should we choose books the learners will like? Books that learners will relate to? Books that are educational, say, of the historical type? Books that have a pedagogical bend, for example about racism or bullying? Books that are well-known, books that have won a prize, books from famous authors, books from the canon? Or should we, perhaps, let the learners themselves decide what to read? From their own choice, or from a list compiled by a teacher, usually comprising dozens of titles if not many more?  All those aspects of the ‘text-selection dilemma’ are problematic for one or another reason. All of them require further differences being made, wh