In high school English we read for theme.  I teach my students that if we can wade through the particulars of a text, we’ll arrive at something universal. Literary analysis writing that my students do asks them to interpret theme, support it with textual evidence, and explain how an author uses literary devices to produce this theme.  But I do like Sherry Linkon’s method of assigning different kinds of literary analysis writing.  Writing that’s exploratory and inquiry-based makes more sense for literature, and looks more like the kind of writing I did in college.   Students produce a reading, but not necessarily an argument.

Of course, I’d like to show my class how to produce a new reading–rather than how to artfully arrange old ideas.  I don’t think anyone wants to read a synopsis of what the teacher said (or what Sparknotes said).

In producing the kind of reading Linkon describes, students have to situate a text and themselves in relation to it.  Most of the readings this week posited that readers need an awareness of their own historical and cultural context as well as the context of the reading, and they need to be aware of the effects if these contexts differ.

Rabinowitz articulates this scenario well: “this difference among readers has always posed a problem for writers, one that has grown with increased literacy and the correspondingly increased heterogeneity of the reading public” (21).  For me, it can be overwhelming to teach literature that’s been chosen for my students but not written for them.

I’m plagued by the question of how to teach my students about their cultural context. I feel ok helping them develop an awareness of the way they process and interpret new information.  But teaching students to recognize their unique life experience and how that experience shapes who they are as readers is not so easy.

My students don’t yet know how to do what Fish’s students can do: ascribe literary significance to a list of names.  I’m not sure how valuable this ability is.  It would be nice though, if they could translate this skill to read the world around them, using context, connections, self-awareness, and healthy self-doubt.