A college educator (trained in composition) encountered some problems when he began teaching an introductory literature course. In the first year of the course, he used a fiction anthology as his textbook. The class examined one story at a time, and attempts to compare readings seemed forced. The teacher realized that anthologies are narrow in…

The rationale for teaching short fiction to high intermediate and advanced English as a second language (ESL) students is discussed. The main use of short fiction in the ESL or bilingual class is as a decoding tool. Any reading function is peripheral. Short fiction, including non-fiction narratives, can provide a supplement to the regular…

Suggests that science fiction can be used as a vehicle for teaching a broad range of content subjects incorporating an interdisciplinary approach. (RB)

The theme of homosexual officers lusting after innocent enlisted men has frequently appeared in English and American fiction since "Billy Budd"--almost always leading to tragic outcomes. (JH)

Analyzing the setting of six recent "blockbuster" films, this study outlines numerous instances of the Western's influence on several contemporary science fiction films, "Star Wars,""Battlestar Galactica,""Star Trek: The Motion Picture,""The Black Hole,""The Empire Strikes Back," and…

"Star Trek II" is a treatment of the penultimate stages of the monomyth in which the hero descends into the underworld and is reborn. This psychological sense of rebirth is evoked in modern audiences by the film. In particular, the doppelganger (psychic double) motif, so often associated in film, literature, and myth with the…

Three quotes are presented as "Peter Parley's Message to Teachers." (1) "Students wish to participate in their own learning. Begin with the child's present location in time and space, then help the child make connections with the content which you are addressing." (2) "Students are interested in stories and pictures.…

The work of war correspondents involves violence, danger, and drama; and what they endure to get a story is often as interesting as the actual news itself. Anglo-American fiction tends toward an ironic, even cynical, view of combat reporting that serves as a corrective to the notion, fostered in journalists' autobiographies, that war is fun. It…

Proposing that Thomas Hardy's fiction exhibits strong Gothic sensibilities which offer insight into his artistic vision and add to the power of his fiction, creating a new form of the Gothic, a Victorian Gothic, this dissertation reassesses the Gothic strains in Hardy's fiction. The dissertation is in eight chapters: (1) Introduction to Hardy's…

Much of the current controversy in the area of story theory derives from a failure to make clear the distinctions among theories of (1) plan comprehension, (2) narrative comprehension, and (3) story schema. A theory of plan comprehension attempts to account for the ability of humans to interpret the observed actions of another person in terms of…

Suggests discussion, choral work, drama, game making, and the writing of prose and poetry as useful activities in the teaching of "A Wizard of Earthsea." (RB)

Many authors of adolescent novels follow a formula when developing a pattern of action. The formula, however, is not predictable and may be one of action, humor, or ideas. (JH)

An interview with Howard E. Smith, Jr., who edits science and junior books at McGraw-Hill, and with Thomas G. Aylesworth, who edits books for young readers at Doubleday. They discuss the selection of authors and subjects for books; science fiction and biography; characteristics of good science books; and foreign books. (LS)

This paper provides a brief description of the literature of Southeast Asia. This area, which embraces the region south of China and east of India, includes the modern nations of Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, The Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia. The earliest historical influence came from India around the beginnings of the…