Ecocritical scholarship has always had pedagogical ambitions. It is commonly assumed that education based on ecocritical readings of literature will change the attitudes and actions of pupils and students and thus contribute to forming environmentally aware and sustainable citizens. However, this article proposes an alternative view on the interaction between sustainability and literature education. Based on a critical discussion of “ecocritical orthodoxy,” this meta-theoretical study uses affect theory in conjunction with Rita Felski’s proposal for postcritical reading to argue that literature education needs to take the polysemy of literary texts and the unpredictability of readers’ encounters with such texts into account. By linking this to a specified set of sustainability competences and a dialogic concept of literary competence, the aim of the main discussion is to highlight the many potentially fertile overlaps between literature education and the competences needed in a sustainable citizen. Here, Timothy Clark’s thoughts on the Anthropocene as threshold concept, and Timothy Clark’s views on irony are important parts of the theoretical framework. Moreover, such a framework for sustainable literary competence could help to argue for the value of literature education and genuine literary competence.
The role and importance of imaginative literature in L1 education is a topic of continuous debate. In Norway, working with imaginative literature in several genres, and from various linguistic origins, is only one of several components in the L1 subject. In this article, we present the results of a survey aiming to investigate what literature can and should do in school, according to teachers. Using a qualitative hermeneutic content analysis, we analyze and categorize the survey results. We are guided by an affirmative approach to teachers’ competences, discussing the extent to which respondents demonstrate subject matter content knowledge. Our analysis enables us to isolate eight categories of justification, many of which show significant overlap with central tenets in literary theory, the curriculum, and L1 scholarship. However, we also find indications that critical literacy is undervalued. Furthermore, the Norwegian curriculum arguably motivates an instrumental use of literature as a way of developing general literacy or adding perspectives to topics addressed in other subjects. We propose visualizing the justifications teachers express in a model taking into account two dimensions: 1) whether they imply a primary focus on the text, the reader, or the context including the author; and 2) whether their goal is benefitting the student (e.g., in terms of skills) or promoting societal change. This model is intended to provide a flexible typology which literary educators at any level can use in order to critically assess their practice.
Artikkelen identifiserer val av skjønnlitteratur som ein kjernepraksis i morsmåls-undervisninga, der det i liten grad finst forsking på eksisterande praksis og teoretiske grunnlagsproblem. Det er til det sistnemnde feltet artikkelen søkjer å bidraga, ved å opne opp og nyansere diskusjonen om premissar for litteraturval. Artikkelen er todelt. Den fyrste delen er ei metateoretisk drøfting av dei ulike syna på skjønnlitteratur og litteraturundervisning som er i spel i kanon- og utvalsdebattar. Drøftinga bruker dikotomien kvalitet/representativitet som tankefigur for å klårgjera skiljeliner, samanfall og uteoretiserte premissar i dei ulike haldningane. Med utgangspunkt i dette blir det argumentert for at eit dialogisk syn på litterær kompetanse, saman med postkritisk teori, kan danne eit meir fruktbart utgangspunkt for å reflektere over kva litteraturen gjer i møte med lesarar, og dimed kva for grunnlag ein vel litteratur ut frå. Den andre delen føreslår å didaktisere postkritisk teori ved å skildre tre inngangar til litteraturvalet. Desse inngangane kan sjåast som grunnlag for å velja litteratur, men òg som kategoriar for å skildre kva som skjer i møtet mellom lesarar og dei skjønnlitterære tekstene i morsmålsfaget. Avslutningsvis blir den presumptive konflikten mellom estetisk utforsking og didaktisk målstyring drøfta, og det blir argumentert for at litteratursynet artikkelen skildrar, stør opp under ei problembasert litteraturundervisning. Nøkkelord: litteraturdidaktikk, litterær kompetanse, litterær kanon, litterær etikk, postkritikk, affektteori The affective encounter between text and reader:Three postcritical approaches to the choice of literature in L1 education AbstractThe article identifies the selection of literature as a core practice in L1 education on which there is a limited amount of research on existing practices and theoretical assumptions. Seeking to contribute to the latter, the article suggests ways to open and nuance the discussion around the selection of literature. The article consists of two main parts. The first part offers a metatheoretical discussion of the differing views on imaginative literature and literary education at stake in discussions of the literary canon and literature selection. The discussion employs the dichotomy quality/representativity as analytical category in order to highlight fissures, overlaps and untheorized assumptions in the differing viewpoints. Hence, it is argued that a dialogical understanding of literary competence, in conjunction with postcritical theory, may form a more productive starting point for reflections on what literature does in encounters with readers, and thus on what basis literary texts are selected. The second part of the article suggests a pedagogization of postcritical theory by describing three approaches to the selection of literature. These approaches can be regarded as a basis for selection, but also descriptive categories of what happens in the encounter between readers and texts in the context of L1 education. In conclusion, the supposed conflict between aesthetical exploration and pedagogical management by objectives is discussed, and it is argued that the notion of literature described in the article supports a problem-based literary instruction. Keywords: literary education, literary competence, literary canon, literary ethics, postcritical theory, affect theory
Ibsen’s Peer Gynt holds a unique position in Norwegian culture as a ‘national epic’ that simultaneously satirizes the idea of coherent national and individual identities. This article analyzes the dramatic text’s recent adaptation into a graphic novel, published in Norway in 2014. We argue that this adaptation indicates which aspects of the play seem relevant to modern Norwegian readers. Through close, comparative readings of two key scenes in Ibsen’s text and in the adaptation, we show how the many metaliterary aspects of the former are creatively and irreverently treated in the latter. Moreover, we argue that one of the most striking aspects of Peer Gynt, the graphic novel, is its depiction of postmodern, performative identities, and the ‘liquidity’ of modern Western individuals.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.