Literary Texts and Contexts
How much background information about history, biography, geography,
economics, or history do students need to understand literary texts?
New Critics believed that the text was "the thing"; however, most
assumed a certain level of knowledge that we cannot assume about most of
our students. This is NOT a session in which I want to encourage
complaints about the state of education but a session to focus on
specific, pragmatic ways we address the lack of contextual knowledge in
our students. What is the best balance during a class period over a
semester, etc..? Do you use maps, slides, or datelines? Do you
encourage student presentations on backgroaund material? How do we
encourage such research and understanding and keep student papers
focused on textual analysis and not merely on repeating historical
information?
I am hoping to organize this as a panel discussion with plenty of time
for discussion and debate among presenters and audience members. Please
send abstracts of 10 minute presentations to lhollow@frc.mass.edu OR Dr.
Lorretta M. Holloway; Framingham State College; 100 State st., P.O. Box
9101; Framingham, MA 01701-9101. The deadline is 9/15/02. Please be
advised that all participants in a session must be NEMLA members and
registered for the convention by December 1.
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or write Erika Lin: elin@english.upenn.edu
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