We just received this interesting review of Why Literature? The Value of Literary Reading and What It Means for Teaching from literary blog Fiction Writers Review. Part of a larger essay, “The Future of Literary Citizenship: A Review Essay,” the review highlights other titles addressing the value of literature in society. Read the entire article here
Yet this book makes surprisingly bold claims. Unlike many academics, who one-up each other at every public opportunity, Bruns talks about her (and many teachers’) failure to promote literary reading. As she revealed her frustration with early classes, I recalled the first time I taught Jane Eyre, a favorite novel of mine that flopped with almost all my students. They didn’t get caught up in the story and didn’t understand why I did. Bruns names what underpinned my frustration of a decade ago: “the lack of conception of literary value that hinders students’ opportunities to experience literary reading as worthwhile, but also the scholarly approaches taken toward texts in recent decades which constrain those encounters.” It’s refreshing to see a scholar assert that the way academic insiders treat a text doesn’t align with why readers really love literature
You can also start reading Why Literature? The Value of Literary Reading and What It Means for Teaching here: