Before the insights of feminist criticism altered the way many writers are examined, Jane Austen and George Eliot were usually considered to be upholders of the status quo. The explosion in criticism in the last two decades, however, has reshaped and reinterpreted the canon, and has changed the way one academic teaches these two novelists. Using…

Compares Roman Polanski's film adaptation of "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" with the original novel by Thomas Hardy. Suggests that a comparative analysis of the two works enhances students' awareness of Hardy's artistry and sharpens their ability to respond critically to literature. (MM)

States that reading Scott O'Dell's popular juvenile book, "The Island of the Blue Dolphins," can increase high school students' comprehension and appreciation of Herman Melville's "The Encantadas," as both works are fictional treatments of the same historic event. (MM)

Addresses the problems in discussing nineteenth-century British literature in the classroom and advocates encouraging students to take and support various interpretations of text. (DF)

Suggests that teachers can introduce the cultural context of nineteenth-century British fiction by exploring four types of walks that women characters take: the mission of mercy; the passionate, secret journey; the problem-solving walk; and the defiant or self-assertive walk of independence. (MS)

A course taught at St. Augustine's College uses "A Voice from the South" (1893) by Anna J. Cooper (a collection of essays representing women as being bold, in-charge decision makers) as an example of how "Feminism across the Disciplines" is expressed. These essays, as well as works of a number of other writers, can be used in…

Provides an eight-day sequence of assignments to introduce the idea of the speaker or "persona" to a high school English class beginning study of eighteenth and nineteenth century literature. Cites works by Thomas Hardy, Jonathan Swift, and William Blake. (HTH)

Argues that how and why a particular range of texts are selected, read, and taught determines the extent to which they contribute to a pupil's development. Shows how the teaching of John Keats's "Isabella or the Pot of Basil" and paintings by William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais meet the challenges of the new Order for English.…

An approach to teaching French literature that uses a Jules Verne novel published only in 1994 is described. The novel, "Paris in the 20th Century," is the basis for a series of written and oral exercises about the novel, its social and cultural context, the author, and the actual changes that have occurred in Paris in comparison with…

Describes a teacher's experience of teaching a class entitled "Testimony, Magical Realism, and the Carnivalesque" which focused on the invention of aesthetic means to counter dominant, silencing discourses of power. Explains that students were asked to select a story from their own lives and were required to tell the story in three…

Describes a methodology for teaching the complex prose structures common to nineteenth- and twentieth-century literature. Identifies modifying structures, conditional structures, and periodic sentences as stumbling blocks for students. Argues that students should be taught the effect of these structures on the meaning of both the sentence and the…

Poetry of the romantic age is often uninviting to students, leaving them puzzled because they do not sense the connections between the poetry and themselves. Yet, much romantic poetry can be enjoyed and comprehended if approached in terms of some personal, reflective, and connective readings. Wordsworth and Whitman are often avoided because they…

Recommends using "antique" adolescent literature as a way of stimulating student interest. Cites several examples of nineteenth century literature that can be so used. (JL)

Texts from a variety of genres (letter, narrative, biography, film scenario, and dialogue) and a variety of French authors of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries are provided as examples of discourse with the common theme of passion and as sources for the study of the semiotics of passion. (MSE)

Using a college course on William Wordsworth's "Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood" as a case study, this book presents an alternative approach to teaching poetry. Divided into seven sections with 19 chapters, the book describes how students can develop and exercise an historical imagination in the…