Explains how to teach F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" in three stages: before, during, and after a close look at the text and outlines the novel's narrative structure. (HOD)

This article analyzes the function of deixis in the poetry of the 20th century Italian, Eugenio Montale, in particular, his "In limine." The main objective is to show how deixis is involved in the dynamic relationship between text and reader. A constant problem in Montale's texts is that of a disharmony felt by the poetic voice with the…

Discusses a young adult novel with an unusual theme: a neglected boy roams the New York City subways by day and makes his home in a cave. (NKA)

Examines how literary criticism exploits and marginalizes the poem as printed artifact. Argues that the author-centered, phonocentric premise of close reading neutralizes spatial dynamics and reduces material identity to the status of a transparent medium. Suggests that appreciation of silent visual form is a convention of post modernist writing.…

Maintains that, for each child, an initial contact with a poem through a sensitive and skillful teacher can be an individual dialogue with thought and feeling, reforming and deepening with time. Examples of poems are used to illustrate this point. (BB)

Although modern readers often find the interpretation of medieval literature difficult, they should be encouraged to use their imagination to resolve the dilemmas they encounter. Often, these are the same issues with which medieval audiences had to wrestle and which the poets intended to raise. W. Iser's and H. R. Jauss's principles of…

Presents a study comparing the elements children report enjoying in a book and the elements teachers believe children enjoy. Concludes that a great discrepancy exists between the two groups, as children reported they liked books offering excitement, suspense, and action, while teachers believed children pay more attention to characters. (JC)

Considers literature as something different from the texts themselves (specifically, a way of reading that includes the writer, the text, and the reader) so that the purposes of teachers and readers may be considered, and a flexible approach to selection, organization, and pedagogy be permitted. (SRT)